FYS The Fifties

There was a new fad that emerged in the 1950s and that fad was cars. Now that cars were being produced more frequently in America it became more affordable and more plausible for families to own cars. People were buying and using cars in new ways than they were in previous years. People could now go to the movies, to get food, and even go to church all without getting out of their car! Even the mail man could now come to deliver your mail without leaving his car due to the fact that mailboxes were starting to be conveniently located at the end of driveways at the same height as car windows. All of this made life more convenient for the people of the 1950s and increased the appeal of owning a car.

One of the best reasons for people getting cars, though, was in order to get to places faster than they previously could. Before cars people would walk or take public transportation everywhere which would take a lot longer than driving a car. Walking is obviously a slower pace of transportation because a person cannot walk as fast as a car can drive, and buses could be a hassle due to the fact that they make multiple stops, not to mention that sometimes you need to switch buses in the middle of your route to get to where you want to go. Cars took the inconvenience out of both walking and taking public transportation because people could now go straight to their destination at a faster pace without having to stop for other people along the way. Because of this people started to move out of crowded cities and into suburbs located just outside the city and building nice house to live in with their own lot to tend to. This shift in where people lived occurred mostly in white, working-class families who could afford to move out of the cities into their own homes. Most African-Americans could not afford a car or to move away from the city like the white folk could, but for people who could afford a car it was a way of life. Once they had owned a car, most people could not go without it again if they had to. Automobiles had incorporated themselves into the American way of life and were here to stay. It seemed that everyone who could have one had one, and if you could not afford one you were “out of the loop.” As one of Israel’s journalists living in Los Angeles put it (tongue-in-cheek), “The moment a baby sees the light of day in Los Angeles, a car is registered in his name in Detroit…” which illustrates what a big role cars started to play in our lives in the 50’s and how many people owned one, or more than one, because they were no longer a luxury item.

Besides the convenience factor, the cool factor also played a role in the boom of car owners in the 1950’s. Cars were considered to be very stylish in that time because they were unlike cars in previous decades. These cars were big and boxy, many with unique fins on either side of the tail of the car. The color pallet was also broader than before, incorporating a lot of pastels that were not heard of in earlier decades.

All of these factors come into play when looking at how rapidly the popularity of cars boomed in the 1950’s. No matter what reason families bought cars for, they quickly became a necessity for many families and have been ever since.

— Alyssa C.