Ford Fortyniner
The Ford Fortyniner. The car that, remarkably, saved Ford. Even though Ford should have made a lot of money through its war contacts, by 1947 the company was in dire financial straits and desperately needed a new car to capture the public's imagination and bank accounts. The 46/47/48 models were just reruns of the prewar cars and had become old fashioned and Henry Ford II was rushed into the top job to try and save the company. The Fortyniner was revoutionary. It was the world's first complete three box design (the famed 1947 Raymond Loewy designed Studebaker was really two and a half boxes as the boot was, in retrospect, half-hearted where as the 49er's was pretty much the same size as the bonnet) and the full length pontoon mudguards gave the car a futuristic look. There was nothing else like it — GM and Chrysler, like Studebaker — played it safe with the three box look, but Ford was totally committed. The centre spinner or bullet was the masterstroke. Mechanically it was upgraded with Ford waving goodbye to the old transverse leaf spring system that had served it since the first Model T.
It was a car to lust after. Sales boomed.
Oddly, one was entered for the 1949 Monte Carlo Rally. But then, so to was a British Ford V8 Pilot.
