The Automobile: An American Icon

The Automobile An American Cultural Icon

David Ritchey Headline Books, Inc. Terra Alta, WV

The Automobile An American Cultural Icon

by David Ritchey Š2018 David Ritchey All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or for any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage system, without written permission from Headline Books, Inc. To order additional copies of this book or for book publishing information, or to contact the author: Headline Books, Inc. P. O. Box 52 Terra Alta, WV 26764 www.headlinebooks.com Tel: 304-789-3001 Email: mybook@headlinebooks.com ISBN: 9781946664310

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018941400

P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T AT E S O F A M E R I C A

Thanks to those who taught me to drive safely when I was an adolescent... and also to those who now drive me safely at times when I am unable to do so myself.

Contents Preface.............................................................................v Introduction................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Forerunners of Modern Automobiles..........11 Chapter 2: Veteran Era Automobiles.............................15 Chapter 3: Edwardian Era Automobiles.......................21 Chapter 4: Vintage Era Automobiles............................27 Chapter 5: Early Classic Era Autos...............................37 Chapter 6: Late Classic Era Automobiles.....................47 Chapter 7: Modern Era Automobiles............................63 Chapter 8: Future Era Automobiles..............................79 Index.............................................................................97 Books By David Ritchey..............................................99 About The Author.......................................................112

Preface Various groups of enthusiasts and collectors have divided the history of the automobile into a number of eras, and numerous criteria—such as means of propulsion, styling, size, utility, and year of production— have been applied. Distinctions are commonly made between antique cars, vintage cars, classic cars, and so on. The classification criteria vary, but consensus within any country is often maintained by major car clubs such as the Classic Car Club of America and the Antique Automobile Club of America. The chart below provides an illustration of the distinctions I have made for the purposes of this writing. Although some may define the years or the names of the eras slightly differently than I have, my purpose here is simply to suggest what the different eras mean and to provide a general sense of the timing for each.

Automobile Eras Chart v

The eras, as I have defined them, are as follows: • Antique Era: This covers the time frame from the initial development of experimental automobiles up until 1919. It is also called the “Brass Era” because of the many brass accessories that were included in each vehicle. The Antique Era includes both the Veteran Era and the Edwardian Era and commonly refers to cars more than 100 years old. o Veteran Era: This includes automobiles built before 1905. o Edwardian Era: This includes automobiles built between 1905 and 1919.

• Vintage Era: This period following World War I lasted from 1920 until 1940. Although there were over 500 automotive companies in 1910, by the time of the Great Depression of 1929, only 60 had survived, and 12 years later, there were fewer than 20.

• Early Classic Era: This covers the time period from 1940 to 1959. Some sources divide this into the Pre-War Era (1940–1941), the War Era (1942–1946), and the Post-War Era (1947–1959).

During the War Era, civilian car manufacturing was suspended as the automakers produced war supplies.

• Late Classic Era: This covers the time period from 1960 to 1979, and encompasses the Muscle Car Era (1964–1972) during which manufacturers produced a number of vehicles with extremely powerful engines.

• Modern Era: Currently, this describes the period from 1980 to the present, but many sources define the Modern Era as the 25 years preceding the current year. It appears that automobiles built vi

between 1980 and 1999 are part of a relatively coherent era that has not yet been defined, and it is likely that a new era, one that begins in 2000, will eventually be defined.

• Future Era: We don’t yet know for certain what the future will bring. There probably will not be a lot of major changes by 2020, but by 2030, all bets are off.

The main focus of this book is on American automobiles, primarily “family” cars that comprise the bulk of the market. Foreign cars are only occasionally mentioned prior to the point at which they became a major factor in the American auto market—beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the Modern Era. Similarly, sports cars and “trucks” (primarily in the form of SUVs) receive little attention until they, too, became major factors in the American family market.

Over the years, hundreds of automobile manufacturers have come and gone. In the United States alone, there were at least 1,800 manufacturers between 1896 and 1930. Very few survived, and only a small number emerged after that period. The history of America’s cars has been dominated by Detroit’s “Big Three”—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—and, to a lesser extent, the smaller, now-defunct American Motors Corporation (AMC). With numerous automobile makes and countless models thereof, it can be difficult to keep track of all the names.

The current American automobile brands of General Motors are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC; former American brands include Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saturn. The current American automobile brands of Ford are Ford and Lincoln; former American brands include Continental, Mercury, and Edsel. The current vii

American automobile brands of Chrysler are Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep; former American brands include Desoto, Eagle, Imperial, Plymouth, and Valiant. Past brands of the now-defunct American Motors Corporation include Hudson, Nash, and Rambler.

I would like to extend my thanks to my friend and colleague, Ellen Meyer, for her ongoing support and superb editing work.

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Introduction An automobile, also called a car, is a wheeled, selfpowered motor vehicle used for transportation. Most definitions of the term specify that cars are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight passengers, to typically have four wheels with tires, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. Throughout this text, I shall use the terms “automobile” and “car” interchangeably.

Today’s automobiles are complex, with a host of controls for driving and parking that are operated by hands and feet, and, on 2000s-era cars, occasionally by voice. These controls include a steering wheel, pedals for operating the brakes and controlling the car’s velocity (and, in a manual transmission car, a clutch pedal), a shift lever or stick for changing gears, and a number of buttons and dials for turning on lights, ventilation, and other functions. Numerous other controls for passenger safety and comfort are also installed. Since the car was first invented, some of its original controls have become fewer and simpler through automation. For example, all cars once had manual controls for the choke, clutch, ignition timing, and a crank instead of an electric starter.

On the other hand, new controls have also been added to vehicles, making them more complex. Cars today ix

typically have multiple types of lights, vastly modified air conditioning and heating options, navigation systems, in-car entertainment, and parking assistance. Also, while early automobiles’ pedals were physically linked to the brake mechanism and throttle, these physical linkages have increasingly been replaced with electronic controls.

Most cars in use in the 2010s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the burning of gasoline or diesel. Both fuels cause air pollution and are blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming. Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws, and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions have been propelling work on alternative power systems such as electricity.

The majority of automobiles are designed to carry multiple occupants, usually with four or five seats. Cars with five seats typically seat two passengers in the front and three in the rear. and large sport utility vehicles can often carry six, seven, or more passengers depending on the arrangement of the seats. On the other hand, sports cars are most often designed with only two seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage or cargo space has resulted in the availability of a large variety of body styles to meet individual consumer requirements that include, among others, the sedan, hatchback, station wagon, and minivan.

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Chapter 1

Forerunners of Modern Automobiles While I have defined the Veteran Era as including all automobiles built before 1905, that era can actually be divided into two different periods: 1886 to 1905, and before 1886. The year 1886 is generally regarded as the birth year of the modern car. In that year, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler (makers of the Mercedes-Benz cars) built what they claimed was the first car, but “first” depends on the definition of “car” being used. Their definition, which has become commonly accepted, was: “a light carriage for personal transport with three or four wheels, powered by a liquid-fueled internal combustion engine.”

If the definition of “car” is broadened somewhat, then cars were clearly around long before 1886.

The first recorded road vehicle to move under its own power was a steam-powered three-wheeled military trac1770 Cugnot tor designed by Nicholas 11

Joseph Cugnot and constructed in 1769 at the Paris Arsenal. It ran at a speed of 2 ½ mph, but was nearly uncontrollable, and crashed into a stone wall during a demonstration.

Josef Božek was a Czech inventor, the second after Cugnot to experiment with steam-driven cars. He presented his automobile first in 1815, and again in 1817 together with a river steamer. The vehicle had no brakes, no steering wheel, and was controlled by one steam valve regulating the power of the engine.

Steam-powered stage coaches were in regular ser1815 Bozek vice between many towns in Britain from 1820 to 1840; steam-driven road tractors hauled passenger carriages on routes around Paris and Bordeaux prior to 1850; and in America, steam coaches were built in the 1860 to 1880 period.

In 1875, Amédée-Ernest Bollée’s L’Obéissante (“The Obedient”) made the first road trip between Le Mans and Paris in 18 hours. L’Obeissante carried 12 passengers and had a cruising speed of 19 mph, with a top speed of 25 mph. It was driven by two V-twin steam engines, one for each rear wheel. In 1878, Bollee designed the Mancelle, which is regarded as the first automobile to be put into series production, 50 being manufactured 1878 Bollee in all. It possessed such advanced (for the period) features as rear-wheel drive (via shaft to the differential and then via chain to the rear 12

wheels) and independent suspension on all four wheels.

What was probably the world’s first engine was created in 1807, but it was installed in a boat, not a car.

In that same year, the first internal combustion engine to be powered by hydrogen was also created. The first commercially successful internal combustion engine was created around 1859, and the first modern internal combustion engine was created in 1876 by Nikolaus Otto. Otto’s engine originally operated on coal gas, but it was soon adapted for use with other fuels. It was a compact yet powerful engine, much different from the cumbersome, noisy, and clunky engines of a few decades earlier. Otto’s four-stroke internal combustion engine still constitutes the most prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion. The similar four-stroke diesel engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel and patented in 1895. The hydrogen fuel cell—one of the technologies hailed today as a replacement for gasoline as an energy source for cars—was discovered in principle in 1838.

Development of the battery-powered electric automobile was begun after invention of the lead-acid battery in 1859.

In 1864, Siegfried Marcus built the first gasolinepowered combustion engine, which he placed on a pushcart. Then, over a 10-to-15-year span, went on to build four progressively more sophisticated combustionengine cars that influenced later cars. One of his later cars, called the Strassenwagen, had about 3/4 horse power at 500 rpm. It ran on crude wooden wheels with iron rims and was stopped by pressing wooden blocks against the rims of the wheels, but the car had a clutch, a differential, and a magneto ignition.

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Chapter 2

Veteran-Era Automobiles (1886–1904) If we accept 1886 as the birth year of the modern car, then the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (see Chapter 1), which was powered by an internal combustion engine, can be considered the first such vehicle.

The Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888 by German inventor Andreas Flocken is regarded as the first real electric car of the world. Electric cars enjoyed popularity between the late 19th century and early 20th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time.

1885 Benz

1886 Daimler 15

1899 Hurtu

1901 De Dion Bouton

1901 Columbia

1904 Grout

In 1892, German engineer Rudolph Diesel was granted a patent for a “New Rational Combustion Engine.� In 1897, he built the first one, and at the end of the 19th century, hundreds of manufacturers all over the western world started producing a wide variety of vehicles powered by various technologies including steam, electricity, and internal combustion engines. The fuels used varied—from kerosene and coal oil, to petrol and diesel. Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.

In America, the brothers Charles E. and James F. Duryea were the first to manufacture and market a successful gasoline-powered automobile. They completed their first automobile in 1893, and in 1895, established the first American automobile manufacturing 16

company, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company. Orders began arriving soon, unofficially giving birth to the American automobile industry, as the brothers manufactured the first of 13 vehicles in 1896. But by the end of the century, they had split up, their relationship destroyed by envy and greed. Their place in automotive history was secure, though they would play a relatively minor part in the development of future 1900s cars.

Henry Ford had an engine running by 1893, but it was 1896 before he built his first car. By the end of the year, Ford had sold that car, which he called a Quadracycle, for $200, and used the money to build another one. Ford formed the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. A few prototypes were built, but no production cars were ever made by this company. It was dissolved in January 1901.

Ford would not offer another car for sale until 1903.

Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures, body styles, construction materials, or controls. Many veteran cars used a tiller, rather than a wheel, for steering. During 1903, Rambler standardized the steering wheel, and moved the driver’s position to the left-hand side of the vehicle. Most cars were operated at a single speed. Chain drive was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare. Drum brakes were introduced by Renault in 1902. Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and engine displacement ranged from tiny to more than a dozen liters. Many of today’s modern advances—including gas/electric hybrids, multi-valve engines, overhead camshafts, and four-wheel drive— were attempted and discarded at the time.

By 1900, at least 100 different brands of horseless carriages were being marketed in the United States.

Since they were all virtually handmade, the cars were outrageously expensive. Cars were perceived as no more 17

than a high-priced toy for the rich, often as a symbol of arrogance and power. Breakdowns were frequent, fuel was difficult to obtain, roads suitable for travelling were scarce, and rapid innovation meant that a year-old car was nearly worthless. Nevertheless, the horseless carriage was finding buyers, and demand for this new toy was growing. In many metropolitan areas, electric cabs, delivery trucks, and ambulances became familiar sights.

It was a blacksmith’s son who put the automobile on the main streets of America. His name was Ransom E. Olds, and he was only 18 when he hooked a steam engine to a three-wheeled vehicle and took off for a ride around his neighborhood. He noted that steam engines had a tendency to explode, and was ahead of his time when he foresaw that gasoline, which was then abundant and cheap, would fuel the cars of the early 1900s as well as those of the future. He began to work on an internal combustion engine of his own, and was among the first of the American inventors to recognize the need for an automobile that was functional and reliable—a car for everyone. He also recognized that, in order to survive the competition, his early-1900s cars had to be manufactured in a different way, one that was more efficient and less expensive. Olds came up with the idea of outsourcing the parts to small manufacturers. Of course, the word “outsourcing” was not used at that time, but that idea was a major breakthrough in automobile manufacturing.

He contracted with other companies to make some of the parts for his cars, and the final product would then be assembled in his factory. This method was indeed revolutionary during that period. Each individual part, then, was interchangeable—exactly the same as all other parts of the same model car. As a result, Olds’ assembly line was able to produce a considerable number of cars in a relatively short period of time.

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1900 - Cars in City

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Chapter 3

Edwardian-Era Automobiles (1905–1919) Cars were not widely available until the early 20th century. One of the first cars to be accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T Ford. After its introduction, cars were rapidly adopted in the United States, where they largely replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts; however, it was much longer before cars were accepted in Western Europe and other parts of the world. Initially the high-wheel motor buggies (resembling the pre1900 horse-drawn buggy) were popular, but they were eventually abandoned in favor of the more advanced runabouts, tonneaus, and other more expensive closedbody vehicles—and were ultimately eliminated entirely

1908 Model T Ford

1909 Austin 21

1909 Pierce-Arrow

1912 Marion Bobcat

1912 Oakland

1914 Stanley

by the Ford Model T. In the early part of this period, the development of steam cars, which were among the fastest road vehicles of the time, had advanced. Electric cars also held a market share throughout the era. Gasolinepowered automobiles eventually achieved dominance in the 1910s. Advances in internal combustion technology— especially the electric starter—soon rendered moot the advantages of other types of automobiles. Gasoline cars’ greater range, faster refueling times and growing petroleum infrastructure—along with their mass production by companies such as the Ford Motor Company, which reduced prices of gasoline cars to less than half that of equivalent cars—caused other means of propulsion to fall out of favor.

