Meet the Crestliner, Ford’s answer to the stylish pillarless hardtop convertibles introduced by General Motors.
Under the leadership of Henry Ford II, grandson of the founder, the once-sleepy Ford Motor Company took a youthful turn. Once he got his legs under him, the products and marketing efforts became more ambitious, more aggressive, and sometimes, maybe a tiny bit off the mark. It’s always been said that the Ford Crestliner was a response to the exciting pillarless hardtops introduced by General Motors in 1949-50. However, the Crestliner didn’t really resemble a hardtop convertible, as they were called at the time.
Really, the Crestliner looked more like a Ford Tudor Sedan, chunky greenhouse and all, done up in the customizing style of the period. As the story goes, when Ford stylist Art Querfeld (designer of the Bullet Birds’ sensational interiors) applied some custom touches to his wife’s Tudor, the rest of the staff took notice. Senior management gave the green light to pursue a production version, and studio chief Bob Maguire added the classic-era sweep panel with surrounding chrome trim. With a unique C70C model designation, the Crestliner was introduced in July of 1950, late in the production season. Mercury and Lincoln offered similar factory specials as well—see our feature on the Lincoln Lido and Capri here.
Along with the sweep panel (“airfoil” in Ford lingo) and dramatic two-tone paint schemes in two combinations, Sportsman Green/Black and Coronation Red/Black, the Crestliner featured a basket-weave black vinyl top covering and exclusive gold-tone emblems. Inside, the dash was painted to match the exterior, the seats were handsomely upholstered in matching Bedford Cord with black leather trim, and the headliner was black imitation leather.
Ford literature described the new flagship as “a new star of the highway” for those “who want to combine the smart styling of a fine sports car with the practical advantages and economy of a conventional Ford Tudor Sedan.” (Italics added.) The venerable flathead V8, now in 239 cubic-inch and 100 hp form, was included in the $1,711 list price, exactly $200 more than the pedestrian V8 Custom Tudor Sedan. Crestliner production for 1950 totaled 17,601 cars, compared to nearly 400,000 Custom Tudors—not bad for a late-year introduction.
The Crestliner was continued for 1951 (below) with three additional new color combinations, but the important news at Ford that year was the introduction of Fordomatic, the automaker’s first successful automatic transmission. Crestliner volume that year slipped to just 8,703 cars, as there was a new star of the highway in the Ford lineup: the Victoria, the automaker’s first pillarless hardtop coupe, racking up more than 110,000 sales. Ultimately no more than a stopgap, the Crestliner was discontinued for ’52, but the name continued, sort of. Crestline (with the r dropped) was Ford’s top trim level in 1952 through 1954, and you can find more about it here.
I think the “custom” look might have worked better on the Club Coupe. The extra roof length of the Tudor makes it look clunky.
Time – Mid-summer 1950
Place – Stop light on the way home from Rockaway Beach, NY. Windows down.
Action – car pulls up next to us with the same radio station playing. My father looks left and sees one of these. He’s just taken delivery of a brand new ’50 Fordor Ford Custom in “Sunrise Tan” and is super proud of it. His jaw drops, then he looks at mother who says “no”. I say “wow” and my father sulks for the whole week.
Not a hardtop, not that close, but cheap and quick to get into production. If the new Chevy Bolt at the top of yesterday’s Executive Briefing is one kind of stopgap model (new powerteam, old body) this is the other (half measure doable in months with no tooling cost).
Remember making a stop at a Ford dealer on Grand River on my way home from UofD when I caught a glimpse of the green/black ’50 version. Sharp job but Ford had gotten caught “flatfooted” when GM introduced their “hardtop convertibles”. There was no comparison, a gussied-up Tudor sedan and a pillarless hardtop coupe…
Had 1. It was sitting behind a local Bodyshop. In 1968 2 yrs before I could drive, I bought for $200. For it home primed up the 239 Flathead and filed the points. It stated up after 2-3 try’s. I worked on it for 4 yrs then sold it to a dealer in Indiana (o was from NW Ohio…