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Chrysler Corp. is the only other motormaker with a full line to bring to Manhattan for yearly judgment. But what it brought last week was unique (TIME, Jan. 8). The pack's curiosity in Mowgli, the wolf-suckled youth, was apathetic compared to the public's interest in the new Airflow Chryslers and De Sotos. These were not the traditional automobile with a streamlined body attached but a completely new design. Instead of a frame and body the whole steel-trussed body is the frame. The steering wheel is almost perpendicular to the floor. The driver steers as he would a motorboat, with his hands instead of his arms. But, most startling of all, the job is as close to perfect streamlining as is practical without mounting the engine in the rear.
Dodge & Plymouth. Chrysler put knee-action wheels on its Dodge and Plymouth but left them off De Sotos and Chryslers, claiming that the new design eliminated any necessity for them. Larger, more powerful but conservatively streamlined, Dodge and Plymouth are Chrysler's hedge against an adverse verdict on its modern models. Seven out of ten automobiles sold in the U. S. last year were low-priced models. Neither GM nor Chrysler nor Ford dared deviate much from the traditional in their models for the masses.
Only newcomer in the low-priced field at the Show was the Nash-made Lafayette, a six named for a high-priced line Nash dropped about ten years ago. Continental Motors abandoned its six but still has its four in the hotly competitive low-priced class. Willys exhibited its chubby, beetle-like four practically unchanged.
Cars for the Classes. If cars for the masses are bread & butter to the Industry, cars for the classes represent the cream of the machine age. Polished instruments of beauty and precision, the high-priced models always draw the most pop-eyed crowds. Pierce-Arrow last year exhibited a special fully streamlined model called "Silver Arrow." This year nearly all Pierce-Arrows are Silver Arrows—in varying degrees. In its line of eights and two lines of twelves are models for every taste in streamlining, as well as strictly conventional models for the strictly conventional.
Packard clung to its distinctive lines around the front end but employed conservative streamlining elsewhere.
Lincoln, Henry Ford's sole representation at the Show, featured better ventilation on its line of V-12's. Franklin, only air-cooled make in the U. S., slyly poked fun at the hullabaloo over knee-action wheels by exhibiting an Airman equipped with the customary soft full elliptical springs. Big blocks under the right front and the left rear wheels left the Airman standing perfectly level. Stutz, still hammering on Safety as its chief selling point, showed its improved single and dual valve lines.
Middle-Class Cars. The bulk of independent motor companies compete in the rangy medium-priced field. The low-priced field thawed first under last year's warm sun of Recovery. In 1934, motormen expect softer ground and easier going for the medium-priced models.
Graham introduced a supercharger with its de luxe eights—first medium-priced model so equipped. Effecting economy at high speeds, the supercharger raises the point of fastest acceleration from around 25 m.p.h. to 45 m.p.h.