Italian VersionThe American Automobile Timeline 1899-1970
The American Automobile 1899-1970
Multimedial Historical Collection
Page 19
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1954
In the month of May, the Annual Safety Economy Run takes place thru the States. Young boys are at the wheel.
President Dwight Eisenhower proposes a highway modernization program to be funded by state and federal governments.
GM Pike's Peak Engineering Test Headquarters are opened.
GM produces its 50 millionth US-made car (Nov. 23, 1954).
Cadillac becomes the first auto company to provide power steering and automatic windshield washers as standard equipment on all its vehicles.
The GM's Allison Division introduces the first fully automatic transmission for trucks and buses.
The Turbocruiser, the world's first gas turbine bus, is introduced by GM during this year.
In 1954 the Buick Skylark's price is lowered to $4,355 and in production to 836, making them extremely rare.
Clean and well proportioned lines on the 1954 Buicks are evident. There are panoramic wrapping windshields, longer quarter panels and smoother hoods without the huge bubble running down the center.
Interesting to note is that some Buick's models are identified by their rear wheel wells. Some being of the slit type while others are semi-circular.
1954 also marks the first year for all steel bodied Buick wagons.
Ford joins the competition with the Corvette with its introduction of the Thunderbird (Oct. 22), but hoped that people would be inspired by the "rocket-age" with its show car Atmos.
The medium-size automotive division of Ford, Edsel, is started.
Packard and Studebaker merge to form the Studebaker-Packard Corporation.
Clipper separates as a marque from Packard, introducing a line of five medium-priced cars.
Chrysler shows its first Turbine Car.
Hudson wins 17 of 37 NASCAR Grand National races in 1954.
The 1952, 1953 and 1954 racing successes of the Hudson Hornet are an incredible accomplishment, especially from a car that has some legitimate luxury credentials.
The lower center of gravity of the Hornet, created by the "step-down design", is both functional and stylish. The car does not only handle well, at least in the Fifties idiom, at the same time, it treats its six passengers to a sumptuous ride.
Unfortunately, its "unibody" design is expensive to update, so it suffers against its ouwn planned obsolescencecaused by the Big Three. Hudson's competitors, using separate body-on-frame designs, could change the look of their models on a yearly basis without expensive chassis alterations, but the Hudson Hornet design is essentially locked-in until a re-engineering came due. So, despite its racing successes, Hudson's sales begin to languish.
American Motors is the Company created by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motorcar Company in 1954.
Kaiser swallows up Frazer and Willys.
Packard merges with Studebaker, and Nash goes with Hudson.
The plan of the Chairman of Nash, George Mason, is to eventually merge Stude-Packard with Nash-Hudson. Then, taking the various strengths of each partner and creating a cohesive larger Company on the model of Chrysler or Ford, Mason intends to share subassemblies, engines and other parts across all divisions, in the effort to become an all-market player. It will never works out.
Studebaker-Packard will decide to go on alone and ultimately will get out of business, in the mid-sixties.
Nash and Hudson sales, for their part, drops through the floor as sales from the American Motors Rambler Division begin a march toward profitability.
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1954Achievement-USA.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:10:45 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # # #
Achievement USA (1954)
Sponsor: General Motors Corporation
Shows celebration around production of General Motors' 50 millionth automobile. Includes parade through streets of Flint, Michigan with many interesting floats.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
1954chevy-ad-frag585754.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:46 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # #
Producer: GM
Chevrolet TV ad fragment.
1954ChevySalesCommmercialMusical.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:15:15 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # # #
Sponsor: GM
Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Rare record of song-and-dance at a Chevrolet sales convention, designed to motivate the sales force.
1954concept-cars-autoshow5.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:31 Audio/Visual: silent, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: unknown
Concept cars filmed at an auto show.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954dodge-ad584854.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:30 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Chrysler
Dodge TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954dodge-tv-ad-frag558454.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:42 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Chrysler
Dodge TV ad. Fragment.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954Ford-AD0482941300.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:19 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Company
Ford TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954Ford-AD0482941301.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:29 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Company
Ford TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954Ford-AD0482941302.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:27 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Company
Ford TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954Ford-AD0482941304.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:30 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Company
Ford TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954Ford-AD0482941305.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:59 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Company
Ford TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954GiveYselfGreenLight.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:22:17 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # # #
Give Yourself the Green Light! (1954)
Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Advocacy film produced to garner public support for the creation of the Interstate Highway System. Many interesting epoca cars sequences.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
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Click HERE to watch Part 3 of this movie on YouTube
1954How-to-Go-Places.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:10:40 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # # #
How to Go Places (1954)
Sponsor: GM
Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Actress Gale Storm and family take a road trip in their Chevrolet and review the do's and don'ts of auto traveling.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
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1954LincolnCapriInCar-MexRace.mpg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:03:11 Audio/Visual: silent, C Quality: # #
Amateur film. A epoca-car race in Mexico. 1954 Lincoln Capri in-car video.
1954Lincoln-THeatre-ad441.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:50 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford Motor Co.
Lincoln theatrical ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954NavajoCanyonCountry.MPEG
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:12:04 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # #
Navajo Canyon Country (1954)
Producer: Avalon Dagget
Narrated by Tom McKee
Navajo Country travelogue. Interesting 1954 highways and traffic scenes.
