Detroit was very prosperous in the 1940s. It was the Auto City. Although it was impossible to produce civilian cars due to war control, the orders sent by the army made every car-related company in Detroit make a fortune, and the factory owners even wanted to start production 24 hours a day.

However, this is the United States after all, with the most powerful auto workers union in the world. Even auto giants like General Motors will be bankrupt when facing unions. Therefore, even if factory owners hope that workers will work overtime, it is just a good wish. They dare not really let workers do this, because the auto workers union will take the life of the company.

Every day, the time to get off work is the most prosperous time in Detroit. Every morning, countless car workers rushed to the factory to work, making the streets of Detroit become congested. After get off work every day, the bars in Detroit are crowded with car workers coming to spend time. After a busy day, they will come to have a glass of beer or two, get together to brag, and sometimes they will find the opposite sex to do something indescribable.

Hanks is one of the auto workers, an ordinary blue-collar worker. He knows electric welding and is also a technical job in the automobile factory. Thanks to the development of the American automobile industry and the needs of war, Hanks' salary is also very good, and there is no problem in supporting his family. He also bought an independent house in the suburbs.

In the United States in the 1940s, a blue-collar worker's salary was enough to support his wife and two children, and he would not be lacking in material terms. The glory of blue-collar workers continued until the 1970s. In the 1970s, American blue-collar workers not only had cars and villas, but also took their whole family to have a big meal and a football game every week. It was also common to take their whole family to a beach in Miami every year. However, many American blue-collar workers are already grateful for their daily salary of more than a dozen US dollars.

Hanks' salary is not low, but his life is very tight because his wife gave birth to five children. Two months ago, his fifth child was just born, and the mortgage has not been paid yet, which made Hanks feel that life is very stressful. His wife is a full-time housewife, and it is indeed quite hard to support five children with Hanks' salary alone.

Hanks, who has five children, cannot raise, like other car workers. He goes to the bar to have a beer every day after get off work, and lives an indulgent nightlife. He will try his best to avoid unnecessary consumption. After get off work, he returns home and has dinner with his family, listens to the children talking about what happened today, and then leans on the sofa to read newspapers and listen to the radio, which has become his main entertainment method.

However, after getting off work on this day, Hanks stopped in front of a sports goods store.

Today is Hanks's eldest son's birthday. He plans to buy a birthday gift for his son. He also knows that his eldest son has always wanted to play tennis and hopes to own a tennis racket. However, the expensive price of tennis rackets has discouraged Hanks.

After all, Hanks has five children to raise and has a mortgage, so every expense has to be carefully calculated.

Hanks stopped in front of the sporting goods store for a long time, and he was hesitating whether to walk in. As a father, he wanted to meet the requirements of his children as much as possible. He wanted to buy a tennis racket for his eldest son; however, he also knew that with his current financial situation, buying a tennis racket would make his family's life much more difficult next month.

"Or else you can only buy one birthday cake!" Hanks said in his heart, but he couldn't take any steps. He couldn't bear to leave like this.

It was getting late, and the sporting goods store was about to close.

Hanks kept reminding himself to go to the dessert shop to buy a cake and then go home. However, his steps involuntarily walked towards the sports goods store.

Hanks walked into the sports goods store, and the shop owner's expression was slightly surprised. He was counting the goods and planned to close home in five minutes, but he didn't expect that there would be customers coming in at this time.

Of course, there is a business to do, so the store owner immediately came up.

"Sir, what do you need to order?" the boss asked.

"I want to see the tennis racket." Hanks said in a silly way, but as soon as he said that Hanks regretted it. The expensive price of tennis rackets was really unbearable. If he could not afford it after watching it for a long time, it might be a shameful thing!

"Sir, you are here at the right time. We just bought a new type of tennis racket, and the sales volume is very good. Please come here." The store owner led Hanks to a shelf, picked up a new type of tennis racket and handed it to Hanks.

The first thing Hanks noticed was the price posted under the tennis racket.

"Huh?" After seeing the price, Hanks was stunned and couldn't help but make a sound. The price marked on it was completely different from the price of tennis rackets Hanks had learned before, and it was only about one-third of the original one.

