Pre WWII the US was impacted
dramatically with the rise of a new culture and experience in the United States,
the automobile. While the first automobile had been built in 1893 by Charles
and Frank Duryea, the car culture did not erupt until post WWII. The rise of
the automobile kicked off as a slow start but soon started to gain momentum. In
1895 there was only four cars officially registered in the United States but by
1916 there was 3,376,889 cars registered. During this pre era WWII, the “big
three” car companies known were GM, Ford and Chrysler. Right before WWII the
auto industry had emerged and was producing new cars and experience for
Americans, but when the war came around the industry came to a sudden halt. However,
post WWII would bring new experiences, cultures, and looks that Americans were
eagerly searching as the number of automobiles produced annually quadrupled
between 1946 & 1955.
As said, the three main auto
industry companies during this time and still are today were GM (General
Motors) Ford and Chevrolet. Each company played a role in America in a
different way, but they all were trying to accomplish the same goal, which was
to satisfy something new for Americans after WWII. General Motors had the
greatest impact on the war for the US maybe more than any of the big three. GM
supplied the allies with more goods than any other company with things such as
airplanes, trucks, tanks and many other military machines; they delivered more
than $12 billion worth of materials. Aside from supplying the allies and the US
with military goods they also wanted to supply the Americans who were “eager
for goods”. Basically now that the war was over and America had gone through a
lot, Americans wanted to celebrate and be able to enjoy new things in the US;
cars being one of the biggest factors. GM brought out a new “stream of designs”
that would satisfy the consumer need for new goods. Popular models that were
released then and are still popular collection cars today are the 1949 Buick
Roadmaster, the Chevrolet Corvette & Belair, and the 1959 Cadillac El
Dorado.
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Chevrolet, the second of the big
three was also a big mainstream producer. Chevrolet, like the rest of the big
three wanted to satisfy Americans with new cars during the post WWII era.
Chevrolet however had many models that had been designed pre-WWI but were never
able to be produced because of the war. This came as an advantage to them then,
because they had what Chevrolet called a “fresh look, more driving pleasure
& greater performance”. As the V-8 engine was produced in the 1930’s it
wasn’t put on many models because of the lack of cars being produced during the
war. Chevrolet however made sure to take advantage of this right after WWII.
Chevrolet started to build performance based cars that were known as muscle
cars and again are still classics today. This included the 1962 Chevelle and
the Camaro in ’64 & ’67.
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For Ford Motors the post WWI era
was a time for “fun & celebration” (as most of the US was) and was a time
that was looking for something new; as mentioned already. Ford however had a
different approach to this era then GM and Chevrolet as their focus was more
for the whole American community. Ford came out with different styles for
everybody; including convertibles, coupes & sedans. They wanted a wide
range of styles so they could satisfy anywhere from kids to adults. With the
help of new innovations in 1948 such as automatic transmission, power steering,
disk breaking, and power windows, this was all able to be accomplished. Along
with their hard work and new models they provided America with post war
prosperity.
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What did cars mean then for
Americans who were looking for something new and what did they do once they had
these new automobiles? It provided youth and adults with all sorts of new
adventures. Traveling was now easier as most Americans all owned at least one
car. Cars impacted the economy in such ways that there now was a need for gas
stations, motels for when traveling, road side restaurants, and of course
highways and roads. All of these factors allowing for new jobs and industries
in the US. One huge factor that cars had on American teens that is over looked
today is it changed the aspect on dating. Before, dating was known as “courting”
since there was no way for teenagers to get away and be alone. Instead, they
were under the supervision of usually at least one adult. The new use of cars
expanded this factor dramatically as now customs such as the girl going to be
picked up by the guy came into play. Also couples would be able to go to
movies, restaurants and have more freedom away from either pair of parents. This
was actually a major concern for American adults at the time, because they
thought this would lead to teenage problems and crime.
To their assumption, cars did bring
about a new problem among teenagers. In California 1940, the birth of “hot
rodding” emerged. Hot rods were a “social statement” among young Americans
(usually poor kids who were service men) and were seen as their identity and or
style. Hot rodders would soupe up their cars with new performance parts, tune
their car to their style, and then either use them for cruising around or
racing. Young kids would show off their power and performance in their car to
show that money wasn’t everything and that they had their identity in
something. Young Americans started to drag race their cars across nearby desert
salt flats since they were long straight lines of open roads with usually no
cops. This was most of the time done between small towns such as Pasadena,
Glendale & Burbank. While early hot rodding started in 1940 it died down very
quickly because of the war. However after the war ended in 1945 it, “became one
of the strongest fades of new post war America”. This was the concern that many
adults had, because now cars had turned into something dangerous and a new
culture for many young Americans. While this all started in California, it soon
started to spread all over the country and was no longer just done across dry lakes.
Teenagers souped up cars were now used for street racing and this launched a
whole new culture for cars in America. All of this led to local hangouts,
cruising at night, and of course the racing that was already taking place; it
was a new culture that had sprang up among American youth. Many looked at hot
rodding as a “darker side” of American youth which led to gangs and teenagers
being too free. Because of this there was a lot done to try and deplete hot
rodding such as the first Hot Rod Exhibition in January 1948. Also the National
Hot Rod Association was created in 1951 to try and provide a friendly
car-police cooperation. Organized drag racing also emerged shortly after to try
and provide a safer and legal form of racing for youth. However no matter how
much was enforced or what was done, hot rodding and street racing continued to
emerge in America and led to even more illegal racing.
