America and the Automobile, Cars and Culture€¦ · America and the Automobile, Cars and Culture...

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

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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

year-NOW!”7 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

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

1946 Ford

(Pre-War

Styling)

Earl’s 1948 Cadillac

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

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 Cadillac

design. In the post-war era, “it soon became clear to the stylists that the debris of war could

be recycled into the stuff of fantasy. The cockpit of an airplane could serve as the conceit

12 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., 107 13 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA:




Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 71

P-38 Airplane

8

for the car’s instrument panel; air scoops could be dummied up to conjure the speeds that

were then threatening to surpass the sound barrier…Think of it: Everyman his own fighter

pilot.”17 It was this initial vision and the positive reception to Earl’s Cadillac that began the

automotive culture movement.

After the 1948 Cadillac’s enormous success, Earl increased the fin size and other

designers and divisions of General Motors followed suit: the Oldsmobile in 1949, the Buick

in 1952. 18 In 1955, Chrysler added fins on its quarter panels, and in 1957, when Ford

finally gave in, all of the Detroit big three had fins. However, tail fins would see their

demise at the end of the 1950’s at the hands of their creator. As “other brands were adopting

the most garish, exaggerated fins,”19 Earl decided to remove them on the 1960 Cadillac,

feeling that fins of this size had lost any aesthetic appeal. These finned creations would

remain the staple of car design until the early 1960’s “Muscle Cars” would take over.

These fins would lead the men responsible for this styling at each of the “Big Three”

automakers, Harley Earl [GM], Virgil Exner [Chrysler], and George Walker [Ford], to

elevate themselves, “to be considered the Michelangelos of mass production. Or if you

prefer, they were its “Pep Boys”-Manny, Moe, and Jack—who managed to made every

Tom, Dick and Harry randy for creased steel and burnished chrome”20

17 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,

no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 15, 2010). 18 Foster, Mark S. A Nation on Wheels: the Automobile Culture in America Since 1945. 1st ed. Belmont, CA:


Wadsworth/ Thompson Learning, 2003., 71 20 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,

no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 15, 2010).

9

After tail fins established the movement towards garishness, many other styling

efforts also contributed to the tremendous success of the automobile during the 1950’s.

Decadence became the word to describe American automobile styling. American designers

portrayed the “car of the future,” with many of their design inspirations centered around

sex, the military or the combination thereof. These automobiles emerged in “full regalia of

fantasy bullets and bombs, breasts, portholes and jets, spears and wings.”21 Assembly lines

rolled off car after car with “frenched” headlights and “toothy chrome grilles”-- these

“monsters with bedroom eyes”22 clearly exhibit the blending of the two design staples of

sex and the military. American designers had decided to give the country a “cubic

zirconium”23 in place of diamonds. This was achieved by adding the styling features once

only available to the very wealthy, by creating them as carbon copies and thus making the

styling available at a reasonable price to the mass middle class.


no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2007). 22 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,


no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2007).

10

Left: 1. 1946 Ford, “Drab, Pre-War

Design”

Right: 2. P-38 Airplane

upon which Earl based his

fin design

Left: 3. Harley Earl’s 1948 Cadillac

Right: 4. The Evolution of the

Tail Fin under Harley Earl

Left: 5 The “Garish” Tail Fins

of a 1959 Chevrolet

11

The Role of Attainable Pricing for the Masses

If styling inspired the automobile’s rise, than cheaper pricing enabled it.

Immediately following World War II, “Americans did not hope for affluence-yet, but they

clearly wanted something beyond adequate.”24 “At long last, the hallowed promise of “a

chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” was on the verge of actuality for much of

the middle class.”25 Because of the ability to now make monthly payments on a car, rather

than pay for the entire purchase upfront, by the mid-1950’s “everyone who wanted a car

(and could obtain credit) had one.”26 Pricing was also aided by the mass invasion of the

mid-priced level car by Ford, Chevrolet and Plymouth who began to edge out more

expensive models that had previously been considered mid-ranged in price, Buick,

Mercury, and Dodge.27 While this hurt the individual label marquee-companies, this did not

affect the Big Three’s bottom line or sales company wide, since each had been edged out by

a sister company [Ford from Mercury (Ford), Chevrolet from Buick (GM), and Plymouth

from Dodge (Mopar/ Chrysler)]. However, not everyone perceived this increase in

automotive buying power as a positive. John Keats, in his book The Insolent Chariots

(1958), attacked the automobile industry stating that their products were “overblown,


Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000., 101 25 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,


no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2009). 27 Weeks, Robert P. “Detroit Discovers the Consumer” The Nation 189, no. 8 (September 19, 1959): 151-153,

The Nation Archive. EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2009).

12

overpriced monstrosities built by oafs to sell to mental defectives”28. However, Keats was

definitely in the minority. Between 1950 and 1960, the average wholesale cost of a car

increased from $1270 to $1822, an increase of nearly fifty percent.29 But based on the

dramatic increase in sales, approximately forty percent, Americans did not see the Detroit

autos as either overpriced or overblown.

