I’m apparently having a Google-fart moment. I’m trying to assemble some information on automobile prices (in then dollars) for 1950s automobiles. While I’ve managed to gather quite a bit of good info for the '40s, and some for the '60s and, largely from memory, for the '70s, I’m having trouble with the '50s. Some info on what were then specialty cars (Mercedes, etc.) I’ve come up with, but I’d like to find some info on Joe Driver cars (Chevy, Ford, Dodge, etc.).
Any help will be appreciated.
Here’s all the info you could ever want on Cadillacs.
Start here.
http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1950/cad52s.htm
Then change where it says cad52s.htm to cad50.htm
Repeat for each year.
List prices of each model is on each page, along with descriptions and pictures.
Hope this helps.
Ric
Oops that should read:
Then change where it says cad52s.htm to cad50s.htm
There must be an “s” on the end of the year.
Thanks, Rico, there’s some good data there.
I’d still like to get some info on Chevy and Ford prices. And I’m curious as to what VW Beetles ran in the U.S. in the decade before they really became popular.
I have access to papers at the time, and can give you some help. Unfortunately, I can’t cut and paste as it’s a PDF.
For starters, 1954 and 1955.
Chevy Bel Air, 4 dr. 1954. $2056 1955, $2207.
Pontiac Chieftan, 870 series, 4-dr, 1954 $2380, 1955 $2442.
I can find almost anything you want. But just ask me for specifics. Email works.
I saw a documentary about the Beetle on PBS, and I grew up during that era.
I don’t think they were ever truly unpopular. They seemed to catch on pretty fast, at least around where I lived (Bakersfield, CA), not exactly a center of liberalism.
I think they were initially around $1000 or so. Maybe a little more. You could buy a new 3br house then for less than 10K.
Peace,
mangeorge
The VW sold in 1948 for $800 in bulk. They could command up to $1500 individually, depending on the country. They got 40 mpg. MOst of these were sold in Europe, where gasoline was expensive and scarce at the time.
Here you go. VW’s officially were sold in the US in 1950. Prices ranged from $1280 for a standard sedan to $1997 for a convertible!!! Wow! I wonder what a 1950 convertible in mint condition would be worth today? How many could survive?
25 horse power.
Try this website: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1950.htm Just change the year to whatever year you want. It seems to show only Ford cars, and not for every year, but you can get a good idea of prices from it.
It’s nearly impossible to compare prices then and now because the economy is so different. My family was “working poor” but there seems to be much more real poverty now, and many more “well off” people as well. Cadillacs were only for rich folks back then. Nobody on my side of town had a new car.
I recall my Dad having a kitten when the dealer quoted a 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 at a smidge over $3000. Pop carried on that there was no way he’d spend more for a car than he’d paid for his first house. 
Ringo: Coincidentally, yesterday I stopped into a remaindered book outlet (open 6 months-probably fly-by-night) and bought “Cars of the Fabulous '50’s-A Decade of High Style and Good Times”, by James M. Flammang and the Auto Editors of Consumers Guide, Publications National Limited, 7373 N. Cicero, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, 2003. 415 pages full of color pix of various models, all mfgrs, with descriptions and representative prices. Are you able to look for it in your area within your time frame? Do you have a time frame?
/hijack/ I’m partial to the '50’s. My first car was a hand-me-down-from-my-aunt '50 Ford 2-door sedan in which I had my first driving session, from my aunt, in a local hilly cemetery. Made it out. Next one was a slightly used '54 Ford Victoria Hardtop. Next one was a s.u. '57 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop. Then a '61 Falcon, but I’m off the topic now. Then 4 brand new Toyotas in a row (annually, no less). Last one cost me $2800, less trade-in ('70). Kept that one 10 years/85,000 miles. But I digress further.
Can you tell me where you got the information for the mpg figure? I’m not doubting your facts; I’ve just never been able to find good information on gas mileage for old beetles.
50 Ford Deluxe Tudor $1424
53 Chrysler New Yorker DeLuxe ragtop $3945
54 Nash Metropolitan hardtop $1445; ragtop $1469
55 Dodge Royal 4-door $2310
55 T-bird $2944+
56 Plymouyh $1784+
56 Olds Hardtop $2808
57Chrysler NYer 2-dr $4202+
57 Ford Tudor $1991
57 Lincoln 2dr $5149
57 Chev Bel Air ragtop $2511
57 Rackard Clipper 4-dr $3212
58 DeSoto Fireflyte ragtop $3972 (my girlfriend’s car)
58 Edsel Ranger 2dr $2519
59 Imperial Crown Sedan $5647
59 Buick Electra 225 ragtop $4192
No foreign makes.
op. cit.
I’ve owned several beetles, and a couple type 2 busses (the original minivan :)), and always got 35 - 40 mpg when they were running good. Remember, the average Detroit Iron got less than 20 mpg back then. Mileage wasn’t so much an issue. People who drove cars with overdrive were thought a little “odd”.
How about some straight poop… I bought a new 1956 Ford Victoria 2 dr. Hardtop Thunderbird-V8 in in March 1956 for $2500. it was my first car.
The engine was a Thunderbird V8, right?
Yep, it had Thunderbird V/8 on both front fenders. Big engine back then… 225hp!
Cool! 
Yikes! 22K?
I happen to own a copy of the 1959 Cars Fact Book published by Popular Mechanics magazine. Here is a picture of the cover, which is missing from my copy. Nevertheless, it (and other years’ counterparts) are excellent sources of price info. Unfortunately, the book has gone missing. However, while scouring my shelves, I found my copies ofTad Burness Auto Album and Auto Album 2, which feature drawings and trivia about automobiles in cartoon-type (albeit realistically drawn) panels. Here are some 1950’s base prices:
Nash Rambler introduced in March of 1950: $1808
1951 Henry J.: $1299 and up
1951 Hudson Hornet: $2568
1951 Mercury Sport Coupe: $1947
1952 DeSoto Firedome sedan: $2740
1952 Jaguar XK-120 (British): $4039 in USA
1952 Plymouth Belvedere Hardtop Convertible: $2216
1955 Chevrolet sedans: $1593 to $2703, plus extras
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-Door Hardtop (my dad had one before I was born, then traded it in on a '59 Chevy Kingswood Estate wagon): $2371
1958 Buick Limited (my old next-door neighbors in Ohio owned, and may still own, one): $5934
1958 Cadillac El Dorado: $13,074
1958 Edsel Citation Hardtop: $3242
1958 Packard Hawk: Started at $3995
1959 N.S.U. Prinz (West German car): $1398 and up in USA
1959 Volkswagen Microbus De Luxe: $2576 (and 32 miles per gallon)
