Show

Few U. S. industries can collect from their customers year after year an admission fee for the privilege of inspecting a product they wish to buy. Yet last week in Manhattan tens of thousands shuffled in line to pay 75-c---the price of a Broadway cinema ticket--to see the U. S. automobile, Model 1935.

Sponsored for the first time by local dealers, the 35th annual New York Automobile Show was, for the first time in years, a dignified affair. The crowd went in larger numbers than ever before. Private hotel shows were banned by mutual agreement. In some 200 forms they saw the burnished, bulbous, gleaming thing of beauty that is a modern car.

Ahead of the Industry was what even-one, from Henry Ford down, agreed would be a better year than last (see p. 59). Behind was a year that had all the fixings of prosperity but little of the turkey. Production of passenger cars and trucks in 1934 was 2,885,000 units, up 45% from 1933 and a clear 100% gain over 1932. Trucks alone accounted for 589,000 units, up 65%. Yet profits failed to keep pace with volume because of higher prices for labor and materials. Average automobile costs last week were estimated to be 18% above a year ago.

The so-called independents were still independent despite persistent rumors of corporate flirtations (TIME, Sept. 3). And they were still scrapping for a 10% slice of the market left them by the Big Three. Only Franklin had fallen by the wayside within the year.

During the twelve-month the U. S. spent $2,200,000,000 on motor vehicles, tires, parts, accessories, and $2,700,000,000 on gasoline--a total of $4,900,000,000, about one-tenth of the national income. Deaths by automobiles last year rose 16% to an all-time record of 36,000.

The New Cars that the motormakers of the land assembled in Manhattan last week looked more alike as a group than at any time since the turn of the Century, when all cars looked like buggies. For what it may be worth--and there is no agreement on its value--streamlining in some degree was stamped into every body. Hoods were rounded, radiator grilles Vshaped and sloping, rears smoothed out in sweeping lines. Bodies were longer and wider, motors more economical.

Automotive engineers worked most of the year on riding quality. The mechanical feature of last year's Show, independent front-wheel springing, was abandoned by some makers, improved by others and in a few cases developed for the first time. A number attacked the riding problem from the point of view of weight distribution by moving the motor forward. Free-wheeling is on the decline, and dual-ratio axles or over-drives permitting slower motor speeds at high road speeds are on the rise. More powerful brakes require less foot pressure. Crankcases are ventilated, generators larger to carry the load of radios and heaters. Prices are generally unchanged but several manufacturers have added lower-priced lines of the same name.

Auburn brought three lines to show, led by a yellow sport roadster with exposed exhausts and a supercharged engine. Guaranteed speed: 100 m.p.h. Long and handsomely streamlined, the Auburns looked as if Errett Lobban Cord considered it a propitious moment to bid for the swift and flashy market, as he did to his great profit in the first years of Depression.

Buick brought out a series of lower-medium-priced cars during the year, giving it four complete lines and 25 body types. The new small Buick is built on a 117-in. wheelbase, powered with a straight eight motor, and designed like the bigger models with a sharp V radiator, long narrow hood, broad fenders.

Cadillacs and La Salles will continue substantially unchanged. But La Salle with its wedge-shaped submarine hood and flaring fenders profoundly affected the design of the 1935 Automobile.

Chevrolet (see p. 59).

Chrysler had the misfortune last year to introduce a body type that was too advanced for its public. And it is probably small comfort to Walter P. Chrysler that more than half the industry has copied the engineering change his radical body made possible--engines forward over the front axle. Not all of Mr. Chrysler's cars were Airflows but investment in dies and tools was enormous. So this year he continued the Airflow but added a more conventional Airstream. The Imperial and Custom Imperial have overdrive as standard equipment.

De Soto was an even bigger Chrysler headache in 1934, for all models were Airflow. And De Soto's sales dropped from 20,000 in 1933 to about 11,000 last year. From an engineering standpoint the car was a triumph but people were suspicious of an automobile which looked the same from both ends. This year De Soto also has an Airstream in addition to a modified Airflow.

Dodge and Plymouth (see p. 59) were Mr. Chrysler's only reservations when he signed on last year's streamline. This year's Dodge is still conservatively modeled but Airflow lessons in comfort and ride have been applied. Independent wheel suspension was dropped but the motor was moved forward and the front spring softened.

Duesenbsrg, a Cord product, was back at the Show after a four-year absence with two monster-hooded custom jobs selling for $12,000 and $17,000.

