1942: Automobile Industry

Production of war materials became the sole job of former makers of automobiles and trucks during the calendar year of 1942. Shortly after Pearl Harbor production of civilian passenger cars and motor trucks was stopped completely for the first time in the history of industry. Passenger car production was discontinued Feb. 11, 1942, and civilian motor truck output ended on May 31.

Determined to throw its full strength into the winning of the war, former manufacturers of motor vehicles, trailers, bodies and parts at the end of December 1941, formed the Automotive Council for War Production as an instrument for a cooperative war effort — sharing facilities, pooling ideas and experience in improving production methods and working together in a common cause. A resolution adopted unanimously by the Council on Dec. 30, 1941, states, in part:

'We pledge, on behalf of the entire automotive industry, not only a cooperative spirit in the common task, but complete interchange of mass-production information, time-saving techniques, product improvements, tooling shortcuts and developments which the individual concerns have now effected or will bring about in doing their portions of the work....

'The Nation will not lack for one gun, one tank, one engine, that the capacity and ingenuity of this industry's producers can add to the forces of our nation and its friends on all the fighting fronts.'

War assignments of the automobile industry totaled nearly $14,000,000,000 on Nov. 1, 1942. Deliveries of war materials mounted at a steadily increasing rate during the year, in many instances months ahead of schedules. By October, 1942 monthly deliveries of war materials reached the annual rate of $6,325,000,000, more than 50 per cent above the civilian output of the highest previous year.

Classified into broad product groups, the automotive industry, during the twelve months following Pearl Harbor delivered $4,326,000,000 worth of war products.

Employment in the automobile industry reached levels higher than ever before. In September 1942 there were approximately 570,000 employees engaged in turning out munitions in motor vehicle and body plants, as compared with 514,360 in the peak month (June) of 1941.

Motor vehicle registrations on Dec. 31, 1942 were estimated at 32,000,000, a decline of about 5 per cent below the previous year. The effect of gasoline rationing on the number of motor vehicles in use is not reflected in these figures since the registrations remain on the record until the end of the registration year, varying from Dec. 31, 1942 to Mar. 31, 1943.

Confronted with gasoline shortages in certain areas and the need to conserve rubber tires and the nation's rolling stock of motor vehicles, the government ordered gasoline rationing for the country's motorists. Rationing for eastern coastal states went into effect May 15, 1942 and the remainder of the nation was placed under gasoline rationing on Dec. 1, 1942.

A recent survey of truck traffic into and out of 741 Michigan war plants indicated that 65 per cent of the incoming freight and 69 per cent of the outgoing freight was carried by motor trucks. These facts led to the conclusion by the Michigan State Highway Department that 'the truck was actually a part of the assembly line itself, extending from factory to factory, connecting sources of supply of semi-fabricated materials and even raw materials. The motor truck effects the linking together of a maze of inter-dependencies that is mass production.'

1941: Automobile Industry

Production of armaments for national defense and for prosecution of the war became the No. 1 job for makers of automobiles and trucks during the calendar year of 1941, with the cumulative total of orders, including those under lend-lease arrangements, reaching $4,056,455,000 by Oct. 1. At the year's end considerable expansion was imminent, particularly in contracts for armored tanks, on which several companies were already working.

Each of these groups represents a large number of defense items. Military vehicles, for example, include ambulances, artillery prime movers, assault boat carriers, buses, passenger cars of four different types, and at least 15 types of motor trucks for carrying personnel, field equipment, weapons and for other specialized purposes essential to modern military operations.

The production of these vehicles in volume was reached in 1941. By the year's end a substantial rate of delivery also was achieved in other, less familiar defense products. But in general 1941 was a year of transition from a peace-time to an armament industry, during which capacity was created, through strenuous preparatory work, for true mass production. The reward for this effort will be evident in 1942 when airplane engines, bombers, armored tanks and other equipment pour from assembly lines in quantities which could not have been produced in any other way, nor in any other country.

Following its normal practices, the industry in 1941 farmed out a large part of the work to subcontractors and suppliers, an analysis of 104 random defense contracts showing 45 per cent of the dollar value going to outside concerns. The industry anticipates that an increase of the volume and variety of defense orders may extend work to additional thousands of United States businesses, big and little, which normally function as an integrated part of the automotive industry.

Factory sales of passenger cars from United States plants during the calendar year totaled 3,760,000, representing a wholesale value of $2,615,000,000. Truck sales of 1,060,000 units made a total of 4,820,000 motor vehicles produced and sold, an increase of eight per cent over the previous year. Wholesale value of trucks was $1,012,000,000. Government curtailment of civilian cars and trucks became effective in August, partly offsetting the strong market of the first six months of the year.

