AMERICA - THE AUTOMOBILE AGE

Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. The automobile as we know it today is a child of the present century born in Europe and nurtured by America to its present important economic position. The automobile is America as one eminent authority so aptly put it. Nothing devised by the mind of man so epitomizes a nation as does this surging omnipresent always go you one better reproductive miracle on wheels. What is the reason for this phenomenon and what is probably more important to us where do we stand now and what lies ahead? Let's look at the record. I have here a roster of auto club members of 1902. Suppose we interview a typical car enthusiast of that period. Here for instance, Elmer D. Barker, 149 Pleasant Street, Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles, 1902. [Music] Pardon me, but are you Mr. Barker? Elmer D. Barker? That's right. There's something I can do for you, sir. I don't wish to intrude, sir, but I couldn't help noticing one of those new horseless carriages at the curb. May I ask if it's yours? You bet she is. It's the first Model C runabout in town. I just got her and I was about to take Peg, my bride, on the breakdown cruise. I must admit, it took a lot of persuading on Elmer's part. But he's assured me it isn't dangerous. It won't explode or anything. Of course not. Like I told Peg, we've got to keep up with the times. You know, as an engineer, it's expected of me. Well, that's certainly true, Mrs. Barker. You can't stop progress. It's just what I told her. Ordinarily, Peg would be the first one to admit this, but well, this time I think I can excuse her. You see, she's Elmer. She's in a delicate condition. Well, congratulations. I chosen a name as yet. We both like the name Edward. It was my father's name. And if it's a girl? We've made up our minds, sir. You see, I think that if we have a son, we can Elmer. Dear, it's getting late. Peg has a craving for some oranges. Little ranch town a few miles out called Hollywood. We're headed out there and we've got to be back by nightfall. Oh, really? That's quite a trip. Oh, it's all at 10 miles at least. But what if we should break down? Just like a woman. Goodbye. Goodbye and good luck to both of [Music] you. Even after a decade of existence, the automobile was still for the most part a rich man's play thing. In the early 1900s, the usual purveyors of gloom and doom shook their heads doefully and refused to believe this mechanical monster would ever replace the timetried reliable horse and buggy. They had some pretty good arguments to back them up in 192. [Music] The big talk that year of 194 at the St. Louis World's Fair centered about standardization of manufacturer and improvement in short hall transportation. Mr. and Mrs. Barker, have you moved to St. Louis? Oh, indeed, sir. We're just here for the fair. My company has an exhibit in this building and offered to put me in charge for the duration of the exposition. It's too good a thing to pass up. Took some persuading though to get Peg here. What with Edward so young? It really didn't. I wouldn't have missed it either. And Edward is in a bit of trouble. He's really a very good baby. Just what is your business if I may ask, Mr. Barker. I know you're an engineer. Oil, sir. You see, we feel that our state, California, will someday be one of the largest petroleum sources in America. Well, I would have thought Eastern Fields more than adequate for the demand. On what do you base your analysis? increased gasoline consumption by motorcars. Would you believe it? Elmer actually says there'll be thousands of new paved roads across the country and millions of automobiles in our lifetime and hundreds of thousands of fuel depots to serve them at convenient intervals. Mark my words, sir, someday we'll be a nation on wheels. If you'll excuse me, I'm a little late. When you get to Los Angeles, come and see us. We're still at 149 Pleasant Street. Thank you. I will. Fine. Bye. Barker was right. One independent took a giant step and introduced revolutionary assembly line techniques in the manufacturer of automobiles. Through rigid standardization of product year in and year out, this car, simple and rugged in design, could be marketed at a price almost anyone could afford. A network of hard surface highways began to fan out from every city, bringing the farmer in with his produce to sell and giving him the extra profit to buy the city goods and services he needed. A new era of prosperity loomed upon the horizon of America. The automobile age was born. In July of that same year, Europe went to war. [Music] Then three years later, [Music] Peg. Yes. This afternoon, I accepted a commission as a captain with the Army Transport. L I'm sorry I had to break it to you like this. They've given me till Saturday to get my personal matters straightened out. Then I'll be joining my unit back east at Fort Meyer. You big men with logistic training are badly needed. I had to do it. If we all pitch in now, God willing, it'll be over soon and we'll have ended all war for good. I know. I know how. Spurred by the war's demands, American industry and ingenuity rose to meet the challenge. Newer, faster, and more efficient processes of manufacturer were developed to feed hundreds of ships with millions of tons of war material for the European front. A sizable percentage of American motorcar production during the war years went into trucks of all types. For the first time, our armed forces