Although Olds and Cadillac developed the idea of standardized and interchangeable parts, it was Henry 22

Ford who introduced what became known as mass production, making it possible to quickly produce the early 1900s cars. Using mass production, in 1908, the Ford Motor Company introduced its Model T Ford in keeping with Ford’s desire to create a motor car that the average person could afford, operate, and maintain.

The first Model T Ford sold for $850. Ford’s ideas truly revolutionized car manufacturing by developing the first moving assembly line in 1914. The basic idea of the assembly line was to move the car on a conveyor belt while workers on each side added parts as the car moved along. Often the parts were brought to the workers on another conveyor belt. Each worker had a specific relatively simple task to perform, as compared to assembling an entire engine. The use of standardized interchangeable parts also produced a better end-product that could be easily and less expensively repaired.

Before the assembly line, it had taken more than 12 hours to assembly a Model T, but afterwards, the cars came off the assembly line at the rate of one car every 15 minutes, increasing productivity enormously, while using less manpower (from 12.5-man-hours to 1 hour 33 minutes). The method was so successful that paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan Black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1913, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. (This is the source of Ford’s apocryphal remark, “any color as long as it’s black.”)

Ford’s complex safety procedures—especially assigning individual workers to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury on the job. By 1915, the price of a Model T had dropped to $440, and by 1925, one could be bought for $290, placing it within reach of the average family.

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During this era, the various experimental designs and alternate power systems would be marginalized, and a system was developed to create recognizable and standardized automobiles. This system specified frontengine internal combustion automobiles with rear-wheel drive and a sliding gear transmission. Traditional coachstyle vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard runabouts lost favor with the introduction of tonneaus and other less-expensive touring bodies. Throughout this era, development of automotive technology was rapid, partly because hundreds of small manufacturers were competing to gain the world’s attention. Innovations such as hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions, and better steering were introduced. Key developments included the electric ignition system, independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. Leaf springs were widely used for suspension, though many other systems were still in use, and angle steel replaced armored wood as the frame material of choice. Transmissions and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the range of options familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass made its debut in 1905, and all-steel bodies were introduced in 1914. It would, however, be another two decades before all-steel bodies were standard.

World War I, during which trucks and ambulances were used in great numbers, proved to be a testing ground for automotive design and proved the value of the gasoline-powered automobile.

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1920 - Cars in City

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Chapter 4

Vintage-Era Automobiles (1920–1939) The Vintage Era in the automotive world was a time of transition. While cars were something of a rarity in 1919, by 1930, they were well on their way to ubiquity.

In fact, automobile production in 1930 was not matched again until the 1950s. During the Vintage era, most industrialized countries built nationwide road systems with the result that, towards the end of the period, the ability to negotiate unpaved roads was no longer a primary consideration in automotive design. Cars became much more practical, convenient, and comfortable during this period. Car heating made its debut, as did the in-car radio. Four-wheel braking from a common foot pedal

1921 Hudson

1924 Chrysler 27

1930 Packard

1934 Citroen

1934 Pierce-Arrow

1940 Buick Woody

was introduced, as was the use of hydraulically actuated brakes. During the Vintage Era, the system of octane rating of fuel was introduced, allowing comparison between fuels. In 1923, the gasoline additive ethyl made its debut at the Indianapolis 500 and resulted in a boost in octane from the 1950s to the 1980s.

The Depression of 1920-1921 brought with it an inflation rate of greater than 20 percent, a 7 percent Fed discount loan rate, and an 11.7 percent unemployment rate. Many companies went bankrupt and the automotive industry was decimated. Some automakers made it through the 1920-1921 Depression only to fail during the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the 1920s, many dramatic changes in the automobile industry took place. General Motors underwent a financial crisis that lasted until after Alfred Sloan became its president in 1923. Hudson produced the Essex in 1919, which, by 28

1925, had propelled the company to third in total sales behind Ford and Chevrolet. Ford was in the process of building a new plant, buying back stock, and beginning an 18-month process of tooling-up to replace the Model T with the Model A in 1927. In 1921, Maxwell Motor Company failed, Walter P. Chrysler, formerly of General Motors, was brought in to reorganize it and, in 1925, the Chrysler Corporation was formed. With Ford out of the picture for a time, Chrysler was able to produce and market the low-priced Plymouth in 1928, and bought out the Dodge Brothers, also in 1928.

Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been massproduced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced car design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who conceived of having a single company produce different makes of cars. His “General Motors Companion Make Program” enabled buyers to “move up” as their fortunes improved. Reflecting the rapid pace of change, different makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made

by Oldsmobile. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs that even companies with decades of production could not. Of some 200 American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived to 1930, and due to the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.

Styling became a fundamental way of building cars. This progressive thinking was based upon GM management’s observation that the earlier 1920s cars had been bought as a “once-in-a-lifetime” purchase, but American consumers were now beginning to “trade up,” to buy progressively more fancy cars. Starting with a Ford, they might then move to a Chevrolet, which would 29

then lead them to another car—a Buick or an Olds, or ultimately, a Cadillac. Sloan was receptive to the demands of the market and thought that if subtle changes in design and technology were introduced each year, supported by a shrewd advertising campaign, the average car owner would almost certainly grow dissatisfied with his current model. Once lured into the showroom, he would, through salesmanship, feel compelled to buy another, more desirable car. This concept, known as “planned obsolescence,” became a cornerstone not only of the car industry, but of the American consumer society, affecting the whole gamut of products—from lawnmowers to washing machines—that were made, marketed, and sold in America. Advertising was a critical component of planned obsolescence. Many 1920s cars were sold that way, mainly by the claims copywriters made in their advertising. They stressed style and design and power; the slightest change in appearance was heralded as nothing short of revolutionary. Then, as now, the motorist was bombarded by advertisements intended to compel him to step up to, and buy, a fancier car, as a matter of self respect. The deep, irrational attachment to the car had been nurtured by auto companies. This adherence to the “car culture” had resulted in cars of the 1920s spreading to the masses, who purchased the millions and millions of cars that provided the Big Three with such lucrative profits.

Henry Ford, meanwhile clung to the Model T. Although it was now being offered in a choice of color in 1926, the public spurned it. Ford initially resisted the urging of his son, Edsel, and his senior managers, but with sales of the Model T plunging 30 percent, he relented, realizing that its time had passed. On May 25, 1927, the company announced plans to unveil a new car to replace the Model T. Six days later the last “Tin 30

Lizzie” rolled off the assembly line. Production at Ford’s massive River Rouge plant stopped as the company went about the laborious process of retooling for a new model. There was just one problem: No one, including Henry Ford, had any idea what the new car would look like. Ford had to do the unthinkable—stop production of the Model T without having a replacement on hand.

For the next six months, the Ford Motor Company did not produce a single car. In the meantime, GM’s sales skyrocketed. During this time, however, Ford shrewdly held car buyers and the press in suspense, and imposed a “news blackout” that fueled speculation about his new car. Although numerous car buyers were going to Chevrolet showrooms, many of them were waiting in the wings to see what Ford would do. Speculation in the press fueled even greater interest, and soon rumors were rampant. When the new car—dubbed the Model A— was introduced in late 1927, it was the most significant launch in the history of the automobile industry. Never before had a car generated such excitement. Ford himself began the campaign with a series of five full-page advertisements in every daily newspaper in the country.

When the car was finally unveiled, public reaction was overwhelmingly positive. People waited in line for hours to get a glimpse of the new Model A. The 1928 Ford Model A sported Lincoln-like styling and prices starting at $460. It boasted a 200.5-cubic-inch engine capable of developing 40 horsepower. Orders for 400,000 of these new cars were placed in the first two weeks alone.

The Model A was one of the biggest news stories of the 1920s—comparable to Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic or the Dempsey-Tunney fight; it was also one of the biggest industrial stories of the 20th century.

The Model A was an enormous success, becoming the best-selling car in America in 1928. In both style and 31

substance, it was superior to the Model T, but it was hardly a groundbreaking vehicle. It was, rather, an inexpensive, modernized version of its drab but reliable predecessor.

Not everyone could afford to pay cash for a new car, but the 1920s cars became more affordable to the public when dealers encouraged purchasing on the installment plan. By 1925, 75 percent of all new cars were purchased this way. Henry Ford was opposed to selling cars on credit, but Alfred Sloan at General Motors wasn’t, and his flexibility redefined the American consumer society.

By 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, nearly half of the nation’s consumer installment debt of $2.9 billion was attributable to automobile purchases. It even was common for people to mortgage their homes in order to buy cars.

After 1929, the American automobile industry suffered a severe blow because of the Great Depression, which began with the crash on Wall Street in October 1929. The years 1931 and 1932 were very hard for the American automobile industry. New car sales fell 75 percent between 1929 and 1932. Also, installment credit came to a halt; many people who bought cars on credit now couldn’t make their payments. When people couldn’t buy cars anymore, the automobile industry, as well as the oil, steel, rubber, and glass industries lost support, and hence workers lost their jobs. The auto industry was such a big part of the American economic life that when it started hitting the skids, it would exacerbate the onset of the Depression in a major way. The “Big Three,” however, managed to weather the storm brought on by the Great Depression. Not so lucky were the smaller independents, many of which disappeared completely. Yet, no matter how brutal the Depression may have been in America’s 32

economic life, it did not destroy the country’s love affair with the cars of the 1930s.

Half of all employees who worked on 1930s cars had been laid off between 1929 and 1932, and those who were retained were forced to accept pay cuts and shorter work weeks. Difficulties between labor and management erupted as the work environment became difficult, sometimes unbearable. But forming unions was a difficult undertaking for assembly line workers.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers Union directed its attention toward General Motors, the world’s leading auto manufacturer. If the world’s largest automaker could be made to capitulate, surely other companies would follow. A series of work stoppages and brief strikes occurred with increasing regularity, but the strikers were instantly replaced, the assembly lines rolled again, and production of 1930s cars continued unimpeded. Union organizers realized that to be successful, more dramatic measures had to be adopted. Starting in December, 1936, plant after plant staged strikes that paralyzed General Motors. GM, with the aid of the police, resorted to the use of force in an effort to remove the workers, but the demonstrators formed barricades, and when police tried to break through them, the strikers stood their ground.

The confrontations resulted in dozens of people being injured, and Michigan’s Governor called in the National Guard to break the strike. Fortunately for the strikers, the National Guard was there, not to evict the strikers but to prevent further conflict. Soon order was restored, and eventually a settlement was reached. The 44-day sit-down strike had led to GM’s signing the first union contract in the history of the US automobile industry.

The union next turned its attention to Chrysler, the nation’s second largest automaker. Once again, workers seized control of the plants, and once again, friends and 33

families formed picket lines outside the Chrysler plant.

This time, though, there was no violence. In April, 1937, Chrysler settled with the UAW, and soon nearly every auto manufacturer in the country was at the bargaining table. Ford Motors, though, wouldn’t recognize the United Auto Workers union, or any other union. It took four years, with regular publicizing of the violence against peaceful strikers, to change things. Ultimately, on June 20, 1937, Ford signed an agreement with the union that gave Ford Motor company employees the best contract in the auto industry, and production of 1930s cars continued.

Fewer cars were sold during the 1930s than during the 1920s because of the Depression, but the improved styling, and design of cars were very important factors in attracting new buyers, with chromed and streamlinestyled cars being common by the end of the 1930s. During the 1930s, the American automobile changed from the traditional four-square styling into a streamlined (teardrop) shape that largely established the configuration of the cars we know today. The greatest impact of the streamlined designs was that the 1930s cars began to look like art.

By the 1930s, most of the mechanical technology used in today’s automobiles had been invented, although some things were later “re-invented” and attributed to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was reintroduced by Citroën in 1934, though it had appeared several years earlier in both road cars and racing cars.

In the same vein, independent suspension, which was originally conceived in 1873, was not put into production until appearing on the Mercedes-Benz 380 in 1933, which prodded American makers to use it more widely.

At the beginning of the 1930s, American cars had foot boards, sunshades on the windshield, separate drum34

formed headlights, and also rear lights attached to the car by connecting rods. During the decade, cars began to appear with rounded edges, headlights built within the chassis of the car, and improved driving comfort. The radiator grille and shell were tilted back slightly, which made the 1930s automobiles look speedier. Security glass was used for windshields, windshield wipers also appeared, and the first standard turn signals blinked on GM and other 1930s cars.

1940 Cars in City

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Chapter 5

Early Classic-Era Automobiles (1940–1959) The new 1940s cars had a lower, longer, broader, and more massive look than their predecessors. Hudson offered a combination automatic clutch with a semiautomatic transmission. The driver could select either the manual or semi-automatic shift with buttons on the dash. In 1941, Chrysler started production of the luxuryoriented Town & Country wagon, the forerunner of the modern-day minivan. Like the minivan, the Town & Country Wagon featured optional nine-passenger seating, a rear hatch, and was the first to include genuine wood exterior panels. A major improvement found in the 1940 Plymouth was the new All Weather Air Control

1941 Chrysler

1946 Ford 37

1950 Nash

1958 Ford

1954 Ford

1959 Chevrolet Impala

System. The combined heating and ventilation system provided fresh air, which circulated to all parts of the vehicles in summer and winter—even with the windows tightly closed. Sealed-beam headlights became standard equipment on De Soto as well as all other 1940s Chryslers.

The 1940s also saw the rise of the glamorous Lincoln Continental, with luxury cars rolling off a production line for the first time in the early 1940s.

US car production was dealt a setback because of World War II. In 1940, before its entry into the war, the US produced 4,680,000 cars. However, for a three- to four-year period beginning on February 9, 1942, all auto companies halted production of civilian passenger cars, and commenced production of war products including anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, aircraft engines, tanks, Jeeps, combat cars, shells, helmets, and many other 38

products that would ultimately help the US and its Allies win the war. This first-ever several-year cessation of new-car production ended July 1, 1945, when the War Production Board announced that the re-conversion to civilian motor vehicles could begin. However, reverting to peacetime production took a while after the war.

Despite pent-up demand, American factories produced fewer cars in 1945 than they had in 1909, before the advent of mass production. Between high demand and short supply, consumers clamored to buy any and all varieties of automobile. In the fluid years after the war, independent car makers like Nash and Studebaker seized a larger market share than they had before the war. After 1946, people had several years’ worth of savings to spend. The two auto giants, GM and Ford, offered their own auto financing programs, making it easier for the public to acquire dependable transportation. Moreover, as more people acquired cars, they demanded better roads, which state governments started to provide. And as more roads were laid, reaching more towns and cities, more people wanted cars.

