American automobile industry in the 1950s

The industry was maturing in an era of rapid technological change; mass production and the benefits from economies of scale led to innovative designs and greater profits, but stiff competition between the automakers.

[2] By 1960, one-sixth of working Americans were employed directly or indirectly by the industry, but automation and imports eroded the need for such a large workforce within a couple of decades.

[3] At least 100 automobile companies had begun operations in Detroit by the beginning of the 20th century, but by the 1920s, the decade that gave rise to the Big Three, Ford was the largest.

[4] In American automobile parlance, the Big Three refers to General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler, each of which had bought out other companies to become conglomerates earlier in the 20th century.

[4] Their combined market share grew over the following decades, declining only slightly after World War II, but the Big Three soon came to dominate the industry, claiming 94 percent of all automobile sales in 1955, 1956 and 1959.

[8][9] Studebaker had enjoyed earlier success and was the first independent automaker to produce an overhead valve V8 engine,[10] a 232.6 cubic inch, 120 hp unit, the first low-priced V8.

[16] Production numbers are sometimes conflicting, depending on how they are calculated and how vehicles are classified, but according to Ward's, the number of actual autos and duty trucks manufactured in North America for each year, including domestic production intended for export, are represented below:[17] Many innovations were introduced or refined in the 1950s to make driving safer and more comfortable.

Combined with lower prices and the growth of the suburbs, car ownership became ubiquitous and more people were driving longer distances.

The new innovations fueled the automaker's philosophy of "dynamic obsolescence", forcing buyers to upgrade every few years and guaranteeing future sales.

[18] As more roads were built and average travel speeds increased, the inherent limitations of the pre-war suspension systems became obvious.

Before the 1950s, most automobiles used a kingpin-based front suspension, which limited the degree of free movement and ultimately the smoothness of the ride, particularly at higher speeds.

In combination with a shock absorber, the newer suspension designs made cars safer and more controllable at highway speeds, although at the cost of being slightly less durable than kingpin-based systems.

[21] As the 1950s approached, solid front axles had been generally replaced with independent suspension, smoothing the ride considerably and allowing for safer highway speeds.

[26] Later that same year, Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Ford, Mercury and Pontiac also introduced air suspension as an option for select models[27] but it was unreliable and was soon dropped.

[45] It was developed into its modern form by Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin (US patent 3,043,625[46]) for Volvo, who introduced the three-point safety device in 1959 as standard equipment.

[48] The 1953 Chrysler Imperial was the first production car in twelve years to offer air conditioning, following tentative experiments by Packard in 1940 and Cadillac in 1941.

It was used on some armored vehicles and heavy trucks during World War II, but it took more than decades before the system was commercialized in passenger automobiles.

Beginning in 1955, Chrysler offered a small phonograph called the Highway Hi-Fi in its luxury cars, which played proprietary seven-inch records.

[65] It was introduced at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show, and featured forward-canted headlights, rear tailfins (a first for Ford at that time), and power seats, brakes, steering and other advancements.

Like many similar cars of the time it was not operational, except for the electrical components such as the motorized trunk and front hood, although some of its innovations appeared later in the Lincoln Premiere.

[66] Harley Earl helped develop the General Motors Firebird, a series of three concept cars shown at Motorama auto shows in the 1950s.

The Firebird I, II and III were part of a research project to study the feasibility of gas turbine engines and featured radical, aircraft-like styling.

[70] In 1956, Ford tried to revive the Continental brand as a standalone line of ultra luxury automobiles, but abandoned the attempt after the 1957 model year, by which time around 3000 Mark II cars had been built.

[77] Chrysler's seemingly sudden announcement to discontinue the marque resulted in negative publicity as their advertising and press releases had given the impression the brand would be continued.

Its early popularity was due to its sleek design, low center of gravity and excellent handling, but they failed to keep up with the rest of the industry by mid-decade.

[79] While its higher-end products offered advanced features such as automatic transmission as standard equipment, its overall body designs were considered dated.

Peak production was in 1948, with almost 29,000 vehicles produced, followed by a sharp drop off in demand,[81] resulting in an unsustainable loss of more than $1 million that year.

Eisenhower gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II.

The auto manufacturers were accused of speeding up work during these period of heavy layoffs, which resulted in a number of wildcat strikes.

[97] The United Auto Workers (UAW) was founded in 1935 and helped play a major role in reshaping the automotive industry after World War II.