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- Date sent: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 20:26:23 -0400
-
- History of the Automobile- 1920-present
-
- The United States became the forerunner in the automobile industry early and the automobile
- quickly found a place in almost every American home. In the decades after World War I,
- American demands on automobiles increased and the increased demands imbued many changes in
- the form and function of cars. The United States was host to countless developments for
- the car and became a large influence in the future of the automobile and its industry.
- Pre-World War I automobiles were far from refined machines. Manufacturers traveled a long
- way after the war to perfect their cars. Perhaps the biggest improvement in car technology
- in this time period was the development of faster engines, mainly due to two factors. New
- steel alloys and aluminum replaced cast-iron in the making of engines that were much
- lighter. These new aluminum pistons could move twice as fast as the old cast-iron ones.
- The second contributing factor for faster engines was the replacement of the side valves in
- the cylinders with valves operated by a camshaft. This allowed the gasoline and air
- mixture to be sucked more quickly into the cylinder, resulting in a better engine (Evans
- 24). The debut of the modern V8 engine was one significant engineering development of the
- 1940s. Companies had built V8s for years, Cadillac since 1915 and Ford since 1932. But
- these were relatively heavy, long-stroke, low-compression engines, known for smoothness
- rather than performance (Ludvigsen and Wise 124). With the new lighter technology,
- manufactures produced a new breed. In 1949, Cadillac and Oldsmobile pioneered this new
- generation of V8s. Their product was the forebear of the engines powering most large
- American cars up through the fifties and even until today. America's efficient, powerful,
- light V8 gained fame around the worldwide for its performance and reliability (Cars 40s
- 12). Another extremely important engineering development was the perfection of the
- automatic transmission. Oldsmobile, part of General Motors, had offered a semi-automatic
- transmission in 1937. The company then dropped it in 1938 for GM's Hydra-Matic, the most
- successful automatic transmission of all time. General Motors owned the automatic
- transmission market to in the 1940s and other companies adopted the Hydra-Matic. Buick
- built its Dynaflow Drive in 1948 and Chrysler developed its Fluid Drive, which eliminated
- most of the shift motions of early transmissions. Chrysler continued to use these right on
- into the 1950s. Ford was conservative, however, and stayed with the gear-shift, with and
- without overdrive, for all their 1940-1949 cars. Reluctantly, Ford later offered the
- GM-built Hydra-Matic on the 1949 Lincoln. Ford eventually developed an automatic of its
- own in 1951 (Car 40s 89). Other smaller, independent companies stayed with stickshifts
- but some gave in and purchased the Hydra-Matic transmissions as well. Two independents that
- did not give in to the Hydra-Matic were Packard and Studebaker. Packard's Ultramatic was
- the only automatic developed entirely by an independent without help from a transmission
- firm. Studebaker teamed up with Detroit Gear to create an automatic, but it was not
- complete until 1950 (Evans 33). American engines and transmissions, the life lines of
- automobiles were soon impeccable, but the cars still needed other mechanical refinements.
- Again, many changes transpired. Hydraulic brakes became common and so too did windshield
- wipers, turn signals and dimming lights. Superchargers were also developed in this era of
- innovation. These were mechanically driven fans that increased the pressure of the air and
- gasoline mixture and allowed for much faster acceleration (Ludvigsen and Wise 47).
- Unfortunately, pre-war automobiles could not brake well because they had brakes on only a
- few wheels. In the twenties, brakes were fitted to all four wheels, providing much greater
- safety and stopping power. In earlier cars, the magneto was the part that started the car
- and it needed rewiring every four or five years. All around improvements in car
- dependability resulted in a new replacement. The magneto began to be replaced by a more
- modern coil that lasted much longer (Ludvigsen and Wise 54). Other developments of the
- 1920s-1950s took automotive comfort to a new level, which was becoming a major concern
- among buyers. Shock absorbers and independent suspension became more common. These
- additions allowed each wheel to move up and down separately over rough roads, and in turn
- gave a much smoother ride (Evans 29). Pneumatic tires became standard and they also helped
- give a smoother ride. Furthermore, tire life was prolonged by as much as 5,000 miles by
- the invention of cord fabric, a thick-ribbed cloth fitted beneath the rubber (Cars 50s 39).
- Cars were slowly smoothing out the wrinkles in the road and were mechanical sound.
- Manufactures were going further by trying to make driving easier and more pleasurable. In
- 1922, Gottlieb Daimler experimented with in-car entertainment for the first time. A radio
- set was fitted beneath the driver's seat and the driver could listen through headphones.