The cost and styling of the car were two important factors. By the mid-fifties,

Detroit had begun to capitalize on this by merging cost and styling with the concept of

accessories and options. With the average buyer tacking on an additional $725 in available

options, or more than a quarter of the price of the average cost of the car itself,30 it seems

clear that “Motor Town became something of a soda jerk to the nation, dishing up a series

of increasingly elaborate confections “loaded with extras”; hot fudge, air conditioning,

whipped cream, chrome, chopped walnuts, “ Diamond Lustre” enamel paint with a

maraschino cherry on top.”31 As Detroit began to accessorize, option lists just kept

growing. There were the more standard options, sun visors, skirts, “cruisomatic” cruise

control 32 as well as more outlandish options available. These options included “frenched”

headlights, retractable hardtops and the “Ford Seat-O-Matic power memory seat [which]


Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000., 107 29 James J. Flink. The Automobile Age. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1988., 287 30 Nossiter, Bernard. “Detroit’s Annual Model Bill” The Nation 194, no, 3 (January 20, 1962): 50-51. The

Nation Archive. EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2009). 31 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,

no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 17, 2010). 32 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,

no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 17, 2010).

13

rivaled the Kamasutra, assuming no less than 49 positions”33 These options showcased

Americans’ willingness to buy these items, the growing almost non-importance of price and

the vast imagination of the designers in creating these options.

The rise of the automobile culture had long-reaching implications on the

fundamentals of American society and culture. This trend directly influenced society

through its emergence as an American obsession, the transformation the nuclear family, the

creation of a “hot rod culture” and the emergence of a cult centered on excess. These

effects would fundamentally alter mainstream American culture in the three decades

following the close of World War II.

The Emerging American Obsession

Through the tremendous increase in car sales and popularity, cars became the

American obsession. Many factors contributed to this obsession, including the competition

between the models and makers, and the American deification of the automobile.

Competition between the makers and models contributed immensely to the buildup of an

American obsession. The debate became all encompassing as Americans argued over

questions such as “Which is better/ faster, your ‘55 Thunderbird or my ’56 Corvette?”

Americans began to worship their cars with a “faith no less extravagant than that which

built the Vatican.”34 The year 1955 is usually considered to be the year that the automobile


no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 17, 2010). 34 Veitch, Jonathan. "Angels of the Assembly Line: The Dream Machines of the Fifties." Southwest Review 79,

no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2009).

14

became an obsession and “got religion”. The biggest single event that perhaps contributed

to Americans view of the automobile beyond simply transportation and into “a chariot of

the Gods” was James Dean’s death in 1955. With his death, Dean became a martyr for

those who worshiped the automobile, and the relationship between Dean and the automobile

became what “Joan of Arc is to Christianity. Like Joan of Arc, his purification by fire had

made him a martyred saint.”35 Thus, between the rise of preoccupation with horsepower,

carburetors and cubic inches along with Dean’s death, Americans settled down “into full-

fledged pagan worship of the machine”36. By the end of the 1950s, this American

obsession had grown to such a point that Americans wished to do everything possible

without leaving their beloved automobiles. This led to the rise of drive-thru fast food,

drive-in movies, the national highway system, the roadside motel and even drive –thru

funeral parlors37: all evidence of the increasing American obsession. As the obsession

increased in intensity, the automobile was set to take on American culture and redefine it

along its own terms.



no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 650. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2009). 37 Inge, M. Thomas.Handbook of American Popular CultureVol 1,Ch, 2.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,

1978, 29

15

Left: 6. The

“Frenched”

Headlights, Chrome, and “Bedroom Eyes”

on an 1957 Chevrolet

Right: 7. A 1950’s Drive-in Diner

Left: 8. A 1950’s Drive-in

Movie Theater

16

The Impact on the Nuclear Family

With the end of World War II, the American nuclear family began to redefine its

terms of success. At this time the American dream became the “white picket fence dream”-

a home and one’s own car becomes the terms with which to define the success of a family.

Costing upwards of twenty thousand dollars38, houses were usually purchased with the aid

of long-term mortgages, and the middle and upper classes began to make their move to the

suburbs. Though providing millions with their own homes, suburbs like Levittown and

other similar suburbs were heavily criticized for their levels of conformity by the likes of

John Keats, who in his 1956 book The Crack in the Picture Window wrote: “For literally

nothing down, you too can find a box of your own in one of the fresh-air slums we’re

building around the edges of American cities, inhabited by people whose age, income,

number of children, problems, habits, conversations, dress possessions, and perhaps even

blood types are almost precisely like yours.”39 In spite of the concerns of critics like Keats,

these suburbs remained popular and contributed to the use and high regard of Americans

toward their cars.

This regard can be seen in many ways in the post-war suburbs. For years homes had

been constructed with garages and driveways accessed from back alleys, but the standard

suburban home built during the 1950’s moved the garage to an important place- right in the


Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.,71 39Keats, John. The Crack in the Picture Window. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1956.,

introduction

17

front of the home, complete with a blacktop driveway leading the way, thus making “the

automobile a prominent part of the dramatic ensemble.40 Through this change, one can not

only see the importance Americans were placing on their automobiles, but also their

growing function as status symbols. In this vein, rituals such as washing the family car

became public neighborhood affairs attracting attention to their latest model year purchase.

But Americans had not just redefined the outside of their home; they had redefined the

inside as well.

In the kitchen, the open floor plan, featured refrigerators painted similar colors to

those that you would find in the automobile showroom, often they were shaped like cars

and embellished with superfluous chrome lettering, handles and meaningless extra

chrome.41 This appliance design clearly shows that not only were cars important enough to

redesign the outside of your home; once inside, Americans, who, unable to stand the

inability to see their cars, so therefore bought appliances that would remind them of their

beloved automobiles. Clearly the automobile had transcended into the American home

affecting nearly every aspect of the home, a clear indication of the level of importance and

preoccupation of Americans with their cars.

