As the suburbs exploded across America in the 1950s, station wagons became the hot new market segment. Ford answered with a complete line of wagons for 1953.
In the post-World War II era, Ford sometimes struggled to keep up with leviathan Chevrolet in the annual sales wars. But there was one market segment where the Dearborn brand could more than hold its own: station wagons. That was a positive development indeed at the Motor Company, for wagons were the hot vehicle category of the ’50s as the middle class made its mass exodus from the cities to the suburbs. In 1953, the year Ford celebrated its 50th anniversary in the auto industry, Ford wagons outsold Chevy by better than two to one.
Unlike Chevrolet, Ford offered a complete top-to-bottom line of wagons for ’53, spanning the model range: the Ranch Wagon, a two-door offered in base-model Mainline trim; the Country Sedan, a four-door based on the mid-range Customline model, and the deluxe Country Squire, based on the posh Crestline and sheathed in glorious simulated mahogany.
All three wagons are given the full treatment in this commercial spot, where the announcer repeatedly emphasizes the all-steel construction. Traditional wood-bodied wagons, beautiful though they were, required considerable hand labor to build and did not hold up so well in regular use. All-steel bodies helped to make the station wagon a mass-market vehicle. Video below.
High compression V8? A flathead?
The mid level one appeals most to me, the fake wood is way too much. 8 feet of floor space probably beats all modern ‘sports wagons’ though not as wide.
Fairly sure that a 1953 Ford wagon has more interior cargo area than anything sold today under Suburban class. The Ford Focus wagon held more than most of the SUVs of it’s era. Those things are all hat and no cattle.
IIRC, the wood on the outside was real. It was a veneer glued over the steel body to simulate the wood wagons of the past.
I’d love to have a two door Ranch wagon myself.