1954 Willys Aero-Lark DeLuxe 226 / Mecum Auctions
In Jeff Nelson’s post on early U.S. compacts, he explained that one of the reasons most of these cars fell flat commercially was that they were little if any cheaper than a basic full-size domestic sedan. However, some readers came away wondering how much the early compacts actually cost. Let’s take a look at their retail prices and how they compared to the cheaper full-size cars of this era.
Chevrolet and Ford
A good baseline for comparing inexpensive cars of the ’50s is the low end of the Chevrolet and Ford lines. Chevrolet and Ford were the best-selling cars in America at this time, and so they were often the default choice for people seeking a relatively cheap new car.
1952 Ford Mainline Six Tudor sedan — base price $1,629 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Mecum Auctions
Some of the prices I was able to compile (which I took as from contemporary sources as much as possible) differ from the numbers you’ll find in modern sources like the Krause Publications Standard Catalog series. One reason is that prices sometimes changed at odd times due to to Korean War price controls; manufacturers needed permission from the Office of Price Stabilization (OPS) to change their prices, and if that authorization was issued, it took effect whenever the OPS got around to it. Second, I found that the Standard Catalog and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide authors were annoyingly inconsistent in whether they included handling charges and federal excise tax. (Both should be included, since they were part of the base price that buyers paid, and they counted toward local taxes and license fees.)
1952 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe two-door sedan — base price $1,711 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Connors Motorcar Company
In this era, base model cars were usually REALLY basic, so most buyers went for the first step up, which Chevrolet called Deluxe (or later 210) and Ford called Custom Deluxe (or later Customline). Here’s how prices compared for six-cylinder two-door sedans:
| Model | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,403 | $1,403 | $1,617 | $1,613 | $1,623 | $1,685 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,482 | $1,482 | $1,711 | $1,707 | $1,717 | $1,775 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,425 | $1,424 | $1,629 | $1,627 | $1,651 | $1,707 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,511 | $1,511 | $1,721 | $1,719 | $1,744 | $1,801 |
Because Ford and Chevrolet were the industry’s volume leaders by a huge margin, it was very, very difficult for any other manufacturer to match them on price. Histories of the early compacts will often point to the 1953 Ford-Chevrolet price war that followed the lifting of Korean War restrictions, but the economies of scale were so great that Chevrolet and Ford could easily trample all over any other low-price make even without actively trying to cut each other’s throats. Both makes also had vastly more dealerships than any competitor (7,190 for Chevrolet and 6,662 for Ford as of January 1950), which pushed their transaction prices even lower in ways it was tough for other manufacturers to beat.
1952 Ford Mainline Six and 1952 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe / Mecum Auctions and Connors Motorcar Company
Nash Rambler
Faced with this challenge, Nash-Kelvinator decided to take a novel approach to marketing its compact Nash Rambler. When the Rambler debuted in early 1950, there were no basic two-door or four-door sedans or business coupes (although those were added later), just an odd little convertible landau and a two-door wagon. Both were initially offered only in fancy Custom trim (Nash-speak for super deluxe), and they included a lot of standard equipment you paid extra for on a Chevrolet or Ford, including the Nash “Weather Eye” fresh-air heater, a radio, and a clock.
1950 Nash Rambler Custom Convertible Landau — base price $1,808 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / RM Sotheby’s
The starting prices of both 1950 Rambler Custom models was $1,808, which wasn’t cheap. (Its relative worth in 2025 dollars would be about $37,350.) You could have a new Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop for $67 less. However, ordering comparable equipment on a Chevrolet or Ford would cost you over $200, so the Rambler wasn’t a terrible value. More important, this merchandising strategy discouraged buyers from regarding the Rambler as just a basic econobox.
1950 Nash Rambler Custom Convertible Landau / RM Sotheby’s
Over the next few years, Nash gradually expanded the Rambler lineup, adding some additional upscale models, like a Custom Country Club hardtop, and some cheaper ones, like the Rambler Suburban wagon.
