What will it be like, the next new car
you buy? The automobile industry has given part of the answer. The first
new cars to roll off the production lines will be 1942 models, with minor
changes. Your wonder car of the future will have to simmer on the back of
the stove while the manufacturers hurry to catch up with the immediate
postwar demand.
Tools and dies for 1942 models - the
last made before our automobile plants were converted to war work - are now
in storage. Within four to six months after war production slacks off, dies
can be moved back onto the factory floors, machines can be set for
automobile parts instead of weapons, and cars can begin to roll. To get
ready to manufacture a brand new model might take at least a year, and that
would be valuable time to lose when the floodgates of postwar demand for
automobiles are opened.
But after that first new car, then
what? The whole transportation world is throbbing with changes to come.
New discoveries pouring from laboratories and war industries are smashing
conventional ideas of construction and design, and it is certain that they
will have tremendous influences on automobiles. Designers are even now
working overtime to bring their plans for future cars in line with the
latest developments in engineering.
How soon will that next car come? Not
all are agreed. Within a year or two after the war ends in Europe, some
independent designers, doctors, you'll be driving cars that are mechanical
miracles. As soon as the Government lets them have the materials say
others, or as soon as factory space and machines can be spared from war
production. On the conservative side stand most of the big automobile
manufacturers. Dream cars will be a long time coming, they insist. There
will be no revolutionary steps, they say: and progress will be evolutionary
in the future just as it has always been in the past.
Whatever he may tell you, your
automobile dealer himself is dead set against rapid changes in design. He
sells used cars as well as new ones. If models change too rapidly, the used
cars soon begin to look like antiques and lose resale value.
Then, too, the public is going to have
a say. It is public taste most of all, the manufacturers dealers, that
dictates design. The public will not accept radical, sudden changes in
appearance, many of the established makers believe. And in the past it has
been what a car looked like on the outside, not what it was like inside,
that attracted most buyers. There may be a revaluation of this idea,
though, when the new cars go on sale, for the sponsors may find that, with
millions employed in industrial plants during the war. Americans and
especially American women have become more machinery-minded.
Public imagination has been fired by
war technology. There is the versatile jeep - not so much to look at,
perhaps, but a wonder on the road and even off the road. Tanks, halftracks,
and motorized gun carriages have proved that they can take it. And what of
the sleek beauty of our fighting planes? Will the public want some of that
transferred to its automobiles? Many of the designers think so. And they
think, too, that the public will demand some of the engine performance of
modern bombers and fighters
"Already teardrop and airfoil lines
are prominent in the designs that are being considered. They will replace
to a large extent the so-called streamlining that before the war had
encumbered many of our models with metal over wasted air space and with
useless chromium decoration. Manufacturers would have eliminated this
chromium plate long ago if careful surveys had not indicated that plenty of
"brightwork" sold secondhand cars. The break at the end of the war may give
them their chance.
Undoubtedly the new car will be
shorter and easier to turn than our old models. Extra length and wasted
bulk have lessened maneuverability in the past. But though the new car may
be smaller, it will be much roomier because of its different shape. Its
hood will be shrunk to a fraction of the present size, o it will be gone
altogether, and its humps and angles will give way to the clean lines of a
fast fighter plane. There will be no wasted space under the hood and the
new motor will be much smaller.
Fenders are slated to disappear
entirely, and bumpers will extend completely around the car, offering some
protection in sideswipes as well as in front and rear collisions. Over the
wheels, these bumpers will be in sections that can be removed easily when a
tire is to be changed. Instead of being made of rigid metal that transfers
the shock of impact to the body, bumpers will be flexible and will absorb a
jar, minimizing damage to the car.
The windshield and windows will curve
with the contours of the body. They may be of laminated glass, or they may
be of clear, transparent plastic that will be as strong as the body of the
car and permit a construction with no corner posts, thus providing complete
vision without blind spots.
In fact, the plastics industry is
keenly interested in your new car, and plastics may play a big part in its
design. Opaque plastics, with the color molded right into the material,
would do away with the expense of painting. Clear plastics can now be
toughened so that they resist abrasion nearly as well as glass. Used in
place of glass, they would save weight and increase safety.
Whatever the material of the body, it
will make your car lighter. Aluminum and magnesium will be far cheaper and
more abundant than seemed possible a few years ago. They may be used in the
body and are sure to be used for crankcases and other engine parts and for
sections of the chassis. Bonded compressed plywood, such as made history
with the Mosquito bombers, is being given serious consideration for bodies.
It has proven strength, durability, and lightness.
So much for the outward appearances
and frame of your new car. What about its performance?
With continued improvement in fuel
quality and progress in the engine builder's art, you will see automobile
engine shrink to teakettle size. It will be entirely new, designed with
small cylinders and a high-compression ratio to utilize 85 in quantities
after the war, and soon expect octane values to climb rapidly while engines
grow smaller. You can count on more and more miles per gallon from these
new engines with no top limit yet in sight. Moreover, you'll probably have
a super charger to give you an extra push up a steep incline or a burst of
extra speed for a fast getaway.
Shall the engine be air-cooled or
liquid-cooled, V-type, in-line, radial or pancake? Where shall it be placed
- front, rear, or center? Your tiny engine will be mounted where it will be
least in the way. It may be tucked away in the rear, still leaving room for
a luggage compartment above it. It may be a pancake type under the floor
near the center of gravity. Or it may ride inconspicuously over the front
axle. One new design calls for a small radial engine mounted over each
wheel. Another contemplates the use of a powerful pump that will drive a
set of turbines, one on each wheel.
Motors will be designed to save you
time and money by being made easy to service. One new engine can be given a
complete overhaul in two hours. A "top overhaul" - the kind that generally
takes your garageman a day - can be done in 45 minutes.
One automobile manufacturer is working
on a model in which the engine and the rear wheels are a single unit,
fastened to the body by four bolts. You drive into the garage. The
mechanic jacks up the rear end of the car, unfastens the motor unit - wheels
and all - and rolls away. Then he trundles up a "loaner" unit, bolts that
in place, and away you go. A complete overhaul of your engine will take no
more of your time than a 10-minute stop on your way to work and another
10-minutes stop on your way home.
You will never need to bother about
filling the radiator. Your motor will either be air-cooled or it will have
a sealed cooling system that will send no draining, cleaning, or other
attention. Many parts of the engine may be permanently sealed. Ignition
systems that cannot get out of whack are now within reach. Even the
carburetor may give way to an entirely new device that will inject the
liquid fuel directly into the cylinders.
Once every 20,000 miles or so you may
still have to change the oil. But your main lubrication worry - burned-out
bearings - will be forgotten. Self-lubricating bearings made through the
magic of the new powder metallurgy are one answer. Other designers favor
bearings made of indium or silver, or steel roller bearings such as are used
in aircraft engines.
Crankshafts, connecting rods, gears,
and springs will probably be built of the new NE "lean alloy" steels.
Developed under pressure of war scarcities these steels are light and
strong. Through what the industry calls the "vitamin" treatment, they are
hardened by the addition of inexpensive chemicals instead of expensive alloy
metals.
The steering wheel will be modeled
after those of our latest bombers - a light segment instead of a full wheel
- and will not crowd you when you get in or out. The old skin-barking
steering post was slanted for leverage. Power steering will make that
unnecessary. This power steering is in itself a remarkable achievement. It
seems that with just slight pressure, you can guide your car through the
hardest turns. The work is done for you by the power system built into the
steering gear.
The power-drive principle will also be
found in the brakes. There will be just two pedals on the floor of the new
car - a brake and an accelerator. Because of power braking, only light
pressure will be needed to bring you to a smooth stop. Don't look for a
clutch pedal or a gear-shift lever. Automatic transmission - born of the
device that swings the giant guns on our battleships - is definitely on the
board for future cars.
