It turns out I’ve written over fifty pieces for Curbside Classic now. That pales alongside the efforts of many of you, I know, but I felt it was worth a special something. I had a brainstorming session with my daughter, and I’d thought I’d set aside what I had planned in favour of a post centring on 1950. ‘50s for #50.
(“Wha’ was tha’, Rabbie? ‘The best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft agley?’ Aye, ye ha’ a point there, mon….”)
Straight away I hit a couple of snags. First snag: this is now post #52, as the series on Muscle Cars was already in the pipeline. Second snag: strictly speaking the only actual 1950 models I have are a Ford convertible (okay, three) and an Oldsmobile coupe (or two). So we’ll go a year or so either way. That will allow Mercury (’49) and Chevy (’51) a look in. Sort of a general catch-all early fifties post.
I feel I must apologize in advance to the Mopar fans as I have no Dodges, Plymouths, DeSotos or Chryslers from this period. However, if you’ll allow for Hudson as being a sort of, hmm, cousin by adoption several times removed maybe, then I can have something for you too – if I stretch the year cutoff a bit more! Since I’m the one writing this article, it’s in. Done! And we’ll extend it to 1953 as well, because then we get to include Studebaker. And another Hudson. And, okay, Ford and Chevy again. So here goes!
These Shoebox Fords were already an uncommon sight when I was a boy. American cars of this era were never that common, we were overrun with British cars (due to their government policies) and Holdens (due to our government policies). Although ’52-on Fords were common enough, I only remember seeing one of these as a child. A four-door ’50 sedan picking up kids from school – lucky them; I had a mile walk.
One year the Australian Model Car Club (yep, one club for the whole country back then) had a display at the Melbourne Motor Show, where I saw a lovely red ’49 Ford coupe. It was one of the first kits I bought. Here’s my rendition.
These Mercuries were pretty much non-existent here in Australia. A regular Ford V8 was out of the reach of most folk anyway. Still, from reading American magazines at least I knew what a Mercury was, and its popularity as a basis for custom cars. I think my favourite stock build is this two-tone green one.
And of course there’s that amazing woody wagon. How could you not love this look? I never saw any woodies of any sort back in the day. Wagons were always steel in my growing-up years. And almost always four doors. (You could say ‘except the Morris Minor Traveller’, if any were even sold here.)
A bit of ‘kitbashing’ here – that’s the hobbyists’ term for combining parts from several kits to build something a bit different. AMT does a ’49 coupe and a ’50 convertible. Swap a few parts over and you get this ’50 coupe. Yes, of course I built a ’49 convertible with the leftovers; I’ll show you that another time.
This one’s something of an oddity: a snap-together kit of a custom ‘1950’ Mercury from MPC. It’s actually a 1949 (round parking lights) with the wheels and decals being the only changes. Not much of a custom then. I’ve shown my ‘proper’ Mercury customs before, so we’ll be getting on…
I mentioned a 1950 Oldsmobile. This 88 coupe is a recent Revell kit. It’s a beautiful rendition. Yes, modellers have been known to kitbash it with the AMT ’51 Chevy you’ll see shortly to make an 88 fastback, 88 convertible or 88 hardtop, or a Chevy short-roof coupe. Or other, weirder things…
So here it is again. Rumour has it there’s a cream one around here somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it in time for this story. Unfortunately, the red I chose accentuates the body’s lovely curves and leaves it looking rather like a big hot dog.
See what I mean?
Meanwhile, moving down the Sloan ladder to rock bottom Chevrolet, we have this late-seventies AMT kit of the ’51 Bel Air. As a nod to the Chevy’s popularity, here are a few.
And a Fleetline. Fastbacks were fading from favour in the US; here in Australia we only got the four-door notchback sedan, and precious few of those. And the ute.
My first exposure to the Step-Down Hudson was an illustration in one of my school books! I thought I knew all my cars, so I asked Dad what the car was. He explained what a Hudson was. Apparently our old landlord used to own one (black four door sedan), and that was why the end garage (built 1926) had been lengthened. Obviously the builder never envisaged anyone living in a place like this ever having such a big car. That led to a discussion of the Terraplane, and Dad’s old Essex (I still have the registration certificate!), and…..
Hudsons, yeah. I’m not really into black, so I made no attempt to build the landlord’s old car. But I do like the big fastback sedan style (Tatra meets Detroit?), so….
