1960 - 1970 Ford Escort

     PEW PEW PEW PEW, VROOOOMMM, the sound of tires screeching and burning rubber fills the air as a bright blue car, the spy car, rounds a corner chasing after an enemy. This is a scene out of a classic Bollywood movie "Munnah Bhai", in which the Ford Escort was an imported spy car for a wealthy character in the movie. This should be an interesting post...
     The origin of the car is in the US, although it was predominantly sold in Europe from 1968 to 2002. The picture above shows the car, and as you can see, it's license plate is from a European country. The car was developed in the USA, but was first unveiled in Brussel Motor's Show in Britain in the year 1968.
     This car not only served the purpose of getting around for the people, but it also was the leading Ford car of the time. It received not much fame in the USA for it's little size, but was amazing popular as a foreign car due to it's small, compact, zippy size. This car also came in different models, some were supercharged for rally racing and others had and elevated trunk to be used as a family car with extra space.

 The car is valuable to us as it's different models served multiple purposes. It show's the want of people of the time. For example, the car's small size made it popular, from this we can assume that cars were becoming increasingly popular and traffic was increasing in Europe. This shows the recovery from war and increase in consumer goods. Now, the car was also used for racing, this shows how there was a development of racing as a professional thing. FYI, the biggest success for this car was in the World Cup Rally in 1970, in which driver Hannu Mikkola won with his Ford Escort Mark I.

     As this car served a useful purpose in it's time, the Ford Escort still has some limitations to what it can tell us about it. The car does not at all express the immense amount of women right movements, gay rights, and civil right movements. Probably biggest of all, it doesn't at all portray what was happening in the Cold War, specifically, the Cuban Missile Crisis.
      This was a great car when it was used in racing and such, served a great purpose for families, and etc. Wait a minute, this isn't a eulogy, it's a blog of what's happenings with this ride. It's not dead, not at all, it's still used today in street racing... Check out this ride ->

Sources:
Munnah Bhai Bollywood Movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(Europe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(North_America)

1950 - 1960 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner

   

      Talk about looking sharp, do you see that thing? Now THAT is a nice sleek looking design. A prediction I have is that the car's design would be later used for the Ford Muscle cars. I dunno...we'll find out in a few more blog posts... 

      The car was made first in 1957 as a sports model car. It's design is based off the previous design of one of their cars, the Crown Victoria Skyliner. The difference is a more powerful engine, a new color (the one in the picture above), and a new complex mechanism that allows the top to slide back into it's trunk. Chrome plated design that the car has was reletivley new and now considered a style, I guess Ford wanted people to go "oooo aaaaa" over shiny stuff (don't we all?).
       Cars tend to have a pretty straight forward purpose, to get people around, quickly. This does just that, it was a full sized car made for going around fast. It really doesn't serve any other purpose.
        There's nothing really BIG going on the world right now, even if there was, a car would not be a good example that portrays whatever even is happening.



Sources:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1957-1959-ford-fairlane-skyliner.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Fairlane_500_Skyliner
Uncle who works for Ford

1940 - 1950 Ford Coupe

 

   In 1941, Ford developed this new kind of car, the Coupe. Due to the unpredictability surrounding WWII, the production for the vehicle was stopped and later resumed in 1946. The car was a new idea in itself. It was constantly being developed and changed as designers experimented with different parts, such as the front fenders, tires, hoods, etc. Due to the constant changing the car never really reached a final stage.
     As the car changed across the decade of it's production, so did it's purpose. The earlier models were made to as a mid range priced car that would suit people to just get around in style. It later changed to a sports car. The designers at this point, which would be 1945, started to modify the engine rather than focusing only on the aesthetics of the ride. 
     The car beautifully expresses the thoughts of the people at Ford when WWII era came around. The Ford Coupe's production  came to a halt. It later resumed when Ford decided it would be OK. This car isn't the best expression of the decades and people thoughts of the time. Henry Ford was quoted saying that he didn't care about the war and did not want to profit from it. As for other industrial companies that did sign military contracts, they ended up benefiting greatly. The itself progressed as competition to other cars companies that did sign on and profited. 
     This piece is just a car, so it doesn't show if Americans struggled or flourished in the decade. It doesn't reflect the economy either. 
      
     

1930 - 1940 Ford Convertible

   

  During this time period, Ford had a BIG boom in the cars it was making. it made a total of 37 cars according to Wikipedia. But, today, I'm only taking a gander at one in particular, the 1937 Ford Convertible. 

     Made first in 1937, the Ford convertible had newer models that were made in 1938 and 1939. At this time, the recession of 1937 greatly impacted it's body and shape. Originally designed to have a more flat body and stronger engine with more horsepower, the car soon developed into a rounder body car. This was definitely different from preceding car designs that had small flat hoods. The car also had a much wider body frame like it's trucks. The ideas and innovations put into the car were definitely original and Ford seemed to be trying something new with it's new line of cars. 

     Car's by this time were an old thing and many peopled owned a ride to get around in. But what Ford is known for is to create cars for a purpose. The Model T was the first of it's cars and made cheap for the common man and it's trucks were used in farming and agriculture. But, surprisingly, this car helps to a much lesser importance in terms of purpose. The idea for the car was fresh, but besides that, there is nothing more. I believe this may have been so because this car served as an experiment in the market. 

     The new design tells the viewer that America was moving foreword in consumer products and automotive, trying and experimenting many different things. The wider body was made for it's V8 engine that gave a high horsepower of 60 to 80. It's wide body made it popular for hot-rodding, which is the practice of replacing the engine of a car with a more powerful one. 

