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<text>
<title>
(1950s) The Open Road
</title>
<history>Time-The Weekly Magazine-1950s Highlights</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
TIME Magazine
November 22, 1954
The Open Road
</hdr>
<body>
<p> In the U.S. economy, no single business is more important
than the auto industry, which helps pay the wages of one in
every seven industrial workers. Last week, as another series of
1955 models went on public display, Detroit's production lines
were moving at a record-shattering rate. With employment already
up about 100,000 since September, automakers set their November-
December output schedules at 1,080,000 cars, up 7% above the
record set in the last two months of 1950. At that rate, total
output for the year would be 5,400,000, making 1954 the third
best auto year in history.
</p>
<p> A big reason for Detroit's optimism could be found in the
dealers' empty lots. Last May, a record 607,275 new cars were
waiting to be sold; by last month the number had been slashed
to 305,314 without a wave of panic selling. Another reason lay
in the 1955 products coming off the assembly lines. Last week
Chrysler Corp. brought out its new Plymouths and Dodges, all
lower and longer than before, with Plymouth's new V-8 h.p.
boosted to 157 and Dodge's to 193. Lincoln also showed off its
1955 model, sporting king-sized horizontal grilles and twin
exhaust vents in the rear bumpers. Throughout the industry,
sales were so brisk that some dealers have taken more orders for
new cars in the past month than they had sold in the preceding
twelve months.
</p>
<p> Here and there, some of the 1955s were already appearing
on used-car lots--but that turned out to be a tribute to their
popularity rather than any indication that they were hard to
sell. In most cases, the "used" 1955s had been bought for $300
to $500 over list price, and were serving in used-car lots as
advertising come-ons.
</p>
<p> The auto upsurge, sparking a huge demand for metal, was
firing up furnaces all through the steel industry. Mill output
last week was at 77.5% of capacity, highest in ten months and
a full 20% over the summer level. Steelmen were also receiving
big orders from such other metal-consuming industries as machine
tools and appliances, TV setmakers, for example, hit a record
monthly output of 948,000 units in September and were pushing
higher still.
</p>
<p> Elsewhere in the economy, signs of the upswing multiplied.
Rayon-staple mills were stepping up production to capacity and
rayon yarn prices were on the rise. Hardware sales were picking
up, and the building boom showed no signs of slackening. House-
building contracts in the 37 states east of the Rockies totaled
$851 million in October, up 10% from September and a thumping
34% ahead of a year ago. As a measure of the overall business
surge, electric power output set a weekly record of 9.4 billion
kw-h, up 11.4% from 1953.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>