1950s American automobile culture

The United States became the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles, and Henry Ford's goal of 30 years earlier—that any man with a good job should be able to afford an automobile—was achieved.

While serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, Eisenhower had gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as an essential component of a national defense system, providing transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments.

[6] The Interstate grew quickly, along with the automobile industry, allowing a new-found mobility that permeated ways of American life and culture.

[8] The United States' investment in infrastructures such as highways and bridges coincided with the increasing availability of cars more suited to the higher speeds that better roads made possible, allowing people to live beyond the confines of major cities, and instead commute to and from work.

"[13] More people joined the middle class in the 1950s, with more money to spend, and the availability of consumer goods expanded along with the economy, including the automobile.

New designs and innovations appealed to a generation tuned into fashion and glamour,[8] and the new-found freedom and way of life in the suburbs had several unforeseen consequences for the inner cities.

[14] As more middle-class and affluent people fled the city to the relative quiet and open spaces of the suburbs, the urban centers deteriorated and lost population.

[19] The story has been explored several times in print, film and other media, for example in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Taken for a Ride and The End of Suburbia.

[24] The relative abundance and inexpensive nature of the Ford Model T and other cars from the 1920s to 1940s helped fuel the hot rod culture that developed, which was focused on getting the most linear speed out of these older automobiles.

[26] This 30,000-acre (47 sq mi) region[27] has been called the "Holy Grail of American Hot Rodding", and is often used for land speed racing, a tradition that grew rapidly in the 1950s and continues today.

Kustom Kulture started in the 1950s,[29] when artists such as Von Dutch transformed automobile pin striping from a seldom-used accent that followed the lines of the car into a freestyle art form.

[30] As the decade progressed, hot rodding became a popular hobby for a growing number of teenagers as the sport literally came to Main Street.

"Pappy" Hart, Creighton Hunter and Frank Stillwell at the Orange County Airport auxiliary runway in southern California, and was operational from 1950 until June 21, 1959.

[41] Junior Johnson was one of many bootleggers who took part in the sport during the 1950s, equally well known for his arrest in 1955 for operating his father's moonshine still as he is for his racing success.

[46] A number of other successful "drive up" businesses have their roots in the 1950s, including McDonald's (expanded c. 1955), which had no dine-in facilities, requiring customers to park and walk up to the window, taking their order "to go".

[51] The drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles, where patrons view the movie from the comfort of their cars and listen via an electric speaker placed at each parking spot.

Although drive-in movies first appeared in 1933,[52] it was not until well after the post-war era that they became popular when more people began owning vehicles, enjoying their greatest success in the 1950s, reaching a peak of more than 4,000 theaters in the United States alone.

[53][54] Drive-in theaters have been romanticized in popular culture with the movie American Graffiti and Grease and the television series Happy Days.

They developed a reputation for showing B movies, typically monster or horror films, and as "passion pits", a place for teenagers to make out.

[54] While drive-in theaters are rarer today with only 366 remaining[53] and no longer unique to America, they are still associated as part of the 1950s' American car culture.

[59] This formula (enclosed space with stores attached, away from downtown and accessible only by automobile) became a popular way to build retail across the world.

They provided a variety of high performance parts for the new hot rodders, which was popular equipment for setting speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats.

[64] Owners were no longer restricted to the original equipment provided by manufacturers, helping not only create the hot rod culture[65] but also the foundation for cosmetic modifications.

Starting in the mid-1950s, new car introductions in the fall once again became an anticipated event, as all dealers would reveal the models for the upcoming year each October.

[70] The idea was originally suggested in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, as a way of stimulating the economy by creating demand.

The idea was reintroduced by President Dwight Eisenhower for the same reasons, and this method of introducing next year's models in the preceding autumn lasted well into the 1990s.

[76] Each year brought larger engines and/or increases in horsepower,[82] providing a catalyst for customers to upgrade to newer models.

Automobile executives also deliberately updated the body designs yearly, in the name of "planned obsolescence"[83][84] and added newly developed or improved features such as automatic transmissions, power steering, power brakes and cruise control, in an effort to make the previous models seem outdated and facilitate the long drive from the suburbs.

[85] Harley Earl and Bill France Sr. popularized the saying "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday",[86] a mantra still heard today in motorsports, particularly within NASCAR.

During the muscle-car era, manufacturers not only sponsored the drivers, but designed stock cars specifically to compete in the fast-growing and highly popular sport.