More demand than supply

The big 3 are slowly starting production again  after the end of the war. Whatever is produced, it will be sold anyway. The need for a car is great!

1945 - The war in Europe is over. The US government is allowing automakers to build cars again. It had been almost four years since the last car rolled off the line. These cars were of course still around, and the rest were older and starting to age anyway. Cars didn't last as long in those years as they do now.  

Driving was restricted during the war. Fuel was rationed and each motorist only got a few liters a week. The moving fleet was getting older quickly. According to  Fortune there were just under 30 million cars in the USA at the outbreak of the war and only 22 million at the end of the war 5 years later. Half of those cars were now more than 10 years old. Although the economy had grown before the outbreak of the war  there were still people who couldn't afford a new car.

The editor of Motor  magazine wrote: 'Most people will not trade in a 1940, 1941, or 1942 model, but a 1937, 1938, or 1939 model. Surveys showed that very many people intended to buy a new car as soon as it became available. Some forecasts indicated that as many as 6 million cars could be sold per year, for a period of 3 years, to meet demand. "Yet sales will not exceed 2.5 million if shortages of steel, textiles and other materials are not resolved," Dalton said.  

Dalton's predictions were quite correct. 1946 ended with a total number of cars sold of 2,149,000 units. 1947 and 1948 were a lot better with 3.5 and 3.9 million. But the shortages and strikes still kept numbers low.

Chrysler Corporation did not return to car production until late because it had to finalize government contracts at the expense of car production. Chrysler was the largest producer   of tanks  during the Second World War, the Korean War and Vietnam.

Ford did have an early start, partly due to a  government commitment. Ford Motor Company was on the brink of bankruptcy, largely due to poor management. Henry Ford's input was nil due to multiple strokes. His only son, Edsel, died in 1943 leaving the company in the hands of Henry's vigilante group led by the ruthless Harry Bennett. In reality, the company was simply running on its own momentum.  

The government needed Ford's manufacturing facilities so badly that it removed Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, from the Navy and put him in charge of the company. After the war, the company was given preferential treatment, like Kaiser-Frazer, and would be allocated enough steel to build cars. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury accounted for 49.7% of the total number of cars built in 1945. That of GM only 33.5%. Chrysler's production was so miniscule that even Nash moved up to 3rd place in sales. Chrysler didn't return to auto production until October. Plymouth only built 770 cars in 1945, less than half of a normal production day before the war, still good for 12th place. It was a difficult period for the 10,515 American and 1,475 Canadian dealers.

All manufacturers had to rebuild the factories after the war production. Machines had to be replaced, kilometers of conveyor belt, hundreds of meters of spray booths and drying ovens before production could start again.

In an effort to curb inflation, the government, through the Office of Price Administration, set the prices that could be charged for new cars. However, there were no restrictions on used car prices. The prices have soared!

Even in 1948 when production was able to keep up with demand, used car prices were still at or above new ones.  cars.  

Waiting lists were common in the showrooms. If you wanted to buy a new car, you wrote your name on the list and left a deposit. Customers hoped that as new cars became available, they would move up the lists. It was common for people to be on all lists at all dealers in their town or city. Money was often paid under the table and there were also people who resold their purchased car for more money.  Because dealer prices were regulated by the government, dealers stocked the cars with accessories to increase the profit margin.

The average brochure spoke of modern  design and great performance. Unfortunately, none of the cars had these features. But that wasn't true either  the post-war buyers were waiting for. people wanted,  deprived of new cars since 1942, just a comfortable, durable family car.   

Some brands still supplied the pre-war inefficient side valves. The advantage was that they had a lot of torque at the bottom and were therefore less loaded and lasted longer than the OHVs. This was the case at Pontiac and Chrysler, among others. Pontiac supplied the Hydra-matic opposite the Fluid Drive to Chrysler. This was a fluid clutch that replaced the flywheel. It drove like an automatic but was simpler, cheaper, more efficient and more reliable than the fully automatic transmissions of the 1940s.

This seller's market would not last forever. Plymouth told its dealers that barring atomic bombs, UFOs, and international entanglements, they would soon find themselves in a buyer's market. This was supposed to happen in the late 1940s. Plymouth was therefore already advertising a new model before the first was even built.

Several tire manufacturers started producing a 6.70x16 inch tire in 1946. Government regulations stated that new cars could not be supplied with a spare wheel with an inner tube. These rules were not lifted until December 1946. The new prices were of course adjusted when the spare wheel became standard. There were also restrictions for tires with a white border. As a result, all cars built from July 1946 onwards were supplied with white plastic rims or stainless steel wheel rings. These rims were fitted behind the hubcap and even had a black trim between the hubcap and the white trim.

Prices of the most expensive model from 1946, despite government regulation, were still not enough for the cheapest model in 1948. It was still a seller's market....