In The United States
- Passenger-car output dips to 3,185,881 units; trucks rise slightly to 416,659
- For the first time, all cars at the National Automobile show have gasoline engines
- Balloon tires and four-wheel brakes are standard on several makes
- Twin-filament headlight bulbs appear
- Baked-enamel paint is used on various low-priced automobiles
- William S. Knudsen is named Chevrolet's president
- The General Motor Proving Ground is completed at Milford, Michigan
- Ford Motor Co. stock now valued at nearly $1 billion
- New York City taxi rates cut to 10 cents per half-mile
- Reports show California has highest auto fatality rate in US
- Chicago court orders auto speeders to visit home for destitute and crippled children
- Collier's Magazine' reports that Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon wants to move the Washington Monument to create more parking spaces in downtown Washington
- Secretary of Commerce Hoover chairs the first National Conference on Street and Highway Safety, which calls for uniform traffic laws
- Average speed of Washington downtown commuters; pedestrians -5.9 kph; drivers-5.7 kph;
trolleys riders -6.5 kph. Only 20% commute by car
- In November, 16,833 cars cross the St. John's River into Florida; the beginning of winter motor
pilgrimages to Florida
- Los Angeles claims to have the worst traffic jams in the world
- 'Vogue Magazine' cover shows a car customized as a fashion accessory
- Walter P Chrysler produces the first car bearing his name
- Most American cars have four-wheel hydraulic brakes. Double filament headlights and Duco paints (controlled by GM) also appear on production cars
- New GM president Alfred Sloan's reorganization creates divisional autonomy at GM. He also expands
overseas, buying Vauxhall, in Great Britain.
- Ford, the largest corporate employer of blacks in US, with 5,000 black employees, hires its first black salaried employee, engineer James C. Price.
- Five workers die in October and 30 are hospitalized after breathing fumes in a plant making lead gas. 'The Nation' notes: 'They died in straight-jackets. They died stark mad, grinning and gritting their teeth
- Teapot Dome scandal breaks. Oil industrialists had bribed the Harding administration to lease oil reserves set aside for military emergencies
- Novelties. White Tower, the first hamburger chain opens. A&W root beer chain also constructs drive-ins, the first to hire 'tray girls' to deliver food to cars.
- Cleveland introduces synchronized traffic signals
- Pittsburgh hires the first traffic engineer, Burton Marsh
US Auto Manufacturers
- Model-T production slips to 1.75 million, yet Ford hangs on to half the market
- Ford builds its 10-millionth automobile, begins production of factory accessories
- Ford prices drop to $265 for the Runabout; $295 for the Touring. The average employed American earns $1293 annually
- Dodge ousts Buick from third place in output; Chevrolet volume drops sharply, but still retains second spot
- Dodge produces the first all-steel closed car
- Maxwell-Chalmers Corp. introduces the Chrysler, with four-wheel hydraulic brakes and a high-compression (4.7:1) engine
- The initial six-cylinder Chrysler 70 draws admiration at the 1924 show; features include a replaceable-cartridge oil filter and air cleaner, plus instruments grouped behind an oval glass panel
- Oakland cars are now sprayed with quick-drying Duco lacquer
- Packard introduces a 357.8 cid, L-head straight-eight, the first one to be truly mass-produced, and adopts four-wheel mechanical brakes
- A straight-eight engine is introduced by Hupmobile, and also Auburn, Duesenberg, Jordan, Rickenbacker, and others
- The last four-cylinder Buick are produced; only sixes will be offered until 1934. Four-wheel mechanical brakes are introduced
- Chandler adopts a 'traffic transmission' with constant-mesh gearing, a forerunner of the forthcoming synchromesh
- The Winton Company drops out of auto production, concentrates on diesel engines
- Ethyl Corporation is formed by GM and Standard Oil of New Jersey. Ethyl (leaded) anti-knock' gasoline goes on sale
And From Around the World
- Alexander Winton is the first American to participate in foreign auto competition; The Gordon Bennett Race, in France
- Renault vehicles open Sahara to automobile traffic
- Car-customizing is the rage among affluent Parisians
- Morris Minor (England) introduces a transfer machine to speed up assembly
- Henry Ford fires the manager of British Ford for allowing their non-unionized workers tea breaks and smoking rights
- E A Aldridge sets a land speed record of 232 kph on a French 'Route Nationale', the last time this record is set on a road
- Berlin adopts American-style traffic lights
- Soviet motor production begins with ten trucks
- Italy builds the first high speed toll road, the Piero Puricelli-de-signed Autostrada, from Milan to Como Italy. The toll roads have limited access, very few crossroads, and no median divider
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Balboa (prototype), Chrysler, Kleiber, Luxor,
S&S, Schuler, and
Traveler
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1924 Production figures
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Ford...........................................................1,720,795
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Chevrolet......................................................264,868
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Dodge..........................................................193,861
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Willys-Overland.............................................163,000
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Buick.............................................................60,411
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Hudson/Essex...............................................133,950
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Durant
makes...............................................111,000
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Studebaker...................................................105,387
Some
figures are estimates
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US Population.........................................114,109,000
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Avg. Income...........................................$1,1244/year
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DOW Avg............................................................121
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New Births.................................................2,913,000
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New Home Median Price)..................................$7,720
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New Car (Avg. Cost)..........................................$ 398
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Gas.............................................................21¢/gal.
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Milk (Qt)............................................................13¢
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Bread (Loaf).........................................................9¢
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Eggs...........................................................43¢/doz.
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Steak (lb)...........................................................41¢
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Stamp.................................................................2¢
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