…jumping back to 1948, here’s a sedan I’m currently working on. Excuse the mess around it; I got distracted.
Moving forward again to 1953 we have this Hudson coupe. Pretty in blue.
And these lovely Studebakers. Two for the price of one.
We’ll include a later Chevy, just in passing as I’ve shown it before.
And this Ford, with the rare Coronado Deck option.
With a bit of luck normal service might resume next time with part 3 of Muscle Cars. But I need to finish something first, so it might be something different!
These are lovely model cars and and great colours and well built too
Thanks Floyd.
That’s a fun theme today, and a nice appreciation (for this American) of the place of these U.S. cars in your Australian world, past and present.
Your model-building (and painting) is stunningly good…far, far better than anything I ever turned out in my peak (mid-1960s) model-building years. Thanks for sharing the results with us!
Thanks for the compliments, George.
I thought this theme might go down well, many of us being of an age to remember these cars. I’m not old enough to remember these new, but since Aussies tend to keep things I saw them around – well, the occasional Ford or Chev, along with Plymouths and Dodges. I didn’t want to labor the point about how different Australia was, but once the Holden came out in 1948 it was pretty much game over for the ‘standard size’ American cars; doubly so as they grew throughout the fifties.
Love them all! I recall building more than one of the 49 Ford coupe, and also a 51 Chevy Fleetline. And as I think of it, the 49 Mercury and the 53 Stude too. I don’t think I ever saw a Hudson kit in the 70’s, or I am sure I would have bought one and built it.
I love the 78 rpm record as a backdrop in the Stude shot. Those were last issued new in the US in 1955 or 56, and were decidedly obsolete tech then. Perhaps they lasted longer in your area? I cannot read the label, and was curious about the song and the artist.
I don’t know about Australia, but in some parts of the world, 78 rpm records remained popular for quite a while because they could be played on wind-up record players without needing electricity!
Shellac 78s lasted longest in India, where there were lots of those wind-up players (using regulators like those in clockwork; they kept an accurate speed). They were produced there at least into 1970. Most of the Indian 1960s 78s are of musicians little known in Western countries, although some popular American and British acts did make it onto 78s, including Beatles singles up through 1968 (I’d love a 78rpm copy of “Hey Jude” /”Revolution” just for how bizarre it would be hearing hard rock blaring from the acoustic-horn Victrola).
I think the 78 is “Look homeward, angel”, I assume the Johnny Ray version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfs1HiWkrXw
A ‘well rounded’ selection today, Peter, as was the fashion of the time, and some nice colour choices.
https://www.discogs.com/release/13231316-Johnnie-Ray-Look-Homeward-Angel-You-Dont-Owe-Me-A-Thing
Hey that’s a fascinating site Aaron! Dad had a juke box factory back in the day, and I have heaps of these things (records, not boxes) left over. Although the fifties are widely thought of as Cool, few people seem to want fifties music on 78rpm shellac these days.
That is indeed it. Thanks Bernard. I always appreciate it when others chime in with an answer while I’m asleep. Comes from being ten hours ahead of GMT.
Thanks JPC. The Hudson kit is a Moebius from about ten years ago, so we wouldn’t have seen one back in the day.
Yes, 78s did last longer down here then in the US. Back then ‘you guys’ seemed to be the world leaders with all the whiz-bang new technology, while the Aussie attitude was more along the lines of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, or ‘make do and mend’. I remember we had one of Dad’s old 78rpm jukeboxes in the cellar as a kid (I sold it after he died), but by the end of the fifties he had 45rpm boxes in production. He overextended himself financially for the new technology, the new boxes were unreliable in service, and the rest is history.
https://musicolajukeboxes.jukeboxhistory.info/
I built a ‘49 Mercury in 1963, when I was a six year old. 1/25 scale and molded in gray. Do you think that would have been an AMT kit? Less than 15 years old and already an iconic car. Rebel Without a Cause and all those dry lake racers made these cars legends early in their lives. But in 1963, to my six year old mind, they looked bloated and old. Other models I built that summer included a ‘57 and a ‘63 TBird, a Chevy II wagon, and a Model A pickup. The TBirds were my favorite.
Of this ‘50’s collection there’s a lot to like, but the maroon Chevy Fleetline, the Studebaker, and the Hudson convertible take top honors. Nice work!
