A FULL CENTURY OF AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

THE YEAR 1925 WAS AN INTERESTING ONE in the history of the automobile: Ford produced 1,911,706 Model Ts; up from 1922’s 1,301,067 and to dwindle to 1.5 million (its last 7-digit year) in 1926. At its peak in 1922, 40 percent of all cars sold were Model Ts. 

And on August 27, 1925, Automotive Daily News, soon to be Automotive News, published its first issue. Celebrating this is a Commemorative Issue, Automotive News 100: A Century of Reporting on the People, Companies and Innovations That Have Driven the Global Auto Industry Forward, December 29, 2025. 

The following are tidbits gleaned from this celebratory issue with illustrations of front pages selected from 1925, 1929, 1942, 1947, 1959, 1966, 1982, 2018, and 2025. 

August 27, 1925, Vol. 1. No. 1: “Over-production Blamed For Drastic Reductions. Today’s reduction brings the service station price here to 21 cents [per gallon.]”

The CPI Inflation Calculator equates this to $3.84/gal. in today’s dollar. In fact, AAA’s National Average Price for January 17, 2026, is $2.83. Hawaii’s gasoline is the most costly at $4.41; Oklahoma’s, the least costly $2.338. California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard gasoline averages $4.202.

November 19, 1929, Vol. 9. No. 1983. Two headlines suggest instability of the time: “Industry Unhurt By Stock Decline, Government Finds” and “Car Production a Lowest Ebb.”

Production was to fall more than 70 percent by 1932 to just 1.3 million. Recall, a decade before, Ford alone sold that many Model Ts.

January 5, 1942, Vol. 17, No. 2701. Of course, war changed matters dramatically: “Halt Car Sales; Rationing Due.” “Industry Forms Council To Speed War Production.” 

See also “Gasoline Rationing and Old-Time Radio.” 

April 14, 1947, Vol. 22, No. 3075. “Plants Pause In Tribute As Henry Ford is Buried; Change in Firm Unlikely.” The now-Detroit based Automotive News recounted, “It was somehow a fitting touch of nature that flooded his estate so that death came to Ford just before midnight Monday (April 7) in his eighty-fourth years as candles flickered and the only heat in his home was that given off by old-fashioned fireplaces.” 

See also “Ford Lore.” And, alas, also “Henry Ford, the Person” in “Happy 100th Automotive News.” 

November 23, 1959, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3734. “Compacts Boost Imports.” Automotive News recounted, “One of the big questions accompanying introduction of the new compact cars was ‘Who will they hurt?’ And one of the favorite answers (among many U.S. auto men, at least) was ‘The Imports.’ So far, everybody should hurt so badly.” 

“Volkswagen said that October (introduction month for U.S. compacts) was its best month in history.”

These days, imported cars comprise some 30-40 percent in U.S. sales, complicated by the fact that U.S. automakers have factories in the Canada and Mexico, and foreign automakers have U.S. facilities. See, for example, the tale of my Canadian Pinto in “Boxes I Have Known.”

September 5, 1966, 42nd year—No. 4088. “Tough Safety Law Strips Auto Industry of Freedom.” 

What? The freedom for occupants to be thrown through a shattered windshield? Or tossed out of the car completely?

On the other hand, the article recounts, “On the matter of safety legislation, the auto industry promptly pledged its cooperation in implementing the new law. John Bugas, Ford Motor Co. vice president, who represented the Automobile Manufacturers Assn. at hearings on the bill, called it ‘constructive legislation.’ ” 

As I would concur.

August 23, 1982. In a front-page item labeled “Garageable,” Automotive News announces, “Chrysler Corp. will be the first domestic maker to offer a mini van, this T-115, the so-called ‘garageable’ van, which will be introduced in 1984.”

To put the concept in perspective, the first Volkswagen Bus left the factory in 1950. By the 1960s, it had become a symbol in the U.S. counterculture. Today, the VW ID.Buzz is all the hep rage. (My term, not VW’s.)

November 26, 2018. We jump to 2018 to recount a lame pun: “Carlos Gone: Saikawa Gets the Green Light To Take Nissan in a New Direction.”

See also “The Manga Presence of Carlos Ghosn: Parts 1 and 2.”

February 10, 2025. “What’s Next?: As Trump Pauses Trade Fight, Manufacturers Wait and Wonder.” 

Yeah, not only manufacturers…. By the way, Happy Birthday, Automotive News. We love you. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2026