The impact of the automobile even spread into fashion. During the 1950’s, design

changes resembling those of the automobile can clearly be seen. “By 1947, a postbellum

40 Marling, Karal Ann. As seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press, 1994., 129

41 Marling, Karal Ann. As seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press, 1994., 142

18

fashion became all the rage, like the postwar car, it combined a creative American style

from the war years with a new European look. Like the postwar American car, the new

fashion also fulfilled desires for lavishness, glamour, and certain shapeliness.”42 This

decade saw the car, and fashion not only sharing design but also iconography. “To look at

the cover of the September 1954 issue of Harper’s Bazaar and realize that the imageries of

high style and high octane are inextricably correlated (or car-related)…. the power of image

to persuade the public and the consumer that the life of fashion could become in the high-

speed and high style 1950’s, a fast lane of desires and images [becomes apparent].”43

Pontiac Owner’s Magazine had a fashion designer and writer, and in 1958 John Weitz

released his book Sports Clothes for Your Sports Car. Weitz, a professional fashion

designer and sports car lover “speaks to the liaison of the 1950s between car and costume,

propos[ing] that the sport-car desire is inherently a ‘fashion urge’.44 This merging of

automobiles and fashion even witnessed the advent of new types of clothing specifically

named and styled for the American auto culture this is especially clear in the car coats that

made their debut in the 1950s. To further cement the tie between automobile and fashion

after the September 1954 Harper’s Bazaar issue in October 1954 a similar imagery appears

furthering that “high-style affiliation”, “but [this time] of the radiant woman captured in a

perfect moment on a rainy night, in the back seat of a car. If one could wonder in these two

42 Martin, Richard. “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s.” Journal of American Culture 20, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 51-

56. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2009). 43 Martin, Richard. “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s.” Journal of American Culture 20, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 51-

56. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2009). 44 Martin, Richard. “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s.” Journal of American Culture 20, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 51-

56. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2009).and the car in the 1950s

19

rainy-scene car covers might have been photographed on the same clay, their immediate

succession tips us off to the pervasiveness and the persuasiveness of the automobile as the

conveyor of style in 1954. If man is, to Protagoras, the measure of all things, the 1950s

woman is the measure of the car which contains her as a vessel. It is as if she is framed by

the windows and roof of the car in a portrait style new to the twentieth century. The woman

of the 1950s was, in fact, represented in large part in association with the car.”45 Clearly,

the automobile’s influence had, by the 1950s, penetrated deeply into all aspects of

American culture and the American nuclear family.

Redefining the American Teenager

Within this 1950’s car-based culture, another new concept quickly developed-- the

teenage driver. All across America, sixteen became an age of critical importance- when a

child began to enter adult society through one of its most important pillars- the car and the

ability to drive one. Although the car was already a massive status symbol for adult

Americans, it became the status symbol of the teenage world. In Morgan’s 1953 Look

article “What a Car Means to a Boy”, he discusses the implications of a boy’s own car, the

boy driving the family car, and what driving means to the parents of a young driver-- all

important aspects of the 1950’s teenage driver. In 1959, about 900 thousand American

boys were getting their licenses, and American parents were paying an estimated $125

45 Martin, Richard. “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s.” Journal of American Culture 20, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 51-

56. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2009).

20

million on extra insurance premiums so their sons could drive the family car.46 As Martin

puts it a teenage son driver meant a “new source of worry, a new family problem, a new

drain on the budget, and lost sleep in the late hours.”47

While driving was a source of worry for the parent, the car was a source of freedom

for the son. Dispelling all doubts that he was a child any longer citing “bikes are for boys,

cars are for men”48, at driving age “a boy can hit the road, can escape, can move. He has

‘jet’ power under his right foot” and “he is closeted in a private, mobile space in which he

may begin the ritual of courtship.”49 While the car equaled freedom for the son and fear for

the parent, there were still more aspects to the teenage driver.

While the numbers were certainly higher for male teenage drivers there were some

female teenage drivers as well, and this era marked the first real en-mass entry of women

into the driving public. This interestingly enough attracted some attention into the new

phenomenon of the female teenage driver. In Richard Loughlin’s 1949 poem,50 he relates

the issues concerning teenage female driving:

To the Mother of a Young Lady Recently Licensed To Drive an Automobile

Your daughter’s trained a dragon, Mam, A thing of blazing breath;

This monster will his queen salaam;

He’ll serve her until death. She used to fear his steely “clutch”

46 Morgan, T.B. “What a Car Means to a Boy.” Look 23 (January 20, 1959): 84-90. 47 Morgan, T.B. “What a Car Means to a Boy.” Look 23 (January 20, 1959): 84-90. 48 Morgan, T.B. “What a Car Means to a Boy.” Look 23 (January 20, 1959): 84-90. 49 Morgan, T.B. “What a Car Means to a Boy.” Look 23 (January 20, 1959): 84-90. 50 Loughlin, Richard L. “To the Mother of a Young Lady Recently Licensed to Drive an Automobile.” The

English Journal, Vol. 38, no. 10. (December 1949), p. 589. JSTOR (accessed October 20, 2009).

21

And waywardness of will, But now he purrs beneath her touch

Like Tom, or Dick or Bill.

P.S. If I catch Tom or Bill, I kill!

This poem clearly expresses the feelings concerning female drivers were much the

same as that of parents of sons: safety and the opposite sex were clearly of parents’ concern.

