The 1950 U.S. Automobiles were here and this was a good year for the industry in general, with the exception of many of the independents.  There weren’t many large changes this year but the industry implemented changes across the board in 1949.  Approximate total sales: 6,347,000; change: +21%.

1950 Noteworthy Events

• Buick –New 263cid V8.  Also new 1-piece windshield.
• Chevy – Automatic transmission.
• Oldsmobile – 98 had a wrap-around rear window.
• Pontiac – 249 V8 became 268.
• Chrysler – Some models feature a 3-piece rear window.

Note that for the percent change, orange, the zero axis is toward the middle of the chart, as indicated.  Crosley, for example, had a change of 0%, so their bar extends up to 0%.  Frazer, in comparison, had a change of minus 80%, so their bar is positioned at the ‘-80%’ point, at the bottom.

Chevrolet

The Chevrolet models saw little change and were Special and Deluxe.  The body styles of the two series were again identical, differentiated only by trim.  The bulging rear fender look was still retained.  The grilles were slightly restyled, but retained the same general look of the ’49’s.

The Deluxe series had a new model in the Bel Air hardtop convertible.  It featured an attractive three piece curved rear window.  The windshield was now a curved, two-piece style.

The 216cid 90hp inline OHV six-cylinder engine remained the sole offering, but the 3-speed manual transmission was supplemented by an optional Powerglide two speed automatic transmission.  This was available only for the Deluxe line. 

Approximate sales: 1,498,000; change: +36%; industry rank: 1^st.

Chevrolet didn’t have anything to get too excited about, but I do like the design of the grille.

Nothing very special here, folks.

Here’s Chevrolet touting the open road.  Do you remember the 1960’s Chevy ads with the theme song “See the USA in a Chevrolet…”?

Buick

The ’50 Buick models remained Special, Super and Roadmaster.  Buick already had the newer front fender style, and this year saw attention paid to the rear fenders, which became integrated into the body.  Present was a style line that extended from the front fenders to the taillights, so it wasn’t a truly slab-sided look.  It was quite striking.  The front saw the appearance of the famous “buck tooth” grille.  The grille elements actually continue down the bumper. This look was a bit too much ‘hate it or leave it’ for the buying public.

A 3-speed manual transmission was standard on the two lower series, with the Dynaflow again optional, but being standard on the Roadmaster.  The 320cid inline eight remained, and the 263 was created by expanding the bore of the 248 by 1/32”.  The 248 would hang around for this, its last year. 

Approximate sales: 588,000; change: +43.8%; industry rank: 4th.

This might be an example of a love-it or hate-it bumper/grille. It looks abso-freakin-lutely huge! Probably would take a couple of guys and a small boy to lift it. The side design was certainly unique, with the front and rear fenders being integrated into the body but not totally.

“Better buy Buick”. Dynaflow was probably the biggest selling feature of Buick.

Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile for 1950 didn’t see really very much change.  The hot sellers were the middle Eighty-Eight lineup, followed by the Ninety-Eight.  The Ninety-Eights now had transitioned to a true, slab-sided look.  The 98 4-door sedans also featured a new rear window look with curved glass.  Also, this year all three series featured a Holiday Hardtop model.  This would be the last year for an Olds six-cylinder engine for quite some time.

Engines and transmissions were a carryover from ’49. 

Approximate sales: 405,000; change: +41.7%; industry rank: 6^th.

That sure looks like one massive bumper. The Cadet sun visor would set you back $27 ($295 – 2019$).

Olds made good use of the ‘Rocket’ theme. The ‘rocket’ here looks a lot like a German V2.

The red sedan looks good in this drawing.

You might have noticed that almost all of the early post-war advertisements made use of drawings, not photos.  The one reason that comes to mind is that this would probably have been easier and less costly at that time.

What year did most advertisements see the use of photos rather than drawings?

Pontiac

Pontiac models saw few changes for 1950.  Series names remained Streamliner and Chieftain.  The Catalina was a deluxe Chieftain hardtop and was the highest priced model, aside from the convertibles.  Eight-cylinder cars vastly outnumbered the sixes this year. 

The 3-speed manual with column shift was the standard transmission, with the Hydra-Matic four-speed automatic transmission available optionally.  Some of the sweet options available (not necessarily new this year) were the Remington Auto-Home shaver (“I liked it so much I bought the company!”), a Venti-Seat under seat heater, Polaroid visor and illuminated hood ornament.  The 239cid L-head six was a carryover but the 249cid eight was bored 0.125”, to become 268cid. 

Approximate sales: 446,000; change: +46.2%; industry rank: 5^th.

Pontiac had a rather pleasing look, especially from the front.

The wrap-around three-piece rear window is fabulous!

Chrysler

Chrysler saw few changes in 1950.  Again, the rear fenders remained the older, protruding style.  Series remained Royal, Windsor, Saratoga and New Yorker.  The grille was updated, but it still retained the essential elements of the previous one.  In the Windsor line there was a new model, the Newport, which was a 2-door hardtop with a wraparound three-piece rear window.  The engine offerings were unchanged, and the Presto-Matic was now standard on the Windsor series. 