became an army on wheels, a motorpropelled army. This bitter lesson learned by von Ludenorf in 1918, would be well remembered by Hitler in [Music] 1939. The post-war period, the roaring 20s, was a wacky age of universal ineptitude. It was anything for a thrill. Anything to forget the endless crosses left behind in the bloody fields of Flanders. America kicked off the traces to indulge itself in such unedifying exhibitions as bunion derbies, human flies, marathon dances, and air circuses. Off with the old, on with the new. It was smart to be different. Car makers who catered to this revolt against austerity prospered. However, the same big automobile manufacturer who created mass automobile production obstinately defied a trend. He lost his industry leadership almost overnight. He discovered too late that no man or corporation or group of companies is either big enough or strong enough to flout for long the wishes of the American buying public. This unwritten law of the American marketplace is axiomatic and [Music] inflexible. nervous. [Music] In 1930, aviation experts built and flew the Monomale, the first all- metal streamline transport plane designed to carry male and passengers. Then two automotive engineers proved they could take this same new aircraft construction method and successfully apply it to the present-day motor car. I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Yes, we have been informed that you men have evolved a revolutionary method of automobile construction. Well, we you might call it that, but we prefer to consider it more in the light of a a natural evolution of basic design coherent with contemporary vehicular concepts. Would you mind translating that into simple terms, sir? Not at all. You might take for instance uh a bird as being representative of old type aircraft construction. It has a body molded around a very light and delicate framework or skeleton. But it very lightness which allows for flight also makes it a delicate and fragile vehicle and restricts its size and load carrying capacity. So engineers turn from the air to the sea creature for their basic construction principle you might say. Turtles for instance are built not from the uh inside out so to speak but from the outside in. Their bony shell replacing the uh inner skeleton is able to withstand tremendous external pressures even though it is uh relatively light in weight and beautifully streamlined. You see, strength depends a great deal upon weight distribution. The more evenly distributed the weight of an object, the stronger it is. And the most perfect example of this is the familiar hens egg. Truly an engineering marvel. Here, let me prove it to you. This experiment may be conducted in a great many ways. Actually, I could add many more weights. Even with these two weights, this eggshell supports 1,600 times its own weight, just in case you had any doubts. And yet, as you see, the shell material itself is not only extremely light, but uh when divorced from its normal shape, can be easily crushed between two fingers. So, that you could say is the secret of single unit construction in an eggshell. Even the material as fragile as an eggshell when formed by nature in its whole shape is uncommonly strong because of perfect weight distribution dividing the stress around the surface so scientifically that no one part is strained beyond its capacity. I see. But just how were you able to apply this single unit construction concept to the automobile? Well, since the invention of the wheel, all vehicles have been made like this. First the frame to which the moving parts are attached. Then the body is added and fastened in place. And that includes our so-called modern automobiles. Exactly. Now a conventional car consists of two principal units. The frame upon which the engine, transmission, wheels, and other main moving parts are mounted. And the body or shell, which gives the car beauty and in most cases protects the occupants from the weather, but has little value from an engineering or structural strength standpoint. Normal assembly line practice calls for the frame to be bolted together first. The other components such as motor and so on are added one by one and then the body which has been designed and built by a completely separate staff of times an even a different plant is uh added and uh bolted into place. These six bolts are all that keep body and frame together. Believe it or not, the addition of minor refinements completes the assembly process and the finished car rolls off the line. Our first move was a drastic one. Single unit construction called for elimination of the chassis. Now that left us with a body shell which had to be so strong and so complete that it would support all other components safely without sacrificing beauty of line. We knew this meant months of experiment. We also knew that once we arrived at a satisfactory result, we would have to develop a new core of designers and engineers. You see, a little known fact outside our industry is that chassis engineers and body designers, even within the same organization, are often at loggerheads. Our task was to combine the two into one coherent unit. Now, this can be tough. It can't be accomplished overnight. Not even in a year or two. What we did after agreeing upon the ultimate concept was to begin with a basic structure of known strength and elasticity. It's a simple bridge span like this. All that is required to change the familiar bridge span form