AUTOS: The 1961 Models

What kind of car will the U.S. buyer be getting in 1961? It will be lower, more powerful and more gadget-packed, predicted Paul Richard, automotive development manager for E. I. du Pont de Nemours last week, but not any heavier or longer. Engines, says Richard, will be stepped up from the present average of 227 h.p. to 280 h.p., "and some cars will offer in the vicinity of 465 h.p."

Cars which now average 3,450 lbs. will use more lightweight aluminum and magnesium, will thus get no heavier. The car weight per horsepower, which fell from 33 Ibs. to 15 Ibs. between 1946 and 1957, will hit a low of 12 Ibs. in '61. Since this "is the range of the present Corvette and Thunderbird sports cars, the average car of 1961 may perform as well as today's sports car."

Richard flatly contradicted manufacturers' current claims of increasing gasoline economy, said that du Font's car fleet showed a "loss of fuel economy of over 10% in seven years." But for 1961 he predicted a turn to new, more economical fuel systems, e.g., dual four-barrel carburetors, aircraft-type pressure carburetors, fuel-injection systems.