1954 Automobile Market Oddity...comments?

[BobPalma]

Who wants to hazard a guess as to how many little 1949 Ford Anglias (English Fords) were in the United States in 1954? Much less, how many of them might have been found in the rural midwest? Darn few, right?

I ran across a genuine curiosity the other day while going through the original 1954 sales records of vehicles sold at Palma Motors in Paris IL, Dad's dealership.

On April 16, 1954, they sold a new Willys Universal Jeep to one Elmer Malone of R.R.2, Chrisman, IL.

Pricing was as follows:

New 1954 Willys Universal Jeep, Serial #454-GB2: $1,488.75

Options: Heater: $24.96
Draw Bar: $10.02
Front Top: $72.20
Extra Seat: $21.61

Freight: $35.00

Sales Tax: $24.00

Total Delivered Price: $1,676.54

Settlement was as follows:

Cash on Delivery: $1,224.00
Trade-in Allowance: $452.24

Trade-in: 1949 Ford Anglia, Serial #C37312

Now, that was one early postwar English import! And yet, here it was in the middle of the midwest on some guy's farm, miles from the major metropolitan areas where "little furrin' cars" first invaded our shores after WWII. In fact, I'd be surprised to learn that any 1949 Anglias were imported, but they obviously were..."Farmer Malone" sure didn't dismantle this one and bring it back with him from military service in Great Britain!

Anyone know something about English Fords being imported that early? Quite a curiosity, it would appear. BP

[studegary]

Maybe they were sold in Canada and this car was brought down from there.
Some servicemen did have whole cars shipped over when they came back. If the car was from England, it would have had right hand drive.
I remember Anglias, but not that early.
That looks like a generous trade-in allowance. The car must have been good at five years old.
Many early Anglias were turned into drag cars.
Most early postwar cars that I remember, except VW, were British. There was a dealership set up after the War selling only British cars where I lived - the small (less than 1000 people) Village of Fishkill, NY. The dealership didn't last long. My father purchased the desk from the office (it went with his home in 2006). I remember the desk being delivered in a small station wagon type vehicle that had double doors on the back, possibly an English Ford.

[Skip Lackie]

It was certainly relatively easy to ship a European car to the US in those days (no EPA!), so maybe Farmer Malone bought it to run around the UK while a GI there in 1949, and got attached to it enough to ship it back. That said, the pre-53 Anglias were relatively rudimentary compared to contemporary American cars. I do remembereeing splenty of the 53-59 Anglias back in the urban East, but none of the earlier ones.

[BobPalma]

Maybe they were sold in Canada and this car was brought down from there.
Some servicemen did have whole cars shipped over when they came back. If the car was from England, it would have had right hand drive.
I remember Anglias, but not that early.
That looks like a generous trade-in allowance. The car must have been good at five years old.
Many early Anglias were turned into drag cars.
Most early postwar cars that I remember, except VW, were British. There was a dealership set up after the War selling only British cars where I lived - the small (less than 1000 people) Village of Fishkill, NY. The dealership didn't last long. My father purchased the desk from the office (it went with his home in 2006). I remember the desk being delivered in a small station wagon type vehicle that had double doors on the back, possibly an English Ford.

That's the curiosity to me; the early nature of that car. Even a mid-50s Anglia I could understand, but a 1949?

Did you see all the references to your immediate area in the January 2011 Hemmings Muscle Machines. Gary? The article about the matching Big Bad Blue 1970 Javelin and 1969 AMXs all takes place in towns you mention frequently. Nice article; nice cars. BP

[dictator27]

Pobably because of British Commonwealth connections, British cars were popular in Canada from the middle 1930's. There were Austin, Morris, English Ford, Vauxhall and Hillman dealers in Vancouver prior to 1939. One curiousity of the time was that English Fords and Vauxhalls could not be sold by domestic Ford and GM dealers, they had to be separate dealerships. I worked for Zephyr Motors in the '70's which took its name from the English Ford Zephyr because when it first opened it sold only Zephyrs and Consuls. They later sold Mercurys as well. The little immediately postwar Anglias and Prefects were popular cars here.

http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/vehicles-sale/1949-ford-anglia-sale-18319

Terry

[8E45E]

That's the curiosity to me; the early nature of that car. Even a mid-50s Anglia I could understand, but a 1949?

