WardsAuto Flashback – March 2014

75 Years Ago (March 1939): Ward’s Forecast Raised; Studebaker Preps Champion; UAW Splits; GM Expansion Planned

In its Mar. 4, 1939, issue, Ward’s Automotive Reports says it is increasing its March car production forecast by 5.7% to 370,000 units from 350,000.

The increase, which WAR says “may yet prove conservative,” comes in response to evidence that some manufacturers “are planning to advance their production rates somewhat earlier than had been anticipated for the spring upturn.”

A sales increase in “the past week, that promises to continue, may find auto executives surprised at the strength of the March market.”

Studebaker is preparing to commence production of its new lighter-weight “economy” car in a price class below the auto maker’s Commander and President.

The Champion has minimal parts commonality with Studebaker’s larger models and weighs some 2,500 lbs. (1,134 kg), or about 500 lbs. (227 kg) less than “Big Three competition it will engage.”

It features 20%-25% better fuel economy than standard Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth cars it is priced against. WAR notes Studebaker is departing from the standard practice of maximizing parts interchangeability, “philosophizing that over interchangeability becomes a ‘Frankenstein’ which ultimately overbalances its advantages with efficiency disadvantages.”

Following this week’s action by the UAW’s Martin branch in divorcing itself from the CIO-backed faction has effectively established two unions in the auto industry, Ward’s says in its Mar. 11, 1939, issue.

Aligned with the Martin faction are “most General Motors plants in Michigan, outside of Detroit, most of the Ohio locals, outside of Cleveland and much of the East Coast from Baltimore northward, comprising approximate membership of 100,000 adherents.” Aligned with the CIO are locals in Detroit, Cleveland, Wisconsin, the West Coast, Indiana and Illinois, portions of the deep-South and Mississippi valley, as well as Canada.

The CIO group encompasses about 250,000 members. While Martin forces will seek to organize Ford, CIO operatives will attempt to establish a presence in the Martin stronghold of Flint, WAR notes. Who will control the UAW headquarters building, funds and name will be “decided later, by court action.”

In the coming year, GM plans to embark on a “substantial” program of plant expansion. It reportedly plans a 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,290-sq.-m) addition to its Buffalo, NY, Chevrolet-Fisher operation at a cost of $2 million.

Construction of a new $5 million plant near the Indianapolis airport to manufacture airplane motors and parts also is included in the program, as is a doubling in size of the Grand Rapids, MI, Fisher stamping facility.

60 Years Ago (March 1954): Nash Met Bows; Chrysler Turbine Breakthrough; Corvette Moves Ahead; IH Debuts Pickup

On Mar. 18, 1953, Nash takes the wraps off its new Metropolitan imported small car. Designed by Nash, the car carries a POE price of $1,445 for the 2-door coupe and $1,469 for the convertible, excluding taxes and transportation fees.

It is manufactured in England with a body supplied by Fisher & Ludlow and final assembly by Austin, both subsidiaries of British Motor Corp.

It rides on an 85-in. (2,159-mm) wheelbase and is powered by a 42-hp 4-cyl. engine from the Austin A40. The 3-speed manual transmission is an Austin 4-speed unit with an ultra-low first-gear blanked off to suit American drivers’ familiarity with the 3-speed column-shift gearbox.

The front bench seat accommodates three passengers with a small rear seat for occasional use. The rear storage compartment, lacking an exterior truck lid, is accessed through the interior.

Fuel economy of up to 40 mpg (5.9L/100 km) and a top speed in excess of 70 mph (113 km/h) are claimed.

The recently announced development of a regenerator (heat exchanger) enhances the performance of Chrysler’s latest experimental gas turbine engine, according to WAR.

As installed in a production Plymouth car, the turbine features a smaller, cooler exhaust system.

“Now that the Chrysler engineers have come up with this feat, their metallurgists should get on the job to give the industry a metal for turbine ‘buckets’ that will withstand  even higher temperatures,” the publication says.

“If and when such an advance can be made, and in sufficient degree, the death knell for present diesel and Otto-cycle reciprocating engine will have been sounded.”

The 120-hp turbine engine has only 20% of the moving parts of a conventional powerplant, but provides the same performance as that of a conventional 160-hp engine/transmission combination. The sole purpose of the turbine car’s transmission is to provide a reverse gear.

Corvette production at Chevrolet’s St. Louis, MO, plant is accelerating at a “steady and progressive rate” toward a projected level of 50 units daily, or 1,000 monthly, by June.

The upcoming Chevy V-8 is expected to be offered as an option to Corvette’s standard 6-cyl. engine beginning this summer with the launch of ’55 models.   

International Harvester is introducing a new light-duty pickup powered by a 104-hp engine.

Features include “an ignition-key starter, shift lever on the steering column and high-ratio steering gear.”