    The car doesn't illustrate the recession of that time period due to the Great Depression. It lacks in telling us this due to it only being a car rather than a figure of a statistic. It doesn't illustrate the problems it may have, such as safety.

     

1920 - 1930 The Ford Model A Pickup Truck

     Today, we see many Ford pickup trucks on the road, specifically the Ford F-150. Well, this pickup truck was the ride that started it all. Built in 1926, this would be the Ford Motor Company’s next big success after the Model T.

The Ford Model A Pickup Truck basically adapted the cockpit design of the Model T, but extended the rear end to create an area to hold items. At this time, agriculture and other production work to produce consumer goods had increased. For this reason, the pickup truck sold well to people in the consumer good production industry. This was often referred to as a “tractor” by farmers and was essential to crop and grow agriculture.

What made this pickup truck new was, well, it was the first pickup truck. It provided room in the cockpit for a full family and had space left over in the back to place goods and items in. As agriculture boomed, so did the production of the car. This vehicle was created to sell to the people as a new and innovative way to travel and do work at the same time. This influenced other car companies such as Chrysler to start developing pickup trucks also.

This new Ford vehicle represented the American toughness as the market for consumer goods boomed. The pickup truck contributed to the advancements of technology such as radio’s and vacuums. Agriculture was valuable, and it could never have been done so efficiently without the For Model A Pickup truck. This truck stood out of the rest as it was the first of it’s kind and came from a company that had made it’s name number 1 in the automotive industry.

Although this is a great ride to get around in the 1920’s, it doesn't tell us the contributions it made to the cause of the Great Depression due to the dust bowl. Many voices when it first came out of the factory supported the truck and wanted to use it. However, this car doesn't tell us that on it’s own. This was the mainstream car of the time due to agricultural developments.  

1910 - 1920 The Model A

We're all familiar with the Ford Motor Company. Famously known for it's powerful muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang and the trucks such as Ford F-150. But, we're going to take it back a little, like, around 100 years back to 1913, when designer Henry Ford produced the Ford car, the Ford Model A.

Henry Ford had a reason for designing this car, he said "I will build a car for the great multitude." Simply put, he invented the automotive technology in a way that the common person would be able to afford it. Until his time, inventors such as Rudolf Diesel and Nikolai Tesla had already patented different kinds of motors. Henry Ford based his ideas off of these past works to create the 4 flat L cylinder engine for his Model A. The motor required a hand crank in substitution to modern times car batteries. The car’s transmission was automatic and had 3 gears. The body design was a 4 person cabin. Depending on what model you buyed, the car would cost 385$ to 1400$. Higher end cars would have better interior finishing and attracting features such as heating and rear view mirrors . The car also included 4 wheel drum brakes (not as effective as our modern disk brakes mind you). This was a great affordable car for the common people.

    In Henry Ford's time, the way to get around was by horse carriages. By developing the Motor of the Model A, the car could give the user 40 horsepower and a top speed of 65 mph. However, this invention did have it’s limitations. The car was not very popular due to other cars it was competing with it. To combat this, Ford featured the car in different forms of media to attract the attention of the people (Fast and Furious 2000 maybe?).  

The Model A was the successor to the Model T. By this time, Ford had made a name for itself with the Model T, making people expect a lot from the Model A. At this time, cars had become more popular and development of roads were occurring.

This piece does have it’s limitations. The car and what people can piece together can’t tell us what it was like in the cold, or the warmth, and how effective it was in case of an accident. This car was very mainstream for the time. It started off with slower sales but quickly picked up through effective media inputs. To this day, the Model A is driven by people and modified to make Hot rods. It has been featured most recently in UK Top Gear.  

1900 - 1910 The Model T

One of Ford’s most popular and well known cars, the Model T was the car that allowed Ford to dominate the automotive market for nearly a decade. In that time, 1908, much history surrounds the production of the car including labor laws and the invention of the moving assembly line. It was the car that was sold so cheap that it wasn't a luxury item, people that worked in the assembly lines could actually afford it. Before the Model T, Henry Ford prototyped other vehicles starting in 1903. He experimented with different designs and features. These prototyped started from the Model A (1903 model) to the Model S. He didn't make a car for each letter, he skipped quite a few.

The car would forever keep its name in the automotive world. Coined by the Tin Lizzie, the Model T would end up beating all other cars in competition with it due to its affordable price, durability, and speed. The car featured a 4 inline cylinder engine that produced 20 horsepower, translating to about 45 mph. It’s fuel economy was in the range of 13 - 21 mpg. The Model T did not have modern batteries to start the engine, so it required the quick rotating of a crank in front of the engine. This converts mechanical energy to electrical energy to start the engine.

As I said before, there is much history that surrounds this car. It’s manufacturing plants provided work to many unskilled workers thanks to the concept of moving assembly lines. This was basically assembly lines that moved the parts to the worker, and that worker would screw the same screw, tighten the same bolt, or any other work 5000 times a day. The workers were paid handsomely and could themselves afford the Model T. This revolutionized the market as the common man’s car. Just so you get an idea of how popular the Model T was, by 1910, more than half the cars in the US were Model T’s. Ford set up Moel T dealerships in virtually every city in the country. And, the Model T was the first car to be internationally produced. 

This car as I stated before, was definitely mainstream. Although, this car can’t tell us much about the economy of the time, we do know alot of people bought it, but it’s production is close to WWI times. It doesn’t seem to take much impact in sale in terms of safety. Many magazines and articles deem this car to be one of the most dangerous to the no rear view mirrors and the glass shards that can cut up occupants in the case of an accident.