Business: Motormakers’ Holiday

This week the doors of Manhattan’s garish Grand Central Palace open on the biggest, brightest, costliest annual U. S. coming-out party: The National Automobile Show. For their 40th debut U. S. motormakers have plenty of shiny new models to show, plenty of bright new points to talk about.

Every fall the U. S.’s No. 2 industry* buds with optimism. This week it is in full flower. For motormakers 1938 was a hard year (4th worst in number of sales since record 1929) with profits down as much as 70%, total production little more than half of 1937. But the close of the 1939 automobile year on September 30 showed: 1) profits up moderately; 2) total production of 3,587,000 units (4th best year since 1929) up 33% over 1938; 3) new car stocks not over 147,000 units—within 2% of their historic 1938 Sept. 1 low.

This cheerful earful accounted for only part of Detroit’s optimism. To most U. S. motormakers 1940 looked great. Some guestimated that 1940 output would jump 15% above 1939. With new cars priced a little lower than 1939’s (but facing possible upward revisions), and with the public going strong for the advance models and ordering more, Detroit was sure its new four-wheel debutantes would not be left on the shelf.

Most widespread innovation for 1940 are the Sealed-Beam headlights on 95% of the models (result of cooperation between the industry, lamp & lens manufacturers). Lens, bulb and reflector are sealed into a single unit. The new lamps light the road without blinding. Another big development is the “Hydra-Matic” drive (see Oldsmobile), which dooms the clutch pedal, lets the accelerator control the car.

1940’s beauties ballyhoo a multitude of little things: soft front-seat edges for comfort, better insulation against road-rumble, trigger-release parking brakes, direction signals and warning signals for low gas & oil, hot motor, faulty ignition, etc. Pointing up comfort, safety, economy, new models are generally longer, lower, wider, roomier, with increased visibility and lots more chromium. Steering column gearshift relegates to the archives the old wobble-stick. Running boards are mostly optional. Air-conditioned heaters are highly favored.

The 1940 list:

American Bantam, Tiny Tim of the streamliners (75 in. wheelbase), enters its third production year with a new Super 4 in two models: coupé & sedan, both convertibles. Prices: $399 to $449. Boast: “a revolutionary road-cling ride.”

Buick has added two new series to its four stand-by straight-eights, claims 70 new mechanical achievements. It is lower, bolder-curved. Down in price from $17 to $281, it sells for $895 to $2,199 (lowest price range in company’s history). Standard on some models are front & rear safety direction signals.

Cadillac offers 31 models in five series. New are the torpedo-type Sixty-Two, the Seventy-Two with six different sedan styles. Custom-built and unchanged are V-16s. Prices: $1,685 to $7,175

Chevrolet’s 1940 series (Master Eighty-Five, Master De Luxe, Special De Luxe) are longer (by 4⅜ in.), wider, lower, bigger than any Chevrolet ever built. Prices: unannounced. Alligator-jaw hood locks automatically, unlocks only from the dashboard.

Chrysler, longer & lower, comes in six models, 26 body types, which all look alike, have fenders that flow into the body, wider front & rear seats, heavier lines, safety signals for all gauges. Rear axles have been moved back, motors up. Prices: $895 to $2,445.

Crosley goes to its first automobile show with two diminutive passenger numbers (120 in. overall): a convertible coupé at $325; convertible sedan at $350. A shade larger (5 in. more wheelbase) than competitor Bantam, it claims 45 miles per gallon for its two-cylinder, air-cooled motor, is proud of its new half-ton station wagon, pastel blue delivery truck.

De Soto could be mistaken for any Chrysler from the rear, comes with or without running boards. With square-bottomed, straight-sided doors, its twelve models (100-h.p. engines) are priced at $845 to $1,290.

Dodge threw away all of its ’39 body dies this year, started over. Result: It looks like the Chrysler (arched roof, layback windshield, V-slant radiator grille). In three Special models, seven De Luxe, it sells for $755 to $1,170.

