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Those Stable, Happy 1950's

February 23, 2009, 10:22 am

From an article about the Edsel:

total new car sales in the United States declined 31% from the 1957 to 1958 model years

Gosh, and we managed to get out of that without spending a trillion dollars.  Wow.

Postscript: Sometimes it is hard for fiction to top reality.  In vacation, the movie-makers tried to create the ugliest station wagon they could imagine.

truckster

They didn't even come close to topping reality

edsel

Tags: , , , ,
Category: Economics, History
  • YT

    Not related to station wagons:

    We've seen the gov't put retroactive stipulations on the TARP money. Well, it turns out some banks were FORCED to take it.

    http://www.twincities.com/ci_11722986?source=most_viewed

  • JohnB

    Aside from the 1958 recession, I'd guess that one reason sales fell was because Chevrolet redesigned the classic '57 and came up with the ugly '58.

  • ErikTheRed

    I don't know... that pea-green color of "The Family Truckster..."

  • Mike C.

    Just the other day I saw a photo of a Ford print ad for those, and the slogan was "The thrill starts with the grill !"

    Oh well - could have been worse. Could have been a Segway.

  • jupitercrash

    maybe there is something seriously wrong with me, but I am almost in love with that station wagon.... the wings!! I think it is so ugly if I had the chance I would be forced to drive it...

  • Uncle B

    Not the same recession - we had jobs, resources,family farms to flee to, strong population, good food, a mechanical and labor oriented world, and no competition from overseas, now we have cars from China to contend with, and the automotive sector is fleeing off-shore as fast as it can. SEE:
    “The astounding Chinese have epoched the great GM, of U.S.A. in producing an Electric/gas/plug-in car! They are driving them in the streets of China as we speak, they will be retailed in the U.S.A. by 2011, they will cost half the price of a "Volt" and they are "On Order" for Israel! GM, take a deep breath, your naughty parts have just been cut off by a Chinese high-tech competitor, and the "Volt" is still "Vapor-ware"!” See:http://www.cleantech.com/news/3983/chinas-byd-sells-first-mass-produced-plug-cars
    AND:
    China's New Hybrid Cars: Almost Affordable in China
    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/chinas_new_hybrid_electric_cars.php
    The jobs that have already gone off-shore are gone forever - Obama said so on T.V. today! The Ohio "Rust Belt" and a third world Detroit are the markers of the end of the "American Dream" and the end of the "Cheap oil era" is the coffin nail in the American Empire - The Post great republican depression (GRD) America will be a "Post Materialist" Meritocracy of primarily vegetarian survivalists of the coming economic holocaust. They will live in shanty towns, with well humanured and composted veggie patches, and scavage the ruins of once great cities like Detroit for survivalist items, pots, pans, old clothing and linens. They will have an educated approach to survival and possibly use resources like the internet to communicate ideas and methods for existing more comfortably on the ruins that once were a great Empire. It is all over, except for the running to the hills to avoid the civil unrest, military interventions, and debauchery to come.