Business & Finance: Fashions of 1938

Alfred Reeves is a neat, bustling little man of some 60 years who holds the distinction of having been the first U. S. automobile editor (on the New York Mail in 1902). Then he became sales-manager of the long-extinct U. S. Motor Co. and in 1913 took over the management of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, then called the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. Thus occupied ever since, he has seen the A. M. A. grow into one of the nation's most potent trade groups. One of Al Reeves's jobs as A. M. A. vice president and general manager is running the annual U. S. Automobile Show. Last week Impresario Reeves was up to his fenders in work preparing Manhattan's hulking Grand Central Palace for the opening this week of the 38th show.

From the viewpoint of the public, the annual Automobile Shows—opened by the Manhattan show (staged by the manufacturers) and followed immediately by 44 shows in other cities (staged by dealers)—are eagerly anticipated pageants where the nation's most progressive industry displays new and wonderful improvements in U. S. mankind's most basic luxury. Improvements in 1938 automobiles are. however, neither new nor wonderful. Cars look virtually the same as last year, save for a few refinements of streamlining. Only one newcomer, a midget car named Bantam, makes its debut. Mechanical advances are meagre.

From the viewpoint of automobile makers & sellers, the Automobile Show is considered the best means of "kicking-off the industry to a good start." To the industry, this year's kick-off looks good because the slight changes in car appearance mean that few expensive changes in plant and tooling were necessary to launch the new models. The lack of newcomers and new gadgets means that dealers can continue in their accustomed sales routines. And prices, already raised some 5% in August, are generally being raised some 5% more with the show. Having ridden a rough road in 1937 because of unprecedented Labor troubles, U. S. automobile men last week were noticeably free from the gloom of Wall Street (see p. 63).

Kickoff. At this week's show and its affiliated displays about town, beside the usual clutter of gadgets, accessories and stripped-down engines and chassis, the prospective buyer will have a choice of 22 passenger cars, 20 of them U. S.-made, two foreign.* The U. S. list:

Bantam. The sole newcomer to U. S. automobile ranks is this week to be seen at Manhattan's Hotel Roosevelt, having been denied space in Grand Central Palace because American Bantam Car Co. has not been in production a year. Practically the same size, but better streamlined and twice as powerful as the ill-fated American Austin (now defunct, though Austin Motor Co. Ltd. still prospers in Europe), the Bantam is being made in the old Austin plant at Butler, Pa. under the leadership of a onetime Austin salesman named Roy Samuel Evans who has had a genuine Horatio Alger career (see p. 63). Made up as coupé, roadster or truck, the Bantam "60" is 120 in. overall, has four cylinders, is claimed to get 60 mi. per gal. of gas, 60,000 mi. per set of tires, 60 m.p.h. speed. Production begins this month, is scheduled for 10,000 for the coming year, 60% trucks, 40% passenger models.