The six best car innovations from the 1950s

Air conditioning – 1953

Prior to the 1950s, the idea of air conditioning in cars had been bandied around by Packard Motor Company to no great success – its early systems were unreliable and ultimately unpopular. That all changed in 1953, though, when Chrysler introduced the ‘Airtemp’ system in the Imperial which featured low, medium and high settings. Shortly afterwards, General Motors started selling virtually all of its cars from Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile with an air conditioning system built by Frigidaire. In both cases, the air conditioning unit was installed in the back of the car. GM eventually ended up selling its Frigidaire systems to British Leyland and Rolls-Royce.

In 1954, Pontiac and Nash came up with the idea of installing the air conditioning at the front of the car, removing the need for long tubes to be fed through the car. The Nash system was the first to integrate a heated element alongside the air con within a single unit. Its advantages were clear, and this became the blueprint for air conditioning which is still broadly in use today.

Torque converters – 1950

Much like air conditioning, car manufacturers had experimented with automatic transmissions much earlier than the 1950s. GM introduced the first mass produced automatic transmission (the Hydra-Matic) in 1939, as an option in both the Oldsmobile Series 60 and the Cadillac 60 Special.

It wasn’t until 1948 that the Buick Dynaflow appeared on the market with a new form of automatic that utilised a torque converter, a clever bit of kit that can increase the torque delivered to the wheels at low speeds. The Dynaflow’s transmission was a single speed that relied heavily on its torque converter, but it wasn’t long until GM introduced the two-speed Chevrolet Powerglide transmission system in 1950. Those early transmissions weren’t great, as they relied on the driver to shift between a low-speed and high-speed setting, but this was ironed out by 1953. Alongside the two-speed Chevys, the likes of American Motors and Ford had started to make use of a three-speed automatic built by BorgWarner, which again helped to reduce reliance on the torque converter and allowed for a smoother drive.

Three-point seatbelts – 1959

One of the most important safety innovations of all time, the three-point seatbelt was first featured on the Volvo 122 (known as the Amazon or Amason). That’s right, even in the 1950s Volvo was leading the way when it came to safety enhancements.

This three-point system was a progression from the previous two-point lap belt first used way back in 1910, intended to better protect vehicle occupants by spreading energy in an impact across the shoulders, chest and pelvis. It was invented by Nils Bohlin, who had previously worked on the idea of ejection seats at Saab.

The benefits of this new safety innovation were obvious and it wasn’t long until Volvo made the design available for all manufacturers to use for free.

Electric windows – 1951

You might think that electric windows were a relatively recent invention. Anyone over the age of 25 will likely remember the windy windows that were common in the 1990s and early 2000s. But electric windows have actually been around since the 1950s.

Manufacturers in the 1940s had experimented with hydraulic window lift systems, with the likes of General Motors introducing a number of convertible models implementing hydraulic technology developed in World War Two which could be used to control not only the windows, but the folding roof and seat adjustments, too.

It wasn’t until 1951, however, that Chrysler introduced the first all-electric window system in the Imperial. It made use of four small electric motors, and led to similar systems being introduced by GM, Ford and Chevrolet in 1954.

Power steering – 1951

Power steering was first invented as a concept way back in 1876, but it wasn’t until 1951 that the Chrysler Imperial – yes, it’s here again – was made available with the first commercially available power steering system.

It was called the ‘Hydraguide’ system and built on the original blueprints penned by a man named Francis W. Davis in 1926. Davis refined the system with General Motors, but at that time it was considered two expensive for production. GM eventually introduced a Cadillac with power steering in 1952. Its use was gradually widened as manufacturing trended towards front-wheel-drive, heavier cars and wider tyres, which were all increasing the load on the steering.

Cruise control – 1958

While these days drivers of modern cars can enjoy the convenience of adaptive cruise control and various levels of autonomous driving systems, cruise control was initially conceived, among other reasons, as a means to limiting the speed of traffic to reduce fuel consumption and tyre wear during World War Two.

Originally known as ‘Speedostat’, cruise control was invented in 1948 by Ralph Teetor, a blind engineer. His idea was to allow the driver to select a speed limit on the dashboard which would then activate a mechanism on the drive shaft that would offer resistance on the throttle pedal and ultimately stop any further acceleration. The system would also be able to lock the car at that speed until the system was disengaged or the driver touched the brake pedal. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It wasn’t until 1958 that we would first see this Speedostat system (now known as auto-pilot) introduced on the Imperial, newly split from the main Chrysler brand into its own entity. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to coin the term cruise control.