Focus on these influences and a new attention to the growing independence of the

adolescent, in many ways centered around the freedom of the automobile reshaped the

nuclear family and created a new milestone of coming of age centered around a driver’s

license.

This newfound freedom of teenagers and the subsequent concern of their parents

lead to an increased concern regarding safety. As a result, high schools initiated driver

education courses all over the country to both instruct these new drivers and hopefully limit

the number of accidents. Although some of these programs had been around for some time,

safety began to emerge as an important component of the course in the early 1940’s.51

Americans apparently felt that safety was important, and in nine Dallas high schools in

1951, fifty thousand dollars was spent to help encourage safety on the road.52 Obviously,

safety was important concerning the teenage driver, but perhaps more important is the

evidence that adult American values and preoccupation with the automobile had trickled

51 Matthews, Don. “Driver Education in Dallas.” Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 25, no. 4. ( December

1951), p. 227-229. JSTOR (accessed October 22, 2009). 52 Matthews, Don. “Driver Education in Dallas.” Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 25, no. 4. ( December

1951), p. 227-229. JSTOR (accessed October 22, 2009).

22

down to the youth of America: they too valued and saw themselves and their success

defined within the confines of four spinning wheels.

During the 1950s, the automobile clearly began to infiltrate all aspects of the

American family--fathers, mothers, women, men, and teenagers--building and cementing

itself as a backbone of American culture, creating new criteria and redefining the American

consciousness within the nuclear family of the 1950s.

23

Top Left: 9. Suburban House with

Prominent Driveway and Garage out front

Top Right: 10. The Automotive

inspired styling of the 1950’s kitchen, note

color choice and chrome accents

Bottom Left: 11. More Auto-inspired

home appliances, also note the fashion, as the

woman’s dress also shows the “finned”

shoulders reminiscent of Earl’s tail fins

24

The Rise of the Hot Rod Culture

With the massive increase in production and the new, unprecedented speeds

Americans could reach with their cars, it became only natural that a sector of American

society would become infatuated with the principals of speed-- more specifically, how fast

one could go in comparison to others. It is this sector of society that contributed to what

became known as the Hot Rod Culture, thus exposing another change in society for which

the rise of the automobile could be held directly responsible.

To clearly understand the Hot Rod Culture one cannot ignore the one publication

which unquestionably shaped this movement as well as aided in its rise- Hot Rod Magazine.

The magazine was first published in January of 1948 under the direction of editor Wally

Parks (1913-2007), with an initial print run of five thousand copies. This publication was

the product of a collaboration between police, civic officials, and parent-teacher

associations with a group of California lake-bed racing enthusiasts. These California lake-

bed racing enthusiasts enjoyed racing in dried up lake beds in a controlled environment and

partnered with these civic associations in an effort to prevent state action against all racing

and differentiate themselves from groups of careless teenagers engaged in street racing.53

These enthusiasts wanted to prevent these careless and dangerous teenagers from

53 Moorhouse, H.F. Driving Ambitions: an Analysis of the American Hot Rod Enthusiasm. 1st ed. New York:

St. Martin’s Press, 1991.,36

25

“curtail[ing] their own rather serious and all-American activity”54 and thus Hot Rod was

created to be a voice for what they felt was respectable hot-rodding culture.

In its early years, Hot Rod spoke out against the mass media’s misuse of the term

“hot rod” when reporting teen street racing deaths. The magazine’s circulation grew

dramatically, mimicking the massive growth in automobile production and by the tenth

issue was printing upwards of forty thousand copies. By 1950 the publication printed in

excess of two hundred thousand copies each month.55 In the winter of 1950 American

Quarterly would report that “Hot Rod Magazine presents a true picture of the hot-rod car

and driver.”56 As the magazine began to increase and expand its circulation, it also began its

support of a national drag racing association complete with drag strip locations as a result of

enthusiasts’ automobiles now racing at speeds considered to be too dangerous for the lake

beds. Hot Rod took on the challenge, especially since it saw this task as an important

achievement in its goal of differentiating the “true” hot-rodder from the teenage street racer.

Out of this movement and desire to find a safe means to race automobiles of ever

increasing speed would come the NHRA, the National Hot Rod Association, established in

mid-1951 and still operating today. By January of 1952, the editor of Hot Rod “mused that

hot-rodding was becoming respectable and appreciated all over the USA and a lot of this


St. Martin’s Press, 1991., 36 55 Moorhouse, H.F. Driving Ambitions: an Analysis of the American Hot Rod Enthusiasm. 1st ed. New York:

St. Martin’s Press, 1991., 37, 41 56 Balsley, Gene. “The Hot-Rod Culture” American Quarterly, Vol. 2, no 4. (Winter 1950), p 353-358. JSTOR

(accessed October 24, 2009).

26

was due to the efforts of the NHRA”57 By September of 1952 Hot Rod claimed that the

NHRA had in excess of fifteen thousand members and three years after the creation of the

NHRA would have 2,700 hot-rod clubs58. These clubs were formed solely for the purpose

of promoting responsible drag racing and met at drag strips, which in the early years were

simply converted airstrips to race each other and to see who really had the greater

horsepower or torque at the rear wheels.

