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The post-WWII rebuilding process reshaped the automobile from the US to the U.S.S.R.
Out of the Ashes
It is not a stretch to say that WWII profoundly changed the automobile. Just look at the cars of the 1930s versus the 1950s. Designs changed dramatically, technology so less so. Yet, immediately following the war, automotive manufacturing was at a standstill. Factories in the US, Britain, Germany, Japan, and the U.S.S.R. all had converted to wartime production, and in the case of all but the US, many of those had been bombed. Factories needed to be rebuilt, economies revived, and carmakers refocused on making cars.
Through the Marshall Plan in Europe and similar policies in occupied Japan, the US set about rebuilding the economies of its former Axis foes, most especially their manufacturing sectors. Military contracts with the US helped keep Toyota from financial collapse after the war while the British resuscitated the production of the Volkswagen Beetle in Germany. Steadily, carmakers in the US and the rest of the world began not only producing the cars they had before the war, but they also penned new designs, started new companies, and consolidated others.
A vibrant post-war economy in the US gave us a golden age of cars in the following decade while in Europe and Japan some of the most important carmakers of the coming half-century were forged or reforged in the post-war crucible.
Post-WWII Technologies
The post-war years saw major advances in automotive technology. Many of the most common modern features saw their first broad implementation in the late 1940s. While Hudson had experimented with a semi-automatic transmission prