American – Page 3 – CARS-YDSE.com

1959 Edsel. A Truely “New Car”

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The 1959 Edsel Ranger was built in the middle of the three years of Edsel automobiles production. The car was introduced in the 1958 model year and the 1959 models were slightly restyled and downsized in terms of power and performance. This particular car is a 1959 Edsel Ranger. I only saw this car once and had to shoot the front grill without much clearance.

This car was a huge mistake for Ford in terms of its size, (too big) its timing, ( a big recession started in 1958), styling (unique but not well liked), and name (Edsel became synonymous with failure). Ford cut its losses in 1960 when it stopped producing the car.

Wikipedia article (picture above is from this article)

One of the unique parts of the car was its dashboard and steering wheel. The center of the steering wheel had push-buttons for selecting or changing gears. Some issues were reported where people accidentally changed gears while trying to honk the horn. Also the speedometer would change to red when a preset speed was exceeded. One handy feature was the incorporation of a remote switch to open the trunk/boot of the car. None of these, however sold cars.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfJ-3oMQsn8&NR=1;Sales Tool Video]
© Fred Winograd copyright 2011

1963 Rambler 4 Door Classic

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I was just a sophomore in college when this car hit the market. Gas was about $0.49/gal and all except the Vietnam War was going well.

George Romney, later Governor of Michigan was the CEO of what became the American Motors Company. He completed a strategy in 1962 that brought all of the numerous car models together under the Rambler name. Romney also publicly chided the leaders of the “Big Three” automakers as “gas-guzzling dinosaurs”. When he left to become Governor, Roy Abernethy, his successor change the strategy and began the process of undoing Romney’s plan.

AIn 1963, the entire Rambler line received the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. However, Romney’s departure to become Michigan governor opened the door for his successor, Roy Abernethy, to redirect the company towards a strategy of competing head to head with the Big Three (General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, and Ford Motor Company) with a variety of bodies and automobile platforms. This new plan also included marketing the various models apart from the Rambler brand name, which Abernethy felt would be a hindrance in the market segments he hoped to pursue.

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A great video was posted showcasing the Motor Trend article as a great sales tool, watch it below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QOa4vXHLIM”>Sales Tool Video]
© Fred Winograd copyright 2011

1954 Cadillac 62 Sedan

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The ’54 Cadillac was a major body style change from the 1953 and represented a physical change as well. The wheelbase was increased by 3 inches and the car sat lower on the road.

THIS IS A BIG CAR.

For several years this particular car often parked around and near Deboce Street in San Francisco. I have not seen it lately.

The car had many other features as indicated in this article.

Many appearance improvements marked the 1954 Cadillacs. They included

* a lower, sleeker body,
* a new cellular grille insert,
* inverted gull-wing front bumpers
* tapered dagmar style bumper guards.

Round, jet-style dual exhaust outlets were incorporated into the vertical bumper extensions and the rear bumper was entirely redesigned.

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1959 Rambler American Wagon

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This car was spotted on a drive from San Francisco to Napa California in 2006. When Nash and Hudson merged in 1954, it was the largest corporate merger in history. American Motors was the odd car company when I grew up because of it’s styling and size. GM, Ford and Chrysler were all making larger cars and the styling was quite different. The “little round thing” was what we called my aunt’s Nash convertible.

Now, at least to me, this car looks fine and is right up to date with some of the cars on the road today.

American Motors was formed from the merger of Hudson Motors and Nash-Kelvinator. The deal was the largest corporate merger up to that point – worth $197,793,366 – but was just one phase of a planned megamerger of Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, and Packard. The combined company would cover all segments of the market, and their size and ability to share engineering would amortize costs nicely; at least, that was the plan of Kelvinator’s George Mason, whose company owned Nash. The name “American Motors” originated with Mason, who started working on the plan just after World War II (thanks, Dan Minick.)

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1948* Cadillac Sedanette (Fastback)

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*Addendum

I got the following correction and updated the post. The original post titled this as a 1949.

lars Says:
March 13, 2011 at 10:02 am e
This is a -48, you can see that in the frontgrille and parklights, it is more chrome in the front on a -49. Also the 3 chrome moldings under the rear lights is -48, -48 should have only one backup lamp also, but this one have two, probably series 62

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I took this picture about seven years ago and it stayed in my archive until today. Today, I started to research the car and started looking for a similar car on-line. I could not find one exactly like his one. The taillights on the 49s I found were much simpler. The three chrome strips below the taillight are the unique feature I can not find other examples of. I’m pretty sure it’s a 1949 but am not sure of the model. If you know, please leave a post I’d love to know more about this car.

If you know more about this car, please post and let us know. This, to me , is an amazing car that’s over 60 years old and still looks pretty good to me.

1940 Ford Opera Coupe’

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Click on pictures to Z O O M in.It’s a long time ago but things have changed. This Ford has almost the identical model name as the 1941 Chevy that is also a part of this collection.Click Here to see the 1941 Chevy Special DeLuxeI don’t think Ford/Chevy would do this today. Anyway, this 1940 Ford is in really great shape. It has been restored and is all set to go. I captured this one just outside a custom body shop here in San Francisco. I don’t know if the shop did the work or not but it is well done.

Click Here for a site that has more information on this model

A “Running” Cougar Convertable – 1969

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This site has been up for over a year and now gets enough traffic to spot some trends. One of the most popular cars on the site is a 1959 Dodge Custom Royal. I don’t know if it’s the car or the photo, but it gets a lot of hits. Today’s picture was taken on I-280 just south of San Francisco, the same place I took the shot of the Dodge. Let’s see how this 1969 Cougar does in the popularity race.

The third year of production, 1969, brought several new additions to the Cougar lineup. A convertible model was now available in either standard and XR-7 trim. These highly anticipated soft tops proved quite popular and today are considered, by many, among the most desirable of the ’67-’70 production run.

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Also, below is a link to a 360 degree video of a similar car I found on YouTube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RYjBXy2oHs&fs=1&hl=en_US]

1953 Studebaker Pickup Truck

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This is a 1949-1953 Studebaker truck. I was amazed to see it just a few blocks from our home in San Francisco. It’s in great shape, given its age. It could actually be a 1949-1952, I can’t tell but I went with the 1953 because it was the newest of the basic design. Note the split windshield.

The fact is the truck division had become stagnant. Though the reasons for this are somewhat unclear, it may have been the result of president Paul Hoffman’s departure, which ironically came just as the 1949 trucks were being introduced in May 1948. Hoffman was a strong proponent of the truck division and without his support and encouragement, it quickly fell on hard times. Additionally, Studebaker was struggling in its automobile division.

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1964 Chevrolet Corvair

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OK, I blew this one. I did not get a front shot. I was on an urban hike this May and came around the corner and there it was. The group I was with made a quick left and I stopped to take these shots. As I took these, I noticed a Fiat sedan in incredible shape parked just to the left and I moved on to cover the Fiat. I will post the Fiat soon.

Corvairs have a special place in my heart, especially the convertibles. I once owned one of these as my first car. Although this one seems to be a 1964, I had a 1965 convertible that I purchased used from my cousin. My cousin tried in vain to not sell me the car. He claimed it looks great but it seldom ran three days in a row without a problem. He was right but I loved this car.

The car leaked oil, the front-end had to be replaced and those were just the major issues. The lesser issues I don’t even remember. I sold the car after two years and its fan belt broke the day I sold it. But that’s another story. I’ll add that story when I come across a 1965.

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1956 Chrystler Newport

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I have written several pssts on Chrysler Corporation’s gamble in the 1957 model year. I had not realized that this (the 1957 line) was the second dramatic design change in two years. When I did some research on this 1956 Chrysler, I found that the 1955 and 1956 were the “Forward Look” era. This was followed in 1957 by the “Swept Wing” look which again dramatically changes the entire line.

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I remember my grandfather trading in his 1950 Dodge for a 1955 4 door Chrysler Windsor, the low end of the product line.

Few automobile companies have ever fielded products that were as dramatically different as the entire 1955 Chrysler Corporation’s line. From the lowliest Plymouth to the most majestic Chrysler Custom Imperial, these cars were downright breathtaking. No longer could the Chrysler’s vehicles be thought of as conservative or dowdy in styling. Touted as “The Forward Look” ……

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