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Whltby Free Press, Wednesday, August 23, 199. Pae 15 by JiI Mclntosh- Car Production halted by war Fifty years ago we saw the. end of a war that directly influenced almost everyone in the. world. While ail manufacturers feit it, non. was more affected than thie automotive industry. Tiie war effort began witii Northi American carmakers during the 1040a. Mlitary conflicta require almnost unthinkable amounts of weapons and hardware and thie automakers were the. logical choie. for two reasons. For one thing, they were already. set up for mass production in huge plants that could meet the. demand. For another, ail supplies of steel and rubber w.re being diverted for war production. There would b. nothing ta build cars with. . On Jan. 1, 1942, the. U.S. govermnent an.nounced a ban on car building. Manufacturera were given a montii ta fil orders for essential services, but tiiose buy.rs had to take what tiiey couid get. Most got appropriate vehicles, but several Ohio police officers spent the. duration of the. war catching criinals in 1942 Pontiac convertibles. Ezxcept for a few vehicles made for the. military and essential services, no cars were built in Northi America for model years 1943, 1944 or 1945. In addition, 1942 and 1945 were "short" years with low production, making tiiem among the. rarest of collection cars today. Each company was given specific contracta. These included aircraft engines made by Studebaker and Buick, tanks and guns from Chrysier, sheils from Oldemobile, bombera from Ford, tanks by Cadillac and propellers from Nash. Since the. plants iiad lost so many men ta tii. nnlitary - GM alone iiad 113,000 employees enlist - women were called in t f11 the. positions on the new assembly limes. The war also affected motoists, most notably with gasoline rationing and spare' parts. The government announced that al cars could carry only one spare tire, with anyextras turned in for the. war effort. Stylisii 1930a cars often carried "sidemounts," spare tires mounted in the. fenders, and the. truly upacale iiad two. Tiiese owners had to drive witii one empty fender-well until after the. war, .The situation becarne sa bad that alonig with wiiiskey, tires were the. number on. item on the. black market. At the. beginning of the. war shutdown, tii. automobile companies made a "gentleman's agreement" tiiat ail would close tiieir design departmentës se as ta start postwar production, when.ver it came, on a level field. Ail did, but Studebaker cheated. They bired an outaide f rmn, Raymond Lâoewy & Associates, to come up with new car designs, and 50 technically cid not break the. agreement. Their slogan, "Frst By Far Witii A Postwar Car," did not sit well with the. other companies once cars were back in production. As it turned out, new designs weren't really necessary. Once the, firet cars rolled off the. lines in the summer of 1945, the. car-hungry SEE PAGE 17 Proudowner. GARY CHALLICE of the Motor City Car. tumn out for Autofest '95. Orgariized by the Cl ub poses with his radically m odified '49 Motor City Club, the event takes place this Mero, one of more'than 700 pre 1974 Suniday from i0 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the 'street rods, pro-streets, restored,- customn General Motors headquarters building on, and vintage cars and trucks expected to Colonel Sam Drive in Oshawa. Photo by ark Rossai. Whitby Free Pres Two million trucks The. two-miflionth truck built by General Motors of Canada since 1986, the. start of production in the. GMT 400 generation of vehicles program, was turned over ta its new owner, PPG Canada ic., i a brief oeremony at the. Oshawa truck assumbly centre Aug. 8. The. keys ta the. new vehicle were presented ta PPG Canada president Margaret McGrath by Lawrence Worrall, GM of Canada's vice president of purchasing strategie planning and operations. "1995 is a very special year for our truck" assembly centre," Worrail said. 'Earlier thus summer workers ber. bufit GM of Canada's six- millionth truck ine. 1919 and taday we're marking production of two -million trucks in less than mmne years. "In November, production will begin here on pickup trucks whicii will feature our easy-access .system, a side access panel behind the passenger seat. GM will b. first to market with this exciting new product." SThe. two-midlliontii GMT 400 pickup was a fuil-size Chevrolet, extended-cab, four-wiieel-drive vehicle, to b. used by PPG Canada in a wide variety of promotional ways during the coming montha. I'ts one of a kind since it is painted in a new colour, Laguna Green, which will mot be generally available until the. 1997 modela are produced. The oeremony took place as the truck centre was oeclebrating tiie second of two open houses held in August for employees and their families ta mark the assembly plant'e 3Otii anniversary. . Up to 700 vehinles expected at. show> .Autofest'95 will be iield by the. Motor City Car Club of Oshiawa at GM's headquarters building in east Oshawa on Sunday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Organizers say as many as 700 vehicles could b. in this year's show. Last year, tiiere were 600 street'rods, pro-streets, restored,ý custom and vintage cars and trucks, ail pre-da ting 1974.* W-> SL! Go 'Golfing'9 withth S ALE Worlds Best Selling Car BUY OR LEASE Until August 31 st, 1995___________ $ /i. 1; 48 Months, 75 .o *AM/FM Cassette, 8 Speaker Sound Systema Split Rear Seats 0 Rear Wiper 0 Power Locks e Tinted Glass - Dual Mirrors a Advanced Safety System & Much More Corne in now to test drive! Great selection! Limited time offer! *Freight. PDI & Taxes extra. Q.A.C. 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