Every week, over the next 75 weeks, i will make a "Automobile flashback series" thread. Where, we will cover "that" year of the automobile. The good, the bad and the ugly. Interesting facts, outrageous opinions, and amazing feats will be posted.
Quote, originally posted by 4x4s »
As stated in previous episodes, don't be shy about asking questions. While we all are pasionate about our current cars, none of them would be what they are today without the constant innovation, improvement, development, and even outright blunders of the past. Ask questions, post up any info or photos you may find, and let's all learn something interesting. (And don't miss the previous episodes: 1920, 1921, and 1922, 1923, 1924 !)
Without any further ado, i present you the year 1925...
But first, lets hear that Jingle...
(VH1 Jingle)I love the 20's.... I love the 20's.... I love the 20's!!!!!(VH1 Jingle)
I have to head out right now, i'll get some more data up when i get back.
1925
In Waltham, Mass., inventor Francis Davis developed the first effective power steering system. His first really successful applications appeared on World War II military vehicles. The innovation didn't show up on production models of automobiles until 1951.
Fuel consumption for automobiles in the U.S. averaged 473 gallons of gasoline per year.
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Some Car Lounge mods/members look for everyone else’s faults because they have lost track of all their own. They see criticism where there is none, and their defense against recognizing their own self-criticism is to sermonize over the trivial habits of others. ....they think they have a responsibility to interfere in others' lives because only they know best.
Does anyone know how much it would cost to restore a 1925 Ford Model T? Similar to the one in that pic?
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Some Car Lounge mods/members look for everyone else’s faults because they have lost track of all their own. They see criticism where there is none, and their defense against recognizing their own self-criticism is to sermonize over the trivial habits of others. ....they think they have a responsibility to interfere in others' lives because only they know best.
"A system of business organization so grounded in credit naturally leads to speculation....and periodically throws the whole machinery of finance out of gear." -Forum and Century October, 1931
In 1925, The Hudson Motor Co. sold 269,474 Hudson-Essex cars ,a gain of more than 100% over 1924 sales bringing the company to 3rd place among American manufacturers behind only Ford and Chevrolet.
For 1925 Hudson and Essex motor cars were furnished with wooden spoked wheels as standard equipment, with both wire spokes or steel disk wheels available as options. Tire sizes dropped to 33”X6.0” from 33”X6.20 on the Hudsons while rubber sizes dropped to 30”X4.95”from 31”X5.25” on the Essex models.
As had been the case with previous years, a second series of cars was introduced in March with various improvements. One obvious change to the closed models was the redesign of the front door / windshield area. It was now constructed completely of steel resulting in much thinner pillars and the bottom of the windshield being curved to complement the shape of the cowl, a definite improvement in the looks of the vehicles.
All Hudson’s for the year rode on a 127 3/8” wheelbase and weighed anywhere from 3300 to 3700 lbs. depending on model. All were powered by the Super-Six engine rated at 29.4 taxable horsepower while actually developing 75 horsepower @ 2,450 rpm. Essex models had a 110 ½” wheel base and weighed in about 1000 lbs lighter. Essex engines were rated at 17.32 taxable horsepower with the actual horsepower figures unknown.
Hudson prices started this year ranging from $1500 for the 7 seat open (open)Phaeton to $1895 for the 7 passenger (closed)Sedan. Essex prices started this year at $900 for the (open)Touring Car and $895 for the (closed)Coach, both were 5 passenger cars. All prices dropped an additional 10 ~ 20% by years end.
1925 Hudson Super-Six Coach:
1925 Essex Touring Car (Export):
Quote, originally posted by Blonde Guy »
That's a minivan with a 1.3 L motor? Why can't we buy one of those here? Why are we so far behind China technologically?
Chromium Plating began to supplant Nickel plating in the American automotive industry and this would happen elsewhere over time. The first to use it exclusively was the ever-innovative Oldsmobile Division of GM. Chromium was more cost effective than Nickel and lasted alot longer.
The final Chalmers cars are delivered as Chrysler phases out Maxwell and Chalmers following the rollicking success of it's own Chrysler car (see 1924 for more details). 1925 was the year when the organization was actually formally reorganized into the modern Chrysler Corporation.
Long-established (since 1902) American semi-luxury make Apperson delivers it's final cars and closes up shop. This following a last-ditch merger with struggling Haynes in 1924, which led to the cessation of Haynes production late in that year (final deliveries were in 1925).
GM opened its first South American plant - in Brazil - to manufacture Chevrolets for local consumption. That same year, GM acquires the British Vauxhall company.
Makers of sporty cars in Czechoslovakia, Laurin & Klement, were absorbed into the larger Skoda firm after a series of factory fires and declining production sank their finances.