into a welded single unit automobile shell is what appears to be a simple rearrangement of its struts and crossmembers. In actual practice, this application demanded long months of testing and experimentation before we were satisfied that every stress point was more than adequately strengthened. Well, here's what we mean. Each detail, even down to the exact location of every single weld, had to be engineered. Now, at the conclusion of our tests, we actually had a stronger and safer component than the old bucket of bolts, chassis and body concept could ever hope to be. In old type construction, all the strength lay in the chassis below the passenger compartment. In single unit construction, the passengers are protected all around, top, bottom, front, back, both sides, by a one-piece three-dimensional structural unit. Ordinary cars offer little or no protection against frontal impact, the direction of greatest potential danger. Structural members forward of the firewall act as a safety barrier in single unit construction. Greater strength with less structural weight. This means economy, more payload per horsepower, and greater riding comfort, completely free of squeaks and rattles. Because of its unique design, it's possible to make use of long, soft, and direct acting coil springs located above the center of gravity instead of below as in other front suspensions like the airplane landing gear. This causes road shocks to be absorbed directly upward into the sturdy single-unit body structure. The deep coil spring ride possible only with single unit construction is a point most car owners and uh especially the ladies are bound to appreciate. So to sum it all up, single unit construction gives the motorist durability, added strength, safety features, performance, economy, and a trim beauty of line. At the same time, because of its uncluttered design, it adds more usable interior area without increase in outside dimensions. The first airplanes with their mazes of interior guywires and struts left little space for passengers. But modern aircraft of single unit construction permit maximum payload limited only by their outside dimensions. And the same is true of a single unit type automobile, a more compact and economical car retaining all the good features of traditional value. And it was in 1940 that this new motor car built upon a new type of assembly line first saw the light of day. The single unit construction automobile, the 1941 Model 600. $50 million worth of faith in the intelligence of the average American automobile buyer went into this assembly line. 50 millions of confidence in the future of America. 50 million was about $49,990,000 more than Edward Barker's salary as president of Metropolitan Surveys in 1941. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Joel, answer that door. Ouch. Nancy, for heaven's sake, answer yourself before whoever it is breaks the door down. John, if it's a Mr. Williams, Tom, he's an hour too early. [Music] [Applause] Now, see what you've done, Joel Barker. Daddy's mad at me. You answer that door. Nope. Answer that door, please. Nope. Look, there's Chris. Hi, Chris. Hey, Dad. Nancy, somebody let me in. Oh, for crying out loud. Will somebody answer that door? All right, for you, Jo. Chris. Holy cow. What took you so long? [Music] Give me the funnies, Chris. Come on, Joel. It's time. Okay, Joel. Stop it. Stop it. Do you wish, John? You might at least got I think it's Daddy. I'm scared to look. [Applause] [Music] Edward, what is this? The 7th of December this year. I finally remembered and I was going to surprise you. For my birthday. Oh, honey. I did manage to save this from the mess. A key? Whatever for the most beautiful woman in the world. A new car. Oh, it's kind of a birthday and Christmas present combined. Oh, Edward, what was it like? Well, it's got four wheels and a steering wheel and an engine, of course. Oh, you big team. [Music] Hey, will one of you kids please get that door? Answer the door, man. The door, Joel. Nope. Chris wouldn't give me the funnies. I can't believe it. I knew you'd like it, Kathy. Oh, Edward, it's beautiful. Hey, Dad. Dad. Chris. How's she powered? Lhead six-cylinder 82 horse engine and over 25 miles to the gallon of gas. That's why it's called a 600 because it'll run that many miles to a tank of fuel. Man, oh man. How about overdrive? Yep. And twin ignition, independent front wheel suspension, coil springs front and rear. Golly. Anything else? A brand new type of frame and body construction. Gee, I'll bet you'll really roll. Now children, don't get your feet on that beautiful interarium. Hey, look at here. Mom, it's got a custom radio, too. Now, be careful, Chris. It's all right, dear. He's not hurting anything. Music for the occasion. Well, Mrs. Barker, shall we take our first drive? I'm as excited as the children. I can hardly wait. You better get in the back this trip, son, until your mother gets a feel of the new buggy. An important bulletin from Washington. At dawn this morning, the Japanese attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I repeat, the Japs mounted an unprovoked sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and all military installations. Overnight, an American industry already partially geared to war production to help defend our sister democracies turned its full massive production might to the task of defending our own shores to drive implacable and treacherous enemies of freedom at both ends of the world to