Word: compacting
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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THERE are two kinds of news: that which has happened and that which will happen. This week's TIME cover story reports something that has happened: the introduction of the first of Detroit's compact cars...
...some of the biggest wheels in Detroit began to doubt that U.S. consumers wanted their cars so big and bright. In the forefront of public doubters was American Motors' President George Romney (TIME, April 6, 1959). Privately, there was also Ed Cole, who had been working on a compact car for years...
...since Henry Ford put the nation on wheels with his model T has such a great and sweeping change hit the auto industry. Out from Detroit and into 7,200 Chevrolet showrooms this week rolled the radically designed Corvair, first of the Big Three's new generation of compact cars. Smaller and simpler than Detroit's chromespun standards, the Corvair is like no other model ever mass-produced in the U.S.; its engine is made of aluminum and cooled by air, and it is mounted in the rear. To Chevrolet's folksy, brilliant General Manager Edward...
...development. Last week in Miami Beach, some 400 newsmen previewed the models to come out in October. Biggest share of the spending is for Chrysler's new economy car, the Valiant, heaviest (about 2,700 lbs.) and most powerful (100 h.p.) of the Big Three's compact cars. Styled with a sports-car slope, the Valiant seats six, gets 30 miles per gallon, has a top speed of 100 m.p.h. Among its features: a new six-cylinder engine mounted at a 30° angle, instead of straight, to give the car a lower center of gravity...
Chrysler President Lester Lum Colbert predicted that U.S. compact-car sales in 1960 will total 1,250,000 units, noted that by early 1960 the Valiant will have an annual production capacity of about 300,000 cars. Said Colbert: "We are ready with the right car for a big new market. The impact of this new automotive development may be so great that the volume of sales of economy cars will be determined in large part by the manufacturing capacity of the major companies...