During the 1950's owning a car was a sign and status of success, of prestige if you will. Since the American economy was growing in this period, more and more people were becoming rich, and more and more people were entering the middle-class which actually became the dominant part of the population. This led to people to be more powerful economically and to be able to afford more goods, including the cars. So with the buying of the car were pretty much showing off that they made it in life, but also the type of car was very important because of the more expensive the car the bigger the status of the person and vice versa.
