1930s
Auto historians and senior citizens who have personal recollections of the era do not look kindly on the 1930s. It was a decade of immense suffering.
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But at least from an automotive viewpoint, there were highlights as well.
Granted, those were the days of the Great Depression and the subsequent recession. The auto industry took its lumps along with every other segment of the U.S. economy.
On the plus side, however, the 1930s brought 'knee action,' the turret top, 'Fluid Drive' and the automatic transmission.
Product? The Mercury debuted; so did the Lincoln-Zephyr and the Chrysler and DeSoto Airflow.
And in what we now call human resources, General Motors and Chrysler Corp. signed contracts with the UAW.
It was a difficult decade; a decade of valleys with few peaks. But it was by no means a washout.