unconditional surrender. Civilian automobile output along with that of most other consumer products ground to a halt. The same brilliant engineering which had given us single unit mass- prodduced automobiles designed and built assembly lines for thousands of powerful high alitude aircraft engines part of the greatest naval striking force the world had ever [Music] witnessed. A troubled peace settled on the world in 1945 in the wake of the bloodiest and most costly conflict ever experienced by man. Once more, America returned to the pursuit of happiness in a land where everything was in short supply, but money. It was a sellers market where anything was grabbed up the minute it appeared on a dealer's shelves. It didn't have to be good. It didn't have to be economical. It just had to be new and shiny. Post war, prices climbed steadily in a goods hungry America gone mad. Fortunately for us all, a few thinking people were looking ahead to the not tooistant future and preparing for it. As far back as 1942, a prophetic article appeared in the same issue of Motor Magazine carrying the motorcar industry's pledge to the record. This article written by Christy Borth is captioned, "Tomorrow's new world." Let me quote, "Mass migration, worldwide readjustment, urban decentralization, the opening of new frontiers, all these will certainly stem from the restlessness of millions of young men who have seen odd corners of the world." Borth then goes on to expound his theory that automobile owners will demand new and better highways and I quote call for more personal transportation media such as automobiles of new and revolutionary type. Automobiles of new and revolutionary type. If the motorc car industry as a whole had given this precul more serious attention during the post-war adjustment period, it would have fewer and less expensive problems. Now, one far-sighted group of automotive experts agreed with Christy Borth's predictions. Logically, it was the same group which had already perfected single unit mass car production before the war. The goal of this group was a car of minimal size consistent with American standards of quality, styling, and comfort, embodying the single unit construction principle. Many of the little foreign cars tested, though ingenious in design and conception, failed to measure up to these exacting standards. Literally hundreds of engine types were bought and tested as well with the same fixed purpose in mind. The initial result of these ethical experiments in 1950 was the 100in wheelbase five passenger automobile powered by a sixcylinder engine. This first venture into a hitherto untried field in America. The first modern rambler was considered the minimum acceptable to the American public. [Music] Hi, Dad. Hi, Joe. What makes you so late? Football practice. I rode home with Jim Tate. Say, Dad. Yeah, son. Dad, when are you going to get rid of this old crate of ours? and and get a new car. Oh, I don't know. That old crate, as you call it, doing all right. Sound is a dollar. Golly, Dad, I just don't see how you figured. Boy, you ought to see the Tate new wagon. It's long and low with a million bucks worth of pickup. Over 200 horse V8, automatic transmission, and twin pipes. Man, it's sharp. Undoubtedly, but what anybody needs all that power for is beyond me. Well, Mr. Tate says a man has to have the very latest all the time if he wants to get ahead, no matter what it costs. Is that right, Dad? Joe, come on over here and sit down. Yeah, Dad. Son, you know something about Metropolitan Surveys, the business I run, don't you? Sure. You hire a lot of guys to phone up people and and go to their houses and ask a lot of questions you dream up. That's it, isn't it? Well, that's a resume of the initial procedure, I suppose. But to put it as simply as possible, it's one of our services to find out the likes and the dislikes of the public, what they're buying, what they say they want. Now, after a very careful study of all walks of life in every part of the country, we figure out what they'll be buying and wanting to buy sometime in the future. Do you know why this is done? I guess so. The guys that hire you can make a lot of money selling stuff. Well, that's bluntly put that that's the end result. We hope. In any event, as a result of our efforts, our clients are better able to supply their own customers with a better selection of the goods and the services the public wants and needs. Now, this also stimulates competition and it gives everyone a wider freedom of choice on the open market. Do you understand? Well, sure, Dad. I get it. But but what's that got to do with a new car? Ah, not just a new car, son, but a new, longer, heavier, more powerful car. Now, we just finished conducting an auto traffic survey, and there's no longer room for bigger, heavier, more powerful cars for general use. You see, this is a country of mounting populations and growing traffic problems. If this present trend toward bigger and bigger cars continues, it's going to reverse itself from necessity for no other reason. Edward Barker was right. An explosion was taking place in America. From Long Island to Long Beach, from Kalamazoo to Key West, the cities and towns were bursting their scenes. On the heels of nationwide superighway, expressway and freeway construction, sleepy country villages suddenly woke up to the fact that they had become part of an adjoining metropolis. Wheat fields and orange groves, even unwanted swamps and dumps, blossomed