10 50th Anniversary Models
There were more than 5,000 hopeful U.S. vehicle manufacturers around the turn of the 20th Century, and shortly thereafter. By World War II, only about two dozen manufacturers were mass producing cars and light-duty trucks, making the benchmark of 50 years of production rare in the automotive industry.
To recognize the historic occasion of building cars or trucks for 50 years, manufacturers often produced golden-anniversary editions. These 50th anniversary editions not only marked a company’s success, they often afforded the company additional public relations in the media, as well as solidi›ed trust in customers. (After all, if a company had been building vehicles for 50 years, it would probably be around long enough to service and support its current models.) The upcharge of an anniversary model also added some cash to the company’s coffers, sometimes for the relatively small additional expense of
