• January 1, 2016

Shop Talks #4 “TECHNOLOGY TRIUMPHS”

Shop Talks #4 “TECHNOLOGY TRIUMPHS”

Shop Talks #4 “TECHNOLOGY TRIUMPHS” Automobile Driving Museum

Join us for our 4th of 5 lectures highlighting the American Automobile Evolution. Click here to register.

“THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVE EVOLUTION”

PHIL SKINNER, EDITOR OF KELLEY BLUE BOOK/OLD CARS

MODERATED BY TOM FEHN, ADM DIRECTOR OF PRESERVATION

SHOP TALKS FROM 1:00 PM TO 2:30 PM IN THE RESTORATION SHOP ADJACENT TO THE ADM

600 LAIRPORT STREET EL SEGUNDO, CA 90245

SUGGESTED DONATION $10 PER ADULT $8 PER SENIOR

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2016

THE MODERN AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE-1973 TO TODAY

CHAPTER 4 “TECHNOLOGY TRIUMPHS”

On January 9th automotive historian Jim Crabtree is returning to the Automobile Driving Museum to present the final show in his series of ‘Shop Talks’ on how the automobile developed from a wacky experiment into an essential appliance. In this part Jim will start with the baby boomers shaping the auto market to their younger tastes beginning with the 1964 Mustang and muscle cars, then transitioning through the big three’s fall from grace and basically handing the market place over to the Japanese imports.

These were difficult years for the Detroit automakers. Quality collapsed while costs spiraled, mostly due to unworkable labor-management relationships. Neither side could seem to break themselves of the habit doing things the way they always had.

The Arab oil embargo of 1973, demands of environmentalists and a desire to make cars safer lead to having Washington DC having a bigger part into how cars were being designed than the automotive engineers did. All this resulted in Detroit’s infamous ‘Malaise Era’ of the 1980s. Eventually some excitement returned in the 1990s but the die had been cast, American cars would never be the world’s best again. The story of how ‘trucks became cars’ during these turbulent years is another tale not often related in discussions of auto history.

Finally Jim will review where we have arrived at today – a world where cars are no longer the status symbols of the 30s & 50s and have become mere transportation appliances. Appliances that are being looked at as a mechanism to save the world through using alternative power.

In the end Jim will challenge the attendees to learn from history by applying their new understandings to make predictions of what the future might be for both current automobiles and the hobby of collecting old automobiles.

Be sure to come down to The Automobile Driving Museum on January 9th to hear this final presentation automotive history.

Our next Shop Talk on February 6th will feature the author/editor of Kelly Blue Book’s Old Car Guide Phil Skinner talking about how values and prices happen in automobile markets both new & used cars and most important to visitors to an Automobile Museum how they are set in the old car marketplace.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016

COLLECTOR CAR VALUATION

CHAPTER 5 “MARKET OR MAYHEM”