End of a Boom

The used-car market, a "get-rich-quick" bonanza for the past four years, was in trouble last week. Across the U.S., used-car prices were tumbling.

Along Detroit's "Sharpers Row," used-car hub of the U.S., prices skidded as much as 40%. In Chicago, a 1941 Cadillac which would have sold for $2,700 a few months ago was on sale for $2,100. In Los Angeles, Kelley Kar Co., which boasts that it is the biggest used-car dealer in the world, cut prices $200 to $500 a car. In Cleveland, prices were off about 20% and dealers were referring to any 1942 model as "a white elephant." Hardest hit were 1946 models. A few weeks ago they were selling from $500 to $2,000 above new car prices. By last week the markups had dropped to $100 to $200--and the cars were moving off the lots slowly.

The drop in prices was more than the usual midwinter slump. It was dollars-&-cents evidence that the buyers' market in used cars--and eventually in new cars as well--was uncomfortably close for dealers. And car prices were still high by prewar standards. Production of "1947 models" by General Motors and Ford in the next months, even though model changes were hardly noticeable, would knock used-car prices down still more.

The Ford Motor Co.'s sales manager John R. Davis announced more bad news for the second-hand dealers: late this year Ford will start producing 1948 models that will show "the greatest change since the introduction of the Model A twenty years ago." And, he added, they would be cheaper than present models.

Paradoxically, the prices of worn-out jalopies have stood up better than late models in some cities. Reason: buyers pick them up to get transportation while waiting for new cars.

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