- The idea was some years before its time, however, as radios were not very good and not many
- programs were broadcast. In the thirties, some cars had adjustable steering columns to
- better suit the driver. Better all-round visibility was another progression in this
- decade. Yet another innovation to make the automobile more "user friendly" were
- synchromesh gears. They made gear changing, during the time before the automatics, much
- smoother and no longer the nightmare it had often been in the early days of driving (Evans
- 61). The appearance of cars was increased in importance during this time period. The
- predominant car color was black, however. This was because accidents were frequent and
- black was the easiest color to match. Henry Ford claimed that he could supply any person
- with a car of any color, as long as it was black. In 1925, cellulose, or synthetic, paint
- was used on automobiles for the first time. This made it easier to wash and polish than
- the older types of paint, and it did not scratch as easily. Moreover, paint was applied by
- spray rather than by brush (Cars 40s 73). During the late twenties, bumpers became a
- popular accessory, but they did not become standard until the late thirties. Again,
- appearance became a factor. At first, they were nickel plated but replaced with chromium,
- which needed less polishing to keep shiny (Cars 50s 7). The increasing importance in
- appearance ultimately procured extensive change in body design. The design changes in the
- twenties and thirties saw the final break with the horseless carriage and the birth of the
- truly modern automobile. Early cars, around the turn of the century, were upright
- "horseless carriages" in style, far from comfortable and wide open to the elements. The
- cars of the 1910s had a slightly more streamlined appearance and the body was nearer to the
- ground, but they still had very square lines. Most cars of the twenties were open tourers
- but some had a top and side windows for wet weather driving and only the most expensive
- models were enclosed sedans (Ludvigsen and Wise 172). The bodies were still quite high and
- square but definitely not the horseless carriages of the past. The continually
- streamlining of cars meant the disappearance of the great protruding headlights of the
- early cars. They were set back into sloping wings, which themselves became curved and
- rounded parts of the car body. In an attempt for greater interior space, the engine and
- seats were moved forward. This also enabled more luggage to be stored in the trunk. Before
- long, except for sports models, most cars were four-seaters (Evans 45). The twenties and
- thirties had made their mark but the 1940s was a decade when the motorcar was transformed
- once again. Bolt-on-fenders and narrow, upright grilles went out of fashion. Enveloped
- bodies came into use and cars became longer, lower and wider. They now had flowing fenders
- and broad expanses of glass. General Motors, who had "invented" automotive styling through
- its Arts & Colour Studio 10 years earlier, again helped set many trends throughout the
- 1940s. Among them were the pontoon-fendered fastback sedans and hardtops (Cars 40s 22).
- The changes in the thirties were very influential in the forties, nonetheless. The
- thirties' classic foursquare styling was largely abandoned after World War II, but some of
- its expressions reappeared in the forties. Some manufactures, like Ford and Mercury, still
- based their styling on the ideas of the thirties, with a perfection in line and form.
- Chrysler products of the late forties were boxy and upright which symbolized the
- corporation's concern for ample interiors yet compact exteriors. This is still true and is
- visible in Chrysler's cab-forward design of the nineties (Ludvigsen and Wise 16). According
- to some experts, cars of the fifties are what made the American transportation scene the
- "mess" it is today. These cars were heavy, ungainly, beasts with power. But there were
- several important automotive advances between '50 and '60. For instance, torsion-bar
- suspension, new short-stroke V8s, ever improving automatic transmissions, fuel injection
- and unit construction were introduced. The decade brought additional progress in body
- design, including more hardtops and the all-steel station wagon that was more car than
- truck (Cars 50s 114). These years also marked some of the finest automotive designs of all
- time. American cars of this decade are considered by many experts to have been safer than
- cars had ever been before. Items such as seatbelts, padded dashes and sunken steering
- wheels were considered novelties, but proved to but useful . The cars were also built
- differently in the fifties. They had interiors of mohair and genuine leather and bodies of
- heavy-gauge steel. Their makers avoided things like plastic, cardboard, decals and rubber
- bumpers. While the average family car handled sloppily, it was built with more pure
- integrity than its predecessors. Surprisingly, people still discover rust-free examples
- with their interiors, paint, and mechanical components in approximately the same shape as
- when they left the factory a quarter century ago (Cars 50s 139). The early 1900s was the
- infant stage of the automobile. The twenties was the start of a long journey of
- advancements for the American automobile. Mechanically, cars were perfected. Essential
- components such as the engine and transmission were totally transformed in addition to
- countless other parts. The exteriors went through alterations and several distinctive
- forms. From boxy to round and back to somewhere between to the two, cars went through just
- about everything. Early cars were not pleasant to drive but by the end of this era, people
- enjoyed it. Cars were literally built to last a lifetime and people took pride in their
- automobile. From a carriage with a motor to a precision machine, the car has come a long
- way.
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- Bibliography
-
- Cars of the 40s. ed. by Editors of Consumer Guide. New York: Publications International,
- Ltd., 1979.
-
- Cars of the 50s. ed. by Editors of Consumer Guide. New York: Publications International,
- Ltd., 1978.
-
- Evans, Arthur N. The Automobile. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1983.
-
- Ludvigsen, Karl and Wise, David Burgess, et al. The Complete Encyclopedia of the American
- Automobile. Secaucus, NJ: Chartwell Books Inc., 1970.
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