Throughout the early years of Hot Rod and the NHRA, both collaborated to increase

both safety and spectator appeal at the drag strip. To increase safety, Hot Rod published a

1954 article “How to Run a Drag Strip” which outlined a set of twenty mandatory

checkpoints to ensure the utmost safety, and NHRA saw to their enforcement.59 Once they

had increased safety, Hot Rod and the NHRA also instituted several policies to make the

sport more spectator appealing and competitive. First, they abandoned the policy of

declaring a winner as the car that had clocked with the fastest speed at the end of the of the

now standard quarter mile, since this did not necessarily make them the fastest down the

drag strip60. As a result, Hot Rod and NHRA instituted the elapsed time method with its

now iconic double strips of lights and both drivers would start at the same time and the

fastest time and not the fastest speed would now determine the winner.





St. Martin’s Press, 1991., 54

27

Despite all their success, by the mid-1950’s, Hot Rod was starting to gain negative

media attention for the danger inherent in racing, culminating in the National Automobile

Dealer’s Association’s refusal to sell parts to hot-rodders in 1953.61 Despite these setbacks

Hot Rod and the NHRA proved to be resilient and clearly supported by the American

public. Membership and subscriptions continued to grow despite the ban on part sales and

the negative press, clearly exposing the massive influence Hot Rod Magazine and the

NHRA exhibited on the hot-rod culture and subsequently Americans as a whole.

No matter what the influence of the emerging hot-rod culture, not all Americans saw

the hot-rod culture in the same way. While some embraced it, others loathed its very

existence, resulting in the mixed reviews of the hot-rod culture during the time period.

Speaking for the New York Division of Safety in 1950, Thomas W. Ryan’s statement

resembles that of the image of the hot-rodder displayed through mass communication

outlets.

“He is shown as a deliberate and premeditated lawbreaker: “possession of the ‘hot

rod’ car is presumptive evidence of intent to speed. Speed is Public Enemy No. 1 of

the highways. It is obvious that a driver of a ‘hot rod’ car has an irresistible

temptation to ‘step on it’ and accordingly operate the vehicle in a reckless manner

endangering human life. It also shows a deliberate and premeditated idea to violate

the law. These vehicles are largely improvised by home mechanics and are capable

of high speed and dangerous maneuverability….The operators of these cars are

confused into believing that driving is a competitive sport.”62


St. Martin’s Press, 1991., 65 62 Balsley, Gene. “The Hot-Rod Culture” American Quarterly, Vol. 2, no 4. (Winter 1950), p 353-358. JSTOR

(accessed October 24, 2007).

28

These negative views of the hot-rodder were even displayed in a comic strip, Hot

Rod Happy, who; as the “antithesis of good, clean-living American youth,” was a “lawless,

spoiled, delinquent, disrespectful cad” who was “near death as the result of an automobile

accident for which he was apparently solely responsible.”63 But even as Hot Rod Happy

exposed the evils of the hot-rod culture, not all of America echoed the same views

concerning the culture.

Hot-rodders, hot-rod clubs and supporters viewed their car culture in a different

light. In response to the above comic strip, a hot-rod organization wrote “a hot-rod accident

or incident is newsworthy, while an accident involving ordinary cars is so common that it is

usually not newsworthy. We wonder whether you appreciate the very real contribution that

the hot- rod industry, for it is an industry, has made to automotive transportation.”64 The

author of this letter then goes on to discuss that Detroit has a million-dollar laboratory

concerning the hot-rod industry. Further, most hot-rod supporters saw the picture of hot-

rod car and driver differently. Stating in a letter to Hot Rod, “a real hot-rod is a car that is

lending itself to experimental development for the betterment of safety, operation, and

performance, not merely a stripped-down or highly decorated car of any make, or one

driven by a teen-ager. As to the menace or nuisance element, very few hot-rod enthusiasts

want to risk their specialized equipment for use as battering rams, the fact their cars are

63 Balsley, Gene. “The Hot-Rod Culture” American Quarterly, Vol. 2, no 4. (Winter 1950), p 353-358. JSTOR

(accessed October 24, 2009). 64 Letters to the Editor, Hot Rod Magazine, September 1949, 4.

29

built so that they attract attention becomes an automatic psychological brake which governs

their driving activities”65 From this statement, it becomes clear that the hot-rodder and their

supporters saw their role and activities entirely differently that those concerned with safety.

While those working for the government largely saw the hot-rodder and his car as a

nuisance and a danger to others on the road, the hot-rodder and their wide collection of

supporters simply saw themselves as responsible front runners, on the pioneering edge of

automotive technology.

65 Letters to the Editor, Hot Rod Magazine, September 1949, 4.

30

Left: 12. November 1951 issue of Hot-Rod

Magazine

Below: 13. Early Drag Race, Pre- NHRA

Pomona, CA 1950

Right: 14. Early NHRA Event

in Pomona, CA 1951

31

The Rise of the Excess Culture

With the increasingly dramatic and profound impact of the automobile on American

culture, it became an obvious and natural extension that the extremes of styling, chrome and

accessories would transfer into the American consciousness as a widespread desire for

excess. The 1950s would signify the first time that Americans had more possessions than

just what was necessary, in other words, the 1950s was “the end of the merely adequate”66

As Americans were enjoying the prosperity of the 1950s, a stark contrast to the pre-war

period, having more became the goal of the American consumer, and the automobile was at

the center of this development.