1950 Nash Rambler Custom Station Wagon — base price $1,808 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Volo Auto Sales
(Because the following chart is already very cluttered, I included only the Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 prices for comparison, coloring those columns fuchsia to make them more visible.)
| Model | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,403 | $1,403 | $1,617 | $1,613 | $1,623 | $1,685 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,482 | $1,482 | $1,711 | $1,707 | $1,717 | $1,775 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,425 | $1,424 | $1,629 | $1,627 | $1,651 | $1,707 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,511 | $1,511 | $1,721 | $1,719 | $1,744 | $1,801 |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,695 | $1,585 |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | — | $1,695 |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 2D wagon | — | — | — | — | — | $1,771 |
| Nash Rambler Super 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,845 | $1,683 |
| Nash Rambler Super 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,995 | $1,798 |
| Nash Rambler Super Country Club 2HT | — | — | — | — | $1,945 | — |
| Nash Rambler Super Suburban 2D wagon | — | $1,723 | $2,003 | $2,003 | $1,945 | $1,869 |
| Nash Rambler Custom 2D wagon | $1,808 | $1,837 | $2,119 | $2,119 | $2,095 | — |
| Nash Rambler Custom 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | $2,175 | $1,989 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Cross Country 4D wagon | — | — | — | — | $2,050 | $2,098 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Country Club 2HT | — | $1,837 | $2,094 | $2,125 | $2,095 | $1,995 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Landau convertible | $1,808 | $1,885 | $2,119 | $2,150 | $2,125 | — |
It wasn’t until 1954 that Nash offered a basic Rambler DeLuxe two-door club sedan that competed directly with Ford and Chevrolet on price, and even then, Nash advertising continued to emphasize the pricier versions.
Henry J
Like Nash CEO George W. Mason and his deputy, George Romney, Kaiser-Frazer co-founder Henry J. Kaiser was a compact car believer — he had been exploring the idea of a compact “people’s car” since before Kaiser-Frazer was formed, although Joe Frazer had (temporarily) talked him out of it. However, the idea resurfaced again in late 1948, when Kaiser went to the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) for a large loan to cover development and inventory costs.
Henry J. Kaiser in 1950 with a prototype of his new compact, not yet called Henry J — the lettering above the grille says “Name the Car”
Not long before that, Kaiser had been approached by an automotive supplier called American Metal Products (AMP), which had commissioned the steel fabricator Haber Stump Harris to design an odd-looking compact sedan. Henry J. Kaiser had taken a fancy to it, seeing it as a ready-made “working man’s car” they could show to the RFC. During loan negotiations, Kaiser promised the RFC that Kaiser-Frazer could have a production version ready for public airing by mid-1950, with a rock-bottom price of just $1,195. The car, the deadline, and the price became conditions of the $69 million RFC loan, much to the dismay of the company’s more seasoned automotive staff: The AMP car, which had no commonality with the bigger Kaiser or Frazer models, ended up requiring an extensive crash redesign program that led several Kaiser-Frazer designers and engineers to quit in protest. The big 226 cubic inch Continental six used in the full-size models wasn’t suitable, so Kaiser had to purchase four- and six-cylinder engines from Frazer’s former company, Willys-Overland.
The “Henry J” name was selected in a 1950 contest / Classic Auto Mall
Since Kaiser-Frazer’s corporate back was against the wall, the Henry J debuted on schedule at the Chicago Auto Show in 1950 and launched in late September, just as Kaiser had promised the RFC. Unlike the Rambler, the Henry J DID go head-to-head with Ford and Chevrolet on price: The initial list price of a basic four-cylinder Henry J was $1,299 including federal tax (a relative worth of $25,490 in 2025), while the six-cylinder DeLuxe started at $1,429 (a relative worth of $28,040 in 2025 dollars), within $30 of the bigger six-cylinder Chevrolet and Ford.
1951 Henry J standard two-door sedan — initial base price $1,299 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Classic Auto Mall
The base Henry J actually missed the promised price target by over $100, but I assume the RFC agreed to make some allowance for inflation. However, even getting close to the original goal required an incredibly stripped-down car, lacking a glove box and even an opening trunk lid (although the latter was offered later in production).
1951 Henry J didn’t have an opening trunk lid / Classic Auto Mall
1951 Henry J also had no glove box / Classic Auto Mall
This degree of austerity didn’t go over so well with contemporary buyers, especially for so little real savings over a more habitable Ford or Chevrolet, so Kaiser-Frazer ended the 1951 model year with about 7,000 unsold cars, which were repackaged with sporty Continental kits and marketed again as the 1952 Henry J Vagabond and Vagabond DeLuxe. (Given the car’s already-impoverished specification, it might have been prudent to call it something that didn’t imply that the owner was living in their car, but I guess it made sense to Henry and Edgar Kaiser.)
The actual 1952 models were now called Henry J Corsair. Kaiser also arranged to sell some cars through Sears-Roebuck under the Allstate name in 1952 and 1953. The Allstate generally had the same prices as a comparable Henry J Corsair, but it offered certain combinations the Henry J didn’t, like a four-cylinder DeLuxe.
