An economy car is an automobile that is designed for low cost operation. Typical economy cars are small, light weight, and inexpensive to buy.
History
Pre-war
At the birth of the automobile, in the 1890s and into the first decade of the twentieth century, the motorized vehicle was considered a replacement for the carriages of the rich, or simply a dangerous toy, that annoyed and inconvenienced the general public. The children's book Wind in the Willows, pokes fun at early privileged motorists. The first car to be marketed to the (well off but not rich) ordinary person and so the first 'economy car', was the 1901–1907 Oldsmobile Curved Dash - it was produced by the thousands. It was inspired by the buckboard type horse and buggy, (used like a small two seat pickup truck) popular in rural areas of the U.S. It had two seats, but was less versatile than the vehicle that inspired it. It was produced after a fire at the Oldsmobile plant, when the prototype was saved by a nightwatchman named Stebbins, and was the only product available to the company to produce, to get back on their feet.
Although cars were becoming more affordable before it was launched, the 1908–1927 Ford Model T is considered to be the first true economy car, because the very few previous vehicles at the bottom of the market were 'horseless carriages' rather than practical cars. The major manufacturers at the time had little interest in low-priced models. The first 'real' cars had featured the FR layout first used by the French car maker Panhard and so did the Model T.
Henry Ford declared at the launch of the vehicle -
"I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."
The Ford Model T was a large scale mass produced car, that very innovation, along with the attributes it required a simple, inexpensive design allowed it to be the first car to exemplify the ideals of the economy car. The complexity involved in making it a successful design was in its production and materials technology; particularly the use of new vanadium steel alloys. Model T production was the leading example of the Taylorism school of scientific management, (also known as Fordism), and its production techniques evolved at the Highland Park Ford Plant that opened in 1910, after it outgrew its Piquette Plant. The River Rouge Plant which opened in 1919, was the most technologically advanced in the world, raw materials entered at one end and finished cars emerged from the other. The innovation of the moving production line, was inspired by the 'dis-assembly' plants of the Chicago meat packing industry, reduced production time from twelve and a half hours, to just an hour and thirty-three minutes per car. Black was the only colour available because it was the only paint that would dry in the required production time. The continuous improvement of production methods, and economies of scale from larger and larger scale production, allowed Henry Ford to progressively lower the price of the Model T throughout its production run. It was far less expensive, smaller, and more austere than its hand-built pre-first world war contemporaries. The size of the Model T was arrived at, by making its track to the width of the ruts in the unsurfaced rural American roads of the time, ruts made by horse drawn vehicles. It was specifically designed with a large degree of axle articulation, and a high ground clearance, to deal with these conditions effectively. It had an under stressed 177 cu in (2.9 L) engine. It set the template for American vehicles being larger than comparable vehicles in other countries, which would later on have economy cars scaled to their narrower roads with smaller engines. The Ford Model T was voted Car of the Century at an awards gala on December 18 , 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1914 Ford was producing half a million Model Ts a year, with a sale price of less than US$500. This was more than the rest of the U.S. auto industry combined and ten times the total national car production of 1908, the year of the cars launch.
The Ford Model T was the first automobile produced in many countries at the same time. It was the first 'World Car', since they were being produced in Canada and in Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany, Argentina , France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico and Japan.
At the New York Motor Show in January 1915, William C. Durant the head of Chevrolet (and founder of GM), launched the Chevrolet Four-Ninety, a stripped down version of the Series-H, to compete with Henry Ford's Model T, and went into production in June. To aim directly at Ford, Durant said the new car would be priced at $490 (the source of its name), the same as the Model T touring. Its introductory price was $550, however, although it was reduced to $490 later when the electric starter and lights were made a $60 option. Henry Ford responded by reducing the Model T to $440. The subsequent decades led to economical cars that reflected the needs of their creators. The cycle car was an attempt in the period before 1922 in the post First World War austerity period, as a form of "four-wheeled motorcycle", with all the benefits of a motorcycle and side-car, in a more stable package. Crosley, a U.S. appliance manufacturer, would also be an early pioneer of very small cars.
In 1923 Chevrolet tried again with the Chevrolet Series M 'Copper-Cooled', air cooled car, designed by General Motors engineer at AC Delco Charles Kettering, (who invented the points/condenser ignition system that was in use until the 1980s), it was a rare failure for him, due to uneven cooling of the inline four cylinder engine.
The most development occurred in Europe. There was less emphasis on long-distance automobile travel, a need for vehicles that could navigate narrow streets and alleys in towns and cities (many were unchanged since medieval times), and the narrow and winding roads commonly found in the European countryside. Ettore Bugatti designed a small car for Peugeot. The 1911 Bebe Type 19. It had an 850 cc 4-cylinder engine. The Citroën Type A was the first car produced by Citroën from June 1919 to December 1921 in Paris. Citroën had been established to produce the double bevel gears that its logo resembles, but had ended the First World War with large production facilities, from the production of much needed artillery shells for the French army. Andre Citroen was a keen adopter of U.S. car manufacturing ideas and technology in the 1920s and 30s. He re-equipped his factory as a scaled down version of the Ford River Rouge Plant, that he had visited in Detroit Michigan. It was advertised as "Europe's first mass production car." The Type A reached a production number of 24,093 vehicles. The Opel 4 PS, Germany's first 'peoples car', popularly known as the Opel Laubfrosch (Opel Treefrog), was a small two seater car introduced by the then family owned auto maker Opel, early in 1924, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the little Torpedo Citroën 5 CV of 1922.