In this age of excess, the idea of having more grew simultaneously with the belief in

disposability. It became not enough to have an automobile covered in chrome and “gorp,”

one had to have this year’s model, lest one risk being seen in last year’s “dinosaurs in the

driveway.”67 These related beliefs penetrated quickly into the vast and widespread

consumer market of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Even paint by number kits echoed this

idea of an excess culture, as consumers could now purchase kits to add “gorp” to their

wastebaskets with “row upon row of luscious color capsules,”68 however unnecessary and

excessive they may have been. The idea of this excess culture was reflected in the growing

number of kitchen appliances each housewife owned, an outgrowth of the massive number


Prosperous Society. 1st ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000., 107 67 Marling, Karal Ann. As seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press, 1994., 142 68 Marling, Karal Ann. As seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press, 1994.,

32

of accessories on the family car. Thus the excess inherent in the automobile industry spread

to all aspects of American consumerism.

Baby Boomers and Redesign

The 1960s ushered in fundamental styling changes in the automobile industry, and a

generational shift took place in both styling of the cars themselves and the character of the

automobile culture surrounding them. As the first baby boomers neared adulthood in the

early 1960s, their impact on the automobile culture turned away from chrome and fins and

leaned towards a redefined version of the automobile, one that would lead to the

introduction of the “muscle” car era.

As the 1960’s arrived, so too would a new style of American automobile. The

“Muscle” cars, like the “dream machines” of the 1950’s, were a product of consumer

demand, but this time, both a different consumer and a different designer led the way. This

movement would be led by designer John De Lorean of the Pontiac division of General

Motors, and a new generation of consumers- the earliest baby-boomers who were reaching

driving age.

These new consumers were “the first generation of Americans whose adolescent

emotional drives for self-assertiveness in consumer purchases is the key to gains or losses in

brand share-of market, holding the economic power to affect brand share-of market of

nearly every product sold in the U.S.”69 This new economic power certainly extended to

69 “When do these new consumers become independent buyers?”, New York Times, (September 22, 1964), p

54. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2004) (accessed October 30, 2007).

33

the automobile industry, as “auto manufacturers struck a bonanza with designs appealing to

these young people. The industry caught on to the realities expressed by a maxim in the

apparel industry….’Who’s responsible for the (auto) boom? Young people. The (auto)

industry leaders agree.”70 By the early 1960s, the earliest baby-boomers were reaching late

adolescence and were beginning to make their own decisions and these decisions which

would redefine the American automobile around a speedier, sleeker new style.

At this point in the early 1960s, the car centered culture came to be redefined as

designer John De Lorean teamed up with an engineer who determined that a 389- cubic inch

V-8 engine had the same size and shape as a 322 cubic inch V-8 and could fit seamlessly in

the same automobile chassis, all while adding sixty-seven more horsepower. With this

increase in engine size to the Pontiac Tempest in 1964, the car culture would be redefined

as the Pontiac GTO debuted as arguably the first “muscle car.”

Converting from Chrome to Muscle

After the introduction of the GTO by Pontiac in 1964, the muscle car era began in

earnest. Each of Detroit’s big three quickly scrambled to create their own versions, and

produced such iconic cars as the Chevrolet Chevelle (1964), the Oldsmobile 442 (1964), the

Plymouth Roadrunner (1968), the Dodge Charger (1966) and the Ford Torino (1968). Not

surprisingly Pontiac’s fellow General Motors marquees were able to capitalize on to the

muscle car trend faster than their competitors, especially since they were all built upon the

70 “When do these new consumers become independent buyers?”, New York Times, (September 22, 1964), p

54. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2004) (accessed October 30, 2007).

34

same A-body chassis as the GTO. In spite of this advantage, the other members of the “big

three” also successfully claimed a piece of the “muscle car” market.

This market became so popular that Detroit introduced a sub-trend of these high

horsepower mid-size cars--using many of the same engine combinations they produced a

series of cars titled “pony cars.” In 1964, these cars took off with wide popularity and their

lower price led to high sales during the baby boom’s coming-of-age. This trend was

touched off by Lee Iacocca’s Fords Mustang in 1964,71 introduced at the 1964 New York

World’s fair and the origin of the term “pony car.” The Mustang, in the wake of the

appearance of a market for smaller cars, combined a 260-cubic-inch engine and a four-

speed transmission with shift on the floor.72 “It was the first of the [Ford] long-term plans

to put something together for the kids.”73 Evidence of the market and success can clearly be

seen in the production numbers. Ford would sell half a million Mustangs in the eighteen

months after its introduction, leading other automakers to follow suit.74

The Ford Mustang would be followed by the Plymouth Baracuda (1964), the

Chevrolet Camaro (1966) and the Pontiac Firebird/ Trans Am (1967). Through the creation

of the pony car, the “muscle” car trend spread further into society and broadened its impact

by making these vehicles more accessible through both increased production numbers and

the rather affordable price tag of these “pony cars.” In 1965, the base price of a Mustang in

71 Zuehlke, Jeffery. Muscle Cars: Motor Mania. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2006, 12. 72 Flink, James J. The Automobile Age. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1988, 289. 73 Flink, James J. The Automobile Age. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1988, 289. 74 Flink, James J. The Automobile Age. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1988, 289.

35

was only $2, 36875, a bargain compared to the larger “muscle” cars. This combination of

increased production and lower pricing allowed for more youths to enter the emerging

“muscle-car” culture of the 1960s.

For the next decade, each of these models did battle, clashing and competing over

cubic -inches, and over transmission combinations, but rarely over options and driver

comforts. This represented a major difference from the previous era of the chrome

behemoth. In contrast to the cars of the 1950s, these muscle machines were stripped to the

basics, with interiors that remained stark. Gone were the days of glitzy driver options and

consoles rounded in their own jewelry-like trim, instead these cars focused solely on speed.

