1954 Ford

 The least expensive Ford in 1954 was the Mainline Tudor Sedan.
 It listed for $2,132 f.o.b Windsor, Ontario and tipped the scales at 3,140 pounds.

The Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1954. It had been fifty years since Henry Ford and Gordon McGregor signed the papers that transformed McGregor’s faltering wagon works in Walkerville (Windsor), Ontario into an automobile manufacturer. The deal included the rights to sell Ford products in virtually every colony and possession of the far-flung and vast British Empire.

All the stops were pulled out for an unforgettable birthday bash that was celebrated from coast to coast. Management threw a party for the nation’s 1,003 Ford-Monarch and Lincoln-Mercury-Monarch dealers in Toronto from January 6 through 8 of 1954. It was an event that made national news.

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Dubbed the Jubilee Conference, the event included a complete display all of the new cars, trucks and tractors, domestic and imported, sold throughout the Dominion. Ford, Meteor, Mercury, Monarch, Lincoln, British Fords, Thames trucks and Ford tractors were the corporate jewels that sparkled and shone for all the world to see.  On August 17, the festivities continued as the famed Musical Ride, executed by a team of 32 red-coated Mounties, was put on for the public. The RCMP entertained an enormous crowd with its spectacular show of intricate horseback military manoeuvres.

The 1954 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan was a favourite with consumers. 

At $2,312 it cost $104 more than the Mainline Fordor Sedan.

Ford milestones were many. The company was Canada’s oldest automobile manufacturer.  Officials could proudly boast that workers had built 1,437,961 Ford passenger cars from 1904 through to the end of 1953. Meteors, Monarchs, Mercurys and Lincolns pushed the figure higher. Still Canada’s leading automobile and truck manufacturer, Ford maintained that position because of its enormous export market. On the home front, however, GM Canada garnered slightly more than 50 percent of domestic sales. Ford could still claim that 40 percent of all cars on the nation’s roads were Ford.

The 1954 Fords were introduced to the public on January 14^th. They were especially late this year because reconversion to civilian production had been extremely difficult for all the automakers at the end of the conflict in Korea. The cars were popular with consumers, a Saturday shift was added at the factory on Valentine’s Day to keep up with demand.  On March 15, the last Ford rolled out of the factory doors in Windsor. Production was now centred in the new 32.5-acre factory in Oakville, Ontario, the largest and most modern automobile factory in the country.

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While hard on the comeback trail there was not enough money for a new envelope. The basic automobile shell for the 1954 Golden Jubilee Ford was the same one used in 1952 and 1953. The grille continued to be a floating bar with a fuselage-like protuberance at the centre. This year, the bar was opened up to sport a hollow theme and parking lamps were incorporated into the extreme ends before it wrapped around the corners of the fenders.

The 1954 Ford Country Sedan could seat six passengers.
The Stowaway centre seats laid flat “for carrying space galore.”
Price for the wagon was $2,827.

There wasn’t a lot that was new but wordsmiths said, “Ford for 1954 gives you styling that’s truly ‘at home’ wherever you may care to park. You get beautiful new colour schemes, the latest in modern fabrics, the handsomest in trim. In a word, your 1954 Ford, with its clean, honest lines and its smartly tailored interiors is truly the style-leader.”

An all-new Crestline family joined the Mainline and Customline series. The prestige line was all glitz and glamour, chrome and extras. It was made up of a poshly appointed Fordor Sedan, a Skyliner, a Convertible and a Victoria. The Country Squire was not sold here.

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The Customline series was mid-priced, comprised of a Tudor and a Fordor Sedan, a Country Sedan and a Ranch Wagon. The Club Coupe was not available in Canada. The modestly appointed Mainline series was the most economical of them all, consisting of a Tudor and Fordor Sedan and a Ranch Wagon.

The 1954 Ford Skyliner featured a unique transparent top that
 gave “an open car feeling never before achieved in any closed car.”
The Skyliner listed for $2,750 but the price would be reduced to $2,464 in April.

Under the hood lurked the tried and true Ford V-8, first appearing on the market in 1932. American Fords were being fitted with a new Y-block V-8 mill and also six-cylinder mills but Ford of Canada made use of the flathead engine in all its cars for one more season.