There was a worldwide change in styling trends in the years immediately after the end of World War II. The 1946 Crosley and Kaiser-Frazer, for example, changed the traditional discrete replaceable fender treatment. From this point on, automobiles of all kinds became envelope bodies in basic plan. The ponton style, in which running boards were eliminated and fenders were incorporated into the body became the norm. Automobile design and production finally emerged from the military orientation and other shadows of war in 1949, the year in which the US witnessed high-compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors’ Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands. Hudson introduced the “step-down” design with the 1948 Commodore, which placed the passenger 39

compartment down inside the perimeter of the frame.

That was one of the first new-design postwar cars made and featured trend-setting slab-side styling.

Many innovations came from Preston Tucker, who designed the Tucker 48. It was Tucker who inspired the idea of a rear-motor and individual torque converters, and he went on to design a safety car with innovative features and modern styling. Despite the competitors he was facing, he continued making a water-cooled aluminum block, flat-6 rear engine; disc brakes; fourwheel independent suspension; fuel injection; having all instruments located within reach of the steering wheel; seat belts; and a padded dashboard. This sleek muscular car, which was only 60 inches high, had a third headlight or “Cyclops’ eye,” and could get a then-healthy 20 miles per gallon. Capable of generating 166 horse power, the futuristic Tucker could go from 0 to 60 mph in 10 seconds and could achieve a top speed of 120 miles per hour.

Despite the great promise of the Tucker, only 51 ever rolled off the assembly line as Tucker was dogged by alleged insider trading charges that dragged on for years, but were never proved. As a result of Tucker’s legal issues, this futuristic sedan suffered an early demise.

By 1946, the first radio telephones were used in 1940s cars, and the first power-operated windows were introduced. For the first time, drivers’ education was being offered at many high schools. In 1948, Chrysler adopted the new method of starting the engine with an ignition key. Turn signals began to appear on 1940s cars.

In 1948, Buick introduced Dynaflow, the first torque converter-type automatic transmission offered in US passenger cars of the 1940s.

In the rush to build post-war 1940s cars, few exterior changes from the 1942 models were made in the 1946– 1948 Plymouths. Engineering improvements were 40

minimal. They included a new gasoline pump eliminating the glass sediment bowl, and a long-life gasoline filter that was placed in the fuel tank. New, low-pressure super-cushion tires, introduced in 1948, gave Plymouth a more comfortable ride. In 1949, Plymouth again offered a nine-passenger car called the Special Deluxe Station Wagon. It had exterior wood trim and removable second and third seats. A new introduction—the six-passenger Deluxe Suburban—had a folding second seat ahead of a 42-inch flat floor and became the first all-steel-body station wagon. Automatic “turn-the-key” ignition was also introduced to low-priced cars.

In 1949, Chrysler revived the nine-passenger station wagon from pre-World War II days, called it the Chrysler Royal, and gave it a Town and Country look with modifications: The mahogany panels were eliminated and the sheet metal was covered by a special photographic transfer process, which simulated highly polished mahogany. The 1949 Chrysler was the first completely new Chrysler built since World War II. The 1950s cars became even lower, longer, and wider. The early 1950s saw the rise of chrome on cars, as an increasingly opulent society flourished in the United States. Many of the automobiles of the time were designed by stylists who took their influence from the transport industry in general, and therefore used ideas from both planes and trains prevailing during that time.

With the advent of the jet age in the 1950s came technological and design breakthroughs in the automobile.

One of those was the speed with which the automobile, despite complicated compound curves and forms, could be manufactured. The jet set lifestyle had captured the hearts of the American public, and car designers of the time exploited this fascination to turn out otherwise plain-looking family cars with wings, turbines, and 41

after-burner tail lights. At first, they were styling exercises; the 1955 Thunderbird from Ford experimented with a wrap-around windshield, and also featured exhausts, which exited through the rear valence, and small turbines up front in the grill. The style of cars changed quite a bit during the 1950s with car bodies, head lights, and old car grille styles all being extensively modified.

Throughout the 1950s, engine power and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artistic, and automobiles were marketed internationally. Small cars were introduced in Europe and Japan, and the Volkswagen Beetle resumed production in Germany, beginning exports to other nations, including the United States. At the same time, Nash introduced the Nash Rambler, the first successful modern compact car made in the United States, while the standard models produced by the Big Three domestic automakers grew ever larger in size, featuring increasing amounts of chrome trim; luxury was exemplified by the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.

Late in the preceding decade, Chrysler took a wrong turn, and went for the old-fashioned virtues of solid construction, lots of headroom, functional styling, etc.

In short, the 1949 Plymouths, Dodges, DeSotos, and Chryslers were excellent, but dull. Ford, which had lost the No. 2 sales position to Chrysler in the 1930s, passed Chrysler in 1950. Chrysler was permanently made a smaller factor in the US market after those comfortable, but stodgy 1949 models. Among the Big-Three automakers of the early 1950s, none was considered duller than the ultra-conservative Chrysler Corporation’s 1950s cars. Among Chrysler’s 1950s cars, few were more plain and practical than those of the company’s low-cost division, Plymouth. Occupying a niche that catered to sensible car buyers who favored solid engineering and low price over design, Plymouth had a devoted following 42

in the six years immediately following World War II. But as the 1950s progressed, public taste had changed, and automobile buyers increasingly demanded flashier, more powerful cars. Plymouth responded with the introduction of flamboyantly restyled automobiles, and these brash tail-finned 1950s cars almost immediately raised Plymouth’s stature from dowdy to dramatic, giving rival models a serious run. By the late 1950s, demand for Plymouth automobiles was sustained and heightened with the introduction of the Fury model in 1957, which catered to youthful, style-conscious buyers.

Tailfins were a trademark feature of 1950s cars, and before they ran their course in the decade, they came to be the defining feature of one of the most curious styling fads in the history of the automobile. Postwar Cadillac saw its tail-finned and chrome-laden 1950s cars—designed from Lockheed’s P38 Lightning Aircraft—becoming the epitome of American automotive style. Cars of the 1950s, like the Coupe de Ville and Fleetwood El Dorado, made Cadillac a must-have for affluent Americans as well as the Hollywood jet set. For most people, the name Cadillac evoked images of the finned, chromed, and gadget-laden “Fabulous Fifties” models, as seen in the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. No other luxurycar brand had this power in the public consciousness: not Lincoln, not Chrysler’s Imperial, and certainly not Packard, which quickly lost steam after 1958. For four decades starting in 1950, Cadillac had no serious competition in the US market.

Two outstanding 1950s cars were Ford’s Thunderbird and Chevrolet’s Corvette. Again, the two companies were fighting for the same market—which was huge—and the competition didn’t affect those two manufacturers’ bottom lines. Ford’s Thunderbird, was introduced as a V-8 two-seater for 1955, offering performance plus 43

luxury features like power windows. The Thunderbird was the better received of the two and became a tremendous success. Over the years, the Corvette became a truly world-class sports car, while the Thunderbird developed into a luxury car. Both were priced well out of the ordinary car-buyer’s range.

On September 4, 1957, the Ford Edsel made its debut in showrooms across the country. The launch came on the heels of an extensive, expensive, and exceptionally successful marketing campaign that had everybody talking about this mysterious 1950s car. When the release date rolled around, consumers flocked to the dealerships in record numbers. For a day or so, Edsel executives were thrilled—until they realized that people weren’t buying, they were only coming to look. The public thought there was something radically new coming out.

But it was really simply another 1958 model car, just like other 1950s cars. It had more gizmos and gadgets on it, but it didn’t live up to the hype. After failing to ignite the interest of car buyers, Edsel folded a few months into its third year of production.

With GM in the lead, 1950s cars got bigger, more luxurious, and more powerful through the decade. They also became more reliable, safer, and easier to drive.

In 1949, new car sales of more than 4.8 million finally topped the old record set in pre-crash 1929 by almost a million units. In 1955, sales approached 7.2 million. But the 1950s and 1960s were also a shaking out period for the manufacturers. Ten car companies became four. The casualties included Studebaker, Nash, Kaiser-Frazer, Hudson, Packard, Willys and Crosley.

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1960 - Cars in City

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Chapter 6

Late Classic-Era Automobiles (1960–1979) In the 1960s, the American automobile industry consolidated. There were “the Big Three”— General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—and American Motors.

These companies dominated sales of 1960s cars not only in the domestic market but also in the global market. In 1960, American companies built 93 percent of the autos sold in the United States and 48 percent of the cars sold worldwide. The handwriting was on the wall, however, because in the mid-1950s foreign auto makers—led by Volkswagen and followed shortly thereafter by Fiat, Renault, Datsun (Nissan), and Hillman—had begun to find their way into the lucrative American market. The

1964 Pontiac

1966 Oldsmobile 47

1970 Oldsmobile

1979 Buick

1976 Chevrolet

1979 Cadillac

European makers were joined by Japan that was then emerging as a major car-producing nation. The growing competition from imports disturbed Detroit, and the Big Three responded with their own small 1960s cars. GM produced the Corvair, Ford the Falcon, and Chrysler produced the Valiant.

In the mid-1960s, Japanese companies began exporting some of their more popular models such as the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Corona, Nissan Sunny, and Nissan Bluebird. The success of American Motors’ compactsized Rambler models in meeting this competition spurred GM and Ford to produce their own downsized (“economy”) cars. Nevertheless, performance engines became a focus of marketing by United States automakers, as was exemplified by the era’s “Muscle Cars.” In 1964, the Ford Mustang developed a new market segment, the “Pony Car.” New models to compete with the Mustang 48

included the Chevrolet Camaro, the AMC Javelin, and the Plymouth Barracuda. As competition increased, Studebaker, a pioneering automaker, shut down, and the trend toward consolidation increased. By the end of the decade, the number of automobile types had been greatly reduced.

Technology developments during the period included the widespread use of independent suspensions, more extensive application of fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in automotive design. Other innovations included the Wankel engine, the gas turbine, and the turbocharger. Among them, only the turbocharger— which was pioneered by General Motors and adopted

by BMW and Saab—endured, seeing mass-market use during the 1980s by Chrysler. Mazda continued developing its Wankel engine despite issues related to its longevity, emissions, and fuel economy.

GM introduced three new smaller “economy” cars in the US as 1961 models: the Buick Special, the Oldsmobile F-85, and the Pontiac Tempest. Oldsmobile’s F-85 was available as a compact sedan, coupe, and station wagon powered by a V8 engine, and marketed from 1961 to 1963. In 1964, the F-85 was upgraded to an intermediatesized car. The Cutlass was initially the top model of the F-85 line, but it became a separate model by 1964, with the F-85 nameplate continued only on the lowest-priced models through the 1972 model year. Subsequently, all Oldsmobile intermediate 1960s cars were Cutlasses.

In 1960, Chevrolet introduced the radical Corvair, which featured an aluminum six-cylinder rear engine layout, one-barrel carburetor, and three-speed manual transmission. While Chevy may not have technically “copied” the Volkswagen 1960s cars, many of the basics of the air-cooled rear engine, compact transaxle, and suspension were similar, with the main difference being 49

that the Corvair was larger—inside and out—and was an “American-size compact.” The Corvair embodied several production firsts for Chevy including: a rear aircooled engine, unitized body, production car turbo, and fully independent suspension for each wheel—front and rear. Early in 1960, a “sporty” Monza model was offered with bucket seats, full-wheel covers, and full vinyl interior. This model propelled Corvair sales and attracted the interest of enthusiasts for years to come. Even during this early period, the Corvair was developing a following and was considered one of the “sportier” compacts, sometimes referred to as a “poor man’s Porsche.”

Ford responded with the Falcon, marking its entrance into the compact car race. The Falcon was an uncomplicated little car that was available in two-door or four-door sedans and station wagons. The styling suggested that they were Ford products, but the Falcon was remarkably simple and attractive. Ford said it was “the world’s most successful new car,” and its sales took off for the stratosphere from the first day. In the annals of automotive corporate history, Ford’s little Falcon was the true success story among the 1960s cars.

Chrysler’s entry was its Valiant, a vehicle that was conventional in layout, but had a number of new features.

Initially it was sold as a separate brand, but subsequently displayed the Plymouth logo. The first generation was launched in 1960 and lasted until 1962. It was then redesigned in 1963 with a style reminiscent of European cars of the time. From 1963, Dodge then used the Valiant as a base for its Dart models. The only remnant of the Detroit compacts, the Valiant, was produced until 1976, when it was replaced by the Volare and its Dodge clone, the Aspen. From its creation, the Valiant and its various imitations had found a market, but the success of the Valiant led Plymouth to make a costly mistake.

50

Assuming the public was in the mood for smaller 1960s cars in general, it downsized its entire fleet. The majority of customers still wanted larger cars, however, and Plymouth lost a significant portion of its market share.

In 1960, Mercury introduced its Comet, an automobile that had to serve as Mercury’s compact, intermediate, and Pony Car entry all at the same time. The Comet was developed as a compact car for the Edsel line, but with the Edsel brand eliminated before the 1960 model year, Ford released the Comet as a separate model that was sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

The new AMC Rambler—cheap and easy to repair— was a hit in the recession-racked year of 1958, when American Motors was the only domestic car manufacturer to show a profit. In 1960, Rambler produced over 450,000 cars, and became number three in sales among domestic brands. Ramblers were the first cars to use unibody construction throughout their model lineup, the primary advantage of this technology being a stronger structure without the need for a separate chassis. With fewer squeaks and rattles, the overwhelming majority of contemporary automobiles—with the exception of trucks and some SUV’s—owe their design to some form of this car’s original unitized body construction innovation. In another safety milestone, Rambler was the first to offer seat belts as an option in 1950, and the first to provide them as standard equipment by the end of the decade. By 1962, the introduction of compact cars by the Big Three automakers had decreased Rambler’s market share.

The class of automobiles that became known as “Muscle Cars” is a product of the Late Classic-Car Era. They evolved from the pent-up consumerism that exploded after World War II. Overnight, it seemed, American consumers opted for bigger and faster cars.

Muscle Cars were something of a juggling act in that 51

they appeared at the time when Detroit was trying to stop the invasion of smaller imported cars. Among them were new, light-weight models like the Corvair, Falcon, and Valiant with large engines. The term “Muscle Car” generally describes a mid-size car with a large, powerful engine and special trim, intended for maximum acceleration on the street or in drag-racing competition.