As engines well in excess of 400 cubic inches became the norm in Detroit, handling seemed

of less and less importance. The key to the “muscle car” was how fast the automobile could

go in a straight line, as interest in drag racing increased, both in sanctioned events, and on

back roads.

These differences on the production line and the transition from glamour to sheer

speed suggest a generational change in defining what a car was supposed to be. Gone were

the giant chromed monoliths of the 1950s, as the baby boomers rejected this notion of what

their parents found desirable. Instead they realigned the car culture with as much

enthusiasm as their parents, but centered it around drag-racing and all-out horsepower

instead. These changes suggest the further transformation of the automobile into the

preeminent token of personal identity in post-war America. 75 Flink, James J. The Automobile Age. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1988, 289.

36

Left: 15. De Lorean’s 1964 Pontiac

GTO, note the drastic styling

changes from the 1950s

Right: 16. Iacocca’s 1965 Ford

Mustang, the original “Pony Car”

whose price point allowed more

to enter the market

Right: 17. The 1970 Pontiac

GTO, this period was the

high point for horsepower in

the Muscle-Car era.

37

The Automobile as Identity

The ability of drivers in general and teenagers in particular to define themselves and

their identity through their automobiles was greatly influenced by the rise of the multi-car

family. In 1950, only seven percent of families owned more than one car, but by 1970

twenty-nine percent did.76 As a result, “a family’s second or third car did not have to be an

all-purpose family sedan, but could be tailored to the specific needs of the primary

driver.”77 While the automobile as a means of individuality had its origins in the 1930s, the

increase of available models, especially seen in the rise of the wide variety of models

available even within the “muscle-car” class, not to mention the proliferation of more

family-centered creations such as the station wagon, gave rise to a heightened sense of this

concept.

The impact of this change can most clearly be seen in the increased individualization

regarding one’s identity. This connection would play out time and time again in high

school parking lots across the nation and this impact can be seen simply when talking to

people of the era and while they may have trouble remembering details concerning an old

friend, can recall the details of their car instantaneously.

76 Gartman, David. Auto Opium: A Social History of American Automobile Design. New York:

Routledge,1994. 185. 77Gartman, David. Auto Opium: A Social History of American Automobile Design. New York:

Routledge,1994. 185.

38

Downfall and Decline

This muscle-car culture spanned much of the baby-boom’s coming of age era.

Starting with the debut of the GTO in 1964, this craze appeared to have no end, but a series

of economic crises and government regulations drove the movement to a demise that Detroit

could not have imagined. Furthermore, increases in gas prices and insurance premiums in

the early 1970s led to the inability of the young baby boomers to afford their “muscle” car

dreams. These constraints, coupled with the enactment of the Federal Clean Air Act of

1970, which tightened emissions restrictions by 90 percent of three main pollutants,

signaled an untimely end to unrestrained and unregulated raw horsepower.78 The auto

industry fought these new government regulations every step of the way, but in the end the

price of oil, coupled with an increasing public interest in safety and the environment, led by

Ralph Nader and others, made resistance futile and the regulations stick.79

These issues exploded in September 1973 with the oil embargo imposed by the

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). With the embargo, “gasoline

prices skyrocketed, consumers waited with short tempers in long lines at gas stations, and

gas-guzzling cars became defined as socially irresponsible.”80 This led directly to

Congress’ 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which mandated an average fuel

economy of 27.5 miles per gallon by 1985 and also a newly-found public interest in safety


Routledge,1994. 209. 79 Gartman, David. Auto Opium: A Social History of American Automobile Design. New York:



39

regulations for automobiles.81 Thus, “this massive public intervention was the culmination

of a shift in America’s automotive consciousness away from fantastic dreams of escape and

individuality toward the sober reality of efficiency and functionality.”82

Thus, as quickly as the era rushed in it would quickly come to an end, with the last

of the true “muscle” cars produced in 1972, as each of Detroit’s major auto manufacturers

stopped production on large, extreme horsepower engine combinations. Any vestige of

them that remained in production was solely in the name plate, as the “big three” began an

era where only small engine combinations and lighter, smaller bodies began rolling off the

assembly lines.

However, that is not to say that the car culture of the 1950s and 1960s would be

completely extinguished. Instead quite the contrary, baby-boomers would fight to hold on

to vestiges of this culture. These would include the continued cultivation of individuality

through one’s automobile, the coming of age ritual of passing the driver’s license exam and

the subsequent rise in the 1990s of car clubs seeking to relive the fabled past of chrome and

muscle.

Conclusion

Throughout the course of the 1950s and 1960s, the automobile came to control

American culture, from its massive rise in production, its creation of an American




40

obsession, its impact on the nuclear family, the rise of the hot rod culture, the development

of excess culture and the extension of its power through the “muscle car” era.

When the baby boomers took over the development of car culture in the mid 1960s

they transformed it to suit their own needs, placing further emphasis on individuality and

raw speed. This version of the culture evolved and expanded at a rate that seems to echo

the growth of the engines that powered the cars themselves and allowed for a full

penetration of the car culture across multiple generations and all aspects of society. Before

the culture’s downfall as a consequence of the economic considerations of the 1970s, it had

assumed a grip on society that reshaped everything from the physical landscape with the

growth of suburbs, to the reshaping of the nuclear family with a redefined construct of the

adolescent and the freedom obtained behind the wheel.

