70 Years of Shoebox Fords

At the end of World War II, American automakers were in a pretty good position for getting back to the business at hand: building automobiles for a car-starved public. From Dearborn, Mich., Ford — and nearly every other established U.S. car company — quickly facelifted their 1942 models in order to fill a void that had not been satisfied for nearly four years. While those immediate postwar days proved to be a sellers’ market, everyone in the industry knew that this was a temporary situation. New and improved modern models were going to be needed. Before America entered the war, Ford’s Chief Stylist, E. T. “Bob” Gregorie, had already been working on the next generation of cars for the entire company line. These new designs provided a family look across the board for Ford, Mercury and Lincoln.

In the fall of 1945, 10 brilliant young veterans, who had helped developed