Cars In The 50's

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the automobile was considered an expensive, custom made, consumer product that only the wealthy could afford to dazzle themselves with. In fact, in 1895 there was a report of only 300 cars in the United States, but that number grew dramatically in the years to come to nearly 1.7 million by 1914 (Car History, n.d.). This increase was due in part by two major shifts in the American society; the new consumer economy and the ideas that every family in America should be able to afford an automobile. Henry Ford was a large contributor to this massive increase in the United States and would make changes to the automobile industry that

Imagine how life would be if our society did not have cars. Today, our society is dependent on cars for our daily routines. From transporting our food, clothes, and technology to just going to the store across the street, cars are a very important part of our society. In the 19th century, only the wealthy and upper middle class had access to automobiles, and they only used cars for fancy transportation and to show off their money. This was due to the extreme prices of cars in the 19th century. With these high prices not many people could afford them, especially not the working class. Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry in the

The automobile has had a profound impact on the United States. It has brought us

When Americans get into their vehicles every day to go to work or school, they do not normally think about how much transportation has evolved over the years. People started out walking and then later moved to horse and buggies. During the early 1800’s, railroads were being built from east to west in this country and trains began to take over. As cities grew, people looked for ways to travel more efficiently. The work of Henry Ford made a lasting impact on America in regards to both transportation and manufacturing.

The document “The Social Influence of the Automobile” was written in June of 1922 by Allen D. Albert. In this article Albert is saying that since the creation of automobiles the life has shifted for the better. “…almost without a pause in our thinking have we adjusted our lives to these factors new since yesterday”1 while automobiles brought a drastic change in life as it was, people adjusted to it quickly. In 1920’s cars were available to the general public at an affordable price, therefor offering the public a better, faster way of getting from place to place. Most importantly according to the document cars brought a change in the social aspects of life. With the help of a car travel times were decreased. Cities were now in reaching distance.

One thing can be certain: For better or for worse, the automobile changed the face of America forever. The Automobile had profound economic impact. Americans could now commute to work from outside the cities, allowing for a greater number of Americans to work (Document 1). Those who commuted to work would also have better living

With the introductions of the Model T, the assembly line and the method of mass production created many new jobs. The Model T 's low price allowed everyone that was making a good salary to buy a car. It helped out society by giving people jobs especially at around this time when there was a lot of immigration in the United States and people needed jobs. "This vast production stimulated many other businesses: The steel, rubber, and glass industries flourished. Construction companies boomed as highways and garages were built. Oil companies, rapidly losing their kerosene business to the spread of electricity, more than made up for it with increased gasoline sales."(Gordon) As a whole it changed the economy at the time but in the long run it changed what society is today. It created mass production which is now our way of production and it changed all of working America with the numerous amounts of jobs it created. "As more Americans owned cars, urbanization patterns changed. The United States saw the growth of suburbia, the creation of a national highway system, and a population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blford.htm)

The concept of the automobile was first started in England during Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century. The automobiles were powered by steam engine. Later on, inventors like Henry Ford began thinking further ahead about gasoline engine to produce powerful cars because steam engine cars were not enjoyable because it takes almost ten to twenty minutes to heat up the engine before driving. On June 16, 1903 Henry Ford started the ford motor company (Wikipedia). Almost 500,000 workers were employed in the automobile industry (Nick). Following this many Americans found job opportunities to make their life better in other hand they help the economy and expedite the growth of the country. Soon Ford motor company produced automobiles that were affordable like the Model-T. ”By 1927 the Ford Motor Company had sold over 15.5 million Model Ts in the United States.” (My Life and Work 560). “Nearly half of all American families owned a car in 1929” (561). According to this cars become big part of American's life. Families can go visit family or friend living farther away. Workers drive their automobile to workplace and arrive on time. Overall automotives boost up the productivity and efficiency which led American people to live cozy life, besides give them more time to entertain and refresh

Cars in the 1920s completely impacted daily life and greatly influenced the cars that we use everyday. Back before cars were popular, everyone traveled by horse and buggy. They had no source of cart heating, nothing to absorb shock, wheels without tires. All they had for streets back then were dirt roads with a top layer of gravel. This was not a problem for horses and buggies, but cars didn’t handle well in the mud. Because of this, the invention of the paved road we use now came about. After that, they needed a more organized and efficient way to navigate to faraway places, since the people could now travel at ease. An interstate highway system was created as a result of the First Federal Highway Act, passed in 1921. The highways heading

