1950-51 Ford Crestliner

I wrote about General Motors' first-generation hardtop convertibles here.  In that post I mentioned that that they first appeared on the upper end of GM's brand hierarchy (Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac) during the 1949 model year.  The style was instantly popular, and hardtops were added to the Chevrolet and Pontiac lines for 1950.

Other manufacturers were forced to play catch-up.  Ford Motor Company didn't bother adding hardtops to its Mercury and Lincoln brands until they got new bodies for 1952.  Instead, models with vinyl top coverings were marketed in an attempt to offer sportier options for potential customers.  It wasn't until 1950 that Mercury and Lincoln announced, respectively, the Monterey and Cosmopolitan Capri Coupe.

Ford did the same for 1950 in the form of its Crestliner.  Some background is here, the most relevant bits in the final paragraph:

"The Crestliner was introduced in July 1950, late in the model year. That helped limit sales to 18,000 units, the smallest component of the 1.2 million Fords built that year. The model was continued into 1951 but sold even fewer cars. For the all-new 1952 lineup, Ford used “Crestline” as the name of a line of cars, without distinctive trim. By 1955, the Crestline name had completely disappeared from Ford's lineup."

I'll continue the story in the captions below.

Gallery

A 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop coupe, Barrett-Jackson auction photo. This popular model was what Ford had to somehow compete against.

And this is Ford's late-1950 Crestliner shown in a set of "for sale" photos.  It was a two-door sedan sporting vinyl roof covering, a unique two-tone paint chromed divider and a special color scheme.

Side view.  Rear wheel spats were part of the package.

Front three-quarter view.  Arguably a fussier, less attractive design than found on ordinary '50 Fords.

1951 Fords got a new grille featuring two!! spinners instead of one.  The rear fender tail light assembly extension sculpting was given chrome sheathing.  The Crestliner two-tone trim was revised by the inclusion of the horizontal chrome strip seen here.  Barrett-Jackson photo.

Crestliners were never a strong response to Chevy Bel Airs, so Ford spent money it possibly wished it didn't have to in the form of a true hardtop convertible, the Ford Victoria.  The reason why Ford management was probably unhappy taking that risk was that Fords were completely redesigned for 1952, and this Victoria was in production for only one year, its sales marginally justifying its development expense.  "For sale" photo.
Production data are as follows: 1950 Crestliners, 17,601; 1951 Crestliners, 8,703; 1951 Victorias, 110,286.  Chevrolet produced 76,662 Bel Airs for 1950 and 103,356 for 1951, the body continuing in production for 1952 where an additional 74,634 were built before Chevrolets were redesigned for 1953.  The '51 Ford Victoria was highly competitive, but over the three model years that Chevy produced its first-generation Bel Airs,  254,652 units were built.  However, besides the Bel Airs, Pontiac marked its Catalina hardtop that used the same basic GM A-body.  I haven't been able to find Catalina sales over 1950-52, but they were probably on the order of 100,000.   So overall, Chevrolet and Pontiac A-body hardtops were clearly a better return on development costs than Ford's 1951 effort.

Crestliners sold poorly, but they had the virtue of being cheap to develop, being Ford Tudors with fancy trim.