The universal car, 1912.

In 1927 Henry Ford introduced his partial payment plan for the automobile. This made the automobile even more accessible to middle class Americans. There was one car registered for every 5.3 people in the United States. Moreover, even some marginal middle class citizens found enough money to purchase an automobile instead of a home; these were the undesirables. The advertisement to the right demonstrates the appeal to the Jacksonian impulse in Americans. The universal car acknowledges the farmer's hard-earned dollars. Just as in the Grapes of Wrath the farmer depends wholeheartedly on the automobile for transport back and forth to the city. Doctors began to make housecalls. City factory workers felt liberated from the electric transit between home and work. People who lived in somewhat dense rural areas could drive to see neighbors who might live miles away. These possibilities were not only possible, but in many ways, very easy. The automobile was perceived as much more than a technology; it was a part of life.

The not so universal car, 1913.

E.C. Stokes, former governor of New Jersey says in 1921, "Next to the church there is no factor in American life that does so much for the morals of the public as does the automobile...Any device that brings the family together as a unit in their pursuit of pleasure is a promoter of good mroals and yields a beneficent influence that makes for the good of American civilization. If every family in the land possessed an automobile, family ties would be closer and many of the problems of social unrest would be happily resolved....The automobile is one the country's best ministers and best preachers." (Flink, 157-158). It was truly conceived to be a thing for every person in America. Sinclair Lewis in Babbitt declares that the automobile is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Reynold M. Wik calls the middle class people "grass roots America" and writes that they believed Henry Ford to be a greater emancipator than Abraham Lincoln. Ford became a national hero to the folk of America. The years 1920-1923 saw Ford-For-President clubs spring up.

The Leisure Class conspicuously consuming.

In the very early American automotive market only the very wealthy could afford to own a car. The upper class trend of cars continued throughout the age of Fordism and eventually overtook the Ford Automotive Company. However, it was a surprisingly brief period of a luxury item. It became available to middle class Americans almost immediately. The luxury-car manufacturers like Lozier (above), Packard, or Lincoln were mostly elitists themselves, business proprietors, executives, or professionals. Their cars costed about $2,775 or more compared to the Model T's nadir at about $200. The turn of the century elite in Detroit became the luxury car leaders by 1914. The Olds did not get off the ground as a luxury car because of insufficient capital for production, but others became fine, exclusive cars. James and William Packard's car was indeed a genteel form of conspicuous production. In 1903 it sold for $5,000. Their dominance of the industry did not last long and many exited the market between 1908 and 1910.

An automobile's evolution in the name of Progress.

Advertisements for automobiles included pictures of the company Presidents in many cases. The market was becoming personalized, which accounts for the unadultered fame Ford received. An ad could include a personal motto, promise, or biography. Most of the luxury car advertisements were aimed at upper class ideals. Progress, as demonstrated in this ad for Pierce-Arrow was an attempt to pluck the Horatio Alger heartstrings of the rising or risen middle-upper class. The mass-produced for the mass produced consumers appealed to the value of the dollar and the quality. The engine and parts are proclaimed to be of value. The workers who assembled and designed the car are the best of America. The folk of America may be common but their quality is sturdy. The heralded efficiency was not forgotten to advertisers either. The purchase of the automobile would assuredly be the most efficient way to spend money. Middle class cars always accented their sturdiness and strength. Many even made a fanfare of its common look. Like the all black Model T, the Hudson Closed Cars advertised "Quality without Extravagence." Much like the motels and restaurants of this time, automobiles had a air of quality without the pretentiousness of Europe. Every mass-produced item wanted to ensure that every Tom, Dick, and Harry felt socially comfortable using the product.