Eyelids on your headlamps may be
lowered during the day, protecting the lenses from dust, and raised at night
to reveal powerful lights no larger than the head of a good steel
flashlight. Accidents and discomfort from the blinding glare of the
headlamps of an approaching car will be done away with. A simple photocell
device will dim the lamps of both cars automatically, leaving plenty of
light to see by. With a small knob on the dashboard, you will be able to
swing your headlamps to either side. In rain, snow, or sleet, a new device
will clean the glass without a windshield wiper darting back and forth and
interfering with your vision.
You future car will give you all the
thrills you can ask. It will travel like the wind and stop on a dime. But
the risk and discomfort that used to go with high speed will be missing.
Marvelous new spring systems will smooth out the bumps as the dead weight of
the old models never did. They will be variable, so that the car will ride
as well with a single passenger as with four or five.
Rubber springs have been developed.
One is the B. F. Goodrich Co. "Torsilastic" spring; another employs an
air-cushion principle. Both take the tossing out of driving over rough
roads. With tires that have less bounce adding still further to your
comfort, a bump will only make you sink deeper into the sponge-rubber
cushion of your seat.
Handsome, easy-cleaning fabrics made
of nylon, spun glass, or a host of other synthetic and natural materials
that had not even been thought of a few years ago will cover the seats.
Some models may have movable chairs; others will have a rear seat
arrangement that can be made up as a couch or bed.
In present-day cars there are as many
as 125 different parts of natural or synthetic rubber. Both of these
materials probably will play an even bigger role in the future cars.
Builders will have to keep a sharp eye in particular on the laboratories of
synthetic chemists. In fact, hundreds of industries want to help design
your future car. Already there is keen competition for a part in its
production, and from that competition the car buyer will benefit.
Tire trouble and mechanical failure
will be the least of your worries. One company expects tires to be five
pounds lighter and stand 20 percent more wear than those of the prewar era.
And future cars may be engineered to give good service for decades.
In that case, following the lead of
the airlines, you'll simply replace each part as it wears out instead of
trading the old chariot in on a new one. Ford tri-motored all-metal planes
are still carrying passengers in South America after 12,000,000 miles of
service. "If we can build planes to last a lifetime, why not cars?"
designers are asking.
Push-button control will open doors
and windows either electrically or hydraulically. Some manufacturers will
try to convince you that windows should never be opened. They would prefer
to save weight and get a more streamlined effect through sealed windows set
flush with the body. Sooner or later you will get used to the idea, for air
conditioning is likely to become general instead of being a de luxe extra as
it is now. It will give you all the fresh air you want, and it will keep
you warm in winter and cool in summer. Heating will probably be of the
radiothermic type so that every part of the car is heated to a
predetermined, uniform, and thermostatically controlled degree.
Gone will be rumbles, rattles, and
squeaks. Body and frame will be a single unit, with fewer parts to rub
against one another. Soundproofing similar to that in airliners will
eliminate what noise remains.
A car that does its work with a
minimum of help from you will take most of the fatigue and nerve strain out
of motoring. That, plus hair-trigger control of speed and direction,
simplicity of operation, and unobstructed vision, will remove four chief
causes of accidents. Better distribution of weight, a low center of
gravity, and improved steering will make it almost impossible to turn over.
And as a further safe-guard, electronics suggests a number of ingenious
warning devices.
There may be some things for which
your future automobile may not be suited, such as towing a house trailer.
Some designers are not satisfied with just doing away with the frame. To
reduce weight further, they want to eliminate tubular bracing from the body,
relying for strength on a "stressed skin" alone. While this could be
entirely satisfactory, the car might not be capable of towing heavy loads.
The low road clearance of your new car
will stop you from driving across uneven fields or over deep-rutted country
roads. That is already true of many present models. But if fancy beckons
you beyond the point where the pavement ends, you will simply unfold your
wings and fly.
Fantastic? Recognizing that the
perfect compromise is not yet practical between car and plane, one leading
aircraft manufacturer is working on two separate and distinct versions of
this idea. First is the flyable automobile, a good, serviceable road
car, capable of taking off for short hope at low flying speeds. The
roadable airplane, on the other hand, is to be a good, serviceable plane
with a top speed of 150 miles an hour, able to land and roll on to its
destination at a road speed of about 30.
