[Half-Inch Stud]

Pretty sure U.S.A. was tops from 1776 - 1950.
Pontiac was tops (above Ford, Chrysler) somewhere in the 60s.

https://para-rigger.posthaven.com/to...ries-1950-2019

[Formulabruce]

Pretty sure cannons and buggies had wheels in '76

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Pretty sure U.S.A. was tops from 1776 - 1950.
Pontiac was tops (above Ford, Chrysler) somewhere in the 60s.

https://para-rigger.posthaven.com/to...ries-1950-2019

I don't know when the US started leading the world's production of automobiles, but it was LONG before 1950.

Ford, by itself, built over 1,275,000 vehicles in 1921 when Chevrolet was #2 with only 130,000. Ford probably built as many cars in 1921 as the rest of the world. The rest of the US auto industry only produced around 450,000 in 1921.

Oldsmobile was the first brand name that most people would recognize to lead sales in the US. In 1903 - 1905 they were #1. Ford unseated them in 1906 and kept that honor until 1927 - when Chevrolet outsold Ford 1,001,000 to 367,000.

Since that time it's been a Ford/Chevy battle for #1 and #2. Chrysler has never been in the top 5 and usually not in even in the top 10.

Pontiac never was higher than #3 in sales. In the 60's they were #5 in 1960 and 1961, #3 in 1962 - 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._A...uction_Figures

[Don Keefe]

Pontiac actually outsold Chevrolet in 1996 and 2000 for auto production.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Don Keefe

Pontiac actually outsold Chevrolet in 1996 and 2000 for auto production.

Don

You are absolutely right. They were #2 both years - slightly over Chevrolet. Way behind Ford though in those 2 years.

[Charlie Brengun]

Originally Posted by The Champ

I don't know when the US started leading the world's production of automobiles, but it was LONG before 1950.

Ford, by itself, built over 1,275,000 vehicles in 1921 when Chevrolet was #2 with only 130,000. Ford probably built as many cars in 1921 as the rest of the world. The rest of the US auto industry only produced around 450,000 in 1921.

1914 was when Ford really started mass producing cars with the introduction of the moving assembley line.

[John V.]

Video was interesting to watch but I'm not sure of the point.

Should mention that each brand in the '60s was tabulated as if it were an independent automaker.

Each of the Big 3 had multiple car divisions.

GM of course would have blown Ford away if all brands were counted under one banner.

Chrysler Corp. had the no. 3 spot with Plymouth.

In '62, Chrysler Corp. chose to downsize their full size Plymouth and Dodge cars. There are a number of theories for why they did this. But suffice to say, Exner's suddenly out of step styling coupled with the not yet ready for prime time down-sizing led to a very disappointing '62 Model Year for Chrysler Corp. with Plymouth dropping down while Pontiac rose to take the no. 3 spot.

Circa '65, Chevy sold about 2.5M cars, Ford about 2M and Pontiac a distant 3rd with about 800k.

In those days with the Fed gov't applying pressure on GM to spin Chevy off, I have long believed that GM intentionally worked against their own interests to help prop up the competition, in particular AMC and Chrysler. Eventually, those earlier decisions came back to bite them as they began to lose market share especially to foreign competition. Had they not had to battle the Fed gov't, they might have buried Chrysler and AMC before the end of the '60s. And with a more massive US market share advantage, they probably would have fared better against VW, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and all the rest during the '70s and '80s.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by John V.

Chrysler Corp. had the no. 3 spot with Plymouth.

John

Because of this comment in the original post:

Pontiac was tops (above Ford, Chrysler) somewhere in the 60s.

Pontiac and Ford were brands, so I used the Chrysler brand when I posted that Chrysler was never in the top 5 and rarely in the top 10.

[John V.]

Champ, I knew you knew that. Just trying to clarify for the younger guys and also to explain how it was that Plymouth shot themselves in the foot.