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To some home-grown critics. Detroit's designers have been fooling the U.S. public for years. They argue that the rapid development of the foreign small-car market (estimated 1957 sales: 225,000) is a vote against ever-longer, ever-fancier Detroit designs. Actually, say the U.S. automen, it is a simple matter of economics. Though a small car costs almost as much to build as a big car, companies would produce them if the market ever demanded it. But the U.S. public still wants its cars big—like its country. "People want big things.'' says Walker. "They want big clocks, for instance. If people have a choice between a big clock and a small clock that both cost a couple of dollars, they'll get the big one every time." As for chrome, Ford has offered a stripped-down series for years, but fancier, more expensive series outsell it by a wide margin.
The Dollar Grin. Abroad, the U.S. penchant for size and splash brings on snide cracks that the American car is the symbol of American culture: a "dollar grin for all the world." But the real experts—Europe's stylists—are quick to defend the U.S. car. Italy's great Pinin Farina, who designed the beautiful Lancia Aurelia and Alfa Romeo, calls American cars the most comfortable in the world. For the U.S., with its enormous distances and comparatively cheap gasoline, the big. powerful U.S. cars are well designed. The driver who hopes to slip into 50-m.p.h. expressway traffic needs plenty of power just as he needs a big engine to run all the wonderful gadgets that make driving easier: air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, power seat, power windows. Instead of sneering. Europe's automen are starting to window-shop Detroit for exciting ideas. Such U.S. innovations as wrap-around windshields, twin headlights, bright colors, even a few tentative fins are now appearing on foreign cars.
Beauty & Function. Ford Styling Boss Walker and his colleagues know that they have gone off-the mark at times. The U.S. public is quick to tell them so, as Walker himself knows from disappointing sales of his heavily gewgawed 1957 Mercury. But he insists thaj/-the industry is on the right track—both in style and function.
In the future, the U.S. car will probably not grow any longer, nor will it get much lower. But it will be wider and roomier, with better visibility and more safety features. It will also undoubtedly become more functional. The station wagon first started out as a farm carryall, then became a tricked-up luxury for the country-club set. But today, by wedding the sedan to the wagon, Detroit's stylists have given it a new function; they have turned out a handsome auto that can be used either to haul tomatoes to market or top hats to the opera. As a result, in ten years station wagons jumped from 2% to 13% of the total market (and 20% of Ford's), and are still climbing. To Ford's George Walker, there is a double lesson in these statistics. Says he: "Without function, beauty is defeated, but without beauty, function itself is soon defeated."