The Aluminum Future

Behind the locked and guarded doors of Detroit's experimental studios last week, the automobile industry's planners were hard at work on the kind of car they hope will sell in the years from 1961 on. As expected, the styling will be radically different. But the big news about the car of the future is not so much what it will look like, but what it will be made of. The material: aluminum. After years of experiments, the industry is finally starting to roll with the new metal--with General Motors out ahead, Ford and Chrysler following along behind.

Just as 13 of 1958's models have aluminum grilles, so 1960's cars will spread out to more and more uses for aluminum. General Motors, which has been working toward a small, compact car (TIME, June 23), will finally get it on the road late next year. Main feature: an aluminum engine, which will save 150 Ibs., in turn reduce overall engine weight 30% by means of lighter mountings, braces, etc. Up to now every aluminum engine required either a ferrous liner or a chromium coating for cylinder bores; both were expensive to make and troublesome to process. G.M. believes it has solved the problem by finding a wear-resistant aluminum alloy that can be cast in the same fashion as iron.

Aside from the engine, G.M. will use another 200 Ibs. of aluminum, thus reducing the overall weight by 16%. Precisely how G.M. will use its aluminum is still secret. But it is no secret that G.M. engineers have long been experimenting with aluminum transmissions, differentials, tie and crossbars, instrument panels, pumps, bumpers, brakes, turn signals.

Eventually the modern U.S. auto may count 25% to 40% of its total weight in aluminum. The major stumbling block has always been cost: aluminum for engines costs about three times as much as grey iron. Yet many engineers are coming around to the theory that costs even out in the long run, since aluminum costs less to machine and process. Moreover, it has many other advantages--no chip, no pit, no peel, no rust. But the biggest advantage of all is in performance. In recent tests with two cars identical except for a difference of 400 lbs. in weight, the lighter car accelerated and decelerated from 20% to 25% faster. In terms of gas consumption G.M.'s aluminum-engined 1960 model is expected to get considerably better mileage than the 1958 Chevy. And as more and more aluminum parts are added, U.S. motorists may yet see that happy day when they can combine the U.S. liking for smooth-riding big cars with fuel mileage of 25 to 35 miles per gallon.

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