Magic Motors
Reviewed by Jim Sweeney
Sixty years ago, America was a leader in manufacturing luxury automobiles. It may be hard to believe today, when Cadillac makes one desperate attempt after another to build a car baby boomers will buy, and Chrysler has had a long, hard climb up from near-oblivion. But the proof is in Magic Motors 1930 by Brooks Brierley (Howell Press, $34.95 hardcover).
At the time of the Depression, Brierley says, American cars were in demand all over the world. Except in countries where their availability was restricted by import quotas or high custom duties, "they were the most popular selling cars in all price classes, everywhere," he adds. Packard in the 1930s had the same cachet as Mercedes-Benz in the 1990s.
This book is a sequel to one Brierley did on luxury cars of 1927-34. Despite the title, this book covers the period of 1930-42. It's not intended as a comprehensive history of each marque, but covers the highlights of the era for each company and includes a portfolio of period photos. The author also provides a state-by-state chart of registrations for each marque, to demonstrate "the Darwinian effects of the Depression and the consolidation trends of the luxury automobile market." This book assumes a certain amount of knowledge about the topic. If you know nothing about automobiles, you might get a little lost.
In a way, the book is also an elegy. As Brierley notes, "these magnificent motor cars were going out of style." The Depression killed off all the independent specialty luxury car manufacturers. While the auto industry had started to rally as early as 1933, the luxury makers weren't part of that recovery.
Some of the companies that were part of a larger company, such as Buick or Cadillac, survive today. Many of the other big names of that era--Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Peerless, Marmon, and others--are now just legends. Brierley points out that Peerless survived in another line of business; it got out of cars and got into brewing beer (Carling).
Some of the changes in the industry that Brierley discusses will sound familiar to anyone who reads news stories about today's automobile industry. Some manufacturers had started out as luxury car makers but had changed direction (Marmon, Peerless); many other makers started out in the moderate-priced category but were moving upmarket.
One of the most interesting cars in the book is the Chrysler Airflow, introduced in 1934. It had radically advanced engineering for its age. Unfortunately it also had radically advanced design and the public just didn't take a shine to it.
The Airflow was ahead of its time. Brierley notes its "bulbous cab forward design." That's exactly the term Chrysler uses for its current cars: "cab forward design." And the Airflow is featured in a current ad from Mopar, Chrysler's parts division, that says, in part, "We encourage our designers to take a few chances with our vehicles now and then."
The period publicity photos are an interesting lesson in marketing in the 1930s. Airports were popular spots to photograph cars, evoking the image of new technology and speed. The photos get some brief explanation and commentary from the author.
One photo shows a 1932 Auburn 12-cylinder preparing to set a speed record (89 mph) over a 500-mile run at Muroc Dry Lake in California. Brierley describes the simple preparations for this event. There are some men at a wooden table set up in the desert, the car, a pile of tires, drums of gasoline, cans of oil.
The book also throws in automotive trivia. Of Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s LeBaron-bodied roadster, built in 1932, the author says that, "a patron of the arts, Chrysler later traded the car for a painting."
One of the most striking cars is Edward Worden's Pierce Silver Arrow, a 12-cylinder model from the early 1930s. With a small passenger compartment, sharply sloping rear and very low rear fenders, the car appears to be all hood.
Washington appears in a photo of FDR's 1933 inauguration, as the inaugural parade turns off Pennsylvania Avenue onto 15th Street. FDR is riding in a Pierce-Arrow; Brierley says the auto maker had a contract with the federal government to provide cars, for $1 a year, in return for the cars being used in high-profile public situations. (But other companies started giving cars to the government, and not all the cars in the photo are Pierce-Arrows.)
This article originally appeared in Trans-Lux volume 15, number 2, September 1997.
Where to Find the Book
You can find Magic Motors in local bookstores or purchase it on-line at a discount from Amazon.com Books.
ADSW offers this book in association with Amazon.com Books and receives a small commission on sales referred to them.
Comments
Created Tuesday, September 30, 1997; Modified Saturday, September 20, 2003.
