Show CLOSED CARS MARKED TURN IN USE OF MOTOR CARS big expansion ushered in by advent of inexpensive all weather models inexpensive closed ear car bodies probably were the greatest single factor increasing american automobile use from 10 to 25 milli million 01 I 1 Rt n ger cars in less than eich beigh ears dosed ased 0 sl cars for everybody is the rule today but as ate as 1921 more than t three out of four aut automobiles 0 sold were open jobs with folding tops and flapping curtains that let in the icy breezes at the first blast of winter the principal reason was high cost of manufacture for most makes of cars one had to pay from to 1000 extra for a closed body which ranked as a luxury even in the bottom brackets this additional cost was proportionately high mass production methods finally licked that cost and the photograph centered in the group below taken in 1921 shows one stage in making the t bodies then were generally bm of wood with steel sheets fastened upon complicated frames virtually the whole process was a sequence of hand operations long curing of suitable lumber tedious shaping and fitting of curved pieces were required to assemble the wooden skeleton and more painstaking work went into fitting on the metal coverings in developing the body shown in the picture straight pieces of standard tan dard shapes that could be cut cult in in large quantities glass openings of ident identical al size and general simplification of detail were employed this brought that particular closed car one of a medium priced line within or so of the price of a 3 standard touring car of the same make public response was overwhelmingly ing ay favorable by the end of 1922 the industry found 30 percent of its output was closed cars by 1925 the proportion was 56 per cent in the next year 72 percent of the cars made were closed and by 1927 83 per cent had been reached cars in use at the end of th that at year were twenty million against ten in 1922 by now the open car is a rarity only two or three out of a hundred of the cars made each year being of the open or convertible type with demand so small production costs are of necessity proportionately higher than closed cars persistent engineering efforts to produce bodies better as well as more economically led to development of steel body construction conat ruction in the middle twenties in recent years the body hasi haslie become come a solid steel shell floor sides and top being welded into a single inseparable unit machinery enormously expensive was required to effect this conversion better metals new I 1 types of welding ananew and new finishes were developed yet the 1939 successor of t the e boneer pioneer inexpensive closed car whose body is shown in the pir picture below sells for somewhat less than half the price of the widely hailed economy model of 1922 0 only 1 in point of succession are the za t two cars strictly to be compared however so far has de progressed in the 17 intervening years longer in wheel wheela base very much larger and roomier ier in body the later car is also far more luxurious and equipped with many refinements which were unknown when the closed calwas car was first made popular improvements in springs and self evident changes in tires 32 xa then now both increase the enjoyment of riding most remarkable is the step up in engine power due to ito superior design higher compression and higher speed with a decrease of two per cent in piston displacement I 1 the athe 1939 engine develops 72 per cent more power MOM 6 |