1950s
Power, speed, luxury, artistry – and pop radio
The post-WWII era saw the rise of high-compression V-8 engines and V-6’s. Small cars were popular in Europe, and the Volkswagen Beetle (first developed in Hitler’s Germany) became an even bigger hit in the US. At the opposite end of the spectrum, extreme luxury automobiles started to appear ... as well as some odd but distinctive design features -- like the fake-jet-engine-like tail lights in the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado.
Though TV was gaining popularity as the preferred form of home entertainment, radio was enjoying its height of popularity with the explosion of pop music and the emergence of the “disc jockey” as a popular new star.
Comedy on radio was popular, too. Drivers from that era recall pulling into parking lots, waiting for the skit to finish, then emerging from their cars along with scores of other drivers who had waited for the same skit to end.