Yes, dman, that would have been an AMT kit. Plenty of extra parts there for customizing any other models you had, too. It’s interesting to think of it as an ordinary family car less than fifteen years being iconic already – like a 2010 car being iconic today. That Merc certainly tapped into something.
Here’s another shot of that Fleetline. Another ‘iconic’ shape, IMHO, and the subtle dark metallic plays off those contours.
This week, I modified a lower cost 1/18th scale model of a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria Skyliner glass top – to make it look more like a model and less like a toy. I plan on displaying it with my 1955 Thunderbird Sky-View glass top concept at car shows, so as to show the public the production glass tops that Ford was making around 1955.
I cut off the cheap looking Continental kit, changed the color from an non factory greenish blue color, black-washed the grille/trunk trim/crown, painted the parking lights white, and painted the centers of the wheel covers red. Not a perfect job, but it looks much better than before, and I have always loved the way the cars of the 1950s looked in yellow with green tinted glass and interiors.
That’s a good-looking car, Bill!
Thanks
That looks great BIll, just the sort of thing I’d do. It’s amazing how many folk don’t think to black-wash the trim; it’s especially noticeable on the grille. I probably wouldn’t have thought to blackwash the crown trim, not being over-familiar with the car. Sharp!
Talking of grilles I etched a grille for my Bedford HA van kit so that the supporting metal work would show the body colour. Bit too modern for a ’50s scene though!
Thanks. Model grilles that are solid chrome always annoy me.
Me too. I’ve always blackened between the bars, it’s an easy step to avoiding the toylike look. Some guys file/sand the back side to open up the holes; depending on the subject this can lead to an incredibly thin and brittle grille. While I’ve done it on a ’55 Chevy truck, I’d rather blackwash most grilles. The other alternative would be to use a photoetched piece, but they can look disappointingly flat.
Nice models as always, Peter.
My favorite of this lot is the iridescent lavender Hudson convertible.
Runner up has to be the red ’50 Olds.
And I love the C-Pillars on the ’51 Chevy hardtops. Very sharp. The teal one with the black top is my favorite of these.
Thanks for sharing, and congrats on your 50th or 52nd post!
Thanks Rick. Yeah, that Hudson… I bought the kit as soon as it came out, and spent about a year or more deciding a colour scheme for it. Sometimes I just know instantly what colour a car ‘has’ to be; other times it takes a while. I could get all poetic/metaphysical about saying I wait for the car to tell me – but it’s not like that! And once I decided on the lavender (it’s ’65 Chevy Evening Orchid), then it was a matter of findng what to pair it with. SIlver or grey seemed obvious, but given the silver lower-body trim on these Hudsons, it became grey by default. Then what shade of grey….
Here’s another shot of that Bel Air. The kit’s a bit crude in places, but seems to capture the look.
The Mercury Woody is outstanding. Excellent work.
Thank you. It was a good kit to start with, which always helps.
Peter this genre is a goldmine, I don’t think I can single one out, they’re all great. The AMT ’49 Ford must be up there as far as number of kits sold. The Revell ’50 Oldsmobile is a great kit and you planted a seed for me to kit bash the Chevy fastback body with one. My parents had a ’49 Pontiac fastback coupe and my grandparents had a ’49 Chevy fastback 4 door
The Hudson’s might be top dog however.
Thanks Dave. Both the Fords (’49 coupe and ’50 convertible) and the Merc were incredibly popular kits – but then they were extremely popular as subjects for full size customs too, back when that was a thing. I wonder how many guys back it the day used one of these kits to figure out how they were going to customize the real thing?
Rod & Custom magazine back in the early 60s had articles about model cars and I recall reading about people doing just as you say. I have a stash of magazines.
Another terrific post. They all look great, but so many are absolutely exceptional — the Chevys, the Studebakers, the Olds (does not look like a hot dog; what do hot dogs look like in OZ?) and the Hudsons…but that woody wagon is the jazz. The jazz.
Thanks. Sorry I said the Olds looked like a hot dog, but that’s what it made me think of, with those large-radius curves, the long front end – but no, I’ve apologized, I’ll let it be. Really, I do like that shape (otherwise I wouldn’t have built it). Better-looking than the similar-themed but smaller Chevy.