1952 Henry J Corsair DeLuxe / Bilweb Auctions
Trying to make sense of Henry J and Allstate prices through this period gave me a terrible headache: Kaiser-Frazer got OPS permission to increase prices for 1952, then cut them in June, only to raise them again in August. Even after the price controls ended, it appears that Kaiser raised or lowered prices several times during subsequent model years. The numbers in the table are one set of several contemporary prices, each of which was valid at a different time.
| Model | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,403 | $1,617 | $1,613 | $1,623 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,482 | $1,711 | $1,707 | $1,717 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,424 | $1,629 | $1,627 | $1,651 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,511 | $1,721 | $1,719 | $1,744 |
| Henry J/Henry J Corsair 2D sedan | $1,299 | $1,449 | $1,499 | $1,404 |
| Henry J/Henry J Corsair DeLuxe 2D sedan | $1,429 | $1,594 | $1,686 | $1,566 |
| Henry J Vagabond 2D sedan | — | $1,407 | — | — |
| Henry J Vagabond DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | $1,552 | — | — |
| Allstate standard 2D sedan | — | $1,434 | $1,399 | — |
| Allstate DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | $1,578 | $1,660 | — |
The good news for Kaiser-Frazer was that Chevrolet and Ford had raised their prices enough to put a Chevrolet Special 150 or Ford Mainline Six at least $150 above a four-cylinder Henry J Corsair. The bad news was that that wasn’t enough to make the Henry J very desirable, despite some improvements to the 1953 models.
1953 Henry J Corsair DeLuxe — base price $1,686, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Mecum Auctions
By the 1954 model year, Kaiser had merged with Willys, so the 1954 Henry J Corsair got more price cuts (and nothing else): Automotive Industries quoted $1,404 for the four-cylinder, $1,566 for the six-cylinder DeLuxe as of February 1954. Having to share showroom space with the similarly sized and significantly less oddball (if much more expensive) Aero-Willys line did the Henry J no favors, and it was gone by the end of the model year.
Aero-Willys
Like the Henry J, the Aero-Willys began as an outside design. It was conceived after WW2 by former Packard chief engineer Clyde R. Paton, aided by designer Phil Wright. Paton pitched Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, and Willys in 1948, but it wasn’t until June 1950 that Willys chairman Ward Canady decided he was interested enough to proceed. The Paton proposal got a hasty freshening, shedding a couple of its more ambitious ideas in the process (Paton had suggested independent rear suspension and an H-4 engine), and it was approved for an October 1951 launch.
Willys officials examine an Aero-Willys — the man in the center (third from right) in the dark suit is Clyde Paton
The Aero-Willys looked more down to earth than the eccentric early Rambler or the hapless Henry J, a mostly pleasant small car with solid “Aero-Frame” unitized construction and decent performance from Willys L-head or F-head sixes.
1952 Willys Aero-Lark — base price $1,731 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / RM Sotheby’s
Unfortunately, the Aero line’s comparative orthodoxy probably invited comparison with low-price full-size cars, and that only served to emphasize that the Aero-Willys was awfully pricey — in part because Willys had outsourced production and assembly of the unit body to Murray Corporation. Starting at $1,731 (a relative worth of $32,755 in 2025 dollars), the cheapest 1952 Aero-Lark cost $20 more than a Chevrolet Deluxe 210 and $10 more than a Ford Customline Six. The top-of-the-line Aero-Eagle hardtop started at $2,155 (a relative worth of about $40,780 in 2025), which would just about put you in a Buick Special in 1952.
1952 Willys Aero-Ace two-door sedan — base price $2,074 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Barrett-Jackson
1952 Willys Aero-Ace two-door sedan / Barrett-Jackson
Willys managed to trim prices a little for 1953 while adding four-door sedan models in addition to the original two-doors. However, they were still too expensive: Starting at $1,963, the top-line Aero-Ace sedan was now $169 more than a V-8 Ford Customline sedan, and unlike Rambler, Willys couldn’t justify the price with lavish standard equipment.
