{"id":2760,"date":"2007-10-03T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-03T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2007\/10\/car-with-conscience\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:00:59","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:00:59","slug":"car-with-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2007\/10\/car-with-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"Car with a Conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1929<\/a><\/p>\n

Today we instinctively think “green” at the words “car with a conscience,” something like a Toyota Prius<\/a> hybrid or one of GM’s much-ballyhooed Flex Fuel<\/a> vehicles. In 1911, the car with a conscience was the Oakland<\/a>, a thoroughly conventional four-cylinder gasoline car, part of Billy Durant’s new General Motors empire. Oakland explained to its employees<\/a> that each car should have a “good, clean ‘Mechanical Conscience’,” and that they should bring it about by doing their very best at all times.<\/p>\n

Oakland introduced a six in 1913, along with a vee-shaped German Silver radiator<\/a>. In 1914<\/a>, it offered five models, the Six-Sixty<\/a> and Six-Forty-Eight<\/a>, along with three four cylinder cars, Models Forty-Three<\/a>, Thirty-Six<\/a> and Thirty-Five<\/a>. Interestingly, the sixes had left-hand drive<\/a> while the fours were right-hand driven<\/a>. By 1916, sales had risen to some 30,000, at prices from $795 to $1,585, between Buick<\/a> and the new Chevrolet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1918, to concentrate on quality, a single-model policy was adopted, with six-cylinder cars built on a 112-inch wheelbase. Significant changes were made in 1924<\/a>: a new L-head six<\/a>, automatic spark advance and DuPont’s new Duco nitrocellulose lacquer<\/a> in a shade called “True Blue.” The biggest news concerned four-wheel brakes, which the company demonstrated by having a new, four-wheel-brake car supply all the stopping<\/a> for itself plus a 1923 two-wheel-brake car in hilly San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Body styles included a touring car<\/a>, roadster<\/a>, coupe<\/a> and sedan<\/a>, priced from $1,095 to $1,645. Sales rose to nearly 57,000 by 1926 and stayed above 40,000 through 1927<\/a> and 1928, the year of the All American Six<\/a>.” In 1929<\/a>, however, Oakland sales sank by nearly half. The problem was Pontiac, Oakland’s lower-priced “companion car,” launched in 1926<\/a>. Pontiac, a six, had sold like gangbusters from the outset and moved nearly 200,000 cars in 1929. Management tried to give Oakland its own niche, with exclusive V8 power in 1930<\/a> and ’31, at a reduced price, just above Pontiac’s. It didn’t help; sales continued to slide.<\/p>\n

In 1930<\/a>, Pontiac, while suffering in the deepening depression, still cranked out three times as many cars as Oakland. For 1931<\/a>, Pontiac differed from Oakland only in wheelbase and engine. In 1932<\/a>, the remaining V8s were badged as Pontiacs and Oakland became a memory. By 1934<\/a>, Pontiac had a new straight eight that set the pattern for the next two decades, along with sixes that returned the following year. By 1937<\/a>, sales had risen above 200,000 and Oakland, the Car with a Conscience, had all but disappeared from everyone’s consciousness. Pontiac had become not only the most successful “companion make” but also the only one to kill off its parent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we instinctively think “green” at the words “car with a conscience,” something like a Toyota Prius hybrid or one of GM’s much-ballyhooed Flex Fuel vehicles. In 1911, the car with a conscience was the Oakland, a thoroughly conventional four-cylinder gasoline car, part of Billy Durant’s new General Motors empire. Oakland explained to its employees….<\/span>
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