"How could it be so cheap? Did this price be marked in the wrong way?" Hanks couldn't help asking.

"Sir, you don't know that this new type of tennis racket is much cheaper than traditional tennis rackets," the store owner explained.

"But this is too cheap, right? If it is 20% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% or 30% of the price suddenly became the original 30%, which is too unreasonable!" Hanks said vigilantly.

The shop owner was used to this purpose, so he explained skillfully: "Sir, in the past, the cost of tennis rackets was very high. It took three cows to make such a tennis racket. Now this new type of tennis racket uses new materials for tennis. I heard that it is called artificial sheep intestine line. The cost is greatly reduced, so the price will naturally be cheaper."

"So that's the case." Hanks nodded, then put down the new tennis racket in his hand. At this time, he did not intend to buy this cheaper new tennis racket.

When parents buy things for their children, they often choose the best ones, and Hanks is the same. Hanks instinctively feels that this cheap new tennis racket is definitely not as good as the traditional tennis racket, and the artificial sheep intestine thread is not as good as the natural sheep intestine thread. Since it is a birthday gift for his son, of course he can't fool him by the way. If he buys a inferior product, he, a father, will feel uneasy.

The shop owner seemed to see Hanks' concerns, and he hurriedly explained: "Sir, you may not know that this new tennis racket is not worse than the previous tennis rackets, or even better."

"I don't believe that the price is so cheap, but the product is not good." Hanks shook his head and said.

Hanks is a car worker. People who ride cars often get what you pay for. If you spend more money to buy a luxury car, the workmanship and materials are definitely better than cheap cars. For example, if you spend 100,000 yuan to buy a car, the interior is basically hard plastic. If you buy a car for 200,000 yuan, the interior is plastic. If you buy a car for 300,000 yuan, the interior will have some real leather. Even the same brand is the same. Sitting in the Audi A4l, taking a deep breath, the smell of chicken shit makes people sour and refreshing, while the smell of Audi A8l is much better. (Forgive the description of passing the test, I really can't find other words to describe that smell.)

In the automotive industry in the 1940s, there was no such thing as brand value added. The difference between a car worth $2,000 and a car worth $1,000 is the material and workmanship, not the brand. The cheap cars launched by many automobile companies are actually cheaper because of reduced configuration. The workmanship and materials for cars worth $600 to $700 each are really bad.

In fact, industrial products in that era were like this. The cheaper the price, the worse the materials and workmanship, the worse the quality of the products; and the more expensive the price, the better the materials, the finer the workmanship, and the better the quality. In that era, the brand of goods was not valuable, and big brands would not have much premium. Unlike later generations, a toilet lid with a Panasonic label was willing to let Chinese people pay twice the price. In fact, these toilet lids were sold by Chinese manufacturers after they were produced by private labels.

As a front-line auto worker, Hanks certainly knows this truth. If you want to say that a product is only 30% of the original price, but the quality is better than before. Hanks will never believe it.

The store owner has seen many people like Hanks in recent times. They don’t believe in cheaper products but are better, so the store owner explained: “Sir, I haven’t deceived you. This new tennis racket is really better than the previous tennis rackets. In the US Open competition not long ago, the champion used this new tennis racket. Since this new tennis racket can win the US Open championship, it is enough to prove that the new tennis racket is better than the old tennis rackets!”

Hanks frowned and thought for a while, thinking that what the store owner said was very reasonable. Although the main factor affecting the results of the game was the strength of the athletes, sports equipment cannot be ignored. This new tennis racket can help players win the US Open championship. Although it cannot fully prove that the new tennis racket is better than the old tennis racket, it can at least show that the new tennis racket is not worse than the old tennis racket.

After hesitating for a while, Hanks finally decided to buy this new tennis racket with the same style as the US Open champion as a birthday gift for his eldest son.

In the evening, Hanks returned home and the children immediately gathered up.

"The meal is ready, wash your hands and prepare to come and have a meal." The wife also walked over and saw the tennis racket that Hanks had taken.

"Happy birthday, my dear son!" Hanks handed the tennis racket to his eldest son.