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The Astra-Dial Control Panel was straight out of the space age. The speedometer was placed high on the control panel “where it is in your line of sight. The safest place for a speedometer to be located because you hardly need to take your eyes off the road to read it.” The speedometer was placed in a dome-shaped shroud with a rear-facing transparent hood. “This allows daylight to illuminate the needle and dial for even easier reading.” Soft diffused lighting makes it easy to read at night.” For safety’s sake, controls were clearly marked and illuminated. Idiot lights were taken to a new level at ford. Boasting that the oil pressure light and the generator light were automatically self-checking, they eliminated the need to look at two fewer instruments!

The Astra-Dial instrument panel was the latest word in style, beauty and convenience.

Just a few of the options available included seat coverings, a rear window defroster, a rear seat radio speaker, a spotlight with or without mirror, a portable spotlight, backup lamps, lights for the glove box, engine compartment and the luggage compartment. One could have outside rear view mirrors, a non-glare rear view mirror, a vanity mirror. One could order turn signal indicators, the See-Clear windshield washer, a grille guard, a rear deck guard, a bumper wing guards, a windshield visor, window vent shades, floor mats, a locking gas tank cap, tire chains, an electric or hand-wind clock, a hand brake signal, an automatic cigar lighter a Coronado deck conversion (continental spare tire kit), wheel covers, whitewall tires, wheel discs and trim rings, a deluxe steering wheel, rocker panel trim, rear ender shields (Fordspeak for fender skirts), rear fender ornaments, a deluxe hood ornament and exhaust deflectors. Dealers would be happy to talk to you about the MagicAire heat and defrost system, the Master-Guide Power Steering, and the Super Range seven-tube radio, or the Console Range radio with five tubes and many other goodies that one one’s Ford fun to drive.

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Ford workers had been without a contract for nearly a year and negotiations weren’t going particularly well. By gentleman’s agreement, management and labour agreed to do nothing to provoke each other during the Golden Jubilee year. Both sides kept their word as they negotiated toward a new working agreement.

Management announced that the model year would end on October 31. Workers, unhappy that labour negotiations were stalled out, and displeased that their latest demand for a 30-cent an hour increase had been rejected, shut down the Oakville factory on the 10^th. The walkout spread and brought an early end to the selling season. The lights went out all over Ford of Canada’s operations and the buildings would sit eerily silent for 110 days.

The sassy Sunliner was Ford's open car offering. It sold for the same price as the Skyliner.

Copyright James C. Mays 2006

 All rights reserved.

1955 Ford

 Absolutely everyone associated with Ford Canada was as happy as larks (not the Studebaker variety to come) with the great success with the company’s 1954 Golden Jubilee. As the celebrations wound down, the nation’s oldest automaker prepared to usher in the second half of the century with the 1955 product line. 

The 1955 Ford lineup was sharp looking. 
Cars rode on a 115-inch wheelbase.

Negotiations between labour and management had not been going well for some time but both sides agreed not to upset the festivities. The last of the 1954 models rolled out the doors on October 7.  


On October 10, 1954, the talks stalled out. The sticking point was a 30-cent an hour pay rise and retro pay of 35 cents an hour to the end of the last contract. With no new offers forthcoming, 5,200 workers in Windsor, Ontario laid down their tools and headed for the picket lines. Even employees at the power plant struck. Office workers were instructed to report to work at temporary outside quarters as the administration buildings grew cold from lack of heat. 

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The strike spread to Oakville on October 15 when 1,500 union brethren laid down their tools in sympathy. The company responded by moving its national headquarters permanently to Toronto on the 21^st. The strike deepened when the 125 employees at the Etobicoke-based national parts depot joined in. Christmas came and went. On December 29 management announced it was prepared to consider a province-wide agreement for all 8,603 union employees but talks were recessed until January 3. Negotiations were tough and the 110-day strike was settled on January 27, 1955. Employees could get back to work and consumers could have their Fords. Manufacture began in early February. 

The 1955 Ford Mainline was the second least expensive
 model in the family. It cost $1,908.

The 1955 Ford Town Sedans were highly popular with consumers.
The four-door version (shown) cost $2,139 and the two-door $2,091.

The 968 dealers throughout the Dominion were absolutely frantic. The new Fords were to be unveiled to the public on November 10 and the Monarch lines on the 22^nd. With a strike in progress and no 1955 models built it was hard to work up any enthusiasm for orders. A handful of models, not built in Oakville, were imported from the US so potential consumers would have something to see. Those cars included the four-door, three-seat Country Squire and Country Station Wagons, the Thunderbird and the Fairlane Crown Victoria with the transparent top. 

