Contrary and Crosswise

David in San Antonio

David in San Antonio

Well-known member
https://youtu.be/Twgnuqm8hro?si=G0fqrG5TMJ85S_B0

Disguised as a branded technical progress presentation, Chevrolet discourages potential Ford buyers by warning of transverse springs being “crosswise and contrary” to the direction of travel.

This is very clever ridiculing of the competition by alliterative sloganeering. In the larger context, the advertising industry demonstrated how to use movies to sway opinions without their motives being questioned by the audience. WW2 was coming and these mass-influence tools would be sharpened and made in greater volume than ever, for better and for much, much worse.

If this interests you, look up the “Why We Fight” series of films ordered by the US government and made by the top Hollywood producers and directors.

Or maybe this doesn’t belong on Ford Barn. Well, what do you expect from a person who’s crosswise and contrary?
 
There is an age old saying about how there is no one easier to propagandise than a person who believes they're too smart to fall for it. IMO, we are all being told propaganda most of the time and ALWAYS during an election campaign but the party I like wouldn't do that, would they.
 
Yes, it was a subtle dig at Ford for continuing to use transverse springs. But can you blame them? Let’s be honest, even by the mid-30’s when that film was made, Ford already had a bit of a history of clinging to a design when it was way past it’s prime. It continued well after that time, as well. I guess to know for sure if it’s propaganda, you would need to go on an old Chevy forum and see if every other post is asking questions about solving “death wobble” like on here. We stopped using transverse springs and continue to use springs parallel to the frame for a reason. All that having been said, I’m sure Chevy was much quieter about using transverse springs in Corvettes. :)

Just playing devil’s advocate here. We love our cars the way they are. Even if there were a few flaws.
 
The classic Franklin cars had very good suspension and could win cross country races when run on bad roads because they could be driven faster on such rough roads.
 
The truth of the matter is that Chevrolets of the 1930s had a much smoother ride than Fords because they had semi-independent suspensions at all 4 wheels. However, some years of Chevrolets in the 1930s had horribly unreliable knee-action shocks in their front suspensions. In the overall picture, Fords of the 1930s have superior body construction and styling.
 
My 27 Chevy was not put together as well as the Model T of the same year and not nearly as good as a Model A. I cannot remember the details, it was 67 years ago. But I was impressed by the quality of engineering in the Model A when I bought one a few years later.

Plus, the Chevrolet changed each year. The Model A was basically the same for 4 years. And the Ford cars were easier to modify. They even had Chevrolet heads put on them. The Fords were more popular because lots of parts were available and more parts were available because they were popular. Lots of companies were making after market parts for the Model T, and when the A came out they jumped onto that train.
 
jetrod said:
If Chevy was better, and they sold more cars, why don't we see many of them today??? Henry Wins!!
Click to expand...

Because Chevys were tin nailed on wood body structure. When the wood rotted all you had to restore was a pile of rusty sheet metal.
 
Found a bunch of 1940-1941 era newspapers in the attic. This was 10 years after the era when Chevrolet outsold Ford. In the classified ads Model A's were going for 25 - 40 dollars more than Chevs of the same year. My Dad bought his first car, a '29 Chev sedan, in 1941 for $75. He wanted a Model A but didn't have enough money to buy one on his 65 cents an hour job. When he joined the Army in 1943 his Chev went into a shed. After returning from the war he sold it for the same $75, cars being in short supply then.
 
Think of how cheap stuff would be without paying for advertising.

Ford in 2021 it spent 3.1 billion dollars (about $1,600 per car). That's the National Advertising budget. On top of that there is a regional ad fee that dealer associations charge for radio and TV brand ads and then the dealer themselves advertise under their name in newspapers, radio and TV. That adds up to about $700 per car.

I worked on some "Truth About Trucks" videos for Ford. We compared Ford-Chevy-Dodge-Toyota and Nissan. They were clear that we were to show Ford a being better but not bad mouthing the competition to the point they could sue by inferring their product was unsafe or junk.
 
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