Graham dipped into the lowest-priced range this year with a new series of sixes. Like its special six, eight and supercharged eight, the new six has a narrow hood, deep-skirted fenders, steel running board, semi-elliptical springs equal to 80% of the wheel base.

Hudson's specialties for 1935 are all-steel roofs and a power-vacuum gear-shifter called the "electric hand." Attached to the steering column directly under the wheel is an instrument connected with magnets on the transmission. A flip of the ringer selects the desired shift. Then, when the clutch is depressed, a mechanism on the transmission, actuated by the manifold vacuum, shifts the gears. If an optional automatic clutch is used, the shift occurs when the foot is raised from the accelerator. Thus in traffic the "electric hand" may be set at second speed before a shift is necessary, the shift being made later by depressing the clutch pedal or releasing the accelerator.

Terraplanef Hudson's fast-selling lowest-priced line, also has an "electric hand" available on all models. Elimination of the gear lever makes all sedan models comfortable for six passengers.

Hupmobile began the year with a radically aerodynamic model and a brand new president, William J. McAneeny, onetime head of Hudson. Just before Hupp's Chairman Archie Moulton Andrews hired him, Mr. McAneeny gained Detroit's gratitude by securing waivers from the big depositors in defunct First National Bank, thus permitting a 100% payoff to all accounts of $300 or less. Most distinctive feature of the new Hupmobile is its headlights, which, while a part of the body, are carried in outline straight back into the cowl.

La Fayette was Nash's bid for the low-priced market last year but spring production was delayed and only 14,000 were sold. Featured this year are a sealed cooling system, wide (60-in.) rear tread, clutch-pedal starting, individual front-wheel springing optional on the special models.

Nash redesigned its three lines with an eye to riding quality, shoving the motor ahead and synchronizing springs. Standard on the Ambassador but optional on its other lines is what Nash calls a "Santa Claus gear--because it delivers something for nothing." The Santa Claus gear is an overdrive for high-speed cruising.

Lincolns with V12 150 h.p. motors and bodies by Brunn, Judkins, LeBaron, Willoughby as well as by Lincoln were scattered around the Show like Fords at a county fair. Redistribution of weight is a feature of the new Lincolns as well as the new Fords (see p. 59).

Oldsmobile brought a six and an eight to the Show, both redesigned and bearing the slogan "The Car That Has Everything." "Everything" includes knee-action wheels. engine-over-axle, all-steel "turret tops" by Fisher.

Packard's president is Alvan Macauley, a courteous cultured gentleman of 62 who heads the Industry's trade association. He likes to whittle period furniture and part models in his basement workshop, likes skeet shooting, likes to read in his bath. He is also a smart salesman who learned his trade under the late great John Patterson of National Cash Register. Months before the Show he began to hint broadly at a new low-priced edition of Packard's swank eights, super-eights and twin-sixes--but he kept his public guessing. Packard had dipped into the high-medium-priced field with sixes and eights at various times but never before into the low.

Last week Mr. Macauley capped his word-of-mouth build-up by unveiling a brand new Model 120 with a straight-eight motor, the famed Packard lines and all the latest gadgets. Price: $980 to $1,095 F. O. B. Most noteworthy innovation was the independent front wheel assembly. Packard used exposed coil springs but added torque arms to assure wheel alignment.

Pierce Arrow continues to divide its production between aerodynamic "Silver Arrows" and conservative models for conservative customers.

Pontiac, like Oldsmobile last year, has split into two lines, sixes and eights. Both have all G. M. and Fisher Body standard features; both have bulbous radiators and wide winglike fenders; both are designed for the buyer who wants small-car economy with big-car gadgets.

Reo again features its self-shifter--a device which automatically changes gears whenever the speed warrants. Motors have been moved forward to improve the ride.

Studebaker, like Packard, developed a new method of front wheel suspension. Instead of coil springs or a flexing axle it uses a single transverse leaf spring with the wheels attached at the ends. Because the front axle has been eliminated, the spring is massively braced against twisting. Advantage is supposed to lie in eliminating the roll on curves which in other types of knee action usually requires a sway or roll stabilizer. All Studebakers are heavily streamlined, and the President line is equipped with ''super-range" transmission.

Willys was the lowest priced car at the Show, starting at $395--$7 below Chevrolet's cheapest standard model. And it was the only four. Its pop-eyed appearance of previous years has been notably improved, and the engine, ''floating-power' mounted, is supposed to deliver as high as 30 mi. to a gallon of gasoline.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.