O Scale Motor Chronicle Vol. X April 12

This week's contribution of classic vehicles.

I particularly love the styling of automobiles, both domestic US and European sports cars, as fenders were in that brief - perhaps ten year - transition period from very much there and very obvious to just gone and forgotten.  It is a fascinating period of design evolution - near revolution.  I don't have nearly the collection you do Richard E (love the '41 Studebaker by the way) but I shot some of mine.  First the domestic transition: the cars are, I think, a '47-'48 Chrysler, a '48 or so Buick, a '49 Caddy, a '52 or so Pontiac, and a '54 Buick.

That had to be a very giddy time to be a car enthusiast and live through - such progress!

The great Italian styling houses were out in front of the trend although I don't think they were leading as much as anticipating the trend.  Still, the '47 Cisitalia 1100 (front, right) was an early near-fenderless car - a red one is in the Museum of Modern Art.  The '49 Ferrari 166 (back) had nary a sign of fenders but wasn't particularly handsome, just sleek.  But the '52 Fiat 8V Vignale - maybe the best sports car made at the time, nailed "the look."

Lee, It's interesting to note that GM and Chysler were late in loosing the "fender bulge". Those that lost it early were the '47 Kaiser and Frazer, '48 Hudson and Packard, the '49 Ford Motor Co. line-up, and the '49 Nash. Odly, Packard returned to it somewhat in '51.

Lee
The Buick is a ‘49, and the Pontiac is a ’54 The Italians have a flair for style and speed.
Who makes the ’54 Buick sedan?

Joe
The ’49 mercury was originally slated to be the ’49 Ford. The powers that be at Ford Motor Co. decided it was to heavy and made it the Mercury instead. The car that was supposed to be the Mercury became the Junior Lincoln. Ford also designed the Compact Ford Vedette but was considered too small for the American market and was manufactured in France.
The design of the Ford was farmed out to the Walker Agency.  Rumor has it that it was designed in Walker’s home by moonlighting Studebaker People.

Robert Bourk and Bob Koto were borrowed from the Loewy studio. The thing is, Studebaker was a Loewy client, and the "spinner" in the center of the '49 Ford grill later appeared on the nose of the 1950 Studebaker. My question is...who stole what from whom?

Thanks, guys.  Very interesting stuff.

The Buick is American Excellence.  I got mine on Amazon toys and games section.  I have a blue/white sedan and a brick red/white coupe. 

Thats a great photo.

Are you sure your '54 Buick isn't Brooklin? And your red/white is True Scale Models?

Well, the Blue is heavy and cast metal like Brooklin, but cost only $65 through Amazon from an amazon associate retailer calling itself American Excellence (in Germany) - that's why I don't think Brooklin.  I continue to be confused about if this is the manufacturer of the same name or not - but American Excellence the manufacturer tends to make resin or lighter models anyway and this is heavy.  But it does not look like Brooklin - more detailed painting than most of my Brooklin models (admittedly, at four, a small sample).  The red/white coupe is much lighter, either thin metal or (feels more like) resin with a lot of thin applied shiny stuff -very much like models I have marked American Excellence brand.  It has no markings on the bottom other than the year, brand and model of the car.  I bought it, too, from Amazon through that same associate retaile for about the same price. 

I didn't see Richard E post a 1:43 motor chronicle for this week by this morning so I decided to update last weeks.  Here are my week's "acquisitions:" all found at deep discounts on Amazon and its associates websites.

• The Lincoln Continental Mk II (left) is a '56 and therefore a tiny bit late for my layout (1955) but I had to make an exception.  I was speaking with a guy who designs cars for a living who brought it up recently as almost iconic is its use of certain types of styling cues.  Nice looking car but an ugly history: from what I hear, it was the very definition of "discrimination:" supposedly Ford would not sell it to you unless your skin was the right color, you were of the right religion, the right politics (right you are - to the right!) and had the right type of job and reputation.    Still, a nice looking car.
• The '50 Ford police car is a White Rose offering I found siting on the shelf for who-knows-who-many-year in a tiny on-line greeting card and gifts shop.  It will be on my tracky trailer part in the "arrest vignette" by the end of next week.  It came with a small (half size) reproduction of a 1950 Ford brochure on its police cars which was very nice!
• The ERTL '52 Caddy.  Not sure why I bought it, except it was cheap ($6) and my Mom's family all had Caddies of some sort in the '50s: my grandfather drove a '53 white over green coupe (I have a Vitesse model) but I figured this would (and does) look good. 
• I also picked up a '34 Ford delivery truck (floral company) for $5 that I have apart now to make into a paddy wagon for the trailer park arrest vignette.  I'm cutting the back doors open so that a deputy can be shoving the handcuffed perp into it, then will have must repaint it black and put a police logo on it, etc.