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British Fords arrived at the port of Montreal for shipment to dealers. Zephyr four-door sedans and convertibles were prepped for public scrutiny along with Zodiac sedans and Consul ragtops. 

The Sunliner  (above) cost $2,451 in 1955. The imported  Ford
Zephyr convertible was evemmore expensive with its
$2,505 price tag.

When the new domestically built Fords did arrive at dealerships they were beautiful and well worth waiting for. Showroom floors glittered with six Fairlane models, two Customlines, a pair of Mainline models, a quartet of station wagons and the sensational Corvette-eating two-seat Thunderbird. 

The modest Mainline series consisted of a business coupe, a two- and four-door sedan. Sober and unadorned transportation they might be but advertising was able to truthfully bill them as “smartly practical new body styles” and “comfort you might expect only in cars costing hundreds more.”  Much was made of the fact that the doors were nearly a yard (ancient Canadian units of measure) wide and stayed open with a two-stage door check. 

The 1955 Ford Crown Victoria with the transparent top
weighed in at 3,388 pounds and cost $2,730.
The glamour queens in the Ford line belonged to the Fairlane family. There were a half dozen of the beauties to choose among. Catching up to independents Nash and Studebaker, Ford finally fielded a true hardtop model. The two-door Victoria was “enhanced by the new wrap-around windshield” and “quarter windows roll down out of sight leaving no centre posts and providing a wonderful feeling of openness!”

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The Customline series was limited to a two- and four-door sedan with price tags of $1,957 and $2,006 respectively. Like the Mainline, it had black rubber flooring but the Customline received two sun visors, a half-circle horn ring and twin horns, foam in the seats, arm rests front and rear, an ash tray for back seat passengers, a cigarette lighter, a stem-wind clock, assist straps on the Tudor, coat hooks brightwork around the windows and exterior mouldings.

Crown Victoria interiors were replete with a centre arm rest.

The Crown Victoria with its massive “crown of chrome” at the B pillar could be had with the transparent “skylighted top.” Despite the glitzy centre post, advertising bragged that the Crown Victoria was “the style-setter of the hardtops.”  Less exotic Fairlanes included the lovely Sunliner convertible, the luxurious four-door Town Sedan and its equally posh stable mate, the two-door Club Sedan. 

Fairlane cabins were appointed with carpeting throughout. Upholstery was Nylon and Vinahyde or two-tone Vinahide over foam rubber cushioned seating and the steering wheel and steering column were colour blended to match the sumptuous surroundings. A unique space-age feature was the Astra-Dial speedometer with its clear plastic bubble top.

The eight-passenger Ford Country Squire
was imported from the US. Its hefty
$2,869 price tag was surpassed only by that of
the new Thunderbird.

Then there were the station wagons. The simple Ranch Wagon was a steal at $2,239 though customers looking strictly at the bottom line would opt for the Nash and Hudson Rambler two-door wagons, the least expensive on the domestic market at $2,127. Ford’s Custom Ranch Wagon could be ordered with two-tone finish, brightwork trim and “extra-colourful interiors.”  The third seat in the Country Sedan offered “room for eight or freight.”  The swanky Country Squire not only carried eight passengers, it stood apart as “ a station wagon of high distinction” with its Mahogany-grain-finished panels framed by a lighter coloured, wood-grained glass fibre mouldings gracing its sides. 

Finally there was the slippery Thunderbird, billed as the “brilliant personal car.”  The sleek and elegant two-seat sports car was as breathtaking as its $3,655 price tag. 

No matter which of the fifteen Fords one bought, there was but one mill-the ultra modern Y-block V-8. The 272-cid monster was mated to a higher torque, three-speed standard transmission. The manual tranny could be ordered with Overdrive or one could opt for Fordomatic, the shiftless transmission that featured an illuminated Safety-Sequence Selector in the P-R-N-D-L pattern.

Ford offered “Canada’s most modern Power Assists” as optional equipment. Power Lift windows, Swift Sure Power Brakes, Master-Guide Power Steering and the Four-Way Power Seat. Other add-ons were dual exhaust (standard on wagons and Fairlanes), white sidewall tires, a positive-action windshield wiper unit, a heater, the Full Circle Radio, rear fender shields and full wheel covers. 

Despite the lengthy strike, workers in Oakville pumped out 55,262 Ford passenger cars for the 1955 model year. The company announced it would spend $8.6 million to build new headquarters in Toronto. 

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Copywrite 2004 James C. Mays