Muscle Cars were differentiated from sports cars, which were typically smaller, two-seat cars, or GTs intended for high-speed touring and possibly road racing. They were, rather, high-performance automobiles produced mainly in the US between 1964 and 1971, having been spawned by the horsepower race. The Tempest GTO ignited the Muscle Car boom by giving the small-car, big-engine make an identity of its own.

As the national highway system grew and gasoline became plentiful, Americans wanted more power and more speed. In 1964, Detroit bowed to consumer pressure by putting big-block V-8 engines on mid-sized chassis.

The general trend towards factory performance was a reflection of the importance of the youth market. A key appeal of the 1960s Muscle Cars was that they offered the burgeoning American car culture a selection of vehicles that were priced just within reach of young people and had strong street performance and racing capabilities.

The affordability of these 1960s Muscle Cars was soon compromised by increases in size, optional equipment, and plushness, thus forcing the addition of more and more powerful engines just to keep pace with performance. A backlash against this cost and weight growth led in 1967 and 1968 to a secondary trend of “Budget Muscle” in the form of the Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Super Bee, and other stripped-down, lower-cost variants of these 1960s Muscle Cars.

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Even though the sales of true Muscle Cars were modest relative to general Detroit production standards, the cars had considerable value in publicity and bragging rights. They also served to attract to showrooms young customers, who would then buy the standard editions of these mid-size 1960s Muscle Cars. Models such as the AMC Rebel Machine, the Chevrolet Chevelle, and the Super Cobra Jet Ford Torino were factory upgraded to be turn-key drag racers. The fierce competition led to an escalation in horsepower that peaked in 1970, with some models of 1960s Muscle Cars offering as much as 450 gross horsepower.

During this period, the Muscle Cars’ performance became a liability because the automotive safety lobby, which had been led by Ralph Nader, policed the sale of such powerful vehicles, particularly to young buyers. At the same time, efforts to combat air pollution compelled Detroit to emphasize emission control, rather than power.

The situation was exacerbated by the OPEC oil embargo in 1973, which led to gasoline rationing. Soon, with all these forces against it, the market for 1960s Muscle Cars evaporated.

The Clean Air Act of 1970 called for pollutioncontrol devices that hampered performance. By the time Congress passed the Average Fuel Economy rule in 1978, the Muscle Car seemed doomed to extinction.

While performance cars did begin to make a return in the 1980s, spiraling costs and complexity seem to have made the low-cost traditional Muscle Car a thing of the past.

In the 1960s, Ford changed the direction of the Thunderbird from its two-seater origins, when it was launched to compete directly with the Corvette. But the public liked the new four-seater version and sales were good. These 1960s Muscle Cars sold over twice as many 53

vehicles as the 1958 model. Unitary construction was adopted in 1958 to make the car handle better, and it also featured a dropped floor pan to lower the ride height and, thus, the center of gravity, making the ride of these automobiles more stable. Coil springs all around gave an excellent ride quality, and although the car wasn’t as sporty as the original T-birds, it was quieter and more refined. It was, nevertheless, one of the speediest Muscle Cars of its day, which was one reason it sold well in those horsepower-hungry times.

The Chevrolet Camaro was introduced into the North American market in 1967. This was General Motors’ competition for the Ford Mustang. Although it was classed as a compact car (by the standards of its time), the Camaro, like the Mustang, was classified as an intermediate sports car, and was among the most enduring of the 1960s Muscle Cars. The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner can be credited with creating the BudgetMuscle market and was among the most influential of the 1960s Muscle Cars.

Ford had stopped production of the original, twoseater Thunderbirds and instead offered them as larger, four-seater personal luxury cars, starting with the 1958 models (which sold well). But dealers and buyers alike clamored for the two-seaters, which served as “halo cars” (unique cars, the function of which was to bring potential buyers into showrooms) for Ford. Ford explored various options for several years. Some Ford executives, principally Lee Iacocca, believed that there was a strong market for vehicles that were attractive, sporty, affordable, and that potentially catered to aggressive young buyers. The result was the Mustang, which was launched on April 17, 1964. It was a tremendous hit. Firstyear sales totaled 618,812 vehicles. The Ford Mustang Classic, built from the middle of 1964 through 1973, was 54

one of the most successful cars in in automotive history, and was the foundation for the class of cars known as “Pony Cars.” Although it was based on the platform of the Falcon, it had a unique body (hardtop coupé and a convertible) with distinctive, “long hood, short deck” proportions. With an attractive base price, the Mustang had an extensive option list offering a range of V8 engines, Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission or fourspeed manual, power steering, air conditioning, radios, and other accessories. A V8 Mustang with all available options would cost about 60% more than a basic Six, which made it an extremely profitable model for Ford.

Many auto builders attempted to duplicate the style of the original Mustang, but none could come close to capturing the spirit that those fabled cars brought to the American car buyers. The first competitor for the Mustang was the Plymouth Barracuda, which actually went on sale on April 1, 1964, about two weeks before the Mustang. The Barracuda was originally conceived as a low-cost way to expand the sporty appeal of the Valiant. Its sales, however, were a fraction of the Mustang’s. Soon, these cars were joined by the Camarobased Pontiac Firebird, the Mercury Cougar, and, in 1968, the AMC Javelin. Dodge joined the party later with the 1970 Dodge Challenger, an enlarged version of the Barracuda. Pony Cars were made as affordable alternatives to Muscle Cars. By American standards, these were high performance cars built on a compact passenger-car chassis. In terms of size, they are smallto mid-sized cars emphasizing sportiness, and frequently performance. Although Pony Cars were not necessarily high performance, the ones equipped with the more powerful V8s are generally classified as Muscle Cars, and equaled or exceeded the performance of the midsized Muscle Cars. Some of the most famous high55

performance Pony Cars include the Mustang 428 Super Cobra Jets, the Yenko Camaros, the Hemi Cudas, and the AMC Javelin.

The first Camaro models had unibody construction and were offered in two body styles, a coupe and a convertible. The second generation of the Chevrolet Camaro debuted in 1970 and was the most enduring Camaro design. The fourth and the last generation was introduced in 1993 and lasted until 2001.

The Javelin was American Motors’ answer to the Pony Cars competition. AMC joined the fray late—the Javelin was the last American Pony Car introduced to American car buyers. Trying to shed its conservative image, AMC came up with the beautifully sculpted Javelin, which was considered to be one of the best-looking cars of the 1960s. The 1968 Javelin was a little roomier, larger, and longer than the rival Mustang, Camaro, and Barracuda.

Production of the Javelin continued through 1974, but the 1968-69 models have the best, or certainly the cleanest, styling.

Pony Cars were considered halo cars, and the most significant market targeted by these “image builders” was the important youth market, buyers who were just getting into the labor force and had some disposable income. But by 1969, sales of Pony Cars were beginning to fall. As with most car redesigns, each subsequent generation of the Pony Cars grew somewhat larger, heavier, and costlier—geared to the “more plush, more features” mentality of the consumers. By 1975, only Mustang, Camaro, and Firebird were left standing among the Pony Cars; the others were victims of their failure to adapt to changing times and changing tastes. But the Mustang continued to evolve with the times, even when taking risks in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Mustang staged a huge comeback when the resurrected 56

“Boss 5.0” Mustang GT became one of the hottest sporty automobiles on the road.

The 1970s were turbulent years for both automakers and buyers, with major events reshaping the industry— events such as the1973 oil crisis, stricter automobile emissions control and safety requirements, and increasing exports by the Japanese and European automakers, as well as growth in inflation and stagnant economic conditions in many nations. Smaller-sized vehicles grew in popularity. The United States saw the establishment of the subcompact segment with the introduction of the AMC Gremlin, followed by the Chevrolet Vega and the Ford Pinto. The station wagon body design was popular, as well as non-commercial all-wheel drive off-road vehicles.

AMC was still around in the 1970s, and Datsun (renamed Nissan) was one of the major foreign competitors. Cars with diesel engines increased in popularity during the “energy crisis.” Vans became popular by the middle of the decade, but mini-vans weren’t really yet on the scene then and SUVs were pretty much unheard of, so people had station wagons until emission standards appeared and gasoline became scarcer. In the 1970s, car makers were forced to adapt to the reality of the times. In response to the gas crisis, cars needed to be more fuel-efficient; they also needed to comply with standards established in the Clean Air Act, and bow to consumer advocacy groups’ demands for safer automobiles.

Congress had begun to force the issue of emission controls by passing, in 1965, the Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act, which mandated tighter standards. The Big Three were compelled to make dramatic changes in the way they manufactured their products, but that was only the beginning. The Clean Air Act, which was 57

passed in 1970, ordered Detroit to reduce emissions by 90 percent over the next six years. This legislation prodded the developments of anti-pollution products— chief among them, unleaded gasoline and the catalytic converter. As a result, despite continued growth in automobile production, air pollution directly attributable to auto emissions began to decline.

Simultaneously, 1970s consumer advocacy groups, under the leadership of Ralph Nader, continued their campaign for safer automobiles, decrying the offering of powerful cars for public sale, particularly when targeted at young buyers. This resulted in the introduction of seat belts, padded dashboards, and improved braking systems. The automobile insurance industry then levied surcharges on all high-powered models, an added cost that put many of the high-powered cars out of reach of their intended buyers.

The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 caused a jolt to American motorists when the oil-rich countries of the Middle East declared an embargo against Israel and its allies, including the United States. The embargo led to price controls and gasoline rationing. Although it lasted for only six months, American motorists, who were accustomed to filling up at will, were forced to wait in long lines to get gas for their vehicles. With a nationwide 55-mph speed limit imposed to conserve gasoline, the average American motorist was at the end of his wits, and began demanding smaller, more efficient cars. And if Detroit couldn’t manufacture them, the consumer would turn to foreign cars. Even if the Big Three were manufacturing small cars (28 percent of production), they weren’t making enough of them. In fact, more than a million imports had already been registered by 1969, but American automakers were slow to respond. The US auto industry, blinded by its own record of success, 58

would lose customers by being unable to recognize sweeping changes in the global automobile market. The Big Three just continued to focus on their strengths: gashungry Muscle Cars; large, luxurious sedans; and midsized automobiles. Despite the impressive performance of the Volkswagen and other small foreign imports, US automobile manufacturers continued to view the compact car as a risky investment. In their thinking, the profit margin was too slim to justify an increase in production.

One of the new smaller American 1970s cars was Chevrolet’s Chevette, which was unveiled in 1975. It was an economical (if plain-looking) sub-compact that could get up to 35 miles per gallon on the highway. In truth, it was time for any kind of American car that could bring consumers into showrooms. Another of the 1970s cars was the Chevrolet Nova SS, but both of these cars were discontinued in 1972. The most interesting US models in the late 1970s were throwbacks to an earlier era— Chevrolet’s 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette came with a Stingray-like fastback, while Ford’s Mustang King Cobra was a throwback to the Muscle Car days, sporting stripes, a cool snake decal, and a 122-horsepower engine.

Having had a successful debut in 1967, the Camaro hit a slump in 1972. Five years later, the Camaro would rise again, selling over a quarter of a million units—and with a design that survived 11 years without any significant alteration. In general, the early 1970s were a bad trip for automobiles; all cars produced then were affected by regulations as well as the gas shortage.

In the 1970s, America experienced its worst recession in years, and Detroit felt the effects ofAmerican consumers’ fascination with the more quality-made imports. AMC responded to the situation with the Gremlin, a tiny twodoor hatchback with a base price starting below $2,000.

Available in various unpleasant earth tones, the Gremlin 59

was one of the quintessentially ugly cars of the 1970s.

In 1972, AMC launched the “Levi’s Edition” Gremlin to capitalize on America’s current infatuation with denim.

The car came complete with copper rivets and denimlike blue nylon on the seats and door panels. AMC also introduced “The Machine”—a factory-modified 1970 AMC Rebel, which ran a 14.4-second quarter mile in stock trim but was also built for normal street use. Its designers thought of it as a competitor to the GTOs. The quintessential 1970s US car was probably the Pacer, introduced by AMC as “the first wide small car.” The car’s bubble-like styling made it look like some car of the future from a 1950s showroom, but its heavy sixcylinder engine made handling awkward and caused the car to consume far more fuel than the average domestic compact. For all its hype, sales were disappointing, and the Pacer barely made it to the end of the decade.

Much easier on the eye were the 1973 Lincoln Continentals, the first Continentals to be manufactured with padded vinyl roofs and oval “opera” windows.

Lincoln stayed true to this popular look through to the end of the decade. One pricey 1970s car was the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, which in 1972, was priced at $10,000. It was a luxury car fit to lock bumpers with Cadillac’s finest. As big as they came and surprisingly fast, the all-new hunch-flanked body had a Rolls-Royceesque grille and distinctive, fake spare-wheel cover. It had air-conditioning, six-by-six-way power seats, and power windows, antenna, and door locks—all standard.

Lincoln’s limited-edition Continental Mark V Diamond Jubilee coupe was typically excessive, coming with a gold grille, special midnight-blue metallic paint, and a leather-bound owner’s manual and tool kit.

By the early 1970s, the corpulent Cadillac could average only 12 miles per gallon. The energy crisis of 60

1974 made the now-obese line a soft target. Cadillacs had become so swollen that they plowed through corners and were about as quick off the line as an M24 tank. Despite a massive 500cid V8, output of the 1976 Eldorado was a lowly 190 horsepower, with a top speed of just 109 mph.

Something had to change and Cadillac’s response had been the 1975 Seville, which was deliberately European in size, ride, handling, and economy. There was little ornamentation, and it was half a hood shorter than other Cadillacs. Launch price for the Seville was $13,700, $6,000 less than a comparable Mercedes, and sales of the new car rightly worried the German manufacturer.

The Volkswagen Beetle had been introduced to the US market in 1949, and although only two were sold that year, six years later, more than 20,000 were sold in the United States. By 1965, half a million reached the US market. A favorite among hippies and college professors, the Beetle became a symbol of the counterculture of the late 1960s. Among 1970s cars, its popularity was closely linked to its very lack of styling and pretense. With its number one attraction being price, young people flocked to buy the “Bug.” The Volkswagen was the antithesis of the typical American car: it was small, noisy, homely, and uncomfortable. On the other hand, it was also efficient and functional, as well as economical. The Beetle never changed. Year after year, it looked the same, felt the same, and sounded the same. Although the Big Three responded with small cars of their own, by 1969, more than 1 million imports were registered in the US and of those, half were Volkswagens. In 1973, sales of the Beetle passed the 15 million mark. That figure even surpassed Ford’s legendary Model T. In 1978, Honda sent a real warrior to the US—the Honda Accord, one of the first subcompact Japanese cars to feature great styling. The combination of mechanical 61

excellence and looks made this one of the best 1970s cars. Its low price also added to its attraction and, by 1989, the Accord was the best-selling car in America.

