[Research Work, ca. 1930s]

famous turret top and as clearly as a date line this feature marks the modern automobile no man can look at the amazing record of accomplishment here in this research division without confidence that these men are going ahead with an eye to the Future looking for new facts and principles which will make things better and make life easier for all of us [Music] here's a ride that's going to be different let's go we're up up the road of time right off into space Goodbye World we're going back to the good old days turning back the calendar putting Time in reverse gear back to the days when Engineers knew how to build a pretty good gasoline engine without actually knowing what happened inside of it but listen you oldtimers hear that and here's a picture of the villain on the soundtrack now you can sing did you ever see a knock knocking well I did what caused the knock that's what everybody wanted to know prior to 1922 some said it was a mechanical knock and then suspicion fell upon the fuel so they built a quartz window in a test engine and these detectives of research watched the gasoline Villain at work and they got the evidence gasoline was burning unevenly and compressing and heating the unburned portion of the charge until it suddenly exploded producing an audible banging noise some chemical was needed to control the burning of the fuel and finally it was discovered that a rare compound of lead mixed in proper proportions with gasoline made an ideal antiock fuel this new fuel was tried in a test Engine with the quart window and not only could they see the villain become blue with feet but the knock was gone horsepower increased speed picked up and the engine actually cooled off considerably and so as a result of research in fuels progress marched on but this research has not ended opportunities still lie ahead for further progress in this field where great advances have already been made and more are certain to come [Music] what are you where are you just what is your right climate a lump of coal can't work until we make things too hot for him a block of ice is merely a lot of water that has gone too far north for comfort in an electric refrigerator for instance liquids are largely loose chunks of elements which have no business being in their own particular Tropics or Hells Mercury for example is an Eskimo metal way down south solid Metals simply happen to be living in a climate much too cold for them so it's not how hot you are but what you are that decides whether you'll be turned into a lump or a liquid but there are many things which men must build to stand up under temperature changes and give you A1 performance North or South that's why you will find vast ranges of heat and cold in the manufacturing and testing divisions of modern industry but how about poor old Homo sapiens homo sap can't deliver 100% performance on a hot day he can't take it and on a cold day he can't take it hot or cold cold or hot he's either a lump or a liquid performance in any climate just wasn't built into this human machine it can't take it today the same great Enterprise that builds temperature conquering performance into its own products is building the answer for human machines and human efficiency here's a little box they call it a unit and it will play a symphony of the seasons whenever you turn it on spring summer [Music] or winter they call it air conditioning but they might better call it man conditioning because that's just what it does remember how it used to be in the good old days it wasn't only rough roads and hard tires that made you speak of the lovely Countryside dancing in the Sun you were doing most of the dancing sitting down and you could take it but your car couldn't vibration was automobile Enemy Number One until the research division again swung into action part fitted to part with micrometer Precision was the first move against the enemy accuracy to 1 millionth of an inch was the first law passed and if you want an idea of what that means in comparison to a human hair that's a hair on the right and here's where vibration in a motor begins unless crankshafts are balanced like a miser's ledger to keep vibration under control at all speeds and not at just one certain speed the harmonic balancer was perfected this remarkable device counteracts vibration and stops it exactly as we can stop a pendulum by opposing it before it reaches the end of its swing and then continue to oppose it until it stops dead center watch the puddle of mercury sitting on an Eng before the harmonic balancer comes into play then this device is added and vibration is entirely killed now we're looking at the same scenery we chattered about a little while ago but we're in a modern automobile about all that's left to be done is to build roads as smooth as plate glass and make tires out of marshmallows and a th000 mile drive will feel just like 10 hours in a feather bed [Music] here are a few of the final exams for every product of the General Motors family before it graduates to you you can't calculate endurance with a pencil and a pad of paper you've got to drive drive to the tune of 5 million m a year to get tomorrow's answer today hill climbing get the answer from a mountain grade the final and most conclusive answer when a modern engine zooms a car over the top riding Comfort pound a car over a Belgian block road again and again body strength twist and strain the whole Frame and Body and find out if any birdies have been hatched to chirp and Twitter get the mileage per gallon a fifth wheel drives a speedometer so accurately you'll find miles per gallon measured right to the final inch how about the carburetor and ignition system baptize the baby and find out test those brakes here's the best way to get the facts then put her through her Paces in a slippery sticky ooze where they make mud not hay while the sun shines what will the driver see of the road those black Shadows on the wall tell the facts and meanwhile I on a hillside the weather is watched and recorded for a report that tells its story in the log books kept on every outdoor test here before you got your car an experimental model still in the development stage lived its life in a few days with test drivers under orders to Speed it around and around looking for trouble before it looks for you Night comes on and the grind continues as these engineering accountants work on the mechanical Ledges of these cars appraising performance auditing durability assuring development to the end that progress may be put through its face motor cars for the millions hundreds of accurate individual Parks converging in a steady stream thousands of persons engaged in the creation of fine Motorcars but a great problem has always faced them and always will and here's the problem thousands of new cars millions of horsepower but not the wheel can turn until one last item is added to complete the combination and this last item is the one important part of every automobile that no manufacturer can build and here it comes now you've often seen a car without a driver but have you ever seen a driver without a car how would you surround him with a design and a mechanism which would please him in every particular he demands change every year for example [Music] the modern motorc car of today symbolizes and crystallizes American progress men materials and methods are the roots of this progress but Chief among them is men men of General motives men whose minds and hands are constantly contributing to and creating new opportunities new advantages for all men who know that their March of progress must and will go on because their every forward view their every forward step continues the onward March of their own industry and of the entire nation la