"Oh my God, tennis rackets! That's great. I always want a tennis racket! Dad, thank you, you are the best dad in the world!" The eldest son jumped up excitedly.

Seeing his eldest son's satisfied expression and the words "The best dad in the world", Hanks felt satisfied. At this moment, he suddenly felt that the hard work of working during the day had disappeared without a trace. It was worth it for him to work hard to make money!

But his wife whispered in Hanks' ear: "You're spending too much money. Tennis rackets are so expensive, and Christmas is coming soon. We still need to buy a lot of things. It seems that we have to save money next month!"

"Dear, this tennis racket didn't cost much." Hanks whispered to his wife the price of the tennis racket.

"So cheap?" The wife looked incredible.

Hanks looked proud, as if he had done something extraordinary.

"The quality of such a cheap racket will not be any problem, right?" the wife continued.

"Of course not, this is the same type of champion. This year's US Open champion used this kind of tennis racket to win the championship!" Hanks quickly explained.

...

Pancho Gonzalez slowly walked out of the door at a junior high school in Los Angeles.

Standing in front of the gate of the junior high school administration, Pancho Gonzalez took a deep breath and it smelled of freedom. What a long time!

A year ago, Pancho Gonzalez, who was only fifteen years old, was arrested for theft, but was a minor, so he was not sent to prison. Instead, he stayed in the juvenile custody office for a year and was finally released today.

The parents may have given up on this rebellious son and have not come to pick him up and are out of prison.

The person who came to pick up Gonzalez was his friend, a man named Chuck Petter, who was a member of the Los Angeles Tennis Club.

In fact, Gonzalez was once a talented tennis boy. However, Perry Jones, the president of the Southern California Tennis Association, banned Gonzalez because Gonzalez often skipped classes and occasionally broke the law for the first time and did some petty thefts.

Gonzalez likes tennis very much. Once he thinks of tennis, he loses interest in the school, so he has a very troublesome adolescence. Education officials and police officers often chase him behind him. In the end, he paid the price and squatted in the juvenile management office for a year.

The friend took Gonzalez onto the bus, and the two sat side by side and started chatting.

"What are you going to do next? Are you going back to school?" Chuck Pat asked.

"Will there be a school who will accept me if I am?" Pancho Gonzalez shook his head mockingly, and then said, "I plan to join the army. I said that the navy is short of people now."

"Don't you continue playing tennis? You are a tennis genius, it's a pity to give up like this." Chuck Patt said.

"I can't even afford a tennis racket now, so why do I play tennis?" Gonzalez shook his head helplessly.

At this time, Gonzalez couldn't help but remember the first racket in his life. He was only twelve years old that year. His mother spent 51 cents from the fritters market to buy an old racket for Gonzalez. Gonzalez still remembers that the racket was really old, and even the tennis line was tied into knots to connect them.

It was also the tennis racket that started Gonzalez's tennis career. At that time, he could not get professional training and could only go to the nearby public court to watch others play and learn from it. The rackets he used before were also old, and he occasionally went back to do some thieves, just hoping to buy himself a new racket.

Chuck Petter's voice interrupted Gonzalez's thoughts: "You definitely don't know that the price of rackets is much cheaper than before. A new type of racket was released, and the price was only 30% of the original one!"

"The new type of racket is only 30% of the original one? Is this racket reliable?" Gonzalez asked.

"Of course it's reliable. This year's US Open champion uses such rackets." Chuck Petter replied.

Gonzalez was immediately tempted. The new ball auction was so cheap that he could afford it by working odd jobs for a while.

"Do I want to continue playing tennis?" Gonzalez hesitated. He originally planned to join the army, but he really couldn't let go of the tennis he loved!

...

Several years later, Pancho Gonzalez, one of the greatest athletes in tennis history, two Grand Slams, 12 Professional Slam winners, and the world's number one record holder for eight consecutive years in the men's professional tour. In an exclusive interview, Pancho Gonzalez told reporters that the reason why he can achieve today is the first thing he has to thank for is a cheap tennis racket launched in 1943. It is precisely because he can afford such cheap tennis rackets that he continues to pursue his dream of tennis.

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Chapter completed!