Современное автомобилестроение. Сахарова Н.С. - 90 стр.

   During the 20s, four wheel brakes, electric lighting and starters all became
standard. Car bodies became roomier with more comfort and greater weather
protection. The major trend in car design was from open tourers to closed saloons and
coupes. The development by Weymann of a flexible wood frame saloon covered in
fabric cut the cost of making closed cars. The Americans pioneered longer lasting
low pressure balloon tyres and safety glass was introduced in 1926. Windscreen
wipers operated on suction pressure from the engine but had the disadvantage of
going slower as the engine struggled up hills. In engine technology one notable
advance was the use of aluminium for pistons which permitted much higher engine
speeds, a lesson learnt from wartime aero engines.
   The vintage age was one of transition. In America a revolution in motoring was
taking place. It became everyone’s ambition to own a car. The nine million cars on
America’s roads in 1920 had leapt to twenty-seven million by 1929. In that year
eighty-five percent of the world’s companies. It was not until the 1930s that the
motoring revolution began to gather speed in Europe.

   Exercise 1. Read the text and answer the question “What was the social role of the
First World War in the development of car industry?”

     17.6 Text 6
        The thirties

    The 1930s was not the dull depression era as generally painted. The world-wide
economic slump of 1929/1934 certainly hit the car industry hard, leaving many small
companies near bankruptcy and prey to takeovers by larger firms, and some
disappeared altogether. The period should more correctly be recalled as the time
when living costs fell substantially while wages increased. It really was cheaper to
live then, when the average annual family income was £420, and you could buy a
semi-detached house for £300/£400. Many more people could afford a car but the
new buyers wanted cars to be inexpensive, reliable, simple, offer some comfort and
be cheap to run. The new mass market for cars was the most significant motoring
trend in the Thirties.
    The ‘Big Six‘ companies – Austin, Morris, Ford, Vauxhall, Rootes, and Standard,
mass produced small family cars predominantly in the under – 12h.p. range. There
was an obsession to produce the first £100 car, first achieved by Morris in 1931 but
Ford’s 1935 model Y saloon was more widely accepted. These companies were ruled
by tycoon millionaire dictators. William Morris, Lord Nuffield from 1934, was seen
by the public as a great benefactor by giving £28 million of his personal fortune to
charitable causes. Yet in business he was he was a tyrant, quarrelsome and mean but
he built up a small company to become an empire. Herbert Austin had a more
friendly reputation and was widely respected. Other tycoons of the age were John
Black at Standard and Lord Rootes.
    During the Thirties huge strides were made in the technical development of the
car. Saloons replaced open tourers, tyres and electrical equipment improved and there
were synchronised gears. Most cars were made of pressed steel and in the late 30s
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