Motor vehicle registration on Dec. 31, 1941, was estimated at 33,675,000, a new high mark, including a passenger car fleet of 28,850,000, of which 39 per cent were on farms and in villages under 2,500 population. Forty-six per cent of the 4,825,000 motor trucks registered at year's end were on farms and in villages.

Data were developed in 1941 showing that 95 per cent of all cars are used partly or entirely for such necessity driving as going to work, business trips and family shopping. Fifty-five per cent of total mileage and 77 per cent of round trips made in passenger cars are for this type of use, with the percentages especially high among the 4,144,136 farmer-owned cars. A survey found 2,320 United States cities dependent upon automobiles, having no local mass transportation facilities.

Average employment during 1941 of 525,000 was provided by motor vehicle, body and parts manufacturing, with weekly wage payrolls averaging $20,600,000. Large scale employment also resulted from activities of 41,790 cars and truck dealers; $7,452 repair shops, and 400,000 retail gasoline outlets. Total number of bus and truck drivers is estimated at 4,300,000 for 1941.

Motor vehicle user taxes totaling $2,100,000,000, including $1,325,000,000 in Federal, state and municipal gasoline taxes, also set a new record. It was 11 per cent of all taxes paid in the United States in 1941, Federal, state and local.

Special motor truck taxes accounted for $550,000,000 during the 12 months, another all-time record. Motor trucks, of which 86 per cent are privately owned, continued to expand in economic usefulness, transporting 57 per cent of the livestock to market. There were 1,047,084 trucks on farms. Motor bus registration reached 145,000, and school buses carried 3,975,000 children to and from school daily. See also AVIATION.

1940: Automobile Industry

During the calendar year 1940 the manufacturers of cars and trucks in the United States produced 4,680,000 motor vehicles to meet an increased demand based on needs of the civilian population, and at the same time undertook an extensive program of building armaments in connection with the national defense effort.

A partial list of defense items contracted during the latter months of the year for manufacture in motor vehicle factories includes military scout cars; trucks and tractors; armored tanks; aircraft engines and parts; shells, fuses and other ammunition components; field range cabinets; submarine engines and parts; anti-aircraft fire control apparatus; recruiting station trailers; compasses; drift meters and radio apparatus; machine guns; marine engines; half-track personnel carriers, and airplane control instruments.

Factory sales of peace-time products during the year included 3,805,000 passenger cars and 875,000 trucks, both substantially higher than the 1939 totals. These preliminary estimates embrace production in both the United States and Canada, and represent wholesale value of $2,479,000,000 for automobiles and of $674,500,000 for trucks, or a total wholesale value of $3,153,500,000.

The number of automobiles registered in the United States increased to 27,050,000 during the year, with truck registrations reaching 4,510,000, for a combined total of 31,560,000 vehicles, 69 per cent of the world's motor vehicles. The percentage of motor vehicles exported from the United States, which was 6 per cent of production in 1939, dropped to 5 per cent in 1940. The value of exported vehicles, parts and tires for the year was approximately $272,000,000.

Large increases also were noted in 1940 in motor vehicle user taxes, which totaled $1,797,000,000, or one-ninth of all Federal, state and local taxes collected in the nation. Gasoline taxes levied by local, state and Federal agencies accounted for $1,142,000,000, far exceeding any previous year's total. Special taxes on motor trucks totaled $460,000,000.

Linked directly with the increased taxes was increased use of motor vehicles, more than half of which is now serving the necessity purposes of daily life, such as going to and from work, marketing etc. During the year 3,742,000 children were transported to and from schools in buses, and the post office department operated its delivery routes over 1,392,657 miles of rural highways with cars and trucks.

Farm use of motor vehicles continued to expand, evidenced in 1940 by the transport of 53 per cent of all livestock to market by truck. More than 40 per cent of all the motor vehicles in the nation are registered on farms and in towns under 2,500 population, and 86 per cent of all trucks are privately owned, at least one-fourth of them by farmers.

Employment in automobile, body and parts factories reached 443,000 persons in 1940 and the weekly payroll in these plants averaged $15,500,000, a considerable increase over 1939. The industry's products were distributed through 41,494 car and truck dealers throughout the country.