Your future car is being born amidst a
great clamor of claims and counterclaims, of wrangling over materials and
methods. Your car designer is much like a small boy who gets a peek at his
bulging Christmas stocking but must not touch it until Christmas morning.
War-born research has made a wealth of new methods and new materials
potentially available, but civilian experimenting can get no priorities.
Any abrupt change in the shape of cars
to come will most likely spring, not from the prewar automobile industry,
but from new challengers in the field. And new challengers there will be.
Henry J. Kaiser, now building a jeep adapted for plane transport, plans to
swing into production of civilian cars after the war. Andrew J. Higgins,
the New Orleans shipbuilder, has also been prospecting in the field. And at
least some of the big airplane manufacturers may enter the automobile
market. Whether they can scale their costs down to the levels of the
automobile public, however, is a thing to watch. Under wartime conditions,
this has been no consideration.
One thing the plane manufacturers
argue for is more horsepower per pound of engine weight. They point out
that today's aircraft engines deliver nearly one horsepower for every pound
of metal in the engine, whereas automobile engines still weigh six to eight
pounds per horsepower. On the other hand, automobile engines are built for
a little over a dollar per horsepower, while aircraft engines still cost $10
per horsepower.
Bridging the gap between the aircraft
and automotive industries are a few companies like the Bendix Aviation
Corporation that engineer and build equipment for both. The toughest
research jobs often fall to them.
In the sense of giving buyers a lot of
car for their money, the major automobile manufacturers have done a splendid
job. Mass production and interchangeability of parts have made that job
possible. Many parts that go into a Chevrolet are used also in Oldsmobiles,
Buicks, and Cadilliacs. As a result, General Motors has been able to raise
the quality of its finest cars. The same applies to Ford with his Fords,
Mercuries, and Lincolns, and to Chrysler's Dodges, Plymouths, and
Chryslers. Likewise, the Packard and Nash companies get results with mass
production. But despite its advantages, the system tends to "freeze"
models, and changes come slowly.
The aircraft industry is still highly
flexible. Design changes come rapidly and do not wait for a new model year;
they are frequently made while a plane is in actual production. Aircraft
engineers have learned to make their dies of lead or zinc which can be
remelted and redesigned as often as necessary. Whether this can be applied
to mass production has yet to be proved.
Actually auto manufacturers have never
been slow to try out the latest ideas in motorcar design - perhaps not in
the show-room, but certainly on the proving grounds.
Probably there is not a major
manufacturer who lacks the know-how to produce a rear-engine, teardrop car
of radical design.
Believing that Americans are going to
be economy-minded after the war, several makers are planning small,
inexpensive cars. Willys-Overland has long specialized in the light-car
field. Both Ford and General Motors have for years been building small cars
in England and on the Continent. These cars are scaled-down versions of
American models, weighing a bit over half as much as the models sold here.
They are not "midget" cars, but are roomy and comfortable inside. Their
tiny, four-cylinder engines give around 30 miles to the gallon of ordinary
gasoline. They will do 60 miles an hour and take plenty of punishment.
They are easy to park, take less garage space, and are simple to service and
keep clean.
But whoever builds the new cars - and
the established manufacturers, the airplane makers, and the new challengers
are all likely to have a hand - the shape and performance of the cars to
come depend ultimately upon what buyers want. If you are thinking about
shopping for a new car when production starts again, here are some questions
for you to ponder.
Would you pay more for a car if you
were assured it would cost less to run? Is high speed important; or would
you sacrifice some speed for the sake of safety and economy? Would it be
worth money to you never to have to shift gears? If you know air
conditioning would add to the cost of your car, would you still want it? Do
you want your car to be the last word in mechanical perfection; or would you
rather have it big and impressive looking? Do you want it to be all
automobile; or would you sacrifice some road performance for the sake of
being able to take off for a short flight? The designers wish they knew the
answers. Ultimately you yourself will decide.