1953 Willys Aero-Eagle hardtop — base price $2,157 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Daytona Auto & Memorabilia Museum
Following the Kaiser merger, the Continental 226 engine from the big Kaiser cars became optional on the Aero cars in March 1954, but it just made them even more expensive — a 1954 Aero Eagle Custom with the 226 now listed for $2,411 (a relative worth of about $42,400 in 2025), $156 more than a Buick Special Riviera, and that price didn’t even include a heater.
| Model | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,617 | $1,613 | $1,623 | $1,685 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,711 | $1,707 | $1,717 | $1,775 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,629 | $1,627 | $1,651 | $1,707 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,721 | $1,719 | $1,744 | $1,801 |
| Willys Aero-Lark DeLuxe 2D sedan | $1,731 | $1,646 | $1,737 | — |
| Willys Aero-Lark DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | $1,732 | $1,823 | — |
| Willys Aero-Wing/Aero-Falcon Super DeLuxe 2D sedan | $1,989 | $1,760 | — | — |
| Willys Aero-Falcon Super DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | $1,861 | — | — |
| Willys Aero-Ace Custom 2D sedan | $2,074 | $1,963 | $1,892 | — |
| Willys Aero-Ace Custom 4D sedan | — | $2,038 | $1,968 | — |
| Willys Aero-Eagle 2HT | $2,155 | $2,157 | $2,167 | — |
| Willys Aero-Eagle Custom 226 2HT | — | — | $2,411 | — |
| Willys Custom 2D sedan | — | — | — | $1,663 |
| Willys Custom 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,725 |
| Willys Bermuda 2HT | — | — | — | $1,795 |
| Willys Ace 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,856 |
For 1955, Willys dropped the “Aero” name and rationalized the line into two- and four-door Custom sedans, a Bermuda hardtop, and an Ace sedan, all now priced to go head-to-head with the six-cylinder Ford and Chevrolet. Inevitably, the Willys were like bugs on a windshield in that contest, and by June 1955, the tooling for these cars had fled Toledo and was on its way to Willys do Brasil.
1955 Willys Bermuda hardtop — base price $1,795 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Savoy Automobile Museum
Hudson Jet
Unlike the Henry J and Aero-Willys, the short-lived Hudson Jet was an in-house design, but it was hampered by a conflicting array of outside influences: Originally inspired by the Fiat 1400, it ended up as a too-tall mashup of design cues borrowed from the 1952 Ford and Oldsmobile. Not content with the stylistic misfire, Hudson management outsourced production to Murray Corporation, as Willys had with the Aero cars, and made a number of bad calls on how to schedule the amortization of the tooling costs.
1953 Hudson Super Jet four-door sedan — base price $1,954 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Bring a Trailer
Like the Aero-Willys, the Hudson Jet ended up painfully expensive: The cheapest 1953 Jet sedan started at $1,858 (a relative worth of about $33,500 in 2025), with the plusher Super Jet starting at $1,933 (a relative worth of about $34,850 in 2025). For that kind of money, there would have been no very strong reason not to buy a Ford Customline V-8 ($1,794) or a Chevrolet Bel Air ($1,820 in two-door sedan form) even if Ford and Chevrolet hadn’t decided to take advantage of the end of Korean War restrictions to go to war with each other on the retail sales front, which they did. The awkward-looking Jet was one of various independents caught in the crossfire.
1953 Hudson Super Jet four-door sedan / Bring a Trailer
Hudson management, perhaps shell-shocked, decided to add a fancier Jet-Liner model for 1954, with prices starting at $2,046, $113 more than the already-expensive Super Jet. (You can guess how well that worked out.) There was also a slightly cheaper two-door Jet club coupe, but since it cost only $22 less than the cheapest 1953 Jet, its impact was minuscule.
1954 Hudson Jet Family Club two-door sedan — base price $1,837 FOB, including factory handling charge and federal excise tax / Mecum Auctions
| Model | 1953 | 1954 |
|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,613 | $1,623 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,707 | $1,717 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,627 | $1,651 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,719 | $1,744 |
| Hudson Jet Family Club 2D sedan | — | $1,837 |
| Hudson Jet 4D sedan | $1,858 | $1,858 |
| Hudson Super Jet 2D sedan | $1,933 | $1,933 |
| Hudson Super Jet 4D sedan | $1,954 | $1,954 |
| Hudson Jet-Liner 2D sedan | — | $2,046 |
| Hudson Jet-Liner 4D sedan | — | $2,057 |
Following the merger of Hudson and Nash, the Jet flew off into the sunset after 1954, and Hudson dealers got 1955 Ramblers to sell instead. Powerful Hudson dealer Jim Moran, who had been the one who insisted on making the Jet look like the ’52 Ford, then jumped ship for Ford, which seems to have been what he really wanted in the first place.