out into expertly planned and constructed suburban communities feeding upon their urban mothers. As writer Francis Bellow puts it, "Of all the forces reshaping the American metropolis, the most powerful and insistent are those rooted in changing modes of transportation." And he continues in part, "The street car has all but disappeared. The bus is proving an inept substitute. Commuter rail service deteriorates. Subways get dirtier. and new expressways for more and more automobiles into the center of town. Never by the greatest stretch of the imagination had overload such as this been envisioned by the original planners. So it appeared that the automobile, the basis for America's growth and economic development in two short generations, was about to strangle its own creators unless the automotive industry itself stepped in and solved the problem. What did most companies do? While America cried aloud for spaceconserving economical automobile transportation, we were getting the car with the power personality. The big and the beautiful. A takeoff that's terrific. The biggest and longest gasg guzzling dinosaurs that grew larger and more avaricious every year. The day had long passed when Americans looked upon the motorc car as a symbol of prestige and social position. For today, anyone with more credit rating than gumption could sport the swankiest car in the showroom? The automobile had become an economic necessity to our way of life. The big question remained, had Detroit at last overstepped itself. Was it attempting to dictate to the American public in the midst of blind competition for industry supremacy? At least one car manufacturer thought so. This line of compact American cars first by 20 years to embody single unit construction broke the back of the frozen big car complex and paved the way to a new independence for the American motorist. It offered all the style, comfort, and capacity of big cars without their shortcomings. It put the fun back into motoring even though it was a few years ahead of its time. Then during the 1958 recession, the dam broke. Suddenly, the motoring public took a second look. And while all other makes of domestic cars gathered showroom dust, this line of American automobiles doubled in sales, setting a pace it has never relinquished. Car buyers once again had a freedom of choice with economy. A freedom in style, size, construction, and in price. after years of rubber stamp automobiles. Naturally, there are other practical reasons why an American picks his automobile besides styling, comfort, economy, and price. Equally important are the resale value, the integrity of the maker, and the quality built into the car. Quality in an automobile is something which cannot always be seen with a naked eye in a finished product. Take this Rambler for instance. Except for styling and compactness, it looks a great deal like most others. What you can't see is its boltless single unit construction or its deep dip weatherproofing. The deep dip process unique with this line of automobiles consists of unprecedented complete immersion of the unitized body shell in a special rust proofing compound. It protects every vital spot, every hardto-reach crack usually missed by conventional spray processes. This is the built-in quality, the kind of product integrity which appeals to the American motorist and makes him a lifelong customer and friend. [Music] Grandma Barker, what is it? Lan. Grandma, where's mommy and daddy? Oh, they're around somewhere. But I wouldn't disturb them right now if I were you. Why, Grandma? Well, sometimes mommies and daddies like to be alone, especially on their seventh wedding anniversary. You know, I wish Nancy and Don could have come west for this party. Well, whose idea was it to send her east to a boarding school? Besides, if she'd stayed here, she wouldn't have met Don. Well, I'm glad she did. They're a well- matched couple. You're next, Joe. When's the happy day going to be? Oh, Dad, knock it off. Yeah. [Music] Bang. Mommy, when's the ice cream and cake? I'm hungry. Pretty soon, you little dickens. Chris, dear, there's someone here to see you. My anniversary present. Come on. I'm getting all goosely. [Music] Oh, Chris, it it's simply beautiful. Leave it to Chris to get the best. Well, how could I miss after the way you used to talk to me about cars, Dad? [Music] As we remarked in the beginning, the automobile is America. And like its people, there will always be room for all kinds. Big, fancy ones and tiny little foreign ones. Each serves its purpose. But the compact car has come to stay with its capacity, style, economy, performance, safety, comfort, ease of handling, and dependability. And like our own great dependable middle class, it will continue in the years to come to be the backbone of American transportation, the lifeblood of the nation. This is the way a fine writer James Dalton once put it in part. America has been a completely motorized nation for many years. Our last frontiers vanished before the irresistible sweep of individual transportation. City, village, countryside were metamorphosed when our people were able to look for the first time beyond the near horizons of the horse and buggy days. Despite unexampled hazards and perplexities, the thinking men of the automobile trade will not fail their country. [Music] The American Motors wardrobe of cars, a style and type to fit every modern American need, is showing the way. Rambler, the new standard of basic excellence.