The Merc woody is a great kit, but comes with the same chassis setup as Revell’s custom coupe, meaning it has a Caddy V8 instead of the old flatty. But you wouldn’t know it to look at the picture; the rest of it is all stock. One trick I used was to apply some orange-tinted clear acrylic over the kit’s woodgrain decals to better blend them in with the wood framing. Not a technique I’d used before, but it sure helped.
I bought a very old AMT? promo model of a `49 Ford 4 door sedan some years back. It was in decent shape, but it had a crack in the hood, and the ‘chrome’ non clear window insert was rusted. I filled in the hood and sanded down the window insert and painted it gloss blue,sprayed the body brown then re assembled it and fabricated a rear bumper from a piece of tin and painted whitewalls on the tires Not my best effort, but still like it. Net up a `53 Chevy sedan. Also have the AMT `53 Studebaker coupe that I made a one off convertible by removing the top and making a boot cover from a piece of umbrella fabric. In black with a red interior. It looks much newer than a `53 vintage car!
Sounds like you have some good ones there, Phil. That ’49 would be an AMT, one of their first plastic promos.
I’m intrigued by your convertible Stude. Removing the roof gets rid of one of the most distinctive points of the design, true, but it’s also one that dates it the most. I’d use the kit’s optional Lucas headlights to get rid of those heavily-cowled headlight rims too; they’re another factor that says Early Fifties. The result would look very European. I’ve made boot covers and tonneaus out of old sheets, but umbrella fabric sounds much better.
These are all great, Peter! Congratulations on 50 (+2)! That Mercury Woody wagon is perfection – it’s like a vintage Cherry Coke on wheels in that color scheme. Always look forward to your built model kits and musings!
Thanks Joseph. If you include my single COAL under my old handle it comes to 53. And I should be good for a few more; I’ve got another 22 part-written in my Pending file.
This theme took a bit of putting together, but it enabled me to show off a bunch of models that might have been missed otherwise. I suppose I could have done a post of all ’51 Chevys – but really, what is there to say about them? And would anyone really want to see ten (oops, twelve!) ’51 Chevy models? (yep, that’s more than I’ve done Edsels!) On this site? Yes we’d probably have someone who’s a ’51 Chevy fan, but off the top of my head I can’t think who. 🙂
And yeah, that Merc – I hadn’t seen one built in that colour, but to my mind it tones in beautifully with the woodwork; just enough contrast to be interesting but not overpowering. Probably the best model I built that year. From these comments it’s one of my most popular, period.
These are all great ! .
I remember the ’40 & ’50 Fords being the hot stuff for Hot Rods, in reality they were terrible cars, rattles and leaks, they all rusted out in a few short years .
I like that Oldsmobile coupe ! .
-Nate
Thanks Nate. Yep, those ’49-51 Fords had a terrible rep for assembly quality and early rust-out. I remember a magazine editorial commenting on it about 1970! There used to be the remains of a couple of ’50 utes under a tree not far from here, but they got snapped up about twenty years ago: probably back on the road now. They’d have been old enough to be worth doing something with, but (hopefully) not beyond saving.
Ford certainly got their act together with the ’52-’56 cars.
I don’t know if anyone has ever done this, but I love detail.
I made a very very small clay model of my 1960 Thunderbird, to place on the package tray of a1/18th scale model of my 1960 Thunderbird – which I intern place on the package tray of my real life 1960 Thunderbird at car shows! I did this about 20 yrs ago and it gets a lot of comments
That would be a mind-bending illusion, Bill – a model in the back window of a model in the back window of the real thing!
Step-Down Hudsons do have a slight Tatra feel to them, don’t they? It won’t surprise you that they’re a favourite of mine, though I’d me hard pressed to find anything I don’t like among this crowd. Happy 50th, Pete!
Thanks Tatra. I think part of the reason I like Hudsons so much is that they weren’t afraid to be different, whether by necessity (huge long stroke sixes) or by design. Sure, not as jaw-droppingly radical as a Tatra, or even a Tucker, and they were very much a fish out of water in fifties Detroit as far as looks and engineering (and age of design) were concerned, but they sure did the job!
Great as always Peter – and you just sent me down an interesting internet rabbit hole learning about Ford’s Coronado Deck!
Thanks Scott. I first came across mention of it back in the seventies, shown in a pictorial of Ford accessories for these. Sort of gives you the look of a Continental spare without the bulk, weight, and inconvenience of having a heavy wheel and tyre slung off the stern. Didn’t seem to last long.