The Japanese worker, an epitome of absolute dedication and compliance with quality control, made this car one of the most, if not the most, durable and trustworthy cars in the world. While the Americans were turning out shoddy products or certainly not top quality, the Japanese automakers focused more on quality.

The GM Vega was a car regularly prone to mechanical failure of one sort or another. It was the direct result of management’s decision to cut labor costs through the use of automation. With an increase in quantity came a decrease in quality. The Vega became one of the most notoriously unreliable vehicles among 1970s automobiles. It was recalled three times because of safety defects. The engine as well as brakes frequently malfunctioned. The Vega therefore became a symbol of Detroit’s inability to make a quality car for the subcompact market.

The story of the Ford Pinto was even more disturbing, because its faulty design contributed to the deaths of motorists and their passengers. After being rear-ended, the Pinto tended to burst into flames. That stigma did devastating damage to the company’s reputation.

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1980 - Cars in City

Chapter 7

Modern-Era Automobiles (1980–Present) The Modern Era is usually defined as the 25 years preceding the current year, but I have extended it back almost 40 years because there’s not yet enough historical distance between the present and the 1980s/1990s for those decades to have developed a meaningful identity.

Most likely, those two decades will eventually collectively become their own era (perhaps appropriately named the “Pre-Millennial Era”), and the 2000s/2010s might also eventually collectively become their own era (perhaps appropriately named the “Post-Millennial Era”).

The Modern Era has been one of increasing standardization, platform sharing, computer-aided

1983 Ford Thunderbird

1990 Plymouth 63

1997 Honda

2015 Smart Fortwo

2005 Dodge

2017 Tesla

design, and increasing use of electronics for engine management, navigation systems, and entertainment systems. Of particular note are the proliferation of front- and all-wheel drive, the adoption of the diesel engine, and the ubiquity of fuel injection. Most modern passenger cars now have front-wheel-drive, monocoque/ unibody designs, and transversely mounted engines. The Modern Era has seen rapidly improving fuel efficiency and engine output. The automobile emissions concerns have been eased with computerized engine management systems.

Body styles have changed as well in the Modern Era; three types—the hatchback, sedan, and sport utility vehicle—dominate today’s market. All originally emphasized practicality, but they have morphed into today’s high-powered luxury crossover SUV, sports wagon, and two-volume large MPV. The rise of pickup 64

trucks in the United States and SUVs worldwide has changed the face of motoring, with these “trucks” coming to command more than half of the world automobile market.

In the early 1980s, American cars had a big problem: They were being outsold by imports—notably Japanese cars—and American carmakers were losing a lot of money. In the early 1980s, Chrysler lost $1.7 billion in a single year, Ford lost $1.5 billion, and GM lost $763 million. The Japanese, whose products were being derided

by Americans a generation previously, had done their homework and were producing cars that outperformed American-made ones. They created massive auto factories, where work was broken down into specific operations carried out by teams working cooperatively together, unlike the way Americans produced their cars.

In Japan, there was not only mutual respect between supervisor and worker, there was also constant dialogue.

Management valued the input of the assembly-line worker because he was closest to the production process.

In the US, management and workers didn’t get along well. The auto unions fostered a distrust between them, so the quality of the cars they made was less a source of pride than just a byproduct of their existence as employees. Industry observers estimated that for every 100 American cars coming off the assembly line, there were 700 defects.

The slide of American automobiles in the early 1980s was precipitated by the 1979 embargo on Iranian oil imposed by the US in response to the hostage-taking of American embassy personnel in Iran. For the second time in the 1970s, there were long lines and high prices at the gas pump. Fearing that their car usage could be restricted due to the gas shortage, Americans began to turn away from their gas-guzzling large cars and started 65

buying the smaller, more economical Japanese cars.

They discovered that Hondas, Nissans, and Toyotas were not only fuel-efficient, but mechanically sound as well.

Confidence in Japanese cars began to rise dramatically through a combination of advertising and word of mouth.

While the greatest recession/depression in the American auto industry began in the early 1980s, the Japanese carmakers were doing very well then. American drivers of 1980s cars made in Japan were getting used to a different kind of quality standard, the defect-free standard—the vehicle that almost never had to go back to the dealer for a repair. American car executives finally realized that to compete with imports, they had to raise their quality and productivity to survive in the car-manufacturing business.

While General Motors had 44 percent of the US market and made $4.5 billion in 1984, a series of miscalculations after that proved to be their undoing.

By the end of 1986, GM’s market share had fallen to 34 percent. Their 1980s cars were of low quality. The company relied on automation, but the technology failed to deliver; its million-dollar robots made more mistakes than its human workers, and the company continued to produce the shoddiest 1980s cars in Detroit. The Pontiac Fiero, a tiny plastic sports car that looked great but had a tendency to burst into flames, was one of the company’s worst cars. In 1989, the company built more than 240,000 of the 4-cylinder Fieros, and each one was recalled twice! Response was slow on its new GM-10 cars (which included the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Chevrolet Lumina, and the Buick Regal). Mechanical problems plagued the cars, sales were bad, and, losing money, the company slashed its work force and closed factories. Fortunately, at its independent Saturn division, the company’s management adopted the Japanese team 66

approach to making its cars. Saturn’s customer-friendly approach to selling those vehicles won customers over.

Ford, still reeling from the Pinto disaster, had to do something dramatic in manufacturing 1980s cars in order to save itself. Quality became the number one goal of the company—but not until it had lost $1.5 billion in 1980, $1.1 billion in 1981, and $700 million in 1982.

Ford had lost a total of $3.3 billion in three years—an astounding figure for a company that had not reported an annual loss since World War II. Although Ford had a profitable and respected line of trucks, among car owners the company had become something of a joke. It was decided that the company needed something completely different—a midsize car that was striking in both design and performance. That car was the Taurus. Introduced in 1985, the Taurus was instrumental in reversing Ford’s decline. It performed very well, it was smooth, efficient, economical, comfortable, and fun to drive. It was rounder and more stylish, and didn’t look typically American.

Even though Ford had turned the corner before the Taurus was introduced, by 1986, profits soared to $3.3 billion. The huge popularity of the Taurus, coupled with renewed interest in the company’s high-end “Panther” cars (the Lincoln Continental, Lincoln Town Car, Ford Crown Victoria, and Mercury Grand Marquis), helped Ford earn $4.6 billion in 1987 and $5.3 billion in 1988.

Chrysler’s comeback was engineered by Lee Iacocca.

After being bailed out in 2008 by the government with an unprecedented $1.2-billion guaranteed loan, the company, under Iacocca’s steady hand, slashed its workforce by half. With its line of K-cars—Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, Chrysler LeBaron, Dodge 400, and, in Mexico, Dodge Dart—performing strongly, in the first quarter of 1984, Chrysler showed a profit of more than 67

$700 million. At the end of 1984, profits had climbed to $2.38 billion, and were $1.64 billion in 1985.

American Motors was unprepared when fuel became relatively cheap in the second half of the decade, prompting car buyers to turn to larger, more powerful vehicles, and move away from AMCs small models.

AMC faced a financial crisis, and in 1987, Chrysler purchased the company, taking it on as Chrysler’s JeepEagle division.

In the 1990s, cars in America were experiencing mixed results, especially during the earlier part of the decade.

General Motors lost $4.45 billion in 1991, which resulted in the closure of 21 factories and thousands of jobs being lost, but the company slowly recovered. The Saturn division showed good results due to its customerfriendly approach, and between the strengthening of the GM European division—Opel in particular— and a partnership with Toyota whereby GM would produce a line of its new J-cars for Japan, by 1994, the transformation was nearly complete. For the first time since 1989, GM reported an annual profit.

Ford stumbled during the recession of 1991, losing $3.2 billion. But it was the Mustang line of cars—beloved by customers worldwide—that saved the company.

However, the muscular Mustang of the 1990s was a far cry from those made during the previous two decades.

These cars were brought to market quickly, efficiently, and at a comparatively low cost, becoming a hit with both motorists and the automotive press.

Chrysler’s troubles started soon after the crash of 1987. The company’s decision to diversify resulted in a money drain, and it lost $600 million in the fourth quarter of 1989 alone. Strong minivan and Jeep sales, however, sustained the company through those tough times.

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The new line of “LH” cars—the Dodge, Intrepid, the Chrysler Concorde, and the Eagle Vision—were getting very good reviews. The LH introduced streamlined, cabforward styling to the automotive market, maximizing interior room. World-class products were now being manufactured based on lessons learned from how Honda’s cars were made. The subcompact Neon, sold under the Dodge brand, cost several thousand dollars less than a Toyota Corolla, and it fared well compared to Japanese cars with its peppy engine, smart design, and dual airbags. Neon Cars acquired the reputation for being good, cheap, and fast.

With the recovery of the Big Three in the 1990s, the fortunes of the Japanese automakers declined. The Honda Accord, which dominated the market from 1989 to 1992, was outsold by the Ford Taurus. The devaluation of the yen meanwhile, didn’t help, because it drove up the price of Japanese cars. Honda and Toyota were closing factories and laying off workers while Detroit was producing some of the best cars in its history. American automobiles of the 1990s ruled the decade.

In 2004, after the dreadful first-generation Prius, Toyota relaunched the hybrid in an all-new second generation. Hurricane Katrina hit the next year, driving gas prices to $3/gallon and making Americans finally think about fuel economy. The second-generation Prius was ugly, slow, awkward, and rather expensive for the value. Still, Toyota sold every single one they could build due to its unbelievable 50 mpg rating. The American compact car scene prior to the introduction of the Ford Focus consisted of Chevy Cavaliers, Chrysler K-cars, and Ford Escorts. When the Focus hit the market in 2000, it proved that cheap doesn’t have to be shoddy, thus making this a best-seller and marking the birth of the decent economy car.

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In the 2000s, the auto industry experienced a second Golden Age, one bigger and grander than the first.

General Motors saw its share of highs and lows during the 2000s. The Pontiac Aztek, a mid-sized crossover introduced in 2001, was perhaps the lowest of those lows. Certainly not the worst car ever made—a host of others would be appropriate candidates for that title—it rightfully garnered the title of the “World’s Ugliest Car.” While its car-like ride and interesting options received praise, the public just couldn’t get past its looks, and Pontiac met only one-third of expected sales. Considered one of the biggest automotive bombs since Edsel, the Aztek helped drive nails in Pontiac’s coffin. Another major low was the Chevy Aveo, a subcompact car introduced in 2002 that showed us why GM deserved to go bankrupt. Somehow worse than an older Geo Metro, the Aveo was just as slow and loud, with none of the fuel economy. Its 1.4 and 1.8-liter four-cylinder engines were under-powered and boring, and they struggled to achieve 34 mpg. Still, they sold a significant number every month to buyers desperate to own a new car, and this enabled Chevy to bring out the surprisingly competent secondgeneration model, the Sonic.

The Cadillac Escalade, which had originally been engineered in the 1990s, became its own SUV in 2002.

The second generation sported an unheard of (for an SUV) 345 hp V8 and quickly became a hot choice. While neither the fastest nor most luxurious SUV built, it made an impression and kept Cadillac in the black. The 2002 CTS was Cadillac’s first real attempt to compete with European sport sedans. It marked Cadillac’s return to rear-wheel drive and had the first manual transmission in 15 years. While the looks were controversial, the handling and price were right, making this also a hot seller for Cadillac. The Z06 Corvette wowed the public in 2006 by 70

outpacing cars twice its price, but it ultimately lacked the sophistication to compete outright with the best of Italy and Germany. However, when GM created a $100,000 Corvette and slapped the ZR1 badge on it toward the end of the decade, it was a truly special car. Low, lean, and shamelessly self-aggrandizing, with a Plexiglas window displaying its supercharger-cover, the ZR1 may be the best American car we see for quite some time. The original H1 Hummer followed a guaranteed formula for making a car cool—legalizing a military combat vehicle for public use. While it had a very limited market, it was much beloved by its followers in the 2000s. Its successor, in the General Motors H2 version, was only bigger and uglier. Even before the upper crust, rap stars, and innumerable pimp-factories got their hands on it, the H2 was well on its way to becoming the primary target of the “Green Movement.” “Hummer” became synonymous with “The Wastefulness of Stupid, Rich Americans Who Hate the Environment.”

Ford, in 2002, resurrected its 11th-generation Thunderbird, returning to the original layout as a twoseat convertible. It wasn’t spectacularly fast, but its retro styling caught people’s attention and suggested that Detroit could actually make an aesthetically pleasing vehicle again. The Thunderbird can almost single-handedly be credited with inspiring the Retro Renaissance, the effects of which would define the next 10 years of American automobiles. Ford’s Mustang became the sole surviving Pony Car after Chevy dropped the Camaro in 2003.

Ford revised its most famous nameplate and created the S-197 in 2005. Bigger, badder, and better-looking than ever, the new Mustang revived interest in American cars.

The Retro Renaissance was gaining momentum, and it wasn’t long before GM and Chrysler could not afford to ignore it. Rumors immediately began circulating that 71

the long-dead spirit of American Muscle was rising again. The Mustang continued to sell like hotcakes, but by the time its arch-rivals finally appeared, recession had pushed consumers towards miniature econ-boxes and away from neo-classical American Muscle Cars. In 2004, Ford rebirthed an automotive icon in the Ford GT, which was a 100th-anniversary limited-edition supercar built to resemble the famous Ford GT40 that dominated Le Mans in the 1960s. The mid-mounted 550 hp 5.8-liter V8 propelled the GT to low 11s in the quarter mile, making it one of the fastest cars of the era.

Chrysler’s PT Cruiser, introduced in 2000, brought sales to Chrysler dealerships when they badly needed them, and made the buying public aware of retro design.

The PT won numerous awards, and the odd little cars could soon be found everywhere. By the time the PT Cruiser was discontinued in 2010, it had become synonymous with this decade. When Chrysler’s 300C hit the streets in 2004, it was a massive hit for Chrysler, for big cars, and for American design influence in general.

It looked like nothing else and was an affordable headturner. It won pretty much every car-of-the-year award and sold well into the six figures each year until the recession late in the decade.