Cars started to bring about a new
life style for many Americans and young people continued to tune and upgrade
their cars to show off their power, speed and style. Their car symbolized who
they were and they showed off who they were personally, through what kind of
ride they drove. For example, Suzanne Sooners Character in American Graffiti
was just known as “Blonde in the T-Bird”. She had no real name throughout the
whole movie but because of the car she drove and who she was, everybody
recognized her by that. This is how cars found an identity for young Americans
more so back then compared to today, but still in many parts of America today.
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| Blonde in the T-Bird |
Cars have also had a huge impact on
media and entertainment in the United States. Cars are found all over movies,
in music, magazines and almost anything else commercialized. Cars are still
mentioned in songs today, but don’t seem to be found as popular as they were
during the hot rodding era. Popular songs that also helped many Americans
identify themselves were songs such as “Little Deuce Coupe” by the Beach Boys
& the “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Charlie Ryan. Both songs go into specific
details about cars and talk about the culture of them. This includes
performance, looks, racing and telling stories about cars. A major hit movie
series today that started in 2001 was the Fast and Furious Series. In the early
movies of this series, they seem to capture the car culture almost better than
any other film that has yet to come out. Based in LA (which is one of the areas
where hot rodding actually started) these movies provided Americans with an all
new kind of movie series. The movies focused on American street racing and a
bunch of young adults who love cars and love to go fast. The movie also brings
America together in a way that many movies do not. Fast and the Furious has a
wide range of racial diversity as the cast represents characters being Italian,
Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Asian & of course American. However in
the movies since everybody is about the car culture, nobody is defined by what
race or color they are, but instead by what car they drive, what it looks like,
and of course how they race it. This is very similar to the hot rodding era
because Americans were just brought together by the love of cars. It didn’t
matter where you were from, what color you were or who you were; everybody was
brought together by the same passion, which was cars. Fast and the Furious
caught American attention quickly because it was something new, that nobody
else had produced before. The car culture was finally put together in a movie,
and has continued all the way to even this summer when Fast and Furious Six is
being released. Chicago Tribune describes the first movie and the culture of
the movies best by saying, “It’s about going fast. The curves of the cars and
women; the camera crawling over speaker systems, flashy rims, racing lines, and
hot clothing- you are not defined by race in these films, but by your consumer
choices.” Fast and the Furious was successful in educating Americans with a new
lifestyle and culture that may have not been explored before.
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Maybe the most discouraging thing
about this all is that young American drivers today, are not nearly as
interested as they were before. According to the Washington Post, “Public
transportation use is up to 40% per capita in this age group since 2001. Bicycling is up to 24% overall in that time
period.” And this age group that they
are talking about is from the age of 16 to 34 years of age. Today cars are much
more expensive to drive with different costs from gas prices, student debt, and
auto insurance prices have increased. Also according to some studies, the
latest phones and gadgets are more important to this generation than owning a
car. Young adults rather have the latest Iphone or Ipad along with the latest
laptop and other gadgets, and spend their money on that. Also, gadgets are
allowing people to have to leave their house left, so with there being no need
for them to leave their house than there is also less a need for them to buy a
car. Young adults today also are bigger on pollution and what driving cars do
to the environment. All of these factors seem to be most often in big cities
where people can take the subway or a taxi, or simply walk to their
destination. Walking or riding bikes also allows for exercise which is what a
lot of people do now, so that later they don’t have to head to the gym. It’s a
shame that younger people today aren’t as interested in owning a car than they
were in the past, but car manufactures are doing their best every day to try
and fit the new style and need of young Americans today.
Over the course of studying this
topic which was how the auto industry has affected the US since post WWII, I learned
many new things. For one, I didn’t know that in American Graffiti a character’s
name was literally “Blonde in the T-Bird” and that she had no real name. Also,
I didn’t realize how much car manufactures during WWII contributed to the
manufacturing of war vehicles. An obstacle that I faced while writing this
paper was that I was sick over the course of about four days and didn’t have
much time to work on writing or researching so I really had to push towards the
end. I enjoyed researching this topic though since I enjoy cars and it was
interesting reading and learning about different facts that I didn’t already
know. I also ended up writing a lot more than I thought I would considering I
only had 9 note cards, but all of my sources provided me with good information
that I was able to elaborate on.
Bibliography:
General Motors Heritage (gave me general information on the background of GM, what they are about, and essentially what their heritage is and how it all started)
Ford Motors Heritage (the same as above, gave me general information on the background of Ford, what they are about, and essentially what their heritage is and how it all started)
Fast & Furious Article (gave me information on how this film is unique from others and what the film started in the US, as well as the car culture that the Fast and Furious films reflect)
MSN Auto's-History of Hot Rods (gave me a short history on hot rods, but enough information to spark ideas in my head as well as what to search next; gave me a lot of new information though that I did not know before)
Motor Trend Pop Culture (gave me information on famous songs of the cars in the hot rodding era; this is where I got my two songs that I included in the post)
NBC News- Next Generation Problem (gave me most of my insight and information on why this era of young Americans are different from the past era's of young Americans about cars and why this era is not as passionate in buying cars as the past have)