1939: Automobile Industry

During the year 1939 automobile manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada produced 3,710,000 motor vehicles, of which 2,960,000 were passenger cars and 750,000 commercial vehicles. The wholesale value of cars was $1,815,485,000 and of trucks $486,071,000 making a total of $2,301,556,000. In addition the industry produced parts, accessories and tires for replacement purposes and also equipment for servicing motor vehicles to the value of $1,283,540,000. Thus the total valuation of automobile industry products for the year amounted to $3,585,096,000. Motor vehicles, parts and tires valued at $322,000,000, were exported from the United States and Canada during the year. They included 472,000 motor vehicles sold outside the United States (United States exports and the output of Canadian plants owned by United States firms), or 13 per cent of production.

At the end of the year there were 45,000,000 motor vehicles registered throughout the world, of which 30,710,000, consisting of 26,250,000 cars and 4,410,000 trucks (68 per cent of the total), were in the United States. Credited to motor vehicles in use was an estimated total of 250,000,000,000 miles of motor transportation, averaging 8,800 miles per year per car and 19,100 miles per year per truck. This required 20,787,000,000 gallons of gasoline, costing $4,050,000,000 (Federal, state and municipal gas taxes included). There are nearly 1,250,000 miles of surfaced roads in the United States, and on the principle of taxation for use, motor vehicle users paid $1,631,000,000 in special taxes, representing nearly 11 per cent of revenue from all sources for Federal, state and local governments. Of this sum $1,035,000,000 was levied for gasoline taxation alone. Thirty-seven states, however, diverted a total of $160,000,000 for other than highway purposes, among them general expenses, schools and relief.

There were approximately 5 persons in the United States for every passenger car, the ratio varying from 2.7 in California to 11.8 in Mississippi. In cities above 100,000 population, the average was 5.6 persons per passenger car, ranging from 3.2 (Oakland and Long Beach, Calif., and Miami, Fla.) to 10.4 (New York). Approximately two out of every three families in the United States owned a passenger automobile (85 per cent of farm families own cars), and about 60 per cent of passenger car use was for business purposes. Since automobiles were also widely used for recreation, it is estimated by the American Automobile Association that 52,500,000 people took motor vacations during the year, spending $5,000,000,000 for that purpose. Visitors to the national parks, traveling mainly by motor car, totaled 7,000,000. Motor cars now carry 91 per cent of travel in America. Due to special measures to increase safety in the operation of motor vehicles during the preceding four years, there was a reduction over that period in the accident fatality rate amounting to 37.3 per cent, equivalent to the saving of 29,000 lives and $1,000,000,000 in property damage.

As a whole, motor vehicles in use had an average aggregate power production exceeding 1,500,000,000 horsepower, or 33 times the aggregate energy production of all the central stations operated by utility companies. Passenger cars and trucks were sold through 40,600 dealers and serviced through 86,700 repair shops in all parts of the country, while fuel and lubricants were distributed through 380,000 outlets. In all, the industry generated employment in every state in the Union for a total of 6,380,000 persons, or one-seventh of all gainfully employed, distributed as follows: 713,000 in motor vehicle, parts and tire manufacturing plants and in petroleum refining; 1,103,000 in sales and servicing; 267,000 workers on Federal and state roads; 3,722,000 truck and bus drivers; 511,000 employees producing raw materials; and taxi-drivers, chauffeurs and insurance and finance company employees. Automobile, body and parts manufacturing plants employed directly nearly 380,000 persons at an average hourly rate of 93 cents for a 33-hour week. Weekly payrolls for the industry averaged $12,226,000. The industry was the largest purchaser of gasoline, rubber, steel, malleable iron, mohair, lubricating oil, plate glass, nickel and lead, among other commodities. Transportation of raw materials, parts and furnished products, gasoline and road building materials furnished 3,400,000 carloads of railroad freight.

With the introduction of 1940 model cars at the New York Automobile Show in October, the industry celebrated the 40th anniversary of that event. From the year 1900, when the first New York Automobile Show was held, until June 30, 1939, world production was 93,000,000 motor vehicles. Production in the United States and Canada was 78,000,000 units, or 84 per cent of the total, comprising 60,850,000 passenger cars and 11,150,000 trucks. In 1900 there were 8,000 cars in use and 4,102 were built during that year; commercial vehicle manufacture did not begin until 1904, when 700 business vehicles were produced. Innovations of design characteristic of 1939-40 models included: wider and lower bodies with easier entranceways; improved vision; improved safety glass with curved as well as flat surfaces and improved visual characteristics; gear-shift controls mounted on the steering column; hydraulic clutches; heaters mounted under the front seat with fresh-air intake and distribution to front and rear compartments; sealed-beam headlights; direction signals; sponge rubber seat pads and increased use of independent front wheel suspension.