Word: cars
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Ford also has a zippier (300 h.p. or more), completely restyled, four-seater Thunderbird aimed more at the family than the sports-car market. But the car Ford worked hardest on is the Lincoln, frankly aimed at knocking Cadillac from leadership of the luxury market. Longest car on the road (229 in.), the Lincoln looks like a popular version of the Continental, which now becomes the top-priced Lincoln series, has horsepower boosted to 375 h.p., and new weight distribution that makes it handle like a sports car. Says Stylist Walker: "If that Lincoln doesn't beat Caddy...
Lazy S & Struts. But General Motors does not intend to celebrate its golden anniversary year by losing any more of the market; it spent $730 million (and will boost prices 3% to 5%) to redesign every car with the exception of the Cadillac. To win back its cherished lead, 1958's Chevrolet is all new from latticework grille to gently curving, lazy-S rear-fender lines; all cars are 9 in. longer, 4 in. wider, 2 in. lower, have optional air-suspension ride and a slight horsepower increase to 290 h.p. Two new models: a sporty Impala hardtop...
...Classic Cars. The paramount importance of style, so evident in 1958 models, was slow to make itself felt on automakers. In the years when buying, driving and tinkering with the family car were a proud male prerogative (and when most car owners could still distinguish a carburetor from an oil filter), the big sales features were dependability and technical improvements-plus the giddy growth of the U.S. itself. Every new road opened up a new market; every new mechanical advance-hydraulic brakes, balloon tires, steel to replace wood and leather-brought the new buyers flocking to Detroit's door...
...some home-grown critics. Detroit's designers have been fooling the U.S. public for years. They argue that the rapid development of the foreign small-car market (estimated 1957 sales: 225,000) is a vote against ever-longer, ever-fancier Detroit designs. Actually, say the U.S. automen, it is a simple matter of economics. Though a small car costs almost as much to build as a big car, companies would produce them if the market ever demanded it. But the U.S. public still wants its cars big-like its country. "People want big things.'' says Walker. "They...
...Dollar Grin. Abroad, the U.S. penchant for size and splash brings on snide cracks that the American car is the symbol of American culture: a "dollar grin for all the world." But the real experts-Europe's stylists-are quick to defend the U.S. car. Italy's great Pinin Farina, who designed the beautiful Lancia Aurelia and Alfa Romeo, calls American cars the most comfortable in the world. For the U.S., with its enormous distances and comparatively cheap gasoline, the big. powerful U.S. cars are well designed. The driver who hopes to slip into 50-m.p.h. expressway traffic...