1949 Ford

The 1949 Ford is a line of cars produced by Ford from the 1949 to 1951 model years. The successor to the prewar 1941 Ford, the model line was the first full-size Ford designed after World War II and was the first Ford car line released after the deaths of Edsel Ford and Henry Ford. Coinciding with the 1948 release of the Ford F-Series, the 1949 Ford was offered solely as a car.

Released in June 1948, the 1949 Ford was the first "postwar" car line released by the American Big Three, beating Chevrolet to market by six months and Plymouth by nine. From 1946 to 1948, American automakers concentrated on the restoration of production, initially releasing updates of their 1941-1942 model lines.

In response to its design, the generation would be called the "Shoebox Ford", denoting its slab-sided "ponton" design. While the design theme had been in use since the late 1920s to streamline automobiles, the 1949 Ford marked its widest-scale use, removing running boards entirely and integrating front and rear fenders into a single, smooth body form. In other firsts, this generation marked the first use of keyed ignition and the first automatic transmission option in Ford vehicles. For 1950, Ford introduced stand-alone model nameplates. The same year, the Ford crest emblem made its first appearance; designed by artist Frank L. Engle, the crest emblem was used (in various forms) through the 1991 model year.

Ford assembled the 1949 Ford line in its central Ford River Rouge complex (Dearborn, Michigan) and in 14 other branch facilities across the United States.

For 1949, the Ford car line was redesigned from the ground up; only the powertrain and 114-inch wheelbase were retained from the 1941-1948 generation.

The Ford adopted a drop-center ladder frame; to further modernize its design, the transverse-leaf front and rear suspension (a feature in use since the Model T) was retired, replaced by a coil spring independent front suspension and longitudinal rear leaf springs. The torque tube driveshaft was replaced by a more universally-used Hotchkiss drive shaft.

Carried over from the previous generation, a 226 cubic-inch L-head inline-6 was the standard engine with an optional 239 cubic-inch Flathead V8.

The 1949 Ford debuted at a gala at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City in June 1948, with a carousel of the new model line complemented by a revolving demonstration of the new chassis; the new integrated steel structure was advertised as a "lifeguard body". Though wood was again used for external body panels, the "woody" station wagon adopted a steel inner body structure. To increase its body rigidity, the frame of the convertible received an "X member" reinforcement.