Although the automobile industry had a bad year and is facing another, last week the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce officially endorsed a plan which will cause its members to spend some $15,000,000. The expenditures will be for banishing unsafe and unfit automobiles by junking, thus making U. S. highways safer. During the year it is estimated that 400,000 cars, or about one for every ten sold, will be junked in addition to the small-scale junking that several companies already carry on. About 90% of U. S. auto makers are affected and each will formulate a junking plan most compatible with its distribution system.
Altruistic as seems this safety drive, the motormakers are not squandering their money. Fewer old cars will bolster up the used-car market, make turn-ins more attractive, increase new-car sales.
Henry Ford, who is considering several plans of his own for junking, will not share in the $15,000,000 scheme since Ford Motor Co. does not belong to the Automobile Chamber of Commerce. However, Edsel Ford, president of Lincoln Motors, is participating. A committee whose Chairman is R. H. Grant, famed General Motors sales vice president, is working out details.
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