The post-war economic boom in America resulted in an increase in the number of multi-car households. According to the 1959-60 edition of the Automobile Manufacturers Association’s publication titled “Automobile Facts and Figures,” that number grew 67 percent in the short span of five years. By the end of the 1950s, more than 18 percent of car-owning families and 13.5 percent of all families owned two or more cars. The idea of owning multiple cars was not just a product of the fifties, however. Prior to the war and the Great Depression, multi-car ownership had been a very hot topic during the roaring twenties.
The automobile was initially regarded as a luxury, but the introduction of large-scale production resulted in lower prices, which in turn made one automobile, and sometimes more than one, available to the average family. Surveys conducted by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1926 reported that 18 percent of car-owning families and 10 percent of all families owned multiple automobiles. That information caused ripples of excitement throughout the car industry, and many industry insiders commented on the record. In one interview, A. R. Clancy, president of the Oakland Motor Car Company, explained that four factors made up the automotive market: exports, replacements, natural growth or “virgin” market, and two-car families. He believed all had tremendous growth potential. In a separate interview, R. S. Cole, general sales manager of the Hupp Motor Car Corporation, said he believed the two-car family to be the largest factor due to the increasing desire for a car for every member of the family.
As director of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Walter P. Chrysler stated that the increase in the number of owners of two or more cars represented “an advance in American standards.” He added that, “Many of our newer communities have been constructed on the premise that every adult will have his own car. In some of our best suburbs it is essential that each home has a multiple-car garage. The two-car families are increasing.”
It was in the best interest of any that benefited from the manufacture and sale of automobiles to encourage families to purchase multiple cars, and the Detroit Free Press weighed in with a series of nine advertisements published “in the interest of the motor car builder, retailer and used car dealer.” They appeared from April through July of 1928, and reveal much about everyday life at that time. As seen below, they are also just really enjoyable pieces of propaganda:
