AUTOS: The 1953 Models

The auto industry, though scrabbling for manpower and materials, last week was bursting with plans and hopes for 1953. In the works are the biggest batch of changes in a decade: new bodies, airconditioning, power steering, power brakes and engines so peppy that every driver can feel like a hot-rodder. By hiring women and bringing back pensioned employees (as the United Auto Workers asked Ford to do last week), automen think they can meet their arms schedules and still turn out 5,000,000 cars in 1953, about the same number as this year.

Big reason for the changes is that automen expect to have a hard time selling all the cars they can make. They expect that dealers will have to boost trade-in allowances; by midsummer there may even be some price cuts.

Cadillac will have a slightly changed body, optional airconditioning* and a new engine with about 210 h.p. (1952 h.p. 190), which will get about 22 miles to the gallon.

Lincoln will also have a new engine with about 210 h.p. (v. 165 h.p. in present models), power steering and power brakes, and a tricky new front seat.

Chrysler Corp. has spent $200 million remodeling all its cars. Chrysler and De Soto have been redesigned from bumper to bumper. The boxiness of this year’s models will be replaced by smoother, rounder lines. Chrysler may boost the 180 h.p. in its Fire-dome engine; other Chrysler cars will have a smaller version of the Fire-dome.

Plymouth will have a continental flair, a lower window line, shortened hood and, reportedly, a one-piece curved windshield.

Dodge is reported to have a 140-h.p. engine, v. 103 in current models.

Buick will have a V-8 engine with 188 h.p. (its Roadmaster straight eight now has 170 h.p.), and an improved Dynaflow transmission.

Pontiac has been completely redesigned into a longer, lower, wider car, with more window space, more horse power in the six-cylinder model, and a new frame and suspension system for a smoother ride.

Chevrolet will have a new body, similar to the Pontiac, a more powerful engine and an improved Power Glide transmission.

Packard is face-lifting its current models, adding optional power steering, power brakes and air-conditioning (first tried by Packard in 1938).

Studebaker, hoping to cash in on the sport-car fad, will be designed along racy continental lines. Its smaller car will be only about 55 in. high (v. the present 61¼ in.); its larger car will be about 60 in. high, v. 61¾.

Kaiser-Frazer, which is jacking up horsepower in its Kaiser line, plans to make 1,000 sport cars with plastic bodies, made by California’s Glasspar Co. (TIME, Feb. 18). K-F’s new model will weigh about 2,000 Ibs., cost about $2,000, v. $1,450 for the 2,300 lb. Henry J.

Nash plans no major changes in its big lines, but Designer Pinin Farina has restyled the sporty Rambler along the lines of Nash’s heavy cars.

*The small unit, located in the trunk compartment and controlled from the dashboard, will work like an office air-conditioner, pumping cold air into the car through a grill behind the rear seat.