1954OurHomeTownDoylestownPa.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:15:35 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # # #
Our Home Town: Doylestown, Pa (1954)
Producer: Shad E. Graham
Production Company: Shad E. Graham Productions.
Advertising film presenting landmarks, businesses and people of a Philadelphia suburb. Some interesting epoca cars sequences.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
1954OurHomeTownLevittownPa.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:21:46 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # # #
Our Home Town: Levittown, Pa (1954)
Producer: Shad E. Graham
Production Company: Shad E. Graham Productions.
Advertising film presenting landmarks, businesses and people of a Philadelphia suburb.
Some interesting epoca cars sequences.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
1954packard-cv01.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:10 Audio/Visual: silent, C Quality: # # #
Producer: Romano-Archives
A 1954 Packard. Actual footage.
1954PtLomaAndThePark.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:38 Audio/Visual: silent, C Quality: # # #
Amateur film about a holiday trip in San Diego, Ca, on a nice pink Buick.
1954ShowHemTheRoad-TOT.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:26:05 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # # #
Show 'Em the Road (1954)
Producers and Directors: Sid Davis and Arthur L. Swerdloff.
Sponsor: General Petroleum Corporation
Producer: Davis (Sid) Productions
Southern California teenagers join the Mobilgas "Safety and Economy" competition, driving from the Los Angeles area to the Inland Empire, the desert, to Las Vegas, Nevada and Hoover Dam, then back home again.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 3 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 4 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 5 of this movie on YouTube
1954TowardEmotionalMaturity.mpg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:10:14 Audio/Visual: Sound, B&W Quality: # # # #
Toward Emotinal Maturity (1954)
Producer: Knickerbocker Productions
A teenage girl reflects on her emotional growth, remembering episodes in which her love, fear, anger were not always under control, and decides not to go "park" with her boyfriend.
1954TheFastAndTheFurious.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 01:45:58 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # # #
The Fast and the Furious (1954)
Director: John Ireland, Edward Sampson
Producer: Roger Corman
Production Company: Palo Alto Productions
If you like cool mid-1950s race cars, this film is a must-see. The story is a little sketchy, the leading lady is interesting, and the leading man is creepy. A love affair ensues, but I'll never know what she sees in this guy. They seem to be driving on the same stretch of California road (over and over again) for most of the film. The cars are fast, the story is slow.
1954Third-Avenue-Elevated.mpg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:10:32 Audio/Visual: sound, C Quality: # # # # #
" 3rd AVE: EL " (1954)
Sponsor: N/A
Producer: Davidson (Carson)
Impressionistic picture of the Third Avenue Elevated Railway in Manhattan, New York City, before it was demolished. Some interesting epoca cars sequences.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
1954TomorrowsDrivers.mpeg
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:10:58 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # # #
Tomorrow's Drivers (1954)
Sponsor: General Motors Corporation
This film portrays a unique driver's education program in the Phoenix, Arizona schools, where, it seems, driver's ed is considered to be the most important subject of all. Driver's ed starts in kindergarten, where the usual kiddie games are altered to teach traffic safety rules. In first grade, the kids play with toy cars, following a dizzying array of rules, and later in elementary school they are each assigned their own personal pedal car, which they drive on miniature streets with miniature traffic signs and real traffic. Violaters of rules are given tickets by kid traffic cops, and repeat offenders get their licenses suspeded. All this is supposed to create more responsible teen drivers when the kids finally reach 16. I guess it doesn't work too well, because they also show us in detail an "attitude class" juvenile traffic offenders must attend. This is a curious film––one wonders how long this program actually lasted. I don't need to tell you the film is narrated by Jimmy Stewart––you can't miss that voice.
Records what one city is doing to solve the problem of tomorrow's (and today's) drivers, narrated by James Stewart.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
1954vette-col555-b.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:51 Audio/Visual: silent, C Quality: # # #
Producer: Romano-Archives
A 1954 Chevrolet Corvette. Actual footage.
1954vette248.mov
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:10 Audio/Visual: silent, C Quality: # # #
Producer: Romano-Archives
A 1954 Chevrolet Corvette. Actual footage.
19543salesforconfidence.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:14:09 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # #
Three Sales For Confidence (1954)
Producer: Chrysler
1954 Chrysler filmstrip.
1954PackardColorFilmSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:14:09 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # # #
The Watchdogs (1954)
Producer: Packard
Packard theatrrical ad in color.
Click HERE to watch Part 1 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 2 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 3 of this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch Part 4 of this movie on YouTube
1954NewKaiserTVadSC-ad441.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:59 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Kaiser
New Kaiser early TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954KaiserManhattanTVadSC1.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:24 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Kaiser
Kaiser TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954BuickSpecialTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:02:57 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: GM
Buick Special TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954EarlyCorvetteTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:32 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: GM
Chevrolet Corvette TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954WillisTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:00:58 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Willis
Willis TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954LincolnTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:51 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford
Lincoln TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954HudsonDonaldDuckTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:30 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Ford
Hudson Cartoon TV ad with Donald Duck!
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954DeSotoAutomOnSandTVadSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:30 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Chrysler
DeSoto TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
1954DeSotoTVadGrouchoSC.mp4
Available on DVD
Run Time: 00:01:00 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W Quality: # # #
Producer: Chrysler
DeSoto TV ad.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
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The American Automobile Timeline 1899-1970 - Multimedial Historical Collection (Over 1200 files)
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