The Cars That Made America

The other reviews cover it. A stone skimming over the surface. Could and should have been so much more.

Ed Cole, the head of Chevy driving a 56 Mercury and taking Alfred Sloan for a ride in it. Really? Who authenticated the use of the correct cars in this program? Certainly no one that knows anything. Henry Ford II riding in a Packard? Can't imagine he would've ever done that given his family history. The characters weren't always believable because they didn't look like the real people. Walter Chrysler, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, etc. The storyline itself was good. Repeating 2-3 minutes of the tail end of the show previous to a commercial or from the previous evening is a pure waste and monotonous. Something another auto-related channel is famous for. 44 years in the auto hobby. If nothing else make sure you have the correct brand of cars when you portray them with specific people that you identify them with. Ask experts. Don't guess!

Don't let the sour grapes from the gear heads fool you. This docudrama achieves its purpose of a comprehensive overview of the auto industry's emergence and integral part of the industrial revolution in the United States. And, how it interconnected with, steel, railroads, petroleum, finance, a national highway road system, the rise of labor unions, war efforts, and all the rest, to become the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen.

This series is a nice overview of the development of the car industry and its impact on society, which is obvious from the name of the series (The Cars That Made America"). It's not a biography of any of the major players, although they certainly are there, warts and all. Nor is it a documentary on cars per se. While it does give us lots of biographic details and lots of engineering drawings, etc. the focus of the series is on how cars changed the way we live. The producers succeed admirably.

Disappointed at the lack of technical accuracy. Being a photographer, I noticed right away that turn of the century photographers were using 50's camera's and flash bulbs. flash bulbs were not invented until 1926. You see flash bulb use throughout the episode. Cameras of the day were sheet film, box, and bellows. Only professional photographers used flash pans. Also, what about the electric cars? Henry Ford's wife only drove electric. Actors are overdressed and are guilty of over acting. Assembly line shots are a laugh.