There were a number of other automobiles not manufactured by the Big Three that proved to be noteworthy in the 2000s. Consider, for example: • The tiny Smart Fortwo, a city car from Daimler, hit the market just as Americans were getting used to high gas prices in the early 2000s. The tall but short (98 inches long) Smart only seated two people, but promised super-affordable motoring. Sales languished though, as the cars were expensive after being shipped from France, and 72

mpg was comparable to the much larger Honda Civic.

• It’s hard to imagine a car more responsible for transforming the public’s perception of gas-guzzling grizzlies than the world’s first mass-produced gas/electric hybrid. The second-generation Toyota Prius went on sale in the US in 2004.

Surging popularity helped launch Toyota above the already faltering domestic manufacturers and signaled the global automotive shift from the US to the Far East.

• Nissan’s GT-R came to America in 2008. Here was a car that owned the title as “the fastest production car in the world,” and yet it was 3800 pounds, had four seats, and was well under $100K. Every other so-called “supercar” in the world took notice. This vehicle was something totally unique, the next wrinkle in the evolution of performance cars.

• Much like the GT-R, the Audi R8, which was introduced in 2006, also raised expectations of what a supercar could be; only it did so with considerably more sexy body work. Audi’s first foray into the supercar world gave us an exotic vehicle that didn’t compromise comfort and convenience for performance and curb appeal.

• Before 2009, no one would have expected a South Korean Hyundai to win the North American Car of the Year Award. Hyundai’s vision for its Genesis sedan was to offer a car with the performance of a BMW 5-series, the interior packaging of a 7-series, and the price of a 3-series. But even though the car was certainly as attractive and alluring as any German or Japanese rival, its badge 73

deterred most people from even considering it.

Hyundai realized it needed a flagship to redefine its public image, so they followed up with the Genesis Coupe, and suddenly there was a car that made people question their loyalty to American coupes. The Genesis Coupe excelled in providing cheap performance in a tasteful package, the very thing that had made the Mustang so successful.

For the auto world, the decade of the 2000s closed much like the 1960s, in an atmosphere of chaos and upheaval, and again sank into crisis. Enthusiasts, young and old, feared that a similar fate awaited them in the coming years with news of outrageously stringent fuel-economy standards, and fear-mongering legislators feeding anxieties that we had already seen the best cars of the next 30 some-odd years. The economic crisis of 2008 cut almost a third of light vehicle sales from Chrysler, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan. It also subtracted about a fourth of Honda’s sales and about a seventh of sales from General Motors.

Since 2009, China has become the world’s largest car manufacturer, with production greater than Japan, the United States, and all of Europe combined.

For the Modern Era, taken as a whole, cars that would be considered exemplary include: • 1966–present: Toyota Corolla—A Japanese saloon/sedan that, as of July 2013, was the bestselling nameplate of all time, with over 40 million sold across 11 generations through July 2013.

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•

1973–present: Mercedes-Benz S-Class—Seat belt pretensioner, and electronic traction control system.

•

1975–present: BMW 3 Series—The 3 Series

made Car and Driver magazine’s annual Best10 list 17 times.

•

1976–present: Honda Accord—One of the bestselling cars in the US since 1989. Believed to be one of the world’s most reliable cars. Has been on the Car and Driver Best 10 list a record 30 times.

•

1983–present: Chrysler minivans—The two-box minivan design nearly pushed the station wagon out of the market.

•

1986–present: Ford Taurus—This mid-sized front-wheel-drive sedan dominated the United States market in the late-1980s.

•

1997–present: Toyota Prius—Initially launched in the Japanese market, this vehicle became the best-known hybrid electric vehicle and also the world’s top selling hybrid.

•

1998–present: Ford Focus—One of the most popular hatchbacks and Ford’s best-selling world car.

•

2006–present: Ford Fusion hybrid—Perhaps the most advanced car of the bunch, this vehicle is an unpretentious family sedan with good fuel economy, handling, ride, and interfaces. It is the most mainstream, and thus the most important, alt-fuel vehicle on the road.

•

2006–present: Honda Fit —A front-engine, front-wheel-drive subcompact vehicle. A hybrid version was introduced in Japan in 2010, and a full-electric version in 2013.

•

2008–2012: Tesla Roadster—The first highwaycapable all-electric vehicle in serial production 75

for sale in the United States in the Modern Era. It sold about 2,500 units worldwide.

•

2010–present: Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt—An all-electric car and a plug-in hybrid, respectively. They launched in December 2010 and are the world’s top selling mass production vehicles of their kind. As of early December 2015, global Leaf sales totaled 200,000 units and Volt sales over 100,000.

•

2012–present: Tesla Model S—Introduced in 2012, the Model S quickly built up sales. It was ranked as the world’s best-selling plug-in electric vehicle in 2015. It was also named Car of the Century by Car and Driver magazine.

As we approach the end of the 2010s, car propulsion technologies that are under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Vehicles using alternative fuels, such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles, are also gaining popularity in some countries. Research into future alternative forms of power includes the development of fuel cells, homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), Stirling engines, and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen. New materials that may replace steel car bodies include duralumin, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes.

Worldwide, road traffic is becoming ever safer, in part due to efforts by governments to implement safety features in cars (e.g., seat belts, air bags, etc.), reduce unsafe driving practices (e.g., speeding, drinking and driving, texting and driving, etc.), and make road design safer by adding features such as speed bumps, which re76

duce vehicle speed, and roundabouts, which reduce the likelihood of a head-on-collision (as compared with an intersection).

2010 - Cars in City

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Chapter 8

Future-Era Automobiles (2020–2049) There is much speculation as to what cars will be like in the future. Generally, it is believed that they will be autonomous (self-driving)†, powered by something other than internal combustion engines, and connected to the Internet. Not much of this will occur by 2020, but it’s a different story for 2050. Some people ask if there will even be cars in 2050, or will an invention that will be 150 years old by then be replaced by something better. Might environmental concerns spell the end of the automobile, or might people become tired of getting behind the wheel, as some recent studies suggest? Perhaps, but the reality is that the automobile is a very liberating and flexible way of getting around, one that fulfills people’s desire to move about freely and independently. Done right, it An autonomous (self-driving) car is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Many historical projects related to vehicle autonomy have in fact only been automated (made to be automatic) due to a heavy reliance on artificial hints in their environment such as magnetic strips. Autonomous control implies good performance under significant uncertainties in the environment for extended periods of time and the ability to compensate for system failures without external intervention.

†

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Future Car (1)

Future Car (2)

Future Car (3)

Future Car (4)

Future Car (5)

Future Car (6)

can be a sustainable and safe mode of transportation, but it must be acknowledged that this form of mobility comes at a cost: Polar ice is melting, megacities are becoming smothered by smog and congestion, resources are dwindling, and about 1.2 million people die in traffic accidents globally every year. Mass-motorization in emerging countries means that there will be more than 80

three billion vehicles on the planet in 2050, compared to about one billion today.

People value flexibility, and just as they have come to expect it from their smartphones and laptops, so, too, they want it from their cars. Mobile technology has allowed people to make decisions on everything in an instant and away from home, and they will want those same freedoms in their cars. As mobile Internet becomes ever more powerful, it will be totally normal and convenient to step out on the street and make an immediate decision about transportation—hail a self-driving shared vehicle, jump into the car of a social-media friend, who just happens to be driving by and going in the same direction, or take public transportation, if that is the best option.

The car will be totally integrated into a greater mobility network.

Safety will always be a top concern, and car manufacturers will continue to develop technology to help reduce accidents. Government mandates to increase fuel economy and reduce pollution will lead to smaller vehicles that consume less gas, and a high percentage of electrified vehicles will be on the road.

These days, many younger people aren’t that interested in cars and are more focused on social connection through a mobile device like a smart phone or tablet. If fewer of them learn to drive and instead use a form of public transportation—at least temporarily—there would likely be fewer new cars sold and a reduction in city traffic and thus pollution until that scenario changes.

What will the 2050 car look like? Will it still be recognizable as a car? It might still have a steering wheel, but maybe just a joystick. It presumably will still have four seats and wheels and might continue to resemble a metal box. But the similarities may end there. Carbon fiber or other lightweight material will 81

likely replace steel, because making cars lighter is one way that automakers can meet higher mileage standards.

Using carbon fiber to reduce weight could improve fuel economy by 7%. The design will be a mix of efficient contours (low aerodynamic drag) and emotional styling.

The car of 2050 will probably still be relatively easy to recognize, which might not be true for the phone or computer. This is because a car is a car is a car— something designed to transport people and goods, and as long as people continue to be the same size as they are now, cars won’t look all that much different in the future.

But what will actually power these cars? Electricity?

Hydrogen? Or will it still guzzle petrol and diesel?

At first glance, one might think the good old internal combustion engine is on its way out, but this expectation may be premature. In the future, the daily commute will probably be in an electric vehicle with no combustion engine, and the electricity grid is likely to include a much higher percentage of renewable energy, so everyday driving will be cleaner as well. But what about longer trips? Batteries might allow a 500-mile range, but they are likely be heavy and expensive, and recharging them might take quite a bit of time. So, the ultimate solution for long-distance car travel will probably still be a combustion engine. In 2050, a small, turbo-charged, rotary engine is likely to serve as a range extender to be used only a few days a year, but good to have on board.

Another range extender might be wireless power transfer to the vehicle as it moves along the highway. (Wireless transmission of energy was envisioned and experimented with by Nicola Tesla in the early 1900s.) An alternative is hydrogen-powered vehicles in which hydrogen is converted into electricity in a fuel cell. This would result in a smooth electric drive, with only water vapor coming out the tailpipe. While fuel-cell technology has already 82

come a long way, there are still challenges to overcome, such as where to get the hydrogen.

The electric-car market is growing, but it remains small. Bloomberg, however, expects that the 2020s will be the decade of the electric car, and projects that more than a third of all cars will be electric by 2040.

With a 35% decline in battery prices in 2015, electric cars will probably be as affordable as their gasoline counterparts within just six years, and that is likely to spark a widespread adoption of electric cars. For now, electric cars make up a minuscule fraction of road cars— just 0.1%. And whether it’s denial or knowledge the rest of us don’t yet have, by and large, the oil industry seems unconcerned about those projections.

Hybrids will become a much bigger percentage of cars sold, as will “mild” hybrids, those that use a small lithium ion battery to power a stop/start system and regenerative brakes, resulting in a 10% improvement in fuel economy. The remaining gas-engine models will rely on turbocharging and direct-injection, and engine size will be a factor as well. These factors could improve fuel economy by as much as 20%. Transmissions with more gears should add another 6% improvement.

A shift to electric reduces the mechanical complexity of cars a great deal. No transmission or internal combustion engine means far fewer moving parts. That may change the sophistication and capital required to design and build cars, which, in turn, may change who can build them and how they get built. Gear boxes and premium sports transmissions would become software in much the same way that electromechanical calculating machines or cameras were transformed into software.

For many user interface devices, such as cameras and cell phones, there is a point at which the interface is perfectly optimized—but then, after that, new features 83

tend to proliferate. While each feature alone may make perfect sense, the user who is then swamped by multifunction controls can find it hard to determine what does what—which is pretty much the situation today.

It’s pretty easy to look at a car and say, “This should be a smartphone”—somehow. It also seems likely that the right way to make that happen is with software, not engineering, and that the features should be driven by a software-powered device that is replaced every two years, rather than replacing the car every 10 years.

To the extent that “smart” is added to a car, it should really be from a device like a smartphone, with the car dashboard itself being “dumb glass” just like a connected TV. That would not be limited just to the navigation or entertainment—the most valuable place to add smart is to the driving controls and displays. Many car companies are already working with Apple to integrate Siri into automobiles, creating virtual personal assistants in the car to help with routes, traffic information, and the scheduling of one’s day. Vehicles will be fully integrated into the digital lifestyle of 2050—whatever that turns out to be. It is hard to imagine what the world of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google will be like in 30 years, but it can be assumed that everything that has a digital representation will be available in cars. Microprocessors are already embedded into many parts of an automobile—from an engine’s control-valve timing system to the seat controls. So why not have a microprocessor that manages financial transactions?

Several states already offer special debit cards that mount to the car’s windshield and automatically handle the financial transaction as the vehicle passes through a toll both, but those are primitive compared to what’s to come. In the future, when the driver pulls into the drivethru at a fast-food restaurant, a local Wi-Fi network will 84

be able to communicate with the vehicle by way of an encrypted wireless signal. In other words, after you order your food, the car will automatically make the financial transaction.

Having wireless networks set up along the roadways— such as those necessary for seeing images of upcoming intersections—translates to endless possibilities for cars and drivers in the future. For example, a maintenance station could remotely signal the in-car navigation system that it’s time for an oil change. Better yet, it could go ahead and wirelessly upgrade the car’s software modules or check the performance of its safety sensors. Perhaps even more exciting are the possibilities for electric hybrids. Once electric cars outnumber gas-engine cars, satellite-based wireless power systems could recharge vehicles from space; the satellites would gather solar energy and then transmit that power to a receiver on the vehicle via a wireless signal. It would work the same as a wireless computer network, except the signal would carry energy instead of data.

Experiments have been conducted on automating cars since at least the 1920s. Promising trials took place in the 1950s and work has proceeded since then. The first self-sufficient and truly autonomous cars appeared in the 1980s. Since then, numerous major companies and research organizations have developed working prototype autonomous vehicles. In 2015, five US states (Nevada, Florida, California, Virginia, and Michigan) together with Washington, DC, allowed the testing of fully autonomous cars on public roads.

Autonomous cars will do much to improve traffic safety given that 81% of car crashes are the result of human error. In the US, more than 30,000 people die in traffic-related deaths every year. But self-driving cars could drastically reduce the number of accidents 85

and help to save thousands of lives. In fact, if about 90% of cars on American roads were autonomous, the number of accidents would fall from 6 million a year to 1.3 million. Deaths would fall from 33,000 to 11,300. A fully autonomous car will be able see what’s coming up and react immediately—whether that means detecting a person crossing the street or swerving to avoid oncoming traffic. There’s no doubt the artificial intelligence required to provide this sort of protection is incredibly sophisticated, but it’s becoming more widely available every day. Vehicles equipped with hundreds of sensors will be able to monitor their surroundings, both from a short-range perspective and a long-range perspective.

But they won’t be working alone. Cars of the future will also utilize video monitors located at intersections.

Currently planned for many towns and cities across the United States, these monitors will feed data to your car over a wireless network. From as far away as 30 miles, they’ll be able to transmit video imagery right to the car’s dashboard.

