Like I promised in my last post (read here), it’s time to discuss the revolution created by 1920s automobiles in the United States. Some parts of the revolution are obvious, others less so. But, overall, it might be fair to write that no single product except computers changed daily life more than automobiles did during the 20th century.

Of course, the 1920s was not the beginning of the automobile industry in the U.S. But it was the decade when ownership expanded and included a decent proportion of the population.

History of 1920s Automobiles

Prior to 1910 or so, most people believed automobiles had no real future for regular people. Observers considered them fun toys for the rich. Most had custom designs rather than the standard makes and models we would recognize today. However, in 1913, Henry Ford’s employees created a workable assembly line at his Highland Park plant. It became conceivable that ownership could expand to include a much larger group of people.

This began the auto bonanza that culminated in 1920s automobiles playing a dominant role in the U.S. economy and daily life. Ford had the early advantage because of his assembly line. By the end of the decade, about half of the automobiles on the road were Fords. This wouldn’t last forever, though.

1920s Automobiles Impact

One is, I hope, obvious. For the first time, people could travel, as an individual, where they wanted, when they wanted. (Assuming a road or passable terrain allowed it.) Mass transportation wasn’t new—railroads could move lots of people. But building railroads was expensive. They also required gathering people at stations before they could board and move from one location to another.

Automobiles cost far less. So much less that individuals could afford them. So, they offered the speed of rail travel plus the convenience of going directly to where the individual wanted, and using automobiles didn’t require adhering to someone else’s schedule. This is so mundane today that we take it for granted. But 1920s automobiles allowed people to expand their expectations in this respect. In America, we’ve never gone back.

If this were all that automobiles had done, they’d be significant. But it’s only the tip of things. Consider all the industries that flourished thanks to automobiles. Cars used rubber tires, so the demand for rubber soared. (Especially given that tires need replacing from time to time.) Likewise with other materials used in cars—glass for windshields, metal for the chassis, machine parts for engines, and replacements for those parts.

The proliferation of cars also spurred road construction, which created construction jobs. This, in turn, also stimulated industries that provided materials used in road construction. Autos also need gasoline, increasing the demand for that product, not to mention building filling stations and so forth. Cities needed traffic lights to regulate the flow of automobiles. All these industries became significant thanks to 1920s automobiles. The impact of autos rippled outward in countless ways.

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Ford—One Good Move, Sort Of

When the 1920s opened, Henry Ford was the titan of the industry. The speed and efficiency of his assembly line production methods meant that he could drop prices for automobiles within range of many people. But that didn’t happen by accident.

He’d realized one problem with the assembly line—it’s about the most boring work imaginable. Worker absenteeism, along with people quitting, were hurting business. Assembly line work might be boring and repetitive, but he still had to train new people constantly to replace those who quit, and this slowed things down. An assembly line moves as slow as its slowest component.

So, Ford announced a dramatic new policy in 1914: the $5 day, roughly double the pay he’d offered previously. This had the intended effect. Workers at Ford, knowing Ford offered far better pay than other car makers, tended to show up on time and stay at Ford. Efficiency soared, offsetting the higher cost of wages. (This pay raise probably also allowed a few Ford workers to buy Fords, too, although such was not the primary intent of the policy. It was more of a side bonus when this happened.)

We shouldn’t shower too much praise on Ford for his beneficence, however. To get the raise, workers had meet the requirements of Ford’s Socialization Organization. Employees had to tolerate home visits to judge them on the morality of their personal habits and level of Americanization.

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Ford—One Thing He Missed

What ended Ford’s dominance of the auto industry? Well, eventually, other automakers got assembly lines, too. But that wasn’t all. One thing Ford hadn’t realized, or at least not accounted for enough, was the power of planned obsolescence. His Model T cars were very standardized.

If the claims of his biographer are true, it was Alfred Sloan at General Motors who eventually came up with the tactic that would break Ford’s stranglehold. Sloan and GM introduced small upgrades to their automobiles with each year. After a few years had passed, automobile owners realized what they had bought a handful of years prior was now lacking compared to newer models. Some would buy a new car just to keep up.

Sloan and GM also developed another practice we’re familiar with now. This was to have different tiers of automobile for different income levels of buyers. Ford built the Model T. You could, supposedly, have any color you wanted, as long as it was black. But Sloan and GM offered levels of cars, with more features at each level, so that wealthy consumers could buy luxury cars but middle-class consumers could still get a standard or basic model.

1920s Automobiles Changed Culture, Too

One thing we shouldn’t overlook is the social impact of 1920s automobiles. Before automobiles, it was tougher for couples to go on dates. Meetings more often took place at someone’s home, with all the related inconveniences resulting from plentiful adult supervision. You couldn’t go to a drive-in movie without a car to drive in. But 1920s automobiles helped change this, too. Movies, going out to a restaurant or club, all these things that are standard features of dating today became more popular in the 1920s, and automobiles were a big reason why.

The Elephant in the Room

Yes, the flourishing of 1920s automobiles had one side effect that we can’t ignore. Autos burn fossil fuels. No one realized why this mattered in the 1920s, of course. (Although they did by the 1950s. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking no one saw the problem coming before the 1990s.) This is the main downside of the cultural revolution created by 1920s automobiles. Their dependence on oil cannot be discounted in an overall evaluation of their importance.

One “crime” people in the 1920s are guilty of, however, was using lead in gasoline. (Read my past post here about Thomas Midgely for more information about how this happened.) Getting the lead out of the gas took substantial time and also had major environmental ramifications.

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