So, I'm considering this '49 Ford 2dr custom 300. How many roof lines were offered? The rear vent windows are throwing me off. Also is there a better grille treatment for these?
That's a 2 door sedan, there was also a coupe (shorter roofline, shorter rear quarter windows and no rear vent windows) but that was it for 1949, the Victoria hardtop didn't come out until 1951. Also, it's just "Custom", "Custom 300" didn't come out until 1957. Personally, I love the '49 grilles, but lots of guys swap to a '51 hood (no bump) and put in a Merc grille shell and a different grille.
Could the custom '300' thing be because its Canadian? I know other models of cars sometimes differ cross border. Thanks for the tip on the hood/grille.
If it was a Canadian model, it should be branded as a Meteor. Google some pics of 1949 Meteor if you want to see what a shoebox looks like with a Merc grille, that's basically what they were. I'm pretty darned confident it's just "Custom" and not "Custom 300"
Actually, here in Canada, you could buy either a Ford, or a Meteor. The Canadian Ford was esentially the same as a US Ford, the car pictured is a Ford. 1949 was the first year of the Canadian Meteor, they used a grille that looked very similar to a 49 Mercury grill., As mentioned, the term "Custom 300" was first used in 1957, and was a trim upgrade over the base Custom. I believe a base 49 Ford was called a Customline. By the way, on a Canadian Meteor, the base model for 57 &58 was called a Niagara, with the next step up called a Niagara 300. In 1959, Ford dropped the Custom name tag, so the base model became the Custom 300, and the base Meteor was a Niagara 300.I own a 59 Niagara 300 2 door sedan.) Since the poster lives in Canada,if he buys the 49 Ford, he may be able to find a 49 Meteor grill to swap.
The Jalopy Journal