All Compact Prices
The table below puts all the prices together for easier reference.
| Model | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Styleline/Special 150 2D sedan | $1,403 | $1,403 | $1,617 | $1,613 | $1,623 | $1,685 |
| Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe/Deluxe 210 2D sedan | $1,482 | $1,482 | $1,711 | $1,707 | $1,717 | $1,775 |
| Ford Deluxe Six/Mainline Six 2D sedan | $1,425 | $1,424 | $1,629 | $1,627 | $1,651 | $1,707 |
| Ford Custom Deluxe Six/Customline Six 2D sedan | $1,511 | $1,511 | $1,721 | $1,719 | $1,744 | $1,801 |
| Henry J/Henry J Corsair 2D sedan | — | $1,299 | $1,449 | $1,499 | $1,404 | — |
| Henry J/Henry J Corsair DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | $1,429 | $1,594 | $1,686 | $1,566 | — |
| Henry J Vagabond 2D sedan | — | — | $1,407 | — | — | — |
| Henry J Vagabond DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | $1,552 | — | — | — |
| Allstate standard 2D sedan | — | — | $1,434 | $1,399 | — | — |
| Allstate DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | $1,578 | $1,660 | — | — |
| Hudson Jet Family Club 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,837 | — |
| Hudson Jet 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,858 | $1,858 | — |
| Hudson Super Jet 2D sedan | — | — | — | $1,933 | $1,933 | — |
| Hudson Super Jet 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,954 | $1,954 | — |
| Hudson Jet-Liner 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $2,046 | — |
| Hudson Jet-Liner 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | $2,057 | — |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,695 | $1,585 |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | — | $1,695 |
| Nash Rambler DeLuxe 2D wagon | — | — | — | — | — | $1,771 |
| Nash Rambler Super 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,845 | $1,683 |
| Nash Rambler Super 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | $1,995 | $1,798 |
| Nash Rambler Super Country Club 2HT | — | — | — | — | $1,945 | — |
| Nash Rambler Super Suburban 2D wagon | — | $1,723 | $2,003 | $2,003 | $1,945 | $1,869 |
| Nash Rambler Custom 2D wagon | $1,808 | $1,837 | $2,119 | $2,119 | $2,095 | — |
| Nash Rambler Custom 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | $2,175 | $1,989 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Cross Country 4D wagon | — | — | — | — | $2,050 | $2,098 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Country Club 2HT | — | $1,837 | $2,094 | $2,125 | $2,095 | $1,995 |
| Nash Rambler Custom Landau convertible | $1,808 | $1,885 | $2,119 | $2,150 | $2,125 | — |
| Willys Aero-Lark DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | $1,731 | $1,646 | $1,737 | — |
| Willys Aero-Lark DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,732 | $1,823 | — |
| Willys Aero-Wing/Aero-Falcon Super DeLuxe 2D sedan | — | — | $1,989 | $1,760 | — | — |
| Willys Aero-Falcon Super DeLuxe 4D sedan | — | — | — | $1,861 | — | — |
| Willys Aero-Ace Custom 2D sedan | — | — | $2,074 | $1,963 | $1,892 | — |
| Willys Aero-Ace Custom 4D sedan | — | — | — | $2,038 | $1,968 | — |
| Willys Aero-Eagle 2HT | — | — | $2,155 | $2,157 | $2,167 | — |
| Willys Aero-Eagle Custom 226 2HT | — | — | — | — | $2,411 | — |
| Willys Custom 2D sedan | — | — | — | — | — | $1,663 |
| Willys Custom 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | — | $1,725 |
| Willys Bermuda 2HT | — | — | — | — | — | $1,795 |
| Willys Ace 4D sedan | — | — | — | — | — | $1,856 |
With the benefit of hindsight, it becomes clear that the only winning strategy for U.S. compacts in this period was to deliberately avoid direct comparisons with cheap full-size cars. A decade later, U.S. buyers would strongly favor orthodoxy in their compact cars, but in the early ’50s, it was hard enough to compete with Ford and Chevrolet on price, much less meaningfully undercut them — the only way to get ahead was to offer something they didn’t, even if it cost more.
