Word: carly
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...there too much chrome? Or not enough? Are the fins too fabulous? Or just fishy? Everyone debates the case of the small car v. the big car, argues the merits of the U.S. car v. the invading import. There are gags for every occasion. At the sight of a new 1958, the sidewalk humorists are solemnly asking, "Where do you put in the nickel to make it light up and play?" To Detroit, all this is as shocking as if a Saint Bernard had bitten a lost missionary. "This," said Ford Stylist George W. Walker sadly, "is 'Hate-Autos...
...real gripe," says Minneapolis Physician George Riley Martin, who swapped his 1954 Chevy for a small Simca, "is that American cars are getting too complicated. They're too full of gadgets that are always going wrong. My windshield wipers kept breaking, and they practically had to tear out the dashboard to get at the things. You're getting fins and chrome, and every time that you bash a fender a little bit, the whole side of the car has to be replaced...
...Small cars are just a phase," says Atlanta Medical Technician Jewell Mitchell, who drives a well-cared-for 1956 Cadillac. "They're not comfortable, and I'm afraid I'll wind up under somebody's front bumper. Why, the other day I saw a small foreign car with a sign saying: 'Don't run over me. I squash bugs...
...Detroit isn't solving our problems-it's creating them," says San Francisco Social Worker Janet Pence, who recently retired her 1951 Hudson in favor of a pale blue Volkswagen. "When it became difficult to park downtown, we were greeted each year with a longer car. When the price of gas and oil went skyhigh, we were asked to buy gas guzzlers. Well, we plan to become a two-car family soon, just as Detroit advises. But we're getting another Volkswagen...
Three Frowns, One Smile. While the experts are having their say, auto sales are poking along at a rate of 1,200,000 units behind 1957's pace, and dealers have 800,000 unsold new cars on their hands. A few hardy optimists still talk of a 5,000,000-car year. But the industry's realists are prepared to settle for much less, possibly only 4,200,000 cars, thus making 1958 the worst since the steel-strike year...