In the 1930s, they promoted disputed information that blamed pedestrians for fatal car wrecks. The Automobile Manufacturers Association sponsored the Automotive Golden Jubilee, a series of events that lasted ten days. It celebrated Detroit as the "Automobile Capital of the World" and the over 90 million automobiles that were made in the first 50 years of the industry. • Pioneers and founders: :
J. Frank Duryea - Along with his brother, Charles, he built what is often credited as the first American gasoline-powered automobile. The Duryea brothers founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, one of the earliest American car manufacturers. :
William C. Durant - An entrepreneur who founded General Motors (GM) and co-founded Chevrolet. Durant was known for creating a single company with multiple brands, each with a different car line, a business model that allowed GM to appeal to a wide range of consumers. :
Henry Ford - Founder of the Ford Motor Company and a central figure in American industrial history. He pioneered the assembly line for mass production, making automobiles affordable for the middle class. :
Charles W. Nash - Served as the fifth president of General Motors before leaving to establish Nash Motors in 1916. Nash Motors became a prominent independent automaker, known for producing affordable cars for the American middle class. :
Ransom E. Olds - Early automotive pioneer who founded the Olds Motor Works (later Oldsmobile) and the REO Motor Car Company. He is credited with building one of the first gasoline-powered cars and was a leader in the industry's early years. :
Alfred P. Sloan - president and CEO of General Motors, he transformed the company into the world's largest corporation. He is credited with key innovations in corporate management, including a pricing structure that organized GM's brands by price point, preventing them from competing with each other and encouraging customer loyalty as their income grew. • Engineers and innovators: :
Edgar Apperson - An automobile manufacturer and engineer who built one of the first horseless carriages with his brother, Elmer. They were influential pioneers in the early days of automotive design. :Charles Brady King - A pioneer credited with being the first person to design, build, and drive a self-propelled automobile on the streets of Detroit in 1896, several months before Henry Ford. He also mentored other industry figures, including Henry Ford and Ransom Olds. : George Holley - Established a company with his brother Earl to supply carburetors for many Detroit-built automobiles, and later produced automotive performance components. • Racing and supporting activities: :
Barney Oldfield - Racing driver whose name became synonymous with speed in the early 20th century. He won the inaugural AAA National Championship in 1905 and was a celebrated figure who helped popularize the automobile. :Frank Kwilinski - A factory worker. :Charles Snyder - An automobile dealer. :John Van Benschoten - An automobile dealer. :John Zaugg - A factory worker During the early stages of
World War II, the association played a role in adapting American automotive manufacturing capabilities towards arms production efforts, especially regarding large
aircraft engines. Within hours of the December 7, 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor, the association invited all companies in the larger
automotive industry, regardless of whether they were association members, to join a new cooperative undertaking, the
Automotive Council for War Production. About 654 manufacturing companies joined that produced nearly $29 billion in output, In 1950, the association published the book, ''Freedom's Arsenal: The Story of the Automotive Council for War Production'', to document this achievement. They promoted the use of the word
accident to describe car wrecks, as a way to make vehicle-related deaths and injuries seem like an unavoidable matter of fate, rather than a problem that could be addressed. The automobile industry accomplished this by
writing customized articles as a free service for newspapers, using the industry's preferred language. As a result, the automotive industry essentially disappeared from
NASCAR. The ban began to end in 1962 when
Henry Ford II announced that the
Ford Motor Company would again begin participating openly in NASCAR. In 1969, the association engaged with rising
federal regulation, including
environmental regulation as
smog,
lead pollution, and other pollutants from the burgeoning automotive industry grew. Association president
Thomas C. Mann's annual address to the association in 1969, entitled "Clean Air and the Automobile," detailed the industry's attempts to reduce pollutants while questioning the harm caused by them. The speech is also an early example of industry questioning the risk of
global warming brought about by
carbon dioxide pollution. == Foreign-owned automakers ==