1959 MODELS EVEN LONGER BOOKS Why Big Three of auto industry Pages that breathe don't want to make smaller cars .. Big Three of the US. automobile industry could learn something from _ the evolution of the dinosaurs, some of which grew: so big they were unable to cope with the change in their environ- ment and the competition of the small, more efficient mam- mals. To carry the ther, analogy fur- the changing environ- ment of the automobile is both economic and physical — the slump which has transformed the boom market of recent years and the increasing con- gestion on the highways. Of the 1958 models that have come off U.S. production lines last fall, some 750,000,000 unsold. Production curtailed and thous- American and Cana- dian auto workers are on short since are still has been 7 anas Ol time or Yet, in the same period, Am- erican Motors, the only one of the five U.S. auto manufactur- producing cars, has increased production and sales of its Rambler series. And small British, West German and other Euro- unemployed. ers now smaller sales of pean cars are soaring in both Canada and the USS. x $e 5 @ Obviously, only part of the Big Three’s declining sales can be attributed to worsening economic Part of the decline must be attributed conditions. to the fact that more and more buyers finding the Big Three’s popular series over- sized and over-priced and are are turning to the smaller, more economical and more conven- tional European cars. American manufacturers used to make major changes in design, often more appar- than real, every three Ford reduced the cycle to two years and now General reducing it ent years. Motors is further to one This is another reason buy- ‘ turning »to European cars or their American equiv- year. ‘ ers are alent, the Rambler American (basically the 1955 Rambler with minor changes), one of whose selling points is_ its “timeless styling.” It takes the buyers, who must go through finance companies, credit un- two for majority of between pay ions or banks, three their cars during which time they can contemplate no new purchase. So they prefer the and years. to longer-lived design of Euro- pean cars to the radical — and superficial — style changes of the Big ._Three’s low-priced models which make their cars “obsolete” even before they have finished paying for them. mt it 5 Despite the trend, the Big Three’s 1959 models will be longer, wider and more flam- boyant than even this year’s chrome-plated behemoths. The completely restyled 1958 Chevrolet is to be replaced by another completely re- styled series, four inches longer and four inches wider. The 1959 Ford will also be completely restyled, with two inches added to its length. The 1959 Plymouth will accentuate its “high styling” by exchanging its rear fins for flared spears and adding colored aluminum to its trim. But there will be only minor engineering changes in all three low-priced lines. Extension of the windshield into the roof section on some models will increase already oppressive insurance rates be- cause comprehensive coverage Chrysler’s experience. For some years after the war Chrysler continued to produce cars shorter than those of GM and Ford, and its sales dropped. In its attempt to re- gain its lost percentage of the market it completely re- styled its Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler lines to make them even longer and wider than those of its com- petitors, and its sales in- creased. But in the years that Chrys- ler was producing shorter cars its styling, engineering and performance were _ inferior. That, rather than the length cf its cars, reduced their popu- larity. American Motors, form- ed by a merger of Nash and Hudson, has increased its sales with its shorter Rambler models, which combine ad- vanced styling with good per- formance. Over-sized and becomes more essential and more costly. The 1959 models were on the designing boards early in 1957 when the boom still looked as bright as_ their chrome trim. But why haven’t the Big Three modified their designs to meet changed con- ditions? Both General Motors and Ford are reported to have pilot models of small cars powered by engines of some 100 h.p., which is adequate for modern needs and conditions. Why aren’t they pushing pro- duction? tt 5 @ xt Part of the answer, as the New York Times points out, is that the Big Three — Gen- eral Motors, Ford and Chrysler — “are firmly welded to the tenet that sharp styling and solid size are the hallmarks of success and that this year’s bad showing — the worst year since 1952 — reflects factors divorced from public taste.” In other words, they have convinced themselves that most people: want the over- powered monsters with which they are clogging the traffic lanes. They point, of course, to over-powered The other part of the ans- wer is that GM and Ford don’t want to produce smaller cars in Canada or the U.S. GM con- trols the Vauxhall in Brit- ain and