On an even smaller scale, European cars, such as the 747 cc Austin Seven, (which made cycle-cars obsolete overnight), would also start to catch on in Japan during the same time period, as a Datsun, leading to the start of their own automobile industry. It was also produced by BMW in Germany, Rosengart in France, and by Bantam in the U.S. It also displaced the motorcycle and sidecar combination that was popular in the 1920s. It spawned a whole industry of 'specials' builders. Swallow Sidecars switched to making cars based on Austin Seven chassis during the 1920s, then made their own complete cars in the 1930s as SS. With the advent of Nazi Germany the company changed its name: to Jaguar.
Also, in the 1920s, Ford (with the Model T in Manchester, England), General Motors, who took over Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in Britain), expanded into Europe. Most Ford and GM European cars, especially economy cars, were technologically conservative and all were rear wheel drive to a smaller European size, with improvements focused mainly on styling, (apart from the introduction of the 1935 monocoque Opel Olympia, and the Macpherson strut by Ford in the 1950s/60s), until the late 1970s/early 1980s.
In the late-1920s, General Motors finally overtook Ford, as the U.S. new car market doubled in size, and fragmented into niches on a wave of prosperity, with GM producing a range of cars to match. This included a Chevrolet economy car that was just an entry level model for the range of cars. It was only a small part of the marketing strategy - "A car for every purse and purpose" of GM head Alfred P. Sloan. Sloan introduced the annual model change, which moved cars from being utilitarian items to fashionable status symbols - that needed regular replacement "to keep up with the Joneses." It was funded by high interest/low regular payments consumer credit, as was the 1920s boom in other consumer durable products. It marked the beginning of mass market consumerism, that had been enabled by the efficiency of mass production and the moving production line. Until thi
Used semi trucks for sale
Used semi trucks: Call 800-280-0600 or Browse our used truck inventory, consisting of ... Cheap used trucks: Pickup trucks: Truck ratings: Comparing trucks: Cheapest light truck
Semi Trucks For Sale | Used Semi Trucks | Cheap Semi Trucks
We've got listings of quite a selection of commercial trucks. There are incredible prices on Semi Trucks for sale. Buy your Semi Trucks today!
Sleeper Semi Trucks For Sale | Used Sleeper Semi Trucks | Cheap ...
We've got listings of quite a selection of commercial trucks. There are incredible prices on Sleeper Semi Trucks for sale. Buy your Sleeper Semi Trucks today!
Used Trucks for Sale - Mack Dump truck, Peterbilt, Kenworth ...
New & Used Trucks & Trailers for Sale at TrucksJunction.com - Buying and Selling of Heavy duty, Medium duty, Light Duty and Semi trucks, peterbilt trucks, Dump Trucks, Mack Truck ...
Used Trucks for Sale - Used Semi Truck, 4x4 ford Pickup Trucks Sale ...
1 used trucks your source for used trucks for sale, used trailers for Sale of Heavy duty, medium duty, Pickup trucks, Semi trucks, Dump trucks, old chevy trucks, lifted trucks, 4x4 ...
Used Trucks For Sale, Semi Trucks, Buy, Sell & Find Best Cheap Used ...
Buy Truck, Sell Truck & Find New Truck & Used Trucks for sale from Trucks classifieds listings, Your source for thousands of Best used semi Trucks, cheap used Trucks, by the new ...
Kenworth Truck | Cheap used Kenworth trucks for sale by Kenworth truck ...
Buy sell new Kenworth truck and best cheap used Kenworth trucks with sleeper, semi Kenworth trucks, toy Kenworth trucks usa and find Kenworth trucks value by Kenworth truck dealer
Trucks For Sale | Trailers For Sale | Used Semi Trucks - Free General ...
Trucks For Sale | Trailers For Sale | Used Semi - Mack, Dump Truck, International, Kenworth, Volvo ... Trucks for sale | Motorcycles for Sale | Cheap limo for sale | Trucks for sale
Used Trucks, Semi Trucks, GMC Trucks, Big Diesel Trucks, Mack Dump ...
Used trucks for sale by Hundreds of used truck dealers, thousands of cheap trucks for sale, used Semi Pickup trucks for sale, GMC truck, Big diesel trucks, Toyota, Ford trucks for ...
Used Semi Trucks For Sale Classifieds® > Dump, Tow, Log Truck, Buses ...
Used Semi Trucks For Sale Survey Please tell us where you are looking ... Classifieds - Buy Cheap Used Semi, Dump, Tow, Log Trucks, Buses and Tractors For Sale | Search | List Events | ...