England's economy was in dire straits at the end of the war with a HUGE war debt, and lots of rebuilding to do from the blitz. The government of the day had an "Export of Die" mandate for most everything manufactured; especially automobiles. Cars for export were given priority over their own domestic production, and I could see why many would have turned up here in North America, not to mention our own unsatiable appetite for brand new cars until the 1953 C/K Studebakers came out.

Craig

[BobPalma]

Thanks, Terry and Craig. Good feedback.

Those cars manufactured in England for North American sales, Terry; they would have been left-hand drive, right?

I'll have to ask my Dad if he remembers this thing. He surely would, had it been right-hand drive. But I'll bet he wouldn't have allowed so much for it in trade if it had not been left-hand drive. A RHD car would have been all but impossible to sell in 1954 in Paris, and nobody was stuffing 1951-1954 Chrysler Hemis in them yet. <GGG>

Good discussion. BP

[dictator27]

Cars for export were given priority over their own domestic productionCraig

The ratio was 90% export, 10% domestic. The Austin Devon is a good example. Its production life was 1947-52, the same as Studebaker's first postwar car. The production figures for Austin were considerably lower because of ongoing steel shortages. Total production was 90,000 cars of which 81,000 were exported, leaving only 9,000 for the home market spread out over the six year period. That's only 1,500 a year. It's odd, but Devon's are a very rare car in their home country, as are virtually all British cars of that period.

Terry

[Bob Langer]

More info on Anglia.

http://www.angliaobsolete.com/history.html

[BobPalma]

More info on Anglia.

http://www.angliaobsolete.com/history.html

Good info there, Bob; thanks. It says they started importing them in 1948, as 1948 models, so there would have been a few '49s in circulation.

'Certainly is odd how one of them wound up in a little farm community, when it would be a vehicle that would appeal to city-types not venturing onto the open United States road very often. BP.

[8E45E]

Thanks, Terry and Craig. Good feedback.

Those cars manufactured in England for North American sales, Terry; they would have been left-hand drive, right?

I posted a photo of a Canadian LHD import on this thread a few months ago: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ghlight=anglia

Craig

[8E45E]

It's odd, but Devon's are a very rare car in their home country, as are virtually all British cars of that period.

Which explains why they're worth a LOT more money over there than they are here, and many do get re-patriated back to England such as this nice little Austin wagon in the top left: http://www.woodiecarclub.com/index.php?f=data_home&a=3 It was sold new in Toronto and converted to RHD.

Craig

[JBOYLE]

$1600 for a CJ-3 Jeep (the CJ-5 came out in 55). That seems fairly expensive, how does that compare with a basic Stude/Ford/Chevy sedan of the time?

[BobPalma]

$1600 for a CJ-3 Jeep (the CJ-5 came out in 55). That seems fairly expensive, how does that compare with a basic Stude/Ford/Chevy sedan of the time?

John: The Jeep was probably 4-wheel drive, which accounts for much of the cost.

Prices for basic 2-door sedans, 6 passenger (not club coupes or business coupes):

1953 Ford Mainline: $1,634
1953 Chevrolet 150: $1,613
1953 Willys Aero Lark DeLuxe: $1,500
1953 Studebaker Champion Custom: $1,735 (el strippo)
1953 Studebaker Champion DeLuxe: $1,831

The Studebaker prices give you an idea how Studebaker pricing was simply uncompetitive after maybe 1950/1951...and both the 1953 Ford and Chevrolet had OHV sixes, too...gulp.

At a time when monthly payments for a new car were less than $50 apiece, the customer might have asked his Studebaker dealer, "Why should I make two additional monthly payments to own this flathead-six-powered car instead of the Chevy or Ford?" It was a tough question to answer, if not impossible if we are honest with ourselves, and goes a long way toward explaining what happened to all the independents beginning in 1953, especially our beloved Studebaker. BP

[8E45E]

It was a tough question to answer, if not impossible if we are honest with ourselves, and goes a long way toward explaining what happened to all the independents beginning in 1953, especially our beloved Studebaker. BP

It would be interesting to speculate how Packard would have done had a)they NOT bought Studebaker, and b)had Chrysler not bought Briggs Body at the worst possible time from Packard's standpoint. In early 1954, they were still in the black, had loyal customers, and given their position in the marketplace, a good profit margin would have been realized on less volume than the Big Three.

Craig