Autos: Length, Luxury, Power

The 1966 cars go on sale in the nation’s showrooms this week and next, and the emphasis is on greater length, luxury, power. Gone in ’66 are the vestiges of the stripped-down, utilitarian look, though the new models seem safer and more efficient than any of their predecessors. Aiming for a fifth straight year of increased sales, Detroit has concluded that Americans—richer and more style-conscious than ever—want fancier cars.

Small Cars Bigger. Changed most are the small cars, which continue to grow bigger. The new compacts are longer than many standard-sized cars were a decade ago. Detroit has junked the economy image because it failed in model year ’65. Despite record sales of 8,800,000 cars, there were drop-offs in Ford’s Falcon and Fairlane, G.M.’s Chevy II, Chrysler’s Valiant and American Motors’ Rambler.

The Falcon has been restyled into a sporty car for the family man with Mustang spirit but too many kids for bucket seats. It is almost three inches longer (184.3 in.) than the ’65 version, has a long Mustang hood and a Mustang-like dropped-off trunk lid. To the Mustang-styled Falcon Futura line, a new sports coupe has been added, with wide bucket seats, 14-inch wheels and the standard Mustang engine. The Chevy II, which G.M, almost abandoned when compact sales began slumping, is lower and wider.

Big Cars Unchanged. In the standard-sized cars, Detroit is sticking with the successful styling of the ’65s. Chevy and Plymouth look much the same. Ford has rounded its square sides, but squared its previously rounded rear lights. The cars of struggling American Motors, whose market share has been dropping (to 3.4% in the first half of 1965), are scarcely changed. The higher-price lines have also added bigness and luxury without substantial restyling. Mercury has grown two inches to 18.3 feet. Buick’s Riviera shucks its triangular front-vent windows in favor of a single pane, also has out-of-sight headlights that slide behind the grille when not turned on. Chrysler’s front fenders have a square look, and its grille, borrowing from Pontiac, is split.

Elegant and practical gimmicks abound. As optional safety equipment, Ford has a foam-padded child’s seat with shoulder harness. The Fairlane offers a combination “his-and-hers” shifting: automatic transmission for women who want simple convenience, plus a stick shift for men who like the feeling of control it gives them. Some Plymouths have reading lights over the rear seat. Others have a redesigned door that is difficult to open in order to prevent accidental fallouts. Practically all of the cars offer more powerful engines this year. Lincoln increased the size of its engine from 430 cu. in. to 462 cu. in., the industry’s largest.

New Car. Detroit’s most impressive innovation is a completely new car: the Oldsmobile Toronado, first U.S. model in 29 years with “front-wheel drive.” A six-passenger sports coupe, it has an engine that feeds power directly to the front wheels. Because those wheels dig into a curve and pull the car along like a train or a trailer-truck, the Toronado corners as smoothly at 60 m.p.h. as many cars do at 35 m.p.h., does not need chains or snow tires. Test drivers who were assigned to overturn it found that almost impossible to do because the car is so low-slung (five inches off the ground at the rear).

Small European cars such as Renault and Peugeot have long had front-wheel drive, and so had the U.S. Cord in the 1930s. Critics contend that the system has disadvantages, but Oldsmobile General Manager Harold Metzel argues that engineering advances eliminate them. Power steering prevents sway and loss of control on turns; an adjustable torsion-bar suspension system eliminates over-steering. The Toronado will cost about $5,000, and Metzel anticipates sales of 60,000.

Price Fight. Under pressure from the Government, the industry will equip all new cars with at least five safety features. Among them: rear-seat belts, padded instrument panels, outside rear-view mirrors. As options last year, all these cost between $50 and $75. Putting them on as standard equipment set off a rare price battle in Detroit.

Prices traditionally are set by the biggest, most efficient and most profitable company—General Motors—and Ford and Chrysler ride along. Last week, however, Chrysler President Lynn Townsend jumped the gun, announced price rises to cover the safety equipment. When G.M.’s Chairman Fred Donner 48 hours later announced that G.M.’s prices would be just about the same as last year, Chrysler was left about $50 out of line. Townsend acted either from cockiness or sheer need. Though Chrysler’s sales have more than doubled since 1961, its rapid expansion of plants has left the company short of cash, and it needs money to finance a four-year, $1.7 billion growth program. Net working capital last year shrunk from $557 million to $385 million; Chrysler profits run to only about 5% on its sales v. G.M.’s 10.2%.

G.M. could slash prices and still be in the black. But that would drive Ford, Chrysler and American Motors to the wall—and bring down the trustbusters. On the other side, Detroit insiders buzzed last week that Donner was worried that Congress might investigate G.M.’s profits if his company followed Chrysler and raised prices.

Good Year. Even without rises, automen expect that ’66 will be another rewarding model year. G.M.’s Donner and President James Roche predict industrywide sales of about 9,000,000 U.S.-made cars. There are plenty of reasons for optimism: 6,000,000 old cars are due to be scrapped in the next twelve months, while the rich market of Americans aged 16 to 20 will bulge at 12.5 million. The typical family can certainly afford a new car—or two. In the past year, the nation’s gross national product has increased 6.5%, personal income has jumped 7% and industrial production has climbed 8%. Their instincts as well as their computers tell Detroiters that the industry will be selling 10 million cars a year by 1970, and 12 million by 1975.