1939 Plymouth coupe
date: label: date made
content: 1939
name: label: maker
content: Chrysler Corporation
label: maker
content: Plymouth Motor Corporation (Division of Chrysler Corporation)
notes: label: Description
content: In the late 1920s and 1930s, Chrysler Corporation successfully marketed Plymouth as a low-priced rival to Ford and Chevrolet. Strong sales of the new make constituted a bright spot in the automotive industry during the Depression. Plymouth stood at number three in production volume by 1931, and output reached a half million cars per year five years later. Several other auto manufacturers had introduced "companion" makes in the 1920s, but only Plymouth achieved high volume and found a lasting place in the market.
label: Description
content: The streamlined styling of the 1939 Plymouth is among the best examples of art deco automotive form and ornamentation developed in the 1930s. The P-8 Deluxe Coupe was among the first cars that featured a gearshift lever on the steering column instead of its traditional location on the floor.
label: Description
content: The coupe body became popular in the late 1920s, when more people were shopping for closed cars at low prices. Coupes were popular among traveling salesmen, young people, single women, and others who needed room for only one or two people. Open runabouts and roadsters preceded coupes and evolved into sporty convertibles. The word "coupe" is French for "cut," meaning a standard vehicle cut in size. It was first applied to downsized horse-drawn carriages that held one or two passengers.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
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content: Automobiles
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content: America on the Move
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content: Transportation
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content: Road Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Richie Clyne
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2003.0223.01
label: accession number
content: 2003.0223
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0223.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: automobile
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 68 in x 74 in x 195 in; 172.72 cm x 187.96 cm x 495.3 cm