Driverless cars will make driving more efficient on all fronts. There’s great potential for increased efficiency in both decreased fuel consumption and better traffic flow. Autonomous vehicles are designed to optimize efficiency in acceleration and braking, thus helping to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

In fact, adoption of autonomous cars could reduce CO2 emissions produced by cars by as much as 300 million tons per year. Because cars will be automated, there will be less chance of accidents caused by human error, leading to less traffic congestion. They will also allow for higher speed limits, smoother rides, and increased roadway capacity with minimized traffic congestion, due to decreased need for safety gaps at higher speeds.

Estimates are that the capacity of properly designed 86

highways could be increased by as much as 445%. It’s also expected that the rise of self-driving taxis will help decrease the total number of cars on the road, alleviating the overall traffic.

With the cars doing most or all of the driving, people will be freed up to make the most of the time they spend in their vehicles—like chatting with their passengers or catching up on their reading without having to worry too much about road safety. And because traffic congestion is also expected to decrease, it will likely take less time to get to one’s destination, which will also help create more valuable time for things other than commuting.

Commuters worldwide could save a combined 1 billion hours every day once autonomous vehicles go mainstream.

Autonomous cars will allow for significant improvements in infrastructures and services. Many larger cities are plagued with the problem of providing adequate public transportation because their current infrastructures are insufficient to support the needs of their residents. This void could partially be filled by selfdriving cars. Moreover, parking problems for personal vehicles could be eased because the autonomous vehicle, even if it is not shared, could drop its passengers off at their destination and then drive some distance on its own to a remote car park. Additionally, disabled individuals, who have to rely on public transportation or assistance from others to get around, could reap the benefits of selfdriving cars with new freedom and enhanced mobility.

Despite the rapid advances that are occurring in the move toward autonomous cars, there are still many issues that have yet to be resolved. Among these are: • The computer software for an autonomous vehicle, like any other software, is always subject to glitches, and with glitches come consequences.

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As of yet, artificial intelligence still isn’t capable of functioning in chaotic inner-city environments.

Extremely accurate mapping systems will be required for the navigation system’s GPS. The sensing and navigation systems of these vehicles is subject to disruption from different types of weather and deliberate interference, including jamming and spoofing.

• In order for a computer to operate a vehicle, a lot of information would have to be stored on the software. Particularly with interconnectivity involving V2V (vehicle to vehicle) and V2I (vehicle to infrastructure), it becomes just another mobile device that can gather any information about an individual. Ensuring appropriate security could prove to be a major obstacle, and the technology would be of very high interest to hackers.

• There are some areas in which autonomous automobiles could actually create new safety problems. When the car’s computer system malfunctions—as it occasionally will—the driver is put in a more dangerous situation than if s/he had been controlling the vehicle himself or herself. Research has shown that drivers in autonomous cars react more slowly when they have to intervene in a critical situation, compared to if they were driving manually. The reliance on technology could mean that over time, drivers would no longer be equipped with the skills to operate cars. If other technology fails, such as traffic signals that the cars rely on, there’s no accounting for human traffic direction. In the event of an accident, for example, where a police 88

officer is directing traffic, the cars cannot interpret human signals. It is also unclear how selfdriving cars would maneuver through hazards like roadblocks or unique local driving laws. A self-driving car doesn’t completely eliminate the likelihood of a car accident. Currently, there is no legal precedent for how a case would be handled, and the question of who would be held responsible—the driver, the car manufacturer, or the software developer—remains unanswered.

•

For people who work in a city, the lack of stressful driving, more productive time during the trip, and the potential savings in travel time and cost could become an incentive to live far away from that city, where land is cheaper and the environment is less chaotic. This would increase travel distances and induce more urban sprawl, more fuel consumption, and an increase in the carbon footprint of urban travel. There is also the risk that traffic congestion might increase, rather than decrease.

•

A direct impact of widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is the loss of drivingrelated jobs in the road transport industry. The implementation of these vehicles in the mass market might cost up to 5 million jobs in the US alone, making up almost 3% of the workforce.

Those jobs include drivers of taxis, buses, vans, trucks, and e-hailing vehicles. There could be resistance from professional drivers and unions threatened by such job losses. Additionally, there could be job losses in public transit services and auto body repair shops.

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Some industry analysts predict that by 2026 most, if not all, of these problems will have been resolved and that the movement toward complete vehicle autonomy will begin in earnest. They forecast that by 2050, virtually 100% of cars sold globally will be autonomous.

Up until that time, while many autonomous cars will be on the market, drivers will still be required in the event of emergencies.

Innovations in ride-sharing, car-sharing, and longdistance transportation are bringing us closer than ever to a world in which car ownership is a choice—not a necessity. On-demand car companies like Uber and Lyft have quickly become dominant. To make any sort of prediction about the future of cars, one needs to consider changes in the sharing of transportation infrastructure, the driverless revolution, and the dramatic shift towards electric and hybrid architectures of cars.

Transportation seems to be following a path that is very similar to that of cloud computing. Renting a ride for point-to-point transportation with a click of a button is a lot like renting some capacity within a server for web hosting. While it is inappropriate to claim that we’re near the point where we don’t need to own cars, in a couple of decades, owning a car will be much less critical. A few factors play into this. First, the world is increasingly urban. Fifty years ago, across the globe, approximately 3 out of 10 people lived in cities; today it’s more than 5 out of 10 and increasing rapidly. With more people living in densely populated areas, the cost of parking will rise ever higher, discouraging car ownership. At the same time, more people living close to work means it will become easier to manage a commute on public transportation. Second, we’re getting ever closer to the point where renting is frictionless. The mobile Internet is making the process of accessing resources on demand 90

cheap and easy. This ease of access to transportation will only increase once we have a fleet of autonomous vehicles roaming the roads. As the technologies improve, the relative benefits of car ownership will diminish. It’s true that only a tiny segment of the population can truly view such transportation services as real substitutes for car ownership in today’s market, but it seems inevitable that innovation will make this option appealing to an ever-larger group of people over time.

In places such as airports, there will be a network of different options to integrate the various available services, all of them combined in one app on our 2050 communication device. Basically, we tell the app where we want to go and, based on our preferences, three different optimized transportation modes will be offered, similar to the three different routes that a GPS navigation system offers us today. If you want to go into the city, on your mobile, you access a taxi app and book a car. When it arrives, you swipe a transport or credit card to unlock it. The app has told the car where you want to go to and it takes you there. You then swipe your card to pay and the doors unlock to allow you to get out. The vehicle then auto-accepts the next request in the queue for a passenger nearby or finds the nearest charging point for a battery top up. No humans (apart from the passenger) are involved.

It’s not yet clear quite how on-demand and autonomy will change car ownership in the next few decades, but it can only push demand down, with fewer cars being sold.

Meanwhile, the move to electric cars can reduce their price. The question is whether people buying these cars want one that drives itself, or do they prefer the “driving experience?” The answer is probably both. The rise of on-demand car services changes what it means to own a car and changes who buys them, and that, in turn, may 91

also change what the vehicles look like. It won’t be the same for everyone everywhere. There will eventually be a point of equilibrium in each urban area where supply, demand, and price stabilize at a sustainable level, and that point of equilibrium will look different in different places. The number of people who stop having a car (or using one) or who stop using public transport will vary; it won’t be universal, but it will be substantial. To the extent that this does happen, the question becomes who owns those cars and what do they look like? It may make more sense for the cars themselves to be owned by someone with a big balance sheet—a GE Capital, if you will—that owns hundreds or thousands of cars with an optimized financial structure, rather than individual drivers getting their own leases. That means that the cars would be bought the way Hertz buys cars, or, perhaps more accurately, the way large corporations buy PCs. In this world, what matters is return on investment and a checklist of features, not flair, design, innovation, or fit and finish. The US car-rental companies currently account for around 15% of the US industry’s output, and some models are specifically designed with this market in mind. They’re not the cool ones. If all those autonomous cars are also on-demand cars, then they are neither bought by you nor summoned by you based on the design. If you’re calling a car owned by another ordinary person who’s out to dinner then they might have bought an Apple or Tesla vehicle for the design, but if you summon one from a corporate fleet then it will presumably be quite basic and utilitarian.

The flying car has always been, and remains today, the “holy grail” of automobile development. Many prototypes have been built since the first years of the twentieth century, but none have yet reached production status. In the period between 1956 and 1958, Ford’s 92

Advanced Design studio built the Volante Tri-Autodyne, a 3/8 scale concept car model. It was designed to have three ducted fans, each with its own motor, which would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. In 1957, Popular Mechanics reported that Hiller Helicopters was developing a ducted-fan aircraft that would be easier to fly than helicopters, and should cost a lot less. In 1956, the US Army’s Transportation Research Command began an investigation into “Flying Jeeps,” ducted-fan-based aircraft that were envisioned to be smaller and easier to fly than helicopters. In 1957, three manufacturers were assigned contracts for building and delivery of prototypes, all of which were delivered, but the Army decided that the Flying Jeep concept was unsuitable for the modern battlefield, and concentrated on the development of conventional helicopters. Beginning in the 1980s, numerous manufacturers have engaged in research and development of flying cars, and while many prototypes are in the process of being tested, full-scale production still seems to be a long way off.

A practical flying car would have to be capable of safely taking off, flying, and landing throughout heavily populated urban environments. To date, however, no vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle has ever demonstrated such capabilities. To produce such an aircraft would require a propulsion system that is quiet, to avoid noise complaints. It would also have to have non-exposed rotors, so it could be flown safely in urban environments. Additionally, for such aircraft to become airborne, they would require very powerful engines, which would create huge and concentrated downdrafts, a bad idea in an urban environment. Many types of aircraft technologies and form factors have been suggested, such as ducted-fan and tiltrotor vehicles, but most previous designs have suffered from problems; ducted93

fan aircraft tend to be prone to losing stability and have difficulty traveling at speeds greater than 30–40 knots, while tiltrotors, such as the V-22 Osprey, are generally very noisy. Due to the requirement that the means of propulsion be both small and powerful, the cost of producing a flying car would be very high. In addition, the flying car’s energy efficiency would be much lower than that of conventional cars and other aircraft; optimal fuel efficiency for airplanes is at high speeds and high altitudes, while flying cars would be used for shorter distances, at higher frequency, lower speeds, and lower altitudes. For both environmental and economic reasons, flying cars would require an enormous use of resources.

Although statistically, commercial flying is much safer than driving, unlike commercial planes, personal flying cars might not have as many safety checks, and their pilots would not be as well trained. Humans already have difficulties with driving in two dimensions (forward and backwards, side to side), and adding in the up and down aspect would make “driving” or “flying” much more difficult. This problem might be solved, however, by requiring that all such vehicles be self-flying/self-driving.

In all likelihood, flying cars will not be in production before 2050.

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Future - Cars in the City

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Index A American Motors Co. (AMC) 7, 8, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 68 autonomous 79, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92 B Benz, Karl 11 Big Three 7, 30, 32, 42, 47, 48, 51, 57, 58, 59, 61, 69, 72 C Cadillac 7, 22, 29, 30, 39, 42, 43, 48, 60, 61, 70 Corvette 43, 44, 53, 59, 70, 71 D diesel 10, 13, 16, 57, 64, 82 E electric 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 24, 73, 75, 76, 82, 83, 85, 90, 91

M Model T 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31, 32, 61 muscle cars 6, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 59, 72 Mustang 48, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 68, 71, 72, 74 P pony cars 48, 51, 55, 56, 71 T Thunderbird 42, 43, 44, 53, 63, 71 Toyota 48, 68, 69, 73, 74, 75 V veteran cars 17 vintage cars 5 Volkswagen 42, 47, 49, 59, 61 W Wankel 49

F Ford, Henry 17, 22, 30, 31, 32 Ford Motor Co. 22, 23, 31, 34 future cars 7, 79, 86, 90 G General Motors Corp. 7, 28, 29, 32, 33, 39, 47, 49, 54, 66, 68, 70, 71, 74 I internal combustion 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 22, 24, 79, 82, 83

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Books by David Ritchey The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P. (2003) An “Anomalously Sensitive Person (ASP)” exhibits high levels of sensitivity, not only in the emotional realm, but in the physiological, cognitive, altered states of consciousness, and transpersonal (“metaphysical,”) realms as well. The traits of the ASP, which originate in the structure and chemistry of the brain, have important psychological, medical, educational, and social implications. This book investigates the links between a person’s sensitivities and a host of other factors related to biology (“nature”), history (“nurture”) and temperament (“personality”).

The Magic of Digital Fine Art Photography (2010) This book is a collection of fine art photographs created

by David Ritchey. Fine art photographs are those that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the photographer, to express her/his artistic perceptions and emotions. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, commercial photography, and snapshots.

26 Card Tricks (2011) Written specifically for the intermediate level magician who wants to add some new card tricks with a standard deck to his repertoire, this book presents 26 Card Tricks in clear, precise, easy-to-follow detail. It also provides refreshers for the techniques required to perform all of those tricks and offers suggestions for creating new routines.

Something About SCRABBLE™ (2011) This book is written for the average-level living room Scrabble player who generally scores about 250 99

points per game, and who would like to become a strong living room player (or a competent club player) with an average score of 300 - 350 points per game. It includes concepts and word lists mandatory for excelling at the game as well as an invaluable pullout “crib-sheet.”

Why We Are Fascinated by Dogs (2012) Most people, when they interact with dogs, do so as if dogs have consciousness, and deal with the world in much the same way that humans, at least small children, do. Moreover, many dog lovers believe that their dog thinks of her/himself as being human. This book asserts that dogs are wonderful, loving, social beings who are conscious, intelligent, and capable of exhibiting extraordinary abilities — much like the best of human beings; it is full of fascinating anecdotes that serve to enhance our love and admiration for our canine companions.

A Sense of Betrayal (2012) In the year that he spent as a young naval officer in Vietnam, David Ritchey was frequently a first-hand observer of the ubiquitous corruption — not just on the part of the Vietnamese, but on the part of the Americans as well. Because senior officials cared primarily about their own power, prestige, position, and pelf (money), the lives of many young Americans were needlessly sacrificed. Ritchey writes about the Kafkaesque nature of his own experiences, and vividly illustrates how the dynamics of war can shake anyone’s faith in civilization.

Reviewing The Montauk Legend (2013) The Montauk Legend, has to do with UFOs, invisibility, time travel, teleportation, mind control, weather control, conspiracies, and other similarly esoteric 100

subjects. The legend was sufficiently bizarre that David Ritchey decided to dig deeper in an attempt to determine which elements, if any, were factually based. He enlisted the assistance of a psychic colleague to find out what she said “really” happened there, and the results of their explorations make for fascinating reading.

