Read About the Early Cars of the 1900s. Our Articles Tell of the Car Culture of the 1920s.
During the Summer of 1945, with the Germans licked and the Japanese on the ropes, Ford announced that their first car for the post-war market would be produced the following year. It was called the Mercury and it came in hard top and convertible (don’t ask for seat belts).
Mr. John Nystrom of New York City drove a 32 year-old Model T Ford. Judging by the writer’s tone, we can guess that not many cars from 1909 were around to see Roosevelt’s third term. The Flivver (as she was nicknamed) had 250,000 miles on her (no mention as to how that was known) and still got 20 miles per/gallon, with a top speed of 48 miles per/hour. We can assume that Mr. Nystrom went to his rewards some time ago, but his car is probably still out there being written about.
This article explains those heady days spanning the years 1900 through 1910 when the apostles of the automobile were given the task of telling anyone who would listen that the days of the horse were over:
“In the old days the salesmen had his problems. It took more than reason to get a sensible man in one of those contraptions with the motor under the seat and a water tank hanging from the rear. The salesman had to be a promoter, a mechanic, a ballyhoo artist, a stunt performer and a magician.”
This article explains those heady days spanning the years 1900 through 1910 when the apostles of the automobile were given
There is no organization that has compiled more facts about cars and their impact on society, than The American Automobile Association – AAA for short. And why shouldn’t they? the AAA predates turn signals, starter buttons and stop lights. They were around before seat belts, parking lights and jay-walkers. They even predate car doors and windshields – to say nothing of their wipers. As you should all know by now, the AAA was not established as a car trivia repository but a coterie of motorists who banded together to aid other motorists.
Written in 1952, this article serves to mark the 50th anniversary of the AAA; these columns are positively packed with assorted automobile trivia which, when pieced together, spells out the first fifty years of the car in America.
As early as 1920, the number of automobiles was quickly growing throughout the Western world. In this very brief article, a journalist lays out how rapidly life was changing in the United States as a result of the horseless carriage.
The village smithy is no more. In the place of that interesting relic of a bygone day, there stands a substantial concrete building marked ‘Garage’…
Attached is a magazine article concerning the on-going debate regarding women drivers and the continuing balderdash as to which of the genders is the better driver: the issue was decided in 1936 and the men lost:
…according to the report of a university professor who took the trouble to find out. Armed with statistics, he asserts that the female of the motoring species is not nearly so deadly as the male.
The post-World War I American economy was humming along quite nicely when an inquisitive journalist took notice as to how many more cars there were on the streets (all told, there were 7.5 million). Perhaps there were no written studies documenting what we now call ‘the order of durable goods’ – that dependable yardstick we use to measure American opulence, and so this investigative journalist came up with a different way of figuring out just how many cars Americans could purchase -and we’re mighty glad he did!
Is it possible for a person to drive an automobile and remain a human being?
Do gasoline and courtesy mix?
Can you tell me why Ottis Throckmorton Whoozies, secretary of the Golden Rule Society, will smile sweetly, lift his hat and say graciously, ‘I beg your pardon. I’m really awfully sorry. Please excuse me,’ when he accidentally steps on a strange woman’s foot in a theater lobby, yet will lean out and make faces at his own grandmother if she fails to slow up her flivver and allow him to ‘cut in’ on a congested highway?
There’s something about a windshield that distorts a man’s outlook on life.
Click here to read about Lincoln, the joke teller.
Much of the credit for the success of Volkswagen immediately after the war was due to the visionary leadership of Volkswagen CEO Heinz Nordhoff (1899 – 1968), who was able to assess the faults of the existing model and make the necessary improvements:
The power was low, and the engine had a life of only 10,000 miles. Nordhoff brought in new experts who redesigned every vital component, working on the original pre-war designs of Ferdinand Porsche… The new car was quieter and more powerful, and had hydraulic brakes and shock absorbers. Soon, models with luxury touches were introduced.
Attached are the results of a nationwide survey from 1954 indicating what the American automobile consumers were shopping for in cars:
• 54% preferred whitewall tires over any other kind
• 68% preferred push-button door handles
• 59% wanted jet-age hood ornaments
• 44% wished that dashboards were loaded with dials and gauges
Shortly before President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the nation was treated to articles like the one that is attached herein – articles that detailed all the very many flaws that existed in the American road system:
The most highly motorized nation on earth faced the danger of finding itself all gassed up with no place to go. As the budget-harried [Truman] Administration pressed for a 20% cut in highway aid to states, legislators and private groups warned that U.S. roads were fast crumbling.
The U.S. has 350,000 miles of surfaced primary roads, but about 20,000 miles become unusable or too dangerous every year. One warning sign: U.S. auto deaths, now over 1 million, equals the American dead in all wars since the Revolution.
As of 2013, the United States has the largest and most advanced road network in the world – covering a distance of 6,506,204 km. (China’s road system covers 4,193,000 km).
Five sketches of motor car designs which won cash prizes or honorable mention at the recent [1922] first annual ‘Body Builders’ Show in New York. In this competition were entered many leading custom body builders.
Pictured is the attached advertisement is the Harley-Davidson Two-Speed Twin of 1914, which featured the patented Step-Starter and the expanding rear brake.
A magazine article which examines the automotive upholstery styles of cars that were made for the general public (stock cars) and those other cars that were custom made and likely to be furnished with Dictaphones and vanity cases.
As for materials, it may be said that most of the custom-built cars are upholstered in broadcloth or whipcord, whereas the stock cars show prevailingly velours, mohair velvet and the textile known as automobile cloth.
In our era we think nothing of bookmobiles and bloodmobiles or any number of other converted trucks and vans that are fashioned for various unique uses; this link will enable you to learn about a Catholic chapel-on-wheels (a.k.a. the Jesus-Jalopy, the Nun-Truck, the Pope Pick-Up, the Bishop-Bus) from 1913, that very well might have served as the inspiration for them all.
An informative look at the rising number of cars and the decreasing amount of horses that were put to use in Britain, France and the United States.
In the American confederation it is estimated that there are more than 130,000 automobiles, besides some 35,000 motor trucks, delivery wagons, etc., and 150,000 motor cycles and tricycles. Eight years ago the number of automobiles in the United States did not exceed 6,000.
An article that your gadget-loving, audiophile pals will probably not enjoy from the days before woofers and tweeters. Will wonders never cease? A radio IN THE CAR and an antenna that looks like a luggage rack, for heavens sake…
