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             provided instant entry into High Society. "As automobiles became larger, fancier, and more
             expensive, commercials for them became louder, livelier, and employed more visual tricks.
             Ads, like the Ford one being filmed below, for instance, were less about cars than the
             dream of an auto-centered suburban life.
             Using such techniques to great effect, the Big Three automakers pushed new
             automobiles sales to 65 billion dollars in 1955 alone, a sum that represented 20 percent of
             the gross national product. Sex and power, the ads implied: the modern American dream."
             Television was turning out to be a magic machine for selling products. No company spent
             more money on advertising or advertised its products better than GM. General Motors
             Corporation is the largest producer of automobiles in the world. Safety and practicality
             were not what the auto industry catered to, style was. "Safe cars appeal only to 'squares,'
             William Mitchell, GM's styling director, told a Fortune reporter in 1956, "and there ain't any
             squares no more." Brakes performed poorly in early cars. The drum brakes on all four
             wheels became standard in the 1920s. This was brake shoes that expand internally in a
             drum. When used repeatedly, these brakes 'fade' (when heat distorts the drums), leading
             to temporary loss of braking power.
             Discovered in the 1950s, the solution was to use disc brakes, in which brake pads
             press against a heat-conducting metal disc. Now, cars use drum brakes only on the rear
             wheels and disc brakes on the front or on all four wheels. Most cars have used front wheel
             drive since the late 1950's in Europe and the early 1970's in the United States. The first
             tires were made from solid rubber, but they were superseded by pneumatic (air-filled)
             tires, which provided a more comfortable ride. A major advance in tires came with the
             introduction of ra...