1951 Nash Rambler Custom Country Club hardtop / Bring a Trailer
Related Reading
The First Wave Of Compacts From The 1950s – The Pioneers Take The Arrows (by Jeff Nelson)
Car Show Classic: 1953 Kaiser Henry J Corsair de Luxe – Big Name, Little Car, No Sale (by Tom Klockau)
Curbside Classic: 1953 Willys Aero-Lark – The Failed Sneak Preview Of The Falcon, Lark And Other Compacts (by Paul N)
Car Show Classic: 1954 Hudson Jet – A Torpedo In A Plain Beige Wrapper (Or Hudson’s Deadly Sin #1) (by Nigel R. Tate)
Junkyard Classic/Automotive History: 1955 Rambler Cross Country – How Rambler Won The Compact And Price Wars Of The 1950’s And Saved AMC (by Paul N)
We had pounds not dollars back then but around 1500 pounds got you a new Chevy some of it in advance in foreign exchange with your order and be in quick once the import quota sold out that was it until the next model.
Worth reading! Agree that those Krause books are messy. The ‘catalog’ of independents goes into great detail on the nearly nonexistent differences between Kaiser and Frazer but doesn’t even mention the Henry J, and pays little attention to the Aero.
I’m sympathetic to the editors insofar as the available information is sometimes really spotty, and was even more so when most of those books were compiled in the ’80s and ’90s. When you’re dealing with such a huge volume of information, there are also going to be some glitches. Still, it can be a problem.
Incidentally, while I don’t have the Krause independents book, Standard Catalog of American Cars DOES list the Henry J, albeit in the “Alternative Cars” appendix. The Henry J was sort of notionally a separate marque, so they banished it to the kids’ table with the likes of the Crosley and Avanti II. The Aero Willys line is included under Willys-Overland in the main section.
Pretty easy to see why they were a flop. Why would you when you could get a Ford or Chev for just a couple more dollars? Plus more dealers, better parts support, better service departments I’m sure. It’s a no brainer to me BUT I wasn’t there at the time.
And then there’s the matter of resale value. Back in those days nothing in the low-price market touched a Chevrolet for resale value.
To be fair, back in those pre-inflation days, a couple hundred dollars was a lot of money. But the independents just couldn’t overcome the Big 3’s advantages, namely huge dealer networks, as well as big marketing budgets. Those are tough hurdles, even if you have a superior product.
Even without the Ford-Chevrolet price war, the independent compacts were doomed to fail. A shame, because it was an example of the right cars at the wrong time. It’s actually a little surprising that Rambler managed to survive.
And I still wonder about the 1947 Chevrolet Cadet concept and how it might have impacted the decisions of the independents. Is it possible that they saw GM’s late cancellation of the Cadet into the compact market an opportunity for them to seize upon?
The Nashes are just embarrassingly ugly.
Imagine pulling into the driveway with a shiny, new bathtub! Good times!
Beauty is directly affected by the time it’s seen in. Back in 1950, General Motors was in Year Two of changing the buying public’s understanding of what was attractive and desirable, yet the Nash, Hudson, and Studebaker were still considered attractive automobiles.
Unfortunately, for them, that window was closing very fast. By 1953 it had slammed shut on Hudson, Nash had done a restyle that was giving them a couple more years but it wasn’t the Hrley Earl mainstream, and Studebaker was still trying to work out the bugs on their radically new 1953’s to get them off the line and into the dealers.
In 1950, a significant percentage of the cars on American roads still sported styling from 1939.
Well, and beyond that, in 1950, 55 percent of the cars registered on American roads WERE still prewar models, postwar seller’s market notwithstanding.
At the time most families had one car and that car had to serve all needs. With larger families a compact wouldn’t be large enough to fit everyone in it. Today with every driver having a car it makes sense for compact cars. If one person only needs a car to get to the workplace then c compact would fit the bill.
Regarding the Willys Aero, with seat width the same as Buick, they were certainly roomy enough, owners would make up for the price by the superior handling, steering, fuel economy, far more efficient engine, overdrive availability, way better visibility. Over a few years of use, the savings would easily make up for the original price. But most buyers were already dedicated Chevy, Ford, or Plymouth customers, so this was fighting that tradition. Not realized by the market then was that the big 3 were still using pre war chassis design, where the Aero was all brand new and much more modern.
Duane, if I were a betting man back then instead of a toddler I would have thought the Aero would succeed. Willys was making smaller cars since the 30s and had the institutional memory. However remember then used car depreciation was substantial and cars would usually be traded in after 3 or four years. The competitor wasn’t so much a new Chevy but a two year old Pontiac. It seems the genius of the Rambler was not to replace the Ford or Chevy in the garage but to be next to the Olds or Mercury for the more affluent. Something the Mrs could take to the hairdresser or the country club that was easy to drive economical yet well appointed. The only experience I had with the Henry J was a neighbor who y father called a cheap Dutchman owned one. (There were a number of Dutch expats in Green Bay working for a large Shell Oil facility)
My impression is that the prewar Willyses were very much what we’d now call penalty boxes, and the institutional memory of them did not do Willys any favors. This wasn’t helped by the Spartan interiors of the Aero. It seems to have been a well engineered car, but it didn’t make you feel like a million bucks driving it, despite the price tag. Then you add in all the other factors including the dealership network (the dealer in my hometown was comically small from what I could find) and it would have put a lot of people off, even if they liked the basic idea.
