Word: chromed
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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...
...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...
...particularly object to chrome and wild colors," says Alexander P. Gest Jr., president of the small Mitchel Oil Corp. in Mamaroneck, N.Y. "But the thing I can't stand is that you can't tell the present-day cars apart. They all look alike. I honestly can't tell a Plymouth from a Cadillac when they go by fast...
Love That Chrome. Despite all the yowling about chrome and size, the experts scoff at the notion that Detroit's problem-or even a major part of it-is a mere matter of style. "This industry grew because we have made it our business to find out what people want," says a G.M. economist, noting that his company surveys 2,000,000 potential buyers each year. They are dissected for their likes and dislikes, like frogs in a laboratory. Thousands of lengthy questionnaires are sent out; microphones are hidden in new cars in showrooms to catch comments; salesmen carry...
Whatever psychological forces are at work, the trend ever since 1946 has been to longer, wider, more futuristic cars-and more chrome ("jewelry" to automen). Those who bucked the trend usually rued the day. Henry Kaiser's small, chromeless Henry J. was a dismal failure. So was the drab 1954 Plymouth, which was 4 in. shorter than the year before. Sales dropped nearly 36% to only 381,000 cars a year. A year later Plymouth rolled out the longest (204 in.) car among the low-priced three and promptly boosted sales back up to 647,000 cars...