The Lincoln Continental Mk II (left) is a '56 and therefore a tiny bit late for my layout (1955) but I had to make an exception.  I was speaking with a guy who designs cars for a living who brought it up recently as almost iconic is its use of certain types of styling cues.  Nice looking car but an ugly history: from what I hear, it was the very definition of "discrimination:" supposedly Ford would not sell it to you unless your skin was the right color, you were of the right religion, the right politics (right you are - to the right!) and had the right type of job and reputation.    Still, a nice looking car.

Not quite that bad, but skin color and no mafia ties were a must. Ford lost at least $1,000. on each sale.

Ah, geez, I guess Ford hadn't seen The Godfather by then, where Sonny drives an earlier model Continental.  Yeah, it got shot up a little bit, but think of the free publicity the get from all the time with their product on screen!

Lee:
I was at the TCA York meet this weekend. If you never attended, I highly recommend you go at least once.
The Lincoln Continental Mk II wad Ford Motor Company’s attempt to enter the top luxury market, I believe they cost around $13000, almost as much as a Rolls Royce. As far as the discrimination goes, that was 1950s America and Henry Ford II was trying to create an image for societies upper crust. We certainly have come a long way.
I believe the Lincoln is a Minichamps model and the ‘50 Ford in now part of the American Heritage line. The Caddy is from Ertl and was one of their nicest models. Your ’34 Ford is likely from Eligor and they made excellent ’32 Fords in a verity of bodes, as well as some other models

I hadn't heard the story about Ford vetting Continental buyers before, but it doesn't surprise me a bit. When Henry Ford was building the Model T he sent company morality police around to check up on his workers' behavior. In the 1930's he was a notorious anti-Semite and admirer of Hitler. He even paid for a re-publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a bogus plan for Jewish world domination that was actually created by the Czar's secret police in the late 19th century. I remember that when I was taking American History in high school, Ford was a big hero (and rightly so) for building the Model T as a car for the working class and paying his own workers enough money to buy one, but the dark side was never mentioned. I only learned that later by reading history on my own. 

Henry Ford, of Model T fame, died in 1947, so it was not he who put the limitations on Continental ownership.

Of course. But Henry Sr. created the corporate culture that didn't want to do business with blacks. 

Correct on all counts, the Lincoln is a Minichamps, the White Rose is apparently identical casting to my recent American Heritage 50 fords.  What interested me was that on the chassis of the Ford it says "White Rose, York PA"   had no idea they were made there. 

Henry Ford paid his black workers the same as his white workers over their objections and later union objections. He also put a lot into Inkster Michigan development so his black employees had decent housing. Remember this was a time when Blacks were not welcome in white neighborhoods.  
Like many Americans, Ford was an early admirer of Hitler, until Hitler’s true intentions became obvious.

A lot of historians have observed that had Hitler died in '36, he would have been hailed forever as one of the great statesmen and leaders of the 20th century: turned Germany around and brought it back to prosperity.  There are several lessons there given what we know now.    

Ford was not the only public figure who leaned toward the German (if not Nazi) side early on.  Charles Lindberg was, early on, an admirer of Eric Udel, the force behind German military air engineering, and their innovative aircraft industry.  Later he worked hard as a spokesman for our Air Force training during the war, but in the 1930s he clearly leaned toward the German admiration based on their technology.

Eric Udel, the force behind German military air engineering

I believe you mean Ernst Udet, the WWI ace who was a driving force in the establishment of the Luftwaffe. 

Henry Ford, like many major historical figures, was a complex character. Certainly once the war started, Ford joined other American industrialists in a wholehearted effort against the Nazis. And I do not agree with those who would judge historical figures by modern-day notions of political correctness. A degree of prejudice against blacks and Jews was normal for the time. Nonetheless, Ford's promotion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion marks him as an active promoter of anti-Semitic racism, not merely a man of his time.