We are told the story over and over again in school: Henry Ford’s use of assembly line methods allowed his Model T to be affordable to ordinary people. Those who are a little car savvy know that 15 million Model Ts were sold, a record not broken until 1972 by the VW Beetle and that by 1927, half of all cars on the road were Model Ts. But here, I’m not going to discuss that, I’m going to discuss the Model T’s many many successors.
Ford Model A (1927-1931)
Henry Ford had many eccentricities, and I’ll gloss over his horrifying antisemitism and chummy relationship with the Nazis. One of the less vile ones was his belief in providing only enough car to his customers. He felt a car should be 4 wheels and an engine. But that business model was not holding up well in the 1920s as General Motors whizzed past in the sales charts with comforts like electric starters. In 1927, Henry finally relented and replaced the Model T with the Model A. The switchover was so enormous that the shutdown of the factories for retooling caused a national recession. Because of his consternation, Henry had his son Edsel do much of the management.
The Model A was much more luxurious than the Tin Lizzie, offering such conveniences as an electric starter. It was also the first Ford to offer a modern style control layout with 3 pedals for gas, brakes, and clutch. In total, 5 million Model As were built between 1927 and 1931, an impressive number given the Great Depression.
Ford Model B (1932-1934)
The Model B was released during a grim time. But it continued to sell well. The most notable new feature was the option of Ford’s first flathead V8. In fact, the V8 was much more popular than the 4 cylinder, outselling it 2-1, because it was only slightly more expensive.
Ford Model 48 (1935-1936)
The Model 48 was what we’d today call a facelift. There were few changes over the B. The V8 was now standard equipment. The design was modernized with a sloping grille and windshield in keeping with the streamlining craze. The 48 was a huge success, managing to top Chevrolet in sales in 1935.
1937 Ford (1937-1940)
After keeping the Model T in production with no external design changes for 18 years, it must’ve been weird to be redesigning cars every 4 years, but it’s what the market wanted. At this point, Fords were just referred to as, well, Fords. There was only one basic model offered in dozens of trim lines and body styles, even a pickup truck, and saying that you had a Model 74 made you sound pedantic and weird. The 1937 type Ford offered two different engines, a 2.2 liter V8 or a 3.6 liter. Those are some very tiny V8s. The 1937 Ford would be very popular with hot rodders.
1941 Ford (1941-1942, 1946-1948)
The 1941 Ford continued the trend of integrating the fenders into body and the continued shrinking of the running boards. A few hundred 1942 model year cars were built before the wartime halt of civilian automobile production on February 10, 1942. For the next 3 years, the only Fords that would be built were for use as military staff cars.
Civilian automobile production resumed in July 1945 for the 1946 model year. The Ford’s biggest change was a new grille, but otherwise this was a very similar car to what was being built 3 years earlier. This particular model as a yellow convertible is well remembered as Biff Tannon’s car from Back to the Future. This generation Ford came during several critical events, Henry Ford died in 1947 and FoMoCo fell into a deep slump, even trailing Chrysler in the sales charts. For 1947, Pickup trucks were spun off into the iconic F-series. If you ever encounter this type of Ford at a car show, you will be struck by just how tall it is. At nearly 70 inches, it’s on par with most of today’s SUVs. But this was on the eve of the great lowering.
1949 Ford (1949-1951)
Ford bet the farm for 1949. The only thing not changed from 1948 was the engine. Outside, there was a stylish new Ponton shape which did away entirely with running boards and separate fenders for a body that enclosed the car in a smooth uninterrupted flow. The car was longer, lower, and wider and sported a new notchback body style with a 3rd box for the trunk replacing the old fastback look. The design covered up a radically new ladder frame chassis with independent coil spring front suspension. The 1949 Ford was a manna from heaven that vaulted Ford back into the #2 position behind GM. In 1951, Ford’s first fully automatic transmission was made optional.
1952 Ford (1952-1954)
The Ford finally got a new engine, with the 3.7 liter L-head I6 being replaced by the 3.5 liter Mileage Maker with overhead valves. The 1952 model brought back superfluous creases and edges. In 1953, power steering became available.
1955 Ford (1955-1956)
For 1955, the Ford gained the hallmarks of 50s styling. Lots of chrome? Check. Wraparound windshield? Check. Tailfins? Check. The ancient flathead V8 made way for a pair of much more powerful overhead valve ones. You could get a 4.5 liter Y block that made 162 horsepower, or you could get the 4 barrel carb 4.8 liter V8 from the Thunderbird that made 193 horsepower. One distinct model was a number called the Crown Victoria with its “basket handle” roof (pictured). For 1955 you could get seatbelts and air conditioning optional, guess which one was more popular.
1957 Ford (1957-1959)
Given how famous the 1957 Chevrolet is, would you believe Ford outsold them that year for the first time since 1935? It’s true, apparently Americans had their limits when it came to chrome and tailfins. Engine options continued to proliferate, now you could have 5.1, 5.4, or 5.8 liter versions. I’m not going to quote horsepower numbers because the SAE gross ratings that are usually quoted are wildly optimistic compared to the much more accurate SAE net ratings that we’ve used since 1972. The 1957 Ford is well remembered for its role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The most prized model was the Skyliner which had a power retractable hardtop.
1960 Ford (1960-1964)
With the 1960 Ford, the styling was toned down from the excesses of the 50s. For the first time, this big Ford would have stablemates with the introduction of the compact Falcon in 1960 and then the intermediate Fairlane in 1962. Those two cars would cannibalize sales of the big Ford. With the Fairlane name being moved to the smaller car, all big Fords would be known as Galaxy after 1962 until 1966. Engines continued to balloon in size, you could now get a 6.4 liter, a 6.6 liter, and the NASCAR bound 7 liter that would be used by Caroll Shelby in his famous Cobra.