Some of these developments withstood the 1970s restructuring of the automobile

industry in its turn toward functionality and were able to retain their hold into the present.

Other aspects, however, particularly the types of cars produced themselves, ended with the

reforms, regulations and economic issues associated with the 1970s. In spite of these

wrenching changes, the emergence of a car-obsessed culture in post-war America radically

reshaped society. In short, the automobile transformed American society, redefining it

along almost every line, to mold America into a car centered society. In the 1950s and

1960s a transformation had taken place: “America was the car and the car was America.”83

83 Inge, M. Thomas. Handbook of American Popular Culture.Vol 1, Ch, 2. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,

1978., 29

41

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Citations for Images

1. 1946 Ford.

http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/transportation/images/autobooks/hotrod-1151.JPG

2.P-38 Airplane.

http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/MacArthurs_Airmen/images/P-

38_Lightning_LightBox.jpg

3.1948 Cadillac

.http://www.funniez.net/images/stories/classic_american_cars/1948%20Cadillac%20Fleetw

ood%2060%20Special%20%28photo20.jpg

4. Evolution of the Tail Fin under Harley Earl,

Marling, Karal Ann. As seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994.

5. 1959 Chevrolet with “Garish” Fins.

http://www.mywvhome.com/web/cars/59Chevy.jpg

6.1957 Chevrolet with Chrome and “Frenched” Headlights.

http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/chevrolet_1957_sss.jpg

7. 1950’s Drive-In Diner

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NjFpppCHqBE/SYCt0-

HRRgI/AAAAAAAAAoA/fch8C62fvyQ/s1600/1950%27S+DRIVE+IN+RESTAURANTS

.jpg

8. 1950s Drive-In Movie

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-

content/uploads/satevepost/cover_9610819_clipped.jpg

9. Suburban house with prominent driveway and garage.

http://www.midcenturyhomestyle.com/img/51weyerhaeuser-frntcvr.jpg

10. 1950’s Automotive Inspired Kitchen.

http://www.elmirastoveworks.com/content/images/northstar_rangehood.jpg

11. 1950’s Washing Machine Advertisement

http://www.buyvintageads.com/images/1318_1950-Frigidaire-Automatic-Washer-ad-Sexy-

House-Wife.jpg

12. Hot-Rod Magazine, November 1951.


13. Early National Hot-Rod Association Event, Pomona, CA.


http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/MacArthurs_Airmen/images/P-38_Lightning_LightBox.jpg

http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/MacArthurs_Airmen/images/P-38_Lightning_LightBox.jpg

http://www.funniez.net/images/stories/classic_american_cars/1948%20Cadillac%20Fleetwood%2060%20Special%20%28photo20.jpg

http://www.funniez.net/images/stories/classic_american_cars/1948%20Cadillac%20Fleetwood%2060%20Special%20%28photo20.jpg

http://www.mywvhome.com/web/cars/59Chevy.jpg

http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/chevrolet_1957_sss.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NjFpppCHqBE/SYCt0-HRRgI/AAAAAAAAAoA/fch8C62fvyQ/s1600/1950%27S+DRIVE+IN+RESTAURANTS.jpg



http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/cover_9610819_clipped.jpg

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/cover_9610819_clipped.jpg

http://www.midcenturyhomestyle.com/img/51weyerhaeuser-frntcvr.jpg

http://www.elmirastoveworks.com/content/images/northstar_rangehood.jpg

http://www.buyvintageads.com/images/1318_1950-Frigidaire-Automatic-Washer-ad-Sexy-House-Wife.jpg

http://www.buyvintageads.com/images/1318_1950-Frigidaire-Automatic-Washer-ad-Sexy-House-Wife.jpg


45

http://daphne.palomar.edu/scrout/ams105/pomona50.jpg

14. Early NHRA Even- Winternationals Pomona, CA 1951

http://www.nhra.com/2009/images/news/january/pomona1.jpg

15.1964 Pontiac GTO.

http://image.automotive.com/f/images/11078741+pheader/hppp_0901_01_z+1964_pontiac_

gto+side_angle.jpg

16.1965 Ford Mustang.

http://images.mustangandfords.com/featuredvehicles/mufp_0801_fast_01z+1965_ford_mus

tang_fastback+front_view.jpg

17. 1970 GTO

http://images.carsforsale.com/285172/933E56C0-3785-4AD0-9A8A-

C46DDDDD6904_1.jpg

http://daphne.palomar.edu/scrout/ams105/pomona50.jpg

http://www.nhra.com/2009/images/news/january/pomona1.jpg

http://image.automotive.com/f/images/11078741+pheader/hppp_0901_01_z+1964_pontiac_gto+side_angle.jpg

http://image.automotive.com/f/images/11078741+pheader/hppp_0901_01_z+1964_pontiac_gto+side_angle.jpg

http://images.mustangandfords.com/featuredvehicles/mufp_0801_fast_01z+1965_ford_mustang_fastback+front_view.jpg

http://images.mustangandfords.com/featuredvehicles/mufp_0801_fast_01z+1965_ford_mustang_fastback+front_view.jpg

http://images.carsforsale.com/285172/933E56C0-3785-4AD0-9A8A-C46DDDDD6904_1.jpg

http://images.carsforsale.com/285172/933E56C0-3785-4AD0-9A8A-C46DDDDD6904_1.jpg

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