American culture has always been Opportunistic
in nature, through the pursuit of happiness incorporated into the American
Dream to the Upward Mobility movement and even expanding to home and car
ownership. America was founded and populated by those who were first interested
in the new land based on the opportunity promised and an improved life for one’s
family. “From the very beginning, then, a notion that one’s children might have
a better life has been a core component of the American Dream”[1]. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the people who inhabit the land
continued on the journey seeking greater opportunities.
“By 1900 the automobile was
clearly emerging as an entrepreneurial opportunity”[2]. By 1903, with the designs and manufacturing of cars, the opportunities available
to the American people reached greater pinnacles. Having a car allowed people
to travel and visit those in other areas that they would not normally have
access to. Those living in the city and rural areas had faster access to one
another and were able to merge the two cultures by utilizing the opportunity
that having a vehicle provided. Automobiles also allowed for more efficient
health care, enabling “physicians to make their rounds more efficiently” [3] and provided the means for families who would have to travel for days to
seek medical assistance an opportunity at better health and probability for overcoming
illness. Economically, owning a car helped farmers to expand their territory of
sales and benefit financially from the ease of access created by cars.
When Henry Ford became successful
at manufacturing cars, in the American way, he immediately saw an opportunity
to improve and advance on the product and continued to do so through numerous
designs. Through the design of the Model T, Henry Ford allowed the opportunities
to be available widely across the nation.
Henry Ford
In the 1920s Walter Chrysler
continued the opportunistic approach to life by searching for ways to make his
cars for luxurious. Chrysler identified and implemented improvements that led
to an advanced design and a high compression engine[4]. Chrysler made “the first modern car made not for rural farmers, but for
the now predominant urban America”[5]. Chrysler was innovative and opportunistic and those characteristics
made him legendary.
The quest for opportunity to
advance the designs extended into the 1930s with the development of extreme
luxury cars such as the Speedster and the Cadillac V-16. Cars became glamorous
and offered custom bodywork[6].
Image of a Cadillac V-16
Americans may have taken to cars “passionately
– and perhaps as irrationally – as they did to houses”[7], but the passion was one for the opportunities they had envisioned
becoming a reality. Knowing that cars were initially for the wealthy and to
promote the opportunity to own a vehicle, the cost of cars became less
expensive over time providing evidence that the core of owning a car was based
on the opportunity it allowed, not the materialism from owning one. The
American culture was founded on opportunistic dreams and became a nation that
continuously sought opportunities. This trait is part of what allows the
American culture to be so distinct and prominent.
For additional references, please view a video regarding
cars in the 1920s using the link below:
[1]
Cullen, Jim. The
American Dream. New York: Oxford, 2003. Page 23
[2]Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life.
North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 54
[3]
Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American
Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 26
[4]
Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American
Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 64
[5]
Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American
Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 65
[6]
Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American
Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009.Page 103
[7]Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. New York:
Oxford, 2003. Page 150
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