The "Inside" Story
My story began when Sam Loria graduated from Detroit Institute of Technology. It changed our lives and his forever.
As his daughter, I remember him sharing the tales of riding the bus to school and work, meeting with friends and family who showed off the great wads of money they were making while he studied at college with not enough money to buy a hot dog from the street vendor. That all changed when he was hired on at General Motors. As the first draftsman to have an engineering degree, he took on some hefty responsibilities but those responsibilities turned dreams into reality for a lot of people.
As a child, I remember, taking walks as a family with him. We would stroll around the block as he thought through the problems he came home with. He often included us in the problem-solving process and we learned many things this way. One concept that stuck was the idea of proper prior planning and its limitations. Dad always said he hated "merely managing crisis" and preferred to have things well planned in advance but human design has a way of unearthing new problems now, as it does then.
I will never forget the day he came home celebrating his first breakthrough patent. The Christmas that followed was amazing. My sisters and I greeted an abundance of dolls, clothes and books wrapped in beautiful packages by our mother. Topping it off was a complete set of handcrafted furniture mom had custom made for us. Mother was a craftsman in her own right, designing many of our clothes and embellishing every holiday and corporate party with flair. Later, when all those toys crowded the walkways or were stuffed under the bed at cleaning time, she sometimes regretted her generosity. Nonetheless we will never forget her for it.
As a teenager, I sat with clipboard in hand, every few days it seemed, reviewing the interiors of the latest car GM or one of its competitors was designing. There were some great rides in some great cars and I still recite to my kids the jingle our good friend Jack Shaffer wrote when seat belts were first introduced "Buckle up for safety, buckle up. Buckle up for safety, always buckle up. When you're in your car, driving near or far, buckle up for safety always buckle, buckle up." Now that I live in California, I have to chuckle just a little when my kids find a way to unbuckle their seat belts and my husband or I get a ticket. "Better rework that design", I say.
Shortly after my dad died I pulled up to a gas station in a Chevy Suburban I had purchased. I looked at the heavy lid with a sigh, thinking of the new responsibilities that were now on my shoulders. The thought of them made checking the oil more burdensome and I anticipated trouble lifting that heavy lid and holding it while I looked for a stick as I had on other cars. Then as I lifted the lid with ease and it held itself in place, I remembered and smiled. My dad's love for me had caused him to plan for that moment many years in advanced and that love had been sent out to people all around the world in the form of a few designs that have eased our burdens just a little each day.
In the 1920s and 1930s, most hoods opened from both sides. Then in the late 1930s and the 1940s, car hoods started opening from the front (alligator style), with hinges to the back. These hoods would not stay up by themselves and the heaver the hood the harder it was to lift. A prop rod had to be put in place with one hand while holding the hood with the other. Then in the late 1940's and 1950's, springs were placed on the hinges. This made it easier to lift and held the hood in place when opened all the way. As a cost saving measure in the 1980s, a lot of inexpensive smaller cars went back to the prop rod system. This lasted about ten years and most cars now have the spring hinge again. These dates are approximate and vary by make and model.
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