Ford. Two V-8s (60 or 85 h.p.), six De Luxe models are Henry Ford’s 1940 gift to U. S. motorists. Prices: $600 to $920. Appearance: racier, longer than ’39. Standard on all models is the steering-post gearshift.

Graham, for whom RFC has approved a $2,000,000 loan, has 14 body types virtually unchanged from 1939. Most novel plan of its new executive vice president, August Johnson, is to sell 1940 cars to dealers at a secret price, let them make their own prices. He has also leased the old Cord dies with which Hupmobile turned out a handful of ’39 Skylarks, plans to make the Hupp car and one for himself to sell as a low-cost companion to the big Graham.

Hudson introduces a snappy, new low-price six, the Traveler, ballyhoos its independent front wheel suspension with centre point steering. Low-slung, sleeker than last year’s models, its line of sixes and eights is priced from $670 to $1,118. Standard on all models is a combination parking lamp and directional signal.

Hupmobile, trying hard to pull itself out of the ruck, turned out only 1,000 automobiles last year (mostly Senior Sixes; a few handmade Skylarks). Bolstered by a $900,000 RFC loan, its 1940 plans are hazy. Back at work, grey-haired John Walter Drake (64), Hupp founder & first president (1908), hopes to catch up by dovetailing production with Graham-Paige, concentrating on Skylarks (price: unavailable).

LaSalle is longer, lower, hyped up (130 h.p.), sells for $1,240 to $1,800.

Lincoln unchanged from 1939 is a custom-built job at $4,800 to $7,100.

Lincoln-Zephyr ($1,360 to $2,840) has two new models (club coupé, continental cabriolet). New Zephyrs are larger, longer, lower, knife-nosed.

Mercury, in its second year, has five models with a new convertible sedan thrown in, flaring chromium radiator grilles, a tony, silver-blue interior. Prices: $920 to $1,180. New wrinkles: torsion bar ride stabilizer for handling side-sway.

Nash offers 18 models in its three series of sixes and eights, looks like a Nash from the front, like a Lincoln-Zephyr from the rear. Priced from $795 to $1,295, it has such things as Sand Mortex (sound proofing), Fabreeka (high-efficiency insulation), beds in all sedans, “Weather Eye” airconditioning.

Oldsmobile boasts one of 1940’s two major mechanical innovations (the other: Sealed Beam headlights) for its three series: “Hydra-Matic Drive” (a fluid flywheel combined with an automatic transmission which eliminates the clutch pedal, leaves nothing for the driver’s left foot to do but play with the headlight beam at night). Prices: $765 to $1,075 (Hydra-Matic, $57 extra). Low, racy, graceful, Olds has a new eight-cylinder Ninety and its Sixty & Seventy sixes.

Packard styling appears unchanged from last year except for narrower radiators with rounded edges and more chrome grille work. Four lines (two of them brand new) are priced $20 to $100 lower this year at $867 to $6,283. The new 160 & 180 (eight cylinders, 160 h.p.) replace the Super Eight and Twelve. Shop talk: big gains in power-to-weight ratio.

Plymouth, Chrysler’s popular-priced car, looks like the rest of the brood, is roomier (12 more cu. ft. inside), longer (117 in. wheelbase), flares out at the bottom instead of in. The two series, Road-king and De Luxe, sell for $645 to $805.

Pontiac introduces a new Torpedo eight this year to pep up its design, has restyled its Special six series with longer, lower hoods. Prices: $758 to $1,072.

Studebaker’s low-priced Champion, Commander and President ($660 to $1,095) have lost almost all exterior fixtures except close-fitting door handles. Trim and neat, the 1940s have new hood locks, optional overdrive.

Willys, licking its chops over an impending $2,500,000 RFC loan, has slicked up its two series (Speedway and De Luxe) this year with deep-skirted front fenders, a beltline chrome strip from front to back. All by itself in the ultra-low field, Willys has dropped its prices 12% to $495 to $620. Improvements: New-type soft springs with rubber-lined clips, counterweight crankshaft, automatic carburetor.

*No. 1 industry: steel.