1965 Ford (1965-1968)
For 1965, the big Ford got even bigger. The styling was a disappointment, the stacked lights being a blatant ripoff of the 1964 Pontiacs. The nameplate simplicity that existed from 1962 was ended in 1966 when the “Galaxie 500” prefix was removed from the top-of-the-line LTD. The LTD, introduced in 1965, was a successful effort of Ford to push upmarket after the failure of the Edsel. Its most notable feature was a vinyl roof, which would show up everywhere in the 70s. The rear suspension was switched from leaf to coil springs.
1969 Ford (1969-1978)
The 1969 Ford would last for 8 years and live through the worst of the malaise era. It was absolutely massive at this point, up to 121 inches in wheelbase. The 1969 LTD is easily identified by the hidden headlights which are integrated into the grille, creating a cyclops look. Yet another larger engine was added, a 7.5 liter V8. In 1970, Ford once again outsold Chevrolet. This time it was because of a massive 67 day strike that brought GM production to a halt in Autumn 1970. 1972 saw the end of full sized convertibles. 1973 brought the heavy and ugly 5 mph bumpers.
1974 brought a facelift with the headlights integrated into the grille being replaced by a more traditional look and disappearing headlights reappeared on more expensive models. The Galaxie nameplate was discontinued in 1975 leaving just the LTD. The most famous model of this generation was the Country Squire station wagon. No car is more of a cliche of 1970s suburbia than a woodie and Ford completely dominated the market for full sized station wagons, (my Dad was ferried around in a Country Squire). That wood panelling is an example of skeuomorphism. Dictionary lesson!
Skeuomorph
an ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.
In this case, the “other technique” was to have the frame actually made from wood, which is what station wagons in the 1940s were made from. So, in the 60s and 70s, it became cool and chic to reproduce this look with vinyl wood. This model would mark the peak of excess of American cars, the last time big rear wheel drive V8 cars ruled the roads. It saw 5 mph bumpers, smog regulations, the 1973 oil crisis, and corporate average fuel economy laws. In 1977, GM made the radical step of downsizing its big cars. Ford arrogantly assumed buyers would be scared away from these new small big cars, but they could not have been more wrong as GM saw a whopping 50% rise in sales. The writing was on the wall.
Ford LTD/LTD Crown Victoria (1979-1991)
Ford joined the downsizing wave in 1979. The LTD was 15 inches shorter and 400 pound lighter than the 1978 model. It was now smaller in every dimension than the LTD II which was supposed to be the “trim” big car. Because of that, the engines could also be made much smaller, with the 5.8 liter now becoming the biggest unit. In 1980, Ford brought back the Crown Victoria name with the LTD Crown Victoria. In 1982, the LTD name was moved to a midsized car based on the Ford Granada, leaving just the LTD Crown Victoria. During the 1980s, large body on frame sedans went out of style. By 1991, most LTDs were police cars or taxicabs, with most of the few retail buyers being AARP members. 1979 would be the last full redesign ever for the big Ford, with the Panther platform staying on for the next 32 years.
Ford Crown Victoria (1992-1997)
In 1992, the big Ford’s name was shortened to just Crown Victoria. It gained a new aerodynamic body similar to the company’s own Taurus. It’s clear that this was the beginning of the end for the traditional Ford. The station wagon models were discontinued, leaving just the 4 door sedan and there was only one engine, a 4.6 liter V8. When the Crown Vic’s only real rival, the Chevrolet Caprice, was discontinued in 1996, Ford saw no sales boost. To get around the gas guzzler tax, production was moved to Canada, that way, it was part of Ford’s import vehicle portfolio under CAFE rules along with the subcompact Ford Festiva.
Ford Crown Victoria (1998-2012)
For this one, I am using a police version as my photo, because that’s how most of us remember these cars. Retail buyers simply were not there. The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor became its own seperate model because of the importance of that market. Changes that would occur included new suspension and anti lock brakes. The engine was boosted in power from 215 at first to 239 in 2003. By 2006, 95% of Crown Vic purchases were to fleets and as such, it was decided to end retail sales in 2007, with the twin Mercury Grand Marquis picking up the slack for those few buyers. By 2012, when electronic stability control became mandatory, the cost of adding it was deemed too expensive, and the Crown Victoria, along with the other Panther platform cars: the Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis, was killed off for good.
Ford Taurus (2010-2019)
With the end of the Crown Vic, the full sized Taurus was the closest thing to its replacement. It was however, very different from the Crown Vic and all the other full sized Fords going back to the Model T; it’s front wheel drive and has unibody construction, it doesn’t even offer a V8. The redesigned Taurus was launched to much fanfare in 2010, with everyone being excited about the bold new styling and the return of the high performance SHO model with a 365 horsepower twin turbo V6. But people just aren’t buying big sedans anymore and in early 2018, Ford announced it was killing off the Taurus along with the Fusion, Focus, and Fiesta to focus (no pun intended) on the more profitable SUVs.
Ford Explorer (2020-)
Some may claim that the Model T’s lineage will die with the Taurus after the 2019 model year, but will it really? Check out the Explorer. It’s based on the same platform as the Taurus, and using unibody construction and carlike suspension, it’s really a jacked up Taurus wagon. And at 70 inches tall, as I said before, it’s roughly the same height as the full sized Fords of the 30s and 40s. And the Explorer was the vehicle that started the whole SUV craze in the 90s. I think it’s fair to say that it is the Explorer that picks up the baton from the Taurus that has been passed no less than 16 times. So for those people who buy Explorers after 2020, know that your SUV carries a proud legacy going back to the Model T.