Factors behind the boom: the car Flashcards
What was the most important of the booming industries?
The motorcar (or automobile) industry
Who were the first cars build by?
Blacksmith and other skilled craftsmen
How long did the first cars take to build?
A long time AND they were very expensive
In 1900, how many cars were made?
4,000
Who revolutionised the car industry?
Henry Ford
When did Henry Ford establish the first moving production line?
In 1913.
A year before the start of WWI
Where did Henry Ford establish his first moving production line?
In Detroit, Michigan
In which part of the country is Michigan located?
The midwest (which became famed for car production)
How did Ford’s production line work?
Each worker had one or two small tasks to complete as the car went past him
What was the most famous Ford model?
The Model T. More
How many Model T. Mores were produced between 1908 and 1925?
15 million
By 1927, how quickly were the Model T. Mores coming off the production line?
One every ten seconds
In 1929, how many cars were made?
4.8 million
In 1925, how much did an average car costs?
$290
Was $290 affordable for the average American?
Yes. It was about three months’ wages for an American factory worker.
By the end of the 1920s, what had the car industry become?
America’s biggest industry (in terms of $ rather than number of people employed)
Approximately how many workers did the car industry employ directly?
Hundreds of thousands
Why did the car industry help create and sustain more jobs indirectly?
It kept workers in other industries employed
e.g. glass, leather, steel and rubber were all needed to build a car
What percentage of US glass production did cars use up during the 1920s?
75% (3/4)
What did the car industry also create?
A need for roads - and therefore a need for a huge army of labourers to build roads across the USA
In the 1920s, which was the biggest employer in the USA?
The road construction industry
How did car ownership compare with Britain by 1929?
Favourably.
In the USA, 1 in 5 Americans owned a car.
That number was 1 in 43 in Britain.
How many Russians owned a car in the 1920s?
1 in 7000
What did the car facilitate in terms of housing?
It made it possible to buy a house in the suburbs
Why did being able to buy a house in the suburbs matter for the economy?
It boosted the house-building industry
What smaller businesses did the car help stimulate?
- Advertising billboards (next to roads)
- Petrol stations
- Holiday resorts (within the US)
- Motels (motorway hotels)
Approximately how many people did the car industry directly employ?
500,000 (half a million)
