dial-ply tires in the 1950's. Their flexible sidewalls give better cornering
             and longer tread life. In the 1950s, Felix Wankel developed the rotary-combustion engine.
             Its two trilobate (three-sided) rotors revolve in housings shaped in a fat figure eight. The
             four sequences of the four-stroke cycle, which occur consecutively in a piston engine,
             occur simultaneously in a rotary engine, producing power in a continuous stream.
             Coachbuilt cars combined traditional craftsmanship with elements of mass production.
             Their bodies could be assembled by hand in large numbers by using standardized
             wooden components and mechanically pressed exterior metal panel work. By the end of
             the 1930's, all steel bodies had become virtually universal, and, by the end of the 1950's
             the economic advantages of mass-production meant that the craft of coachbuilding became
             limited to the restoration of vintage vehicles and the production of exclusive cars. The trim
             and upholstery of American cars became extravagant in the 1950's. Auto manufacturers'
             imaginations went berserk. Soaring tail fins and enormous taillights became standard
             ...