America and the Automobile, Cars and Culture The Cultural Impact of the American Automobile 1946-1974 Michelle Lea Dissman Honors Thesis Spring 2010 1 The Fact is that the automobile became a hypnosis. The automobile became the opium of the American people. -Fortune 2 Dr. Noll- this thesis has been a massive undertaking and it would never have reached completion without your insights. Thank you for all of your advice and help on this, Phi Alpha Theta and nearly everything else. Dad- without you I would never have conceived of this topic nor had the background necessary to carry it out. I may be headed to law school, but will never be too far from all those hours in the garage. Those stars are starting to shine, just as planned. 3 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4 The Rise of the Automobile .................................................................................................... 5 The Styling Redesign .............................................................................................................. 7 The Role of Attainable Pricing for the Masses ..................................................................... 11 The Emerging American Obsession...................................................................................... 13 The Impact on the Nuclear Family........................................................................................ 16 Redefining the American Teenager ...................................................................................... 19 The Rise of the Hot Rod Culture........................................................................................... 24 The Rise of the Excess Culture ............................................................................................. 31 Baby Boomers and Redesign ................................................................................................ 32 Converting from Chrome to Muscle ..................................................................................... 33 The Automobile as Identity ................................................................................................... 37 Downfall and Decline ........................................................................................................... 38 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 39 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 41 Citations for Images .............................................................................................................. 44 4 America and the Automobile, Cars and Culture The Cultural Impact of the American Automobile 1946-1974 Introduction With the end of World War II, the United States returned to a different life and culture than the one it had left behind at the start of the war. The United States had gone to war with 70 percent of the American people falling below the category of “earnings poverty.”1 After the war, the change in American society was dramatic and quick, as rationing had ended, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line fell dramatically and soldiers returned home with the dream of a house and car of one’s own. It is at this important juncture that cars and culture collide. With the broad explosion of automobile production in post-World War II America, the automobile had far-reaching societal and cultural impacts beyond the production lines in Detroit. In short, the massive increase in post-war automobile production fundamentally altered American Society. In post-war America the automobile would take hold and retain its intense grip on wide-ranging aspects of society for more than the next quarter century, with its effects still apparent today. During this time the automobile would be elevated to the level of a celebrated symbol of such juxtapositions as individuality and conformity, tradition and 5 modernity, and uniqueness and mass production. These effects would also dramatically affect not one but at least two generations, specifically and perhaps most intensely both the “greatest generation” and their children, the “baby boomers,” who would each interpret and style the trend in their own image. Through these generations, the automobile culture would grow and transform, progressively building upon itself and extending its influence further into American society until outside forces, especially the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, would deal a fatal blow to driver’s wallets and subsequently the cars and the culture they had shaped. The Rise of the Automobile An obvious but central component of the impact of the automobile on American culture was the drastic increase in car production. At the close of World War II, “domestic production of automobiles had been virtually suspended for three and a half years.”2 However, after the end of World War II, production levels quickly reached those of 1940, as American factories that had been converted for war quickly converted back.3 In 1941, the United States had 29.5 million automobiles registered4, by 1950 49.3 million were registered and at the close of the decade some 73.8 million automobiles were on the streets.5 1 Sobel, Robert. The Great Boom, 1950-2000 : How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. , 24 2 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003. , 31 3 Laux, James M. The Automobile Revolution: The Impact of an Industry. 1st ed. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1982., 172 4 Sobel, Robert. The Great Boom, 1950-2000: How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000., 104 5 Halberstam, David. The Fifties. 1st ed. New York: Villard Books, a division of Random House, 1993., 487 6 This dramatic increase in car production and sales coupled with the styling and performance changes would directly lead to the automotive overhaul of American society. Much of the rise of the automobile and the rise culture associated with it can be attributed to the automobile styling that began to take place at mid-century. By 1950 Detroit had caught up with demand following the switch from war production and stopped offering “drab, clunky, warmed-over, prewar designs”6 and automakers decided to give Americans what they assumed they really desired- “big, powerful, flashy new cars-not next 1946 Ford (Pre7 -War year-NOW!” Styling) Over the next two decades Detroit flooded the automobile showrooms with cars that had “flair and individuality,”8 it is this time period alone when cars would be unique and sought after for it. Designers knew that although the “responsible” adult Earl’s 1948 Cadillac customer when asked would say that “economy, durability and reliability”9 dictated their auto purchases, in reality what mattered was “adult toys, with pizzazz and sex appeal.”10 The pressure of conformity was strong in almost every other aspect of their lives, but “on the road Americans longed to experience fantasy”11. After the factories were back online and the pre-war remakes had calmed the immediate demand of the market which rushed to buy replacements for their worn out pre- 6 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 7 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 8 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 9 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 10 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 11 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 69 7 war automobiles, “Detroit made them larger, more powerful, and more colorful”12.At the center of this redesign was a man from General Motors- Harley Earl. The Styling Redesign Much of this midcentury styling redesign can be attributed to Harley Earl. In Hollywood during the twenties, Earl had become famous for modifying and redesigning cars of the rich and famous. Cost was not an issue, and Earl experimented with “futuristic body designs and introduced bold colors into the mix”13. In 1927, Earl joined General Motors as chief stylist, but with the depression and subsequently the war, Earl’s creativity “was temporarily stifled”14 as automakers, reflecting the mood of the nation, “painted most cars in drab colors: black, brown, dark green, and occasionally navy blue”15. However, Earl stayed on at General Motors, and as the nation returned to better times, Earl would get P-38 Airplane his way with design: “dazzling colors reappeared, embellished by two-tone paint jobs (Kelly green bodies with beige hardtops)” and “inspired by fighter planes, he introduced tail fins, clearly derived from the p-38 airplane,”16 which first appeared on Earl’s 1948