the Opcl in West Ger- many. Ford has a complete line of small cars produced in its British plants as well as plants in other countries. Both find it more profitable to pro- duce their small cars in Brit- ain or West Germany for the highly competitive European market and to import them into Canada and the U.S. The result is unemployment and reduced annual incomes for Canadian and American auto workers — but a contin- uation of super-profits for GM and Ford. It’s the old capital- ist story of the export of capi- tal to the sources of maximum profit and the spread of un- employment at home. - When it comes down to it, GM and Ford don’t care ‘too much whether you like their costly big cars or not. You can always buy a small car (assuming you can still afford a car at all) and the chances are that through their inter- national cartels they will still get the profit—HAL GRIFFIN of anguish, heroism WENTY years is not a long time, that is if we state it historically, yet when a people experiences des¢ending misery and constricting starvation, enmeshed in the iron horrors of tyranny and_ oppression, then indeed, two decades is a very long time. Reapers of the Storm by Elizabeth Lyttleton and Herbert Sturz, is a story of such a people, existing in the modern hell of Europe, Franco Spain. The authors do not attempt to deal with all of Spain but rather a segment, cut out from the whole. Their exhibit is simply one poor and _ little known village, situated in the sun-baked and colorful south. La Farola is its name. They might have chosen any. community and for that matter any name, but La Far- ola it is, and here are intro- duced all the characters of our story, some from the poor, some from the very poor and some from the extremely poor. Not quite all the people in the village are that lowly; some exceptions may be noted. Don Primitovo, the village priest eats regularly. Don Luciano, the hereditary land owner, dis- sipates his wealth in the brothels of Malaga. Crispo, head of the Falange, has stolen his way to wealth and power. Dr. Sangre, a fascist, has re- moved his competitor and cclleague, the Republican doc- tor, by personally extracting his eyes in a Franco prison. Nice people? Let us also look at the other side. Towering above the others is Matias, the ex-republican mayor, a Gorky-like man, un- bowed and unbeaten. The authorities are afraid to go the limit with him. He is too popular and too respected. A fisherman and_ self-lettered, he seems to evolve from the sea and the earth and is’ so obviously part of them. Grandma Josifa, there is one for you. A widow of a pro- scribed red leader, she has been to prison many times. - As the best reaper in the fields, she was, is and until the end, will be anti-Franco and she acts and states it publically. Aunt Isobel, the illegitimate midwife. She is long-suffering but is a most necessary mem- ber of the community. Such are just a few of the charac- ters who stand out like granite obelisks, moulded by the storm. The village industry is fish- ing, but carried on under con- ditions which put to shame the noble calling anywhere else in the world. It is not too well July 11, 1958 — known that the Meditel™ with its low tides, encourage the pres¢ best fish, and the eq of the villagers 1s pul If fish are caught there is the business cuts for the parasite | taxes, the greasing % lice and: other fascist © Any non - complian®® mean the seizure of “tt the burning of nets: occurs, then the fishet their families quile starve to death. The A matics of reality 4% and precise. There are some scenes in the book 1s classical in scope. ye nation of the tyra? done by 30 people, © lots to determine W nce ° : + ante met mash F ate deliver the coup de a | this scene, we feel inf feer ff] :! dron of pent-up which revolutions ™ let no one be decé spirit of resistance volt is here in ov gathering strength. The final or8Y il’ Luciano in the brat unique. The conclus i) the rendering of the | account, a sum W vate rupts the old degen? i oh, what a party he ~ The brooding powell church is always pe such is the truism © uf! the villagers go * ate ritual but secretly — ogi curse this pillar of ve ! Its complicity with ‘he and its duplicity with are things quite read! t ed by even the lowlie® Ay the storm breaks, @ the it will go, down ; bastille brick. fe Much respect must go to the au under the most 4 ditions, journeye lived in the villas® inf teen months, simu? sf the authorities 20° qi) lest they be caught. igi out of the dead of ca people of the villabe | tell their stories. (oP Reapers of the Stor™ 108 able here at the Peres op Bookstore, 337 5) Bl der Street, price good reading for the the complacent oF enceless well-heel€ Fr those whe revere if who react with feeliné "f injustice and gre@ ons this story will be sat not only good but ES if: beautiful, tragic "tall people ask not a ; merely to be he 1 Y “LIONEL po" PACIFIC TR:BU atul? ivel d =