According to Foner, “By 1960, 80 percent of American families owned at least one car, and 14 percent had two or more, nearly all manufactured in the United States”(). Many families owned automobiles, for it enabled long-distance vacationing and commuting to work, malls, etc. The ability for people to travel farther distances through means other than trains and trolleys stimulated a population shift from cities to suburbs. Approximately one third of Southern California, a mainly suburban area, was “paved over with roads and parking lots,” hence showing a transformation in American landscape. Infrastructure had to accommodate for cars as they became central to American life. Not only did the automobile alter the American landscape with a web of roads and freeways, but it also led to “the construction of motels, drive-in movie theaters, and roadside eating establishments”(). The automobile revolutionized America, as it allowed for individual mobility and private choice-a symbol of

     The birth of the automobile was truly something special. Once a far fetched dream is now what many people believe to be the back bone of the American economy. When people think about the automobile the name that comes to mind is most usually Henry Ford. Although he is not credited with the invention of the automobile, Henry Ford played a crucial role in the development of mass production. The automobile was first invented Europe in 1771 with a top speed of 2.3 miles per hour. A man by the name of Gottliech Daimler produced what was known as the milestone car in 1889, this vehicle traveled at 10 miles per hour (Brown, 105). Not more then a handful of these cars were produced over seas. Not many people had ever

Threats of substitutes: In U.S., an automobile was considered as necessity so for every adult there was car on roads. Even for inter-city travel more than 70% time cars were used. Buses, trains and other means didn’t have much impact. The growing array of higher priced imported models had negative effect.

The automobile was actually officially invented in 1885 by Karl Benz, in Germany, the United States perfected and dominated the automobile industry starting with Charles Edgar Duryea and his brother Frank Duryea. Together, they brought the United States’ first automobile in 1893. At the time, the incredibly new and innovative creation of the automobile was quite remarkably on of the most impressive inventions to the American people at the time. What this particular technological advancement did for the American Industrial Revolution was create convenience and sparked interest. The American people at this day of age had to constantly commute either by simply just walking or by stagecoaches. But then, America was introduced with an alternative solution for transportation. With such an advancement of technology, the first automobile was strongly affected the American Industrial Revolution, because it continued forward with a man named Henry Ford. Ford was the founder of Ford Motor Company, which was able to mass produce this amazingly revolutionary contraption, that would significantly affect the American people’s everyday lives. Henry Ford did not only just bring the United States the first mass produced automobile, he also introduced the assembly line that would change many companies forever. The assembly

The creation of the twentieth century. There also was a social rank the wealthy could only own the electric light and cars were first because they were the only ones that could pay for it. When there was the higher incomes made the importance to people to have more money and spend it on cars and goods during this time especially after the great depression people went from basically broke to having some money to spend on stuff. Much thanks to cars there was a big production of roads that were made over time and it also connects distant places and communities. One of the very most known highways in the United States is “Route 66” that connects the Midwest and southern California. With cars in being in high demand business started wanting products to be sent to other places. During the 1900’s when millions of people left their home to live in the city in the United States also provided immigrants and other minority groups jobs at assembly lines and other specialized jobs. In the 1920’s the U.S. government became more involved with making the roads matter to connect t major cities. Through 1939-1945 the U.S. government Sayed no production on cars because the U.S. was focusing on the war needs. Company like General Motor Company’s started working on warplanes, guns, tanks, ammunition and armored cars for people now a days their car represents more than their social status. During the three were war posters incourgening the war production effort with the saying “keep’em firing”. In 1956 was when the “Highway Act” was made and it builded a system of insterstate highways. In 1960’s there was a cioncern about air pollution and that’s how the idea started for electric cars. There is about eight hundred million passenger’s cars that people drive across the world roads and highways. In the 1920’s and 1970’s there were some scares about

Rudi Volti’s Cars and Culture: The Life Story of a Technology (Greenwood Press, 2004) examines the evolution of the automobile, starting from 1765, with Nicholas Cugnot’s steam-powered vehicles, to the present day. The goal of the book, as stated by Volti in the introduction, is to “pay particular attention to the automobile’s technical evolution while at the same time delineating the cultural, social, and political context in which that evolution has taken place” (xi). Thus, Volti also demonstrates the cultural and societal effects that resulted from the emergence and mass production of automobiles. Volti divides the history of automobiles into seven time periods, each a separate chapter that achieves his goal. He accomplishes his objectives by stating the technological advances and societal context under different headings, occasionally linking the two topics together.