With John and Horace now dead for five years, their widows decide it's time to sell the company that bears their name - Dodge Brothers. They sell it to a New York bank for $146 Million, the largest ever public transaction up to that time. Not long after it will be bought by Walter P. Chrysler and folded into his new company.
The Surgeon General briefly suspended the use of lead in Gasoline in 1925 because studies showed that lead burned in car fuel might contribute to lead poisoning. A seven month study of the issue proved inconclusive and the matter was quietly dropped - lead returned until the early seventies, when the EPA would finally try and eliminate lead from automotive fuel in the USA.
Troubled 1980's GM chairman Roger Smith was born in 1925.
The famous DIVCO delivery truck, a staple of Americana into the 1980's, premiered in 1925.
German Carl Borgward produced his first three-wheeled vehicle - the "lighting truck," in 1925. He'd quickly come to dominate the company he'd previously worked for (Hansa) and eventually call it his own.
Pete DePaulo won the 1925 Indy 500 racing a Duesenberg. Fred and August were on hand to see it. Vying with DePaulo for the AAA driving title that year were the great Tommy Milton, Harry Hartz, Leon Duray, and Bob McDonogh.
The very first European Gran Prix, at Spa, was run in 1925, with Antonio Ascari winning in an Alfa-Romeo.
It's interesting to note that the Dodge brothers died within something like a year or less from each other. They were extremely close, and it is believed that the one literally couldn't live without the other.
Also of a related note, Chrysler Corporation, after acquiring Dodge Brothers from the New York bank, continued the "Dodge Brothers" name on the cars up until 1940, when they became simply Dodges.
Trivia question: What did the Dodge Brothers' cars logo consist of up until their acquisition by Chrysler? You may be surprised if you don't already know.
Please read my first published article in the February 2010 Chevy Enthusiast magazine (page 37; "Zora Arkus-Duntov And Five Easy Corvettes"). Link: http://www.amosautomotive.com/ Thanx!
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” - St. Thomas Aquinas
You're not that Ken Jennings guy on Jeopardy!, are you?
Please read my first published article in the February 2010 Chevy Enthusiast magazine (page 37; "Zora Arkus-Duntov And Five Easy Corvettes"). Link: http://www.amosautomotive.com/ Thanx!
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” - St. Thomas Aquinas
Like Abercrombie & Fitch or Laurel and Hardy, Rolls-Royce tumbles easily off the tongue, two names that go together. In fact, Charles S. Rolls, the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock, and Henry Royce, son of an impoverished miller, came from very different backgrounds, received very different educations and when they met, their careers were going in very different directions.
But in 1904, they joined forces to build and sell motor cars. And, just two years later, the partnership had produced the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a milestone car acclaimed by many at the time as the "best in the world."
The automaker they created built a legendary reputation over the years and one just as contradictory as the personalities of its founders. The Rolls-Royce automobile has been largely hand-made and always one of the most expensive cars on the market, an aristocratic, very British approach to the automobile.
But it is not the first automotive choice of the royal family or of top government officials. The Rolls-Royce is considered in Britain to be for the nouveau riche, for oil sheiks and for Americans. And in fact, America has always been the largest market for Rolls-Royce cars.
But the British public was horrified a few years ago when General Motors showed an interest in acquiring Rolls-Royce, then one of Britain.
Some Car Lounge mods/members look for everyone else’s faults because they have lost track of all their own. They see criticism where there is none, and their defense against recognizing their own self-criticism is to sermonize over the trivial habits of others. ....they think they have a responsibility to interfere in others' lives because only they know best.
Boy, my mind is a blank on this year. Oh, I just remember reading something a night or two ago about the Mexican auto industry that pertains. Ford Motor Company opened an assembly plant in Mexico City in 1925 for Model T assembly (in "CKD", or crated, knocked-down, form).
This was the beginning of the automobile industry in the nation of Mexico.
That's all I have for now. When is it gonna be 1930, anyway?
Please read my first published article in the February 2010 Chevy Enthusiast magazine (page 37; "Zora Arkus-Duntov And Five Easy Corvettes"). Link: http://www.amosautomotive.com/ Thanx!
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” - St. Thomas Aquinas
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1925 responded to the confusion created by about 250 named highways throughout the country, such as the Lincoln Highway or the National Old Trails Highway by creating the United States Highway System. The new system would use uniform numbers on standardized signs for inter-state highways as opposed to using names and colored bands on telephone poles. The new system would be administered by the states.
Modified by onebadbug at 9:43 PM 3-2-2005
Quote, originally posted by Blonde Guy »
That's a minivan with a 1.3 L motor? Why can't we buy one of those here? Why are we so far behind China technologically?
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