Couldn’t happen now

This is a reminder of how thoroughly the New Deal had reformed and fixed America, with a remarkably durable effect.

In the 60s, capitalism was still firmly controlled, trade was beneficial, and the stock market was forced to do the unthinkable: INVEST IN PRODUCTION.

In ’62 Chrysler was no threat to GM. It had been in third place for quite a while, and bad styling in ’61 allowed Rambler to beat Plymouth. Still, GM saw that the Hemi was winning races, and GM couldn’t allow that! So they spent millions to develop and build aluminum bodies, redesigned their biggest V8, and invented an entirely new transmission, in order to sell exactly 14 racing-level Pontiac Tempests. Economies of scale? Irrelevant. GM degraded quality to save a penny on normal cars, but poured extravagant waste into racing. Family sedans don’t stiffen executive dicks.

The million-dollar Tempests were racking up wins, and Pontiac sales were increasing strongly.

BUT THEN: GM execs realized their total market share was getting close to 60%, the trigger point where antitrust regulations would impose drastic penalties, possibly breaking up the company. So they canceled all factory-subsidized racing.

Couldn’t happen now. After 40 years of ruining the New Deal, a company that wants to own everything is perfectly free to conquer and destroy other companies.

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Sidenote: Win on Sunday, sell on Monday wasn’t universal. GM, Hudson and Studebaker sponsored racers and made special engines from the start. Ford and Chrysler joined the crowd in the 50s. The other independents ignored racing.