There was a middle ground that never comes into these discussions: the Studebaker Champion. It was a little smaller than Ford and Chevrolet, but still close enough in interior room. It was lightweight, had a smaller six, and with OD delivered superior fuel mileage. And if it’s resale value wasn’t as good as a Chevy, it was still far better than anything examined here, other than maybe the Rambler. One source lists a 1952 Champion sedan at $1736, which wasn’t far above the big sellers.
I can’t help but wonder if some combination of Depression-era or European mindsets didn’t nurture the seeds for these cars. The Rambler (and imports like MG) proved that in the postwar US, the scarcity mindset was on the run and Americans would only embrace small cars because they were desirable, not because they had to settle.
I also wonder if this lesson wasn’t one of the reasons cars like the Pinto and Vega did not follow the Euro-Asian model for efficient small car designs, but were conceived as (bad) small sports cars instead.
In 1952, the cheapest Studebaker Champion two-door sedan listed for $1,724. (There was also a business coupe that was a little cheaper, but I’ve discounted those, as I think they were mostly sold for traveling salesmen or fleet buyers.) That was $107 more than a base-model Chevrolet two-door sedan. Most private Chevrolet buyers bought the DeLuxe/210, which was still $13 cheaper than the Champion, and honestly a better deal in terms of value for money.
Studebaker could not even approximate the production efficiency of Chevrolet or Ford, so they had problems keeping their costs down, and they REALLY got hammered in the Ford-Chevrolet price was of 1953.
I don’t argue that Studebaker was taking sales from Ford or Chevrolet. It was taking sales from these new compacts. The Champion was bigger and cost roughly the same (or less), while being economical with decent resale value. They were a better value than compacts and therefore sold in decent numbers, especially before the botched 1953 redesign.
Plus, keep in mind that 1952 was sixth (and final) year of the “which way is it going” Studebaker body, and the American car buyer was getting really picky when it came to appearance. The real big deal regarding Studebaker/Hudson/Nash was while they beat GM to the “postwar car”, once Harley Earl had put out HIS version of the “postwar car” everybody else’s answer was suddenly wrong.
Studebaker may have been better off if they had come up with the abortive 1952 redesign that never jelled, because while everyone goes on longly and loudly about how gorgeous the two-door sedan/hardtop was, nobody ever mentions that the 1953 sedan that finally appear was an absolute dog with the coupe’s front end tacked on. Badly, as it turned out, since they lost months of production trying to get the parts to line up.
I wonder how much purchasing decisions were also driven by local Garages and shade tree mechanics not wanting to work on unusual vehicles?
I grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s, so I can’t speak for shade tree grease monkeys from the 1950s, but I remember Carquest auto parts shops carrying odd bits for almost every old car named here. They were still carrying parts for Model Ts in 1980. First time I had heard of a Henry J or an Allstate was seeing them in the catalog. That being said, I remember my dad telling me that in 1949, a fella who owned a Studebaker had to wait almost a month for a part to come from South Bend IN to Santa Fe, NM. I would guess slow parts delivery and resale value were the big negatives.
To be fair, both GM and Ford did offer smaller cars in the era, if you *really* wanted one. You could buy a Vauxhall from some Pontiac dealers, Opel from some Buick dealers, and the sub-brand of English Fords called… English Ford. From what I gather, none of them was highly marketed from corporate headquarters and they sold in minuscule numbers.
You could get an English Ford in the U.S. at this point, but during this period, a Vauxhall or Opel (or a German Ford) would have been a private import. Offering those cars through U.S. dealers officially was a product of the late ’50s recession, so other than English Ford, those deals weren’t even signed until late 1957.
It is interesting to see 1950s prices converted to today’s dollars. It shows how expensive driving was back then. The cost of cars, adjusted, was not that different than today. The cost of ownership was a lot more, with consumables going much faster in those days. Tires, for example, were more expensive then than now and they didn’t last very long.
Another thing of note is how total cheapo cars have never really sold well. The stippo Chevrolet Spark and Nissan Micra didn’t sell well in Canada.