Presidents in The Crosshairs (2013) Of the 44 Presidents who have served this country, 4 have been shot and killed while in office — that’s one in eleven. By way of comparison, one in 57 Americans who served in uniform in Vietnam were killed in combat.

These numbers suggest that an individual is five times more likely to be violently killed as President of the United States than as a member of the U.S. military serving in a war zone. Those Presidents who have been shot and killed by assassins are: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John Kennedy.

Those Presidents who have been shot and wounded by would-be assassins are: Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.

Understanding the Anomalously Sensitive Person (2014) Not only are “Anomalously Sensitive Persons (ASPs)” different from the norm in having heightened levels of sensitivities, they are also likely to be different in purely objective criteria — such things as hypopigmentation, Non-Right-Handedness, and having been born as one of a multiple birth. Once they have mastered the challenges of their uniqueness, however, they are positioned to become modern day shamans who help others to understand, and to live within the framework of a life-enhancing world view that, in early times, was known as “wyrd.”

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Descended from the Gods? (2014) In his quest to comprehend the early origins of “Anomalously Sensitive Persons (ASPs)” — those who are unusually sensitive in a variety of realms — David Ritchey found that the theory of creationism and the theory of evolution both had serious shortcomings. He decided therefore, to pursue his inquiry from the perspective of the theory of interventionism as espoused by the ancient Sumerians, which suggests that about 450,000 years ago, a group of advanced beings (who the Sumerians called the “Anunnaki”) arrived on Earth and intervened in the development of humans by undertaking an ongoing series of genetic experiments using humans as subjects.

Today’s ASPs might well be direct descendants of the Anunnaki’s test subjects.

Those Who Know the Wyrd (2014) Given the current state of the world, the survival of humanity may well depend on our adopting the worldview of wyrd that was central to the practices of the early AngloSaxon shamans. Wyrd is based on the premises that: all things and all events are intimately interconnected on all levels of reality; any event, anywhere, affects everything else, everywhere; everything, everywhere, is alive — that is, consciousness is all-pervasive; body, mind and spirit are all one; and the entire universe is sacred and has purpose and meaning.

Tales from the Depths (2014) The Great Lakes cover approximately 800 miles from east to west and 500 miles north to south and contain 21% of the world’s surface fresh water. Storms on the Great Lakes are every bit as powerful as storms on the world’s oceans, but mariners on the Lakes have little maneuvering room, and shipwrecks have been 102

a common occurrence. People generally estimate the number of shipwrecks on the Great Lakes to have been 100 - 500 over the years rather than the actual number of 6000+ with the loss of 30,000+ lives.

On Conflict (2015) The existence of conflict is an ongoing part of the human condition. Instances of conflict can be resolved peacefully, often with constructive results, or they can escalate into aggression and violence, generally with destructive results. This book looks at how conflict generally manifests in the different stages (age groups) of a person’s life with the final chapter focusing on the currently declining rates of conflict and efforts being made to continue that trend.

Keep The Colors Flying (2015) While a significant naval presence on the Great Lakes (and Lake Champlain) was relatively short-lived — from the beginning of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 to the end of the War of 1812 in 1815 — several noteworthy naval battles took place there. In those actions a number of U.S. Naval heroes were recognized.

Among them were Benedict Arnold on Lake Champlain during the Revolutionary War, Thomas Macdonough on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812, and Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

The Deadliest Pandemic (2015) The 1918 avian influenza pandemic killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century; it killed more people in 25 weeks than HIV/AIDS killed in 25 years. A new strain of flu, labeled “H5N1,” has recently emerged. H5N1 is good at killing — having a mortality rate in excess of 50% —but 103

it is not yet good at spreading. Given that this virus is at least 10–20 times more deadly than the 1918 strain, if it mutates to the point of becoming equally contagious, it could then rival the ferocity of some strains of Ebola and be as contagious as the common cold — in which case, at a minimum, it would kill 500 million people worldwide.

Locked and Loaded (2015) In a representative year, total deaths by firearms in the U.S. (32,774) were approximately 12 times higher than in a sample of seven other developed countries with a collective population of roughly the same size.

Gun control advocates suggest that the cause is the high prevalence of firearms in the United States, which is seven times more per 100,000 residents than it is in the comparison countries. Gun rights advocates suggest that “the right to keep and bear arms,” as specified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is of paramount importance, and that firearms deaths would actually be reduced if more American civilians carried guns.

From Aardvarks to Zyzzyvas (2016) Word games can be beneficial to us in a number of ways, most especially, perhaps, because they promote social interactions and increase time involved with family and friends. They are also an absorbing way to spend our solitary time, and while they are generally engaged in for their entertainment value, they serve an educational purpose as well. There are scores, if not hundreds of types of word games available, and this book focuses on several of those that are the most popular or most wellknown.

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Pyramidal Mystique (2016) There are many hundreds of pyramids around the world, having been built by a variety of different cultures in a number of different eras. Those that appear to be either the most important or the most representative show up in North America, South America, Central America, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China, but there are multiple other analogous structures located elsewhere.

This book looks closely at a few of those pyramids, with an emphasis on their descriptions and histories, their construction and their purpose.

The Enigma of Baalbek (2016) In Baalbek, Lebanon, the ruins of the monumental temple complex are one of the most extraordinary and enigmatic holy places of ancient times. Most conventional researchers claim that all of the structures were constructed by the Romans, primarily in the time frame from 100 BC to 200 AD. Alternative researchers, however, suggest that the underlying platform (with many stones much larger than those used in the Great Pyramids of Giza) on which the visible structures were built, was constructed at a much earlier date, perhaps as early as 10,450 BC — and that it was built by a race of technologically advanced ancient beings.

American Demagogues (2016) A demagogue is person, especially an orator or a political leader, who gains power by arousing people’s emotions, passions, and prejudices rather than by using rational arguments. Democracies are instituted to ensure freedom for all and popular control over government authority, but demagogues exploit that freedom to gain a level of power for themselves that overrides the rule of law, thereby undermining democracy.

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Invitations to War (2016) When war is likely to break out, most civilized countries try to make it appear that they are not the aggressor, but rather the innocent victim. In that role, the country is more likely to garner support from its populace and the rest of the world. Any number of maneuverings can be used to push the opposition into attacking first.

That has happened in a number of wars in which the United States has become involved, and a brief. synopsis of each of those wars is presented in this book.

Enduring American Mysteries (2016) Countless mysteries are available to us and, if we choose, we can become quite engrossed in trying to figure out some of them. This book provides four such mysteries for consideration: (1) America’s Stonehenge — a site in New Hampshire with numerous stone structures and astronomical alignments; (2) Cahokia Mounds — a vast complex in Illinois containing many large earthen mounds; (3) Roanoke Island — an English colony in (then) Virginia that was founded in the late 1500s and disappeared shortly thereafter, and (4) Newport Tower — an old circular stone tower in Rhode Island.

Pyramids of Fire (2016) Volcanoes have done much to shape the face of the planet, alter climatic conditions, and change the course of history. The most powerful of them, Supervolcanoes have lifetimes and eruption cycles that are so long that there have been no major supervolcano eruptions during the course of recorded human history. Nevertheless, the eruptions of active lesser volcanoes on Earth today can have significant consequences. This book looks at the origins of volcanoes, the nature and history of major eruptions, the world’s most famous and the world’s 106

most dangerous volcanoes, the USA’s most dangerous volcanoes, and the supervolcano, the Yellowstone Caldera.

Noteworthy UFO Cases (2017) The Universe is so old and so vast, and there are so many potentially habitable planets contained within it, that statistically it is almost a foregone conclusion that sentient life exists elsewhere — not just on Earth.

According to the Drake Equation, there are likely to be approximately 10,000 active, communicative, extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. The odds are that any number of these beings are traveling around the cosmos in their spacecraft, and from time to time they visit the planet Earth. This book is about earthly UFO sightings, which may be manifestations of those visitations, and sixteen of them are closely examined. The presence of Extraterrestrials on Earth has enormous socio-economic implications for our future, and this is discussed in some depth.

One At Time Or All At Once (2017) Because of the media frenzies that surround multiple murders, most adult Americans have at least a vague awareness of the serial killers, spree killers, and mass murderers that have operated in our midst in recent history. This book profiles some of the more infamous perpetrators in each category and delineates their actions forthrightly and concisely so that the reader can fully understand what was involved in each situation.

Spies Uncovered (2017) A spy who has been uncovered can no longer continue to be a spy. The nature of spying is such that a spy, in order to be successful, must remain an unknown 107

entity. The uncovering of a spy usually occurs when he has been captured and his captors reveal his identity, but some spies, albeit very few, reveal their own identities after they have retired.

In this book, eight uncovered spies have been profiled, each with his own unique story. However, because they have been uncovered, and because of the omnipresent deception and misinformation in the field, they should not be perceived as being representative of spies in general.

Geniuses Among Us (2017) A normal or average I.Q. is 100, an I.Q. of 130+ is considered to be in the “gifted” range. and an I.Q. of 145+ is considered to be in the “very gifted” (or “genius”) range. In the 1980s, researchers began to recognize that there was more to giftedness than just the linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences measured by I.Q. tests. Other intelligence included: musical, visuospatial, bodily-kinesthetic, inter-personal, and intrapersonal. While an individual may qualify as a genius in one of these other intelligences without an I.Q. of 145+, statistical precision is lacking.

Most geniuses are introverted intuitives with a high level of creativity and a high level of mental illness, particularly mood disorders. In this book a number of geniuses are profiled: 8 with mental disorders, 11 from the historical past, and 12 contemporary.

Pumped Up (2017) Just about anything that is inflatable can qualify as a “balloon.” “Inflatables” can be utilized for a broad variety of purposes. In addition to regular ol’ balloons, there are aeronautical balloons (either hot air or gas, or a combination thereof); there are airships (such as blimps, 108

dirigibles, and zeppelins); there are inflatables that are used by the military and the scientific community; there are inflatable medical devices; there are inflatable recreational devices; there are inflatable safety devices; there are comfort-related inflatable devices; there are inflatable buildings; and there are a host of other miscellaneous inflatable devices. Example of all of these are discussed in this book, and you are likely to find the subject matter much more interesting than you might have suspected.

A Brief History of Hurricanes (2017) Tropical storms formed in the North Atlantic Basin with winds in excess of 74 mph are spoken of as “hurricanes.” Hurricanes derive their energy through the evaporation of warm water from the ocean surface, which ultimately recondenses into clouds and rain when moist air rises and cools to saturation. In addition to strong winds and rain, hurricanes are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes.

Between 1900 and 2016, there were 633 hurricanes in the North Atlantic Basin that collectively caused 103,000+ fatalities and were responsible for $392+ billion (USD not adjusted for inflation) in damages.

Twenty-four of the most noteworthy of those hurricanes are profiled in this book. Those 24, combined, caused 65,000+ fatalities and were responsible for $492+ billion (adjusted for inflation to 2016 USD) in damages.

What Is Truth? (2018) When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate more than 2,000 years ago, Pilate asked of him the question, “What is truth,” but would not stay for an answer. Today, in the 20th century, that question has more relevance than ever before, because truth appears to have lost its “absolute” 109

status, and is now held to be something that is only “relative.” Lack of consensus about truth can only lead to chaos and confusion. This book examines the historic perception of truths, fallacies, and untruths; it looks at the tenuous status of truth in today’s US political environment; and it explores the underpinnings of the current “post-truth” environment.

Transportation Disasters (2018) A disaster can be thought of as a serious disruption in the functioning of a community or society involving widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses and impacts, which exceed the ability of those affected to cope using their own resources. Disasters can occur in all of the four major transportation categories — aviation, maritime, railway, and roadway. “Pseudodisasters” can also be created by the media, which, by deftly hyping a relatively minor incident, can hold the public spellbound for months. With the scale of transportation rising, the sizes of airplanes, ships, and other means of carrying people and cargo from one point to another escalating, the likelihood of significant disasters continues to increase with the numbers. In this book, a number of disasters in each major transportation category are profiled.

Up To The Eaves: Snowstorms (2018) Snowstorms occur when tiny supercooled cloud droplets freeze and fall through the Earth’s atmosphere to the ground. Once on the ground, nature moves the fallen snow around, usually by blowing it into drifts, and less commonly by avalanches on steep slopes, or by glaciers which develop after accumulated snow has metamorphosed into glacial ice. Snow affects such human activities as agriculture, transportation, winter 110

sports, and warfare. It is also an important factor for consideration of loads on structures. Just about anyone who has experience snowstorms has one that s/he recalls as “the big one.” One person’s “big one,” however, may be run-of-the-mill for someone else. Throughout the history of this country, there have been any number of “big ones,” and this book profiles 20 of those that objectively seem to merit the appellation.

Everybody Loves Conspiracy Theories (2018) There probably exist thousands of conspiracy theories about hundreds of subjects. In the era of the Trump Presidency, conspiracy theories have become writ large in ways that we could not have imagined as recently as three years ago. Trump’s continual espousal of such theories, has pushed them into the mainstream.

Whereas conspiracy theories have always been part of American politics, they’ve tended to appeal only to fringe audiences, but they now seem to dominate the mainstream debate, and they have the potential to do considerable harm by creating feelings of hopelessness and alienation. In this book, to help with understanding them, the multitude of conspiracy theories has been grouped into categories, and representative examples within each category have been explicated.

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About The Author

David Ritchey’s vocations have included: naval officer, businessman, fine art photographer, psychotherapist, researcher, and writer. His avocations have included: scuba diving, sailing, skiing, tennis, golf, gardening, woodworking, dogs, magic, bridge, and SCRABBLE™.

After being educated in economics at Yale University, he served for five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, including a year in Vietnam. Back in civilian life, he initially became a businessman, but shortly thereafter followed his true inclinations and became a fine art photographer.

While immersed in the art world, he became fascinated by the psychology/neurology of creativity, and returned to school to train as a psychotherapist. During his 15 years of clinical practice, specializing in hypnotherapy, he became especially interested in the psychodynamics of those clients who reported having had transpersonal (“metaphysical”) experiences, and undertook a twelveyear project of researching and writing about such people, who he speaks of as “Anomalously Sensitive Persons.”

Later, he became his daughter’s business manager at her art gallery on Cape Cod, and spent a few years involved simultaneously in the worlds of both business and art.

Now “retired,” he spends his time writing about a wide range of subjects that are of special interest to him. Information about his books can be found at www.davidritchey-author.com.

He currently lives in historic Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He has two grown children, Harper and Mac, and a grandson, Brendan.

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