Approximate sales: 179,000; change: +44.4%; industry rank: 10^th.

I dunno. It seems to me that the Chrysler corporation companies were still trying to find their stride style-wise at this time. Not bad looking cars, but not much to really get excited about.

The three-piece wraparound rear window is rather cool.

Here we have another example of ‘adjusted’ vehicle dimensions, with the car appearing longer and lower than it actually was. Maybe that’s the reason that all car adverts from this time period used drawings, not photos!

Dodge

Dodge for 1950 saw few changes from ’49.  The bodies continued with the flat front fenders while retaining something of the old rear fender look.  Grilles were updated, but, while looking a bit cleaner, they were otherwise unremarkable.  The Coronet series did get a 2-door hardtop, named Diplomat. 

All models had a standard 3-speed manual transmission with Fluid-Drive, with the Gyro-matic semiautomatic as an option.  The L-head straight six 230cid engine was a carryover. 

Approximate sales: 342,000; change: +33%; industry rank: 7th.

I like the buyer testimonials, which I’m sure are true.  The first guy with the ball cap looks like he’s about fourteen.  What the heck does he know?

Plymouth

The excitement continued unabated at Plymouth for 1950.  There isn’t really much to say.  The company continued to be the third best-selling automaker.  I guess they were selling a lot of boring cars to a lot of boring people.  Nothing much changed from ’49.  To give an idea of the lack of excitement at this company, they were promoting the fact that their rear fenders were bolt on!  If damaged, hey could be replaced.  I’m sure that fact alone sold a bunch of cars.  Yay, Plymouth! 

Approximate sales: 611,000; change: +17.5%; industry rank: 3^rd.

“Press a button and in 15 seconds the top is down”. Yup, power convertible top.

Ford

The Ford offerings for ’49 were all new, so I guess they decided to stay the course for 1950.  The marketing genius’ at Ford came up with a dandy slogan to overcome this lack of change, though: “Fifty improvements for ’50”.  Most of these fifty things were of the type that nobody gave a crap about.  Well, at least they realized that these were warmed over 1949’s.  The front bumper was new, with a horizontal member that had a circle in the center. 

One new thing that is very much worth mentioning is the two door Crestliner, which was a member of the Custom Deluxe V8 series.  It had a unique, oval shaped side treatment that started at the front and went back to just behind the doors.  This area was painted a different color, which could be quite striking.  This look foreshadowed the two tone and three tone color schemes that would become more prevalent in a few years. 

Approximate sales: 1,209,000; change: +8.1%; industry rank: 2^nd.

The bumper design of Ford was cool, to be sure. I think Ford had the best looking front end in the business at this time.

The Ford Custom’s rear view was pretty clean, all-in-all. The tail light treatment was interesting with the way it flowed forward across the rear fenders.

Here’s an example of the ad man’s magic.  Since almost all models were new in ’49, Fords models for ’50 were (understandably) carry overs.  That didn’t stop the advertising guys from coming up with the ’50 ways new’ advertising concept, as seen here.  It’s actually kind of fun to read through the text!

Mercury

The Mercury series this year was the 0CM.  The company did introduce the Monterey, a 2-door hardtop.  This was in response to other automakers who already had 2-door hardtops.  This one could be had with a vinyl or canvas top. 

The trans was still a 3-speed manual, with Touch-O-Matic overdrive optional.  The 255cid V8 was unchanged. 

Approximate sales: 293,000; change: -2.5%; industry rank: 9^th.

Is this not an example of smooth lines? The Mercury front / grille / bumper were substantially different than those of Ford, weren’t they?

Yep, the Mercury 4-door models had suicide doors!  Mercs, like their Ford siblings, were the essence of roundness in this era. Compare the Merc rear view with the Ford above.

‘Super-Safety brakes’ and ‘Econ-o-miser carburetion’; just two reasons to buy Mercury.

The Volkswagen Beatle

The VW Beatle was introduced prior to WWII in Germany, as we all know. The British were tasked with repairing the factory after the war and getting production going again. This would be important to the postwar German economy, which the allies would rebuild. This is the car that was the tip of the spear of the foreign car invasion of the U.S. economy. Its success in the U.S. was proof to the Japanese that Americans would embrace similarly sized Japanese cars.

The following is an article from the October 1950 issue of Mechanix Illustrated and would be the first detailed look many Americans had of this import. I found it interesting to read a contemporary review of this ‘new’ model by an experienced auto journalist. This, of course, is the incomparable Tom McCahill.

1950 Engine Specs

1950 Newspaper Ads

The ’49 Buick Roadmaster convertible features Riviera trim. That’s a name that will become very well known in just over a decade.

This was quite a well-done advertisement. It’s for the ’51 models, of course. The name ‘Airflyte’ was a tie-in with the American fascination with the new jet aircraft of the time.