I would say there were three primary reasons the early domestic compacts didn’t make it (Rambler just barely):
The Big 3 cars weren’t yet all that big; that happened starting in ’56. Their dramatic growth and styling excesses turned a lot of folks off, and they ran to Rambler or imports.
Ford and GM had invested heavily in new production facilities after the war, and when these came on line by 1953, they had every incentive to battle for market share to keep these new plants running efficiently. Thus their price war. And their vast volume made it impossible for the domestics to compete on price.
Up until the 1958 recession, the economy was generally strong, and buying a large car, especially a nice one like a Bel Air or Buick Special was seen as a worthwhile financial risk due to the increased prestige value. That sentiment evaporated in 1958 and didn’t return until 1962. Large cars were seen as a dubious value during those years.
“The Big 3 cars weren’t yet all that big; that happened starting in ’56. Their dramatic growth and styling excesses turned a lot of folks off, and they ran to Rambler or imports.”
I came here to say essentially what I found in Paul’s comment. Plymouth wasn’t helping the case for these compacts either, with a wheelbase starting at 111 inches.
And, there were plenty of foreign makes trying to create a small car market in the US, likely built with lower cost post war labor.
The Nash Rambler introduced in 1950 was discontinued after 1955, the answer to a question a limited number of people were asking.
For 1958, AMC Rambler pulled out the tooling for the 1950-1955 Rambler, slightly reworked it, and it suddenly worked. It appears 1958 was a partial year, sales exploded for 1959 and in 1960 sales hit 300K units.
That wasn’t yet a big factor in the period described. There were various imports in the early ’50s, since it wasn’t yet very difficult to set up some kind of foothold here, but total import sales didn’t top 30,000 units until 1955. Imported cars didn’t really become a meaningful market phenomenon until later in the decade.
I burst out laughing at the ad touting the Henry J as a sports car. Absolutely clueless! Guess they were desperate to sell it any way they could.
A very interesting story. I knew the Rambler avoided unfortunate comparison by debuting with specialty models not directly comparable, then bringing the regular bodystyles into production once Rambler was established in the public’s mind. A great way of handling the inherent price disadvantage. Really, the only way it could work.
But the pricing of the others – ouch! No wonder Willys sold so few cars. Sure they had a history of selling smaller-than-fullsize cars. You’d have to have been either a WIllys fan (did they even exist?) or absolutely determined this was the car you had to have above all else. I always had a soft spot for these, but now I see the problem.
And then there was Hudson. Though arguably more of a premium brand (arguably, because I tend to think of them being ‘more premium’ than Nash), a car has to look worth the money, and this poor thing looked awkward almost to the point of being embarrassing. It practically invited the question “More money – for this?”, and I’m a Hudson fan.
Two thoughts. Firstly, we need to remember these weren’t all the same size, just smaller than ‘standard’, so not directly comparable – did the public realise (or care) that the Henry J was smaller than a Willys or Hudson? Secondly, how did these prices compare with the top-selling imports of the time?
And an observation: when you’re selling a product that’s already out of the mainstream, styling sure matters…
Import sales in this period were few and far between, and not yet a big factor in the compact market before 1955, which was the year Volkswagen started taking off in the U.S.. Here are the calendar year total import sales (all models) for this period:
Prior to 1955, a big chunk of these sales were sports cars. MG sold 13,520 cars in the U.S. in 1951, and about 36 percent of total import sales in 1953 were MG and Jaguar.
I wonder what impact these compacts would have had if they arrived on the market in the middle of the 1958 recession, when the Big 3 US automakers had a collective design meltdown. Just look at the 1958 GM, Ford and Chrysler offerings. It’s concerning to say that the 1958 Dodge Coronet was the most conservatively styled full size of 1958, just because its chrome-to-surface area ratio was the lowest of the bunch. If the compacts had hit the market with “Weather Eye” ventilation, radios, electric wipers and dual sun visors as standard, they would have made a dent in that market, as long as they weren’t trying to compete on price, but on value. The number of Ford Falcons that sold in 1960 says that the American public wanted an alternative to the ever-larger full size autos being offered by the Big 3. We are seeing the same trend now, with deposits for Slate EV Trucks increasing at a brisk pace. The buying public is tired of bloated “Cowboy Cadillac” trucks selling to the “All Hat and No Cattle” Costco suburbanite for $70k, and those who need a reasonably sized vehicle are sending a message to the corporate heads who have lost the pulse of the average buyer. If you think that automakers missing the mark on consumer trends is new, just look up the Dodge “LeFemme”.