With a modest 4,200-lb. (1,905-kg) GVW, the truck comes with double-acting shock absorbers, “soft’ springs for a smoother ride and a 1-piece tinted windshield.

50 Years Ago (March 1964): Truck Output Climbs; T’bird Record Seen; AMA Blasts O.T. Bill; Kaiser Jeep Earnings Soar

First-quarter 1964 U.S. truck production is on track to not only set a new January-March record, but at an estimated 410,000 units likely will set an any-quarter record besting the 408,306 vehicles built in April-June 1951.

The all manufacturers thriving, an “encouraging aspect of the big boom in trucks is that it has not shown any real tendency to disproportion in the industry,” with all producers thriving.

At the same time, U.S. car output is scheduled to reach a first-quarter record of 2,129,000, edging past the 2,159,300 units built in January-March 1955.

Ford Thunderbird production is expected to reach a new record of 95,000 units in the ’64-model production run, surpassing the 92,843 units turned out in ’60.

Toward that end, the 500,000^th T’bird rolled off the line in late December after production of the redesigned ’64s had shifted into high gear.

The crisper styling of the ’64 is a plus, WAR notes, after the ’63 model, a 3-year-old design, “took a drubbing” from Pontiac’s restyled Grand Prix and Buick’s all-new Riviera.

Testifying at a House Labor Committee hearing, an Automobile Manufacturers Assn. representative blasts a bill that would require double pay for overtime work in certain industries.

The measure, designed to increase employment by discouraging excess overtime, would have the effect of reducing auto worker annual incomes, AMA says.

This would be due to eliminating a worker’s ability to offset pay lost to downtime in one part of the year with time-and-a-half pay for overtime in other periods.

Kaiser Jeep credits its all-new Jeep Wagoneer SUV and Gladiator large pickups as well as “substantially” higher sales to government entities for a 42% boost in fiscal 1963 automotive earnings, to $221 million from $155 million in 1962. 

U.S. retail sales of Jeep vehicles rose 55% in 1963, the auto maker says, while government purchases were up 77%.

25 Years Ago (March 1989): Escort No.1; Chrysler Readies V-6; Subaru Simplifies; Shift Locks Coming

New car sales in the first two months of 1989 totaled 1,475,207, or 10.7% less than the 1,652,443 units sold in like 1988. In February alone, sales were down 15% to 754,130 units from 887,486 a year earlier and the seasonally adjusted annual rate fell to 7.9 million from 11.0 million.

The Ford Escort is the top-selling car so-far in 1989 with sales of 59,269, slightly ahead of 57,322 units a year earlier, when it ranked third. Chevy’s Corsica/Beretta ran second to Escort with 50,906 deliveries, down from a market-leading 63,088 in like-1988.

In third place was the Ford Taurus at 52,962 units, down from second-place the year before, when 62,450 units were sold.

According to internal reports, Chrysler is readying its all-new 3.3L V-6 for introduction as standard equipment in ’90-model Chrysler Imperial and Fifth Avenue, Dodge Grand Caravan and Plymouth Grand Voyager vehicles.

The engine will be optional in New Yorker and Dodge Dynasty ES. It will be paired exclusively with Chrysler’s new Ultradrive 4-speed automatic transmission.

Features include port fuel injection and distributorless ignition. Except in California, an air pump, aspirator and exhaust gas recirculation system are not required.

In preparation for the launch of its all-new ’90-model Legacy, Subaru of America is consolidating its model offerings in the U.S.

“After a brief run of ’89 models, production of the aging Hatchback has been discontinued,” while sedans, hatchbacks and wagons sold under the DL, GL and GL10 monikers are being consolidated under the Loyale name and top trim levels eliminated to make room for the Legacy in the $12,000-$18,000 price range.

The sporty XT coupe will continue to be offered with both 4- and 6-cyl. engines.

Already used in some import models, the automatic transmission shift lock, to keep the transmission from being shifted out of park unless the brake pedal is fully depressed, will be introduced by Ford on some ’90 models. Ford will phase it in to all vehicles over a number of years.

Chrysler says it also plans to begin using the device but has not specified a timeframe for introduction.

General Motors continues to study the shift lock, but has no immediate plans it use it.

The device began showing up after NHTSA, studying cases of “unintended” acceleration, concluded that the phenomenon was due to driver error in mistakenly pressing the accelerator instead of the brake when putting the car into gear.

Although Audi commenced using shift lock after its U.S. sales fell more than 50% in 1987-88 following widely publicized reports of unintended acceleration, the auto maker says it is still settling lawsuits related to those incidents, despite NHTSA’s finding.

Other import brands introducing the shift lock include Acura, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.

The safety agency has not said if it will require the device on all automatic transmission-equipped vehicles.