1929 Oakland sedan
date: label: date made
content: 1929
name: label: maker
content: General Motors Corporation
label: maker
content: Oakland Motor Car Company
label: maker
content: General Motors Corporation. Fisher Body Division
notes: label: Description
content: This car belonged to George W. Hibbs, who worked in his uncle's stock brokerage, W.B. Hibbs and Company, in Washington, D.C. The car was last driven in 1950; it was stored in a home garage until 1993, when it was added to the Smithsonian collection as a bequest of Audrey H. Thomas, Hibbs's granddaughter.
label: Description
content: The 1929 Oakland All-American Six sedan was a moderately priced, mass-produced luxury car. Its fine body work, luxury accessories, and styling accents distinguished it from lower-priced sedans. These features reflected middle-class motorists' desire for greater sophistication and General Motors' focus on the sales appeal of artistically designed, comfortable, closed-body cars. Another selling point of GM sedans and coupes was its Fisher Body Division, which brought a heritage of carriage and closed body skills and artistry to mass-produced automobiles.
label: Description
content: In the 1920s, General Motors introduced a marketing strategy that featured a spectrum of makes and models with graduated prices and levels of quality. This strategy enticed motorists to "step up" to the next level of price and luxury when their means allowed. Oakland was placed between Oldsmobile and Buick in price, quality, and body details. GM discontinued the Oakland line in 1931, during the Depression, because of declining sales and the popularity of other GM cars, including one of Oakland's own products, the Pontiac.
label: Description
content: Image from sales brochure in division object files.
place: label: used
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
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: Bequest of Audrey H. Thomas
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0483.01
label: accession number
content: 1993.0483
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0483.01
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: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 74 in x 74 in x 175 in; 187.96 cm x 187.96 cm x 444.5 cm