The Pearl Harbor / Wartime Car thread got me thinking about the immediate post war shortage of cars, and the premiums paid - both new and used. My Dad and my grandfather shared a 36’ worm out Plymouth that they patched together to get them thru the war. Both commuting on different shifts with the same car. When the war ended my Grandfather wanted to buy a new Ford - he wanted a tan fordor sedan. The local dealer laughed. We get whatever Ford sends us. You go on the list and when your number comes up you get whatever car we get next. Don’t like it, the next guy gets it and you go to the bottom of the list. Pricing not negotiable. Gramps ended up with a maroon Tudor and was happy to get it! Dad needed used, and cars really hard to get. Returning soldiers buying anything with wheels. Dad lucked out and scored a really clean 39’ Oldsmobile sedan. Spent most of the war in a garage as the owner was a grocer who lived over his store. Bad news, had to pay $1200.! Kept it two years and sold it to buy a new 49’ Ford. Cars were now both modern and plentiful. Market price for the still nice Old’s - $25. Lost $1175. on the Old’s, and paid $1800 for the new Ford.
I knew a local gent that was a Veteran and upon returning from the Pacific Theater bought up all of the Model T Touring's he could find. All he ever drove his whole life until he passed away in 1998. At that time he had worn out 4 and the fifth one he was still driving was a 1926 with a '24 engine. All of them and his enormous stash of wheels, engines, transmissions, and axles went in his estate sale for a little over $2000. The four that he wore out were pretty clapped out but the 1926 that he was still driving was in decent shape. Original interior and top with brush painted black body. Just like Henry made it.
I think I've told this before on the HAMB. My dad worked in Oak Ridge during the war, and was lucky enough to own a 39 Plymouth until after the war. He told me that people were constantly leaving notes on it, wanting to buy it. After the war, the Buick dealer in Knoxville ran a newspaper ad that said they had new cars!! My dad hightailed over there, and came home with a red Buick convertible, and told me he was damn proud to get it. Only problem was my mom said hell no, and he had to take it back. I'd guess that he may have driven it 50 miles or so when it went back. Don't remember what he ended up with, some frumpy sedan he never talked about. He told me the Buick had wheels that were too big for the car, and that the dealer basically said tough shit, take what you can get. He didn't get his new Buick until 1950, then I came along, then a 53 Buick Super, the car i drove when I was about 11. I wonder how many post war cars were delivered with a mismatch of various parts after the war. I suspect quite a few. My mom liked the mushy feel of a Dynaflow. When he bought a 61 Pontiac Bonneville, I remember how she bitched cause it felt funny when it shifted gears. He had to tell her that's what she was feeling, I remember her harping that something was wrong with that "damn Pontiac" "bouncing back and forth". He was sick of Dynaflows by then. The guy who owned the Shell station on the corner rebuilt the 53 transmission at least 3 times that I can remember.
My great grandfather drove new Buicks from 1920 to his last one, 1959 Electra 225 (I think "225" was the length in inches...). Two exceptions, a new 1947 DeSoto, because their were no new Buicks available for purchase. And a used 1956 Buick - Only kept it a year and then bought the 1959 Electra. He was a locomotive engineer (good paying job). He retired in the mid-1930's. Bought a new Buick in the spring and he and great grandma set out to see all 48 states.. Put up in California for the winter and then departed an another brand new Buick. My dad was in tanks during WWII. Spent a lot of time state-side as a trainer and arrived in Europe later in the war. He was one of the last GIs to return home. There were no cars available for sale by then (new or used). He eventually found a 1932 REO sedan for $500. It was an orphan car, 1936 was the last year of REO car production - Right about the same time that dad became an orphan. Dad was in his mid 20's and it was his first car.
Dad got back from the war in 45 and managed to get a new Nash in 47. I don't know what he drove between 45 and 47. For some reason he traded the Nash in on a new 50 Chevy.
I never knew about those things. My folks were born in 36 and 37, both lived off the beaten path on ranches and orchards, as was the way with grandparents it was drive what you had, fix it and keep it running as long as possible. Heck, I grew up running the same tractors my did was running as a kid. I’d bet my grandparents were oblivious to car stuff like that as mentioned, please keep the stories coming!
My dad was born on a poor Arkansas farm in 1930. As far as he knew the first car his parents bought was a 1929 Model A, and that was in 1946. It’s the car he learned to drive in.
My Dad came home from WWII in 1945 and bought this '40 Ford DeLuxe Sedan. Apparently they were pretty easy to find in East Tennessee after the war. I firmly believe that this is when the popularity of the '40 Ford really took off. They were quick, nimble and far more powerful than the Jeeps many of these guys had been driving for four years.
Someone mentioned post war cars having some mismatched parts. I read an article about a man who had his family put money down on a new Mercury while he was still overseas near the end of the war. He got a 46’ Mercury coupe. He drove it daily for 30 years, and has it as a weekend cruiser to this day. As delivered it was missing the front bumper, the spare tire, and some detail trim items. The dealer installed them in the first couple of months as they became available. Fast forward to present day and the guy put it in the unrestored class at some shows. Kept getting put into restored division when “expert” judges found five or six items (including the passenger door) that were 41-42’ model year parts. He knows none have been changed, so Mercury had to have installed them at the factory. Some must be just frugality of the time. When my Dad bought a new 49’ Ford Tudor late in the model year it came with 50’ bumpers, and license plate / trunk latch trim.
.....That and Henry's widely known penchant for not wasting anything. If there were a few '41-'42 doors left over in inventory and they would fit the '46 Mercury, that's where they would go.
Experts they are only in their minds Years back I was selling a Corvette motor on a Corvette site. I was taken to task about how some things were not as I said. I knew better. Knew the engine, knew the car it came from and the original owner. Of course arguments ensued, and then one fella joined in and said something like “ It was factory “. There are experts, and there are folks that know.
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