Car-buff magazines have tended to focus primarily on entertaining their readers. Thus, they have mostly avoided serious topics until they become too pressing to ignore. That’s why I find interesting how Motor Trend magazine covered difficult postwar moments, such as a late-1950s recession that resulted in soaring import sales at the expense of American cars.
Magazine covers can be a good indicator about a publication’s editorial priorities because they are designed to maximize newsstand sales. Through much of the 1950s foreign cars rarely showed up on Motor Trend’s covers.
Imports get more coverage but in back-handed way
An exception to Motor Trend’s bias toward domestic cars was in its May 1956 issue, whose cover focused on “The Growing Volkswagen Family.” Presumably this was a response to rising VW sales, which almost topped 29,000 units in the 1955 calendar year and in 1956 would reach 50,000 units.
However, even in Motor Trend’s January 1958 issue, foreign cars were treated as inferior to Detroit fare. An article about trends in car bodies stated that European automakers were five years behind their American counterparts.
“The trend to radical, flashy styling over there should parallel improvements in living standards — which means we can look for the first big breaks in Germany. Already the masses there are breaking their backs to get out of the VW class” (Parker, 1958; p. 34).
What’s ironic about that take is how the lowly VW Beetle would become remarkably popular in the U.S. over the next decade — partly as a reaction to the flashy but impractical styling of American cars.
Motor Trend publishes extensive guide to imports
To be fair, Motor Trend would soon start paying attention to rising import sales. The magazine’s April 1958 issue placed an emphasis on “The Best Buys in Imported Cars.” By this point imported sales were starting to accelerate in response to a sharp recession, almost reaching 700,000 units.
Motor Trend’s “Shopping Guide” noted that the breadth of imports now sold in the U.S. was so great “that the novice can get lost” (1958, p. 25). At that point just about everyone was trying to sell cars in the United States, such as DKW, Hillman, Goliath, Borgward, Panhard, Berkeley and Arnolt-Bristol.
Why were people turning to foreign cars? “We believe that the prime reason is economy — right down the line. Low initial cost — we have chosen under $2000 as an arbitrary figure — economical operation and upkeep, and nominal depreciation make the cars desirable. There are sacrifices in space, speed, acceleration and riding — but it is the dollars saved which are most important” (1958, p. 25).
Imports included as a benchmark in Lark story
Then in December 1958 Motor Trend put the new Studebaker Lark on its cover. The headline stated, “Is the NEW Studebaker Small Car as good as the Rambler? How about the other cars under $2000 — U.S. and import?”
As part of its coverage, Motor Trend interviewed Studebaker-Packard President Harold Churchill. Among the questions he was asked was whether he agreed with executives of other U.S. car makers who argued that imported cars were a fad.
Churchill responded by saying, “Not completely. I think a fad is something that people go for without too much rhyme or reason. I think in imported cars there was at least some reason. People wanted small, more economical cars. The big American used car did not fill either bill. Even though the used car’s initial cost may have been comparable, it was still a used car. The differently designed imported car answered both points and at the same time established its owner as a man of discriminating taste rather than as a pinch-penny. Outside of Rambler no American car came anywhere near meeting his needs” (1958, p. 19).
Coverage of domestics and imports was integrated
The January 1959 issue was unusual for Motor Trend in that its cover displayed imported cars on an equal footing to domestics. This was presumably done in response to import sales, which would reach an unprecedented 1.1 million units.
An example of how Motor Trend approached its coverage was a section on compact cars, which included U.S. models such as the Rambler and Studebaker Lark as well as a wide range of imports, such as from Rover, Peugeot, Simca and Volvo (1959, p. 44). By the same token, luxury cars included Big Three brands as well as Rolls Royce, Facel Vega and Mercedes-Benz (1959, p. 50).
Note that Motor Trend’s coverage mostly focused narrowly on product specifics rather than editorializing about American cars getting too big. Car buyers now wanted more information on Product Y rather than Product X, so Motor Trend responded to that shift.
NOTES:
Production data are from Flammang (1995) and Gunnell (2004).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Flammang, James M., and the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide; 1995. Cars of the Fabulous ’50s: A Decade of High Style and Good Times. Publications International, Lincolnwood, IL
- Gunnell, John; 2004. Standard Catalog of Volkswagen, 1946-2004. KP Books, Iola, WI.
- Motor Trend; 1958. “Shopping Guide to Imported Cars.” April issue: pp. 24-39.
- ——; 1958. “Studebaker-Packard’s Lark vs. American Motors’ American.” December issue: pp. 16-21.
- ——; 1959. “MT’s World Show Issue.” January issue: pp. 27-69.
- Parker, Dean; 1958. “Trends in Bodies today.” Motor Trend. January issue: pp. 34-39.
In the mid 1950s it was apparent that the US auto industry was able to build better equipped, roomier, more powerful, more beautiful… cars than their European counterparts. However, a creek into that armour arose: build quality. German cars, and even more later on Japanese cars, could last for years and years with ordinary maintenance whilst American cars were generally considered “beaters” after three to five years and 50 thousand miles. Forward Look 57 Mopars and 58 Fords became rather notorious in that sense as cars with poor reliability and build quality.
IF American automakers had acknoweldged that THERE WAS a market for better built full-size cars, then full-sizers would have not become so outdated in the general public’s perception: if Cadillac hadn’t chased volume over quality and instead had doubled down on quality (for example 70% of the way between an ordinary full-sizer and a Mercedes) whilst reasonably ticking up prices (for example from $5500 to $8500, with a Mercedes costing for example around $12000), it might have been different.
Full-size cars today still exist in the US: it’s the F150 and Tacoma crowd, only in a much less aesthetically pleasing package (like a lot of contemporary manufactured goods).
Ciro – Japanese “quality” was spotty at first. A ’71 Datsun 510 that l test drove when new did not feel as solid a piece as my ’69 VW Beetle. The 510’s had good drivetrains, but they rusted prodigiously! In my rust-belt region, their front fenders rusted so fast that they were a real mess after just 3 years. Same with the Isuzu Bellet, a car that did impress me. l think Toyotas rusted perhaps a little less, but had not-uncommon cylinder head problems.
A stat that evidenced some better quality among North American manufacturers was one that showed Studebaker dealers benefited from the fewest number of defects having to be fixed during pre-delivery inspections, thereby also having the lowest pre-delivery costs of other car dealers. This is one “proof” that initial quality by itself, although obviously important, is not going to single-handedly change a manufacture’s fortunes.