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Motoring

The Senator Behind the Window Sticker

ONE of the less noted milestones of the year just ended was the 50th anniversary of the window sticker, the now-ubiquitous price sheet that has helped to make new-car purchases a bit less confounding since the late 1950s.

Before then, car buyers often had no idea what was included in the cost of a vehicle. Between the factory and the dealer’s lot, hundreds or even thousands of dollars of extras — including exorbitant shipping charges and a multitude of options, some more valid than others — could be added to the price.

The Automobile Information Disclosure Act of 1958 changed all that by requiring new cars to be labeled with the suggested retail price; details about, and prices for, standard and optional equipment; and other consumer information. The labels became known in the auto industry as Monroney stickers, named for the Oklahoma senator who pushed for passage of the legislation.

The motivation of Senator Almer Stillwell Monroney, a Democrat known as Mike, has become the stuff of urban legend. According to one story that has made the rounds in Detroit over the years, the senator’s daughter (or niece) had been cheated by a car dealer, prompting the lawmaker to use the might of the Senate to ensure that others would not be similarly misled.

In fact, Monroney did not have a daughter. He had one child — a son, Michael — and four grandchildren. In a telephone interview, Michael Monroney said he had never heard such a story about his father’s call to action.

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MR. STICKER Senator Mike Monroney in a 1963 ceremony with President John F. Kennedy.Credit...Charles Gorry/Associated Press

Nor had Susanna Monroney Quinn, one of the senator’s granddaughters, though she did mention in a telephone interview that some car dealers still ask her about her name.

“Every time I’ve ever bought a car I’m asked, ‘Are you related to the sticker?’” said Ms. Quinn, who is married to Jack Quinn, former White House counsel to President Bill Clinton. “And I say, ‘No, I’m not related to the sticker. I’m related to the person.’”

The real story behind the price sticker is not quite so dramatic.

In 1955 the Senate’s Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee formed the automobile marketing practices subcommittee in response to dealer complaints of abusive treatment by automakers, particularly in the awarding of franchises. Senator Monroney was named the subcommittee’s chairman.

Congress passed the Automobile Dealers’ Day in Court Act in 1956, providing some recourse for dealers with complaints against manufacturers, but the scope of the committee hearings grew to encompass deceptive dealer practices. After the hearings ended in 1958, Senator Monroney drafted the price-sticker bill with the help of David Busby, who served as special counsel to the committee.

“The dealer who is honest about the so-called ‘list price’ cannot compete with the one who ‘packs’ several hundred dollars extra into it so he can pretend to give you more on your trade-in,” Monroney said when the bill was introduced in March 1958.

Both houses passed the bill, which was endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Detroit automakers, and it was signed into law in July of that year.

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Senator Monroney helped pass legislation that created the price sticker.

In addition to pricing information, the stickers were required to include a vehicle’s make, model and serial number; its final assembly point and dealer destination; and the method and cost of transportation to the dealership. More recently, fuel economy and crash-test ratings were added.

Mr. Busby confirmed that Senator Monroney, who died in 1980, had not been driven by personal vendettas. He said that Monroney’s background as a reporter — he had worked for The Oklahoma News in the 1920s — played a role in the drafting of the law. “He believed in getting information out,” Mr. Busby said.

And while his name remains a mystery to many car buyers, Senator Monroney has another legacy. He was instrumental in the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration, an achievement honored in the naming of the F.A.A.’s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. His airline work helped to earn him the nickname of Mr. Aviation.

But according to his son, Monroney did not care much about such accolades. “Although the competition was never intense, he could well have been a candidate for having the smallest ego in Congress throughout his career,” Michael wrote in the foreword to “Mike Monroney: Oklahoma Liberal” (Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1997).

Still, Senator Monroney’s name will hold a significant place in automotive history, especially among the dealers who were targets of his price-sticker law. But there are no hard feelings, according to Michael.

“I usually get quite well treated at car dealers,” he said.

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