Classic American Cars I’ve Owned
Some of the Detroit Irons made after World War II up to around 1980 can be considered Rolling Art. Various companies such as Packard, Hudson, and Studebaker stopped making cars for one reason or another during the early part of this period, but they and the The traditional big 3, Ford, GM and Chrysler, produced some masterpieces.
When I was a kid old enough to think about getting a driver’s license, I would sit in my treehouse and fantasize about the latest generation of finned behemoths appearing in the car magazines of the day. After careful consideration, I would classify them according to style and features that I could really relate to and want to own. Always decisions. Should I have twin rear antennas and dual spotlights or one of each? The wire wheels were very neat, as were the two and three tone paint jobs. I ended up choosing the more streamlined and elegant look as my favorites, always favoring cleanliness over mess. I didn’t like the fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror, preferring instead the power windows and air conditioning. Of course I always went for the larger V8 option and always with dual exhaust to make it easier for the engine to breathe and sound.
The late 1940s and early 1950s saw the transition from a heavy, understated, functional motif to a more elegant and powerful motif that, year after year through the 1950s, became a race to improve. the size, the power and the chrome.
While some models went overboard with various excesses making their designs overloaded or clunky, others managed to integrate fins, masses of chrome and color combinations that were delightful. All manufacturers had their winners and losers, but the American cars of the day were all individually identifiable and definitely distinct and could roll down a super highway without worry.
The straight-6 and straight-8 engines of earlier periods soon gave way in the more luxurious models to V8s, which couldn’t pull stumps like the old high-torque, low-revving straight-eights, but could pull more nimbly a couple of shades of iron, glass and plastic along the way. By the mid-1950s, all American cars had settled on 12-volt electrical systems, 14- or 15-inch wheels, wraparound windshield, and the V8 engine was now the entrenched favourite.
It was a time in American history when each new automobile year was greeted with excitement and anticipation, as each model sought to capture the spotlight with its own distinctive identity. The priorities were simple, if not naive. Dazzle the customer with large expanses of sheet metal and chrome, bright colors, and lots of buttons to push. Although mundane items like seat belts were introduced as selling features from time to time, the consumer wanted none of it as it added no value as a status symbol.
Slowly, technological improvements advanced along with convenience and energy options. The radial tires were a huge plus adding smoothness, safety, and longevity in substitution of the bumps, rapid tread wear, and numerous punctures. Disc brakes were a definite safety advantage replacing the inferior drum and shoe method that could fade in emergency situations. Automatic transmissions became the preferred option and eventually became standard equipment. And of course, radios evolved.
In the mid-1950s, signal-seeking or ‘wonderbar’ AM radios were introduced, followed soon after by transistor models that allowed ‘instant-on’ rather than waiting for the tubes to warm up. In the 1960s, FM radio appeared, which initially offered advertising-free programming and DJs. That, of course, didn’t last long once the bandwidth took hold. In the 1970s there were 8-track tape players that soon gave way to cassettes.
1959 marked the pinnacle of jet-like cars sporting gigantic tailfins, the last appearing in the 1959 Cadillac with the 1959-60 Chrysler and DeSoto not far behind. In another year, the DeSoto would disappear from showrooms and go the way of the Packard, Hudson and Nash. A kind of sobriety came over the automakers after the end and the chrome extravaganza passed. Some really fancy designs were introduced in the early 1960s, such as the 1960 Pontiac, 1961 Buick, 1962 Cadillac, and the classic 1964 Ford.
Chrysler Corporation would, from time to time, introduce industry leading ploys. Its Hemi (hemispherical head) engine during the fifties was pure muscle and reliability just like its Torqueflight transmission. They introduced the ‘Forward Look’ in the late fifties, which led the style trends for a while. Then again in 1965 they offered some really tough and classy cars which, towards the end of that decade, gave rise to the innovative airframe cars. These were big, sleek machines with a sculpted airframe look that I found quite attractive. Unfortunately, Chrysler’s quality control began to fail badly during this period and did not recover for many years.
In the late 1970s, things started to go downhill in Detroit. Automakers, who paid little attention to quality control and mechanical efficiencies, were forced by legislation to clean up their act, literally. As a result, all sorts of schemes were employed to reduce engine emissions, most, in the early days, a maze of vacuum lines and fuel injection designs that were cumbersome and mostly ill-conceived, leading to a lots of problems and customer dissatisfaction.
It wasn’t long after that the Japanese stepped in to fill the void and things never returned to the days of American car manufacturing pre-eminence.
It’s true that American cars eventually improved dramatically, but market share by then was fragmented. I personally lost interest in Detroit in the mid-eighties, although some really good cars have been produced since then. Now, I fear that due to the fickle nature of Americans, who demand SUVs and consume a vastly disproportionate amount of the world’s resources, the twin faults of excess and lack of foresight in the face of global realignment have led to MoTown cars on the brink. of insolvency.
The 1950s to 1970s saw the apex and beginning of the decline of the American automobile as a distinct form of rolling art. A mix of art deco and modern gave way to downsizing and competition from abroad. The complacent management also failed to adopt, in a timely manner, the new quality control concepts, preferring to market their vehicles through planned obsolescence.
Without a doubt, some of the greatest American masterpieces of rolling art were created during the 1920s and 1930s; Yet the heyday of Auto Americana, where form and function took on whole new dimensions of energy and enthusiasm, the 1950s seem to have marked the peak of the empire, as well as one of its most distinctive products.
