Vintage Ad: 1954 Ford Comic Strip
– Posted on November 21, 2021
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Gee willikers, Paul. That New 1954 Ford is so swell I just wanna buy it twice!
The small block Chevy engine, coming out for ’55, would make the new Ford “Y block” instantly obsolete.
From the ad, it’s obvious that Ford knew the V-8 was coming, so they were milking their advantage for all it was worth while they still had time.
I must say that the 1954 Fords had a good look to them which started with the ’52’s. Advertising the power options makes sense. I remember a friend who had a 1953 Crestline convertible Indy Pace Car replica that was equipped with power windows, special interior of cream white leather, with patent leather black inserts and gold highlights.
Those power options were cool but extremely rare. For that matter, most of those power options (beyond power steering and brakes) were still not common in Fords even 20 years later. But between 1974 and 1984 it became the cars without that were hardly ever seen.
I’ll bet most of those “Two-Ford families” the ad cites did not have identical versions like they show. I only saw that once, with a family in the neighborhood where I grew up. The parents bought two nearly identical 1966 Cutlasses, right down to the same color. The only difference was one was a 4 door hardtop and the other was a Vista Cruiser. The weird part was how they always backed their cars into the garage, so whenever the garage doors were open, there they were – two identical 66 Cutlass faces staring out at me.
When we moved to Iowa City in 1960, the folks across the street had a matching pair of 1960 Pontiacs: a black Bonneville 4 door hardtop for him and a dark blue Safari wagon for her.
I got the wrong impression that this was the norm in the US. Why not us?
The colors on those comic strip Fords are similar to those used on the F&F plastic toy Fords from Post cereal boxes. I have a little fleet of maybe 20 of them – including several of this ’52 to ’54 body style.
The Y block OHV didnt get here untill 55 so the 54 still had the ancient flathead engine and the local assembly 55 Chevy was still a Blueflame 6, the 265 V8 arrived for 56 but finding one without a V8 is a rare event now.
Couple of mistakes here kiwi. Y block was introduced in the 54 Fords. The last flathead was in the 53s.
The 265 Chevy V8 arrived in the 55 Chevy.
Nope. Australia and NZ were a year behind in getting it. All Fords were not created equal……
Be thankful you got the Chevy V8 for ’56; in Australia we were still waiting.
US actually got the 265 in 1955. How long did you guys have to wait?
I’ve found those “comic strip” Ford ads for about a decade beginning in 1949. Perhaps I saw this one some Sunday morning in 1958:
As a retired mechanical engineer who’s had some exposure to product shock and vibration testing, I laughed when I read about the pickup’s ImpactoGraph testing. What kind of ad-speak is that?? Well I was wrong: https://impactograph.com/product/digishockg/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6srLpKGq9AIV3MizCh3GwAGVEAAYASAAEgLLAfD_BwE
It’s a real piece of shock testing equipment, and still around.
Ford promoted two-car ownership in TV commercials, too.
I’ve often wondered what kind of job that Dad had in order to be able to afford two brand new cars and a new house out in the suburbs?
The folks that lived across the street from us in Iowa City had a brace of 1960 Pontiacs; a Bonneville 4 door hardtop for him and a Safari wagon for her. He was an attorney.
There were other folks who had two nice new(ish) cars too. One owned a funeral home, one was a doctor, one owned a store.
Lucrative professions !
Nice ;
I wonder how many remember the ‘Sun Valley’ model pictured ? I was a killer here in sunny California .
I had two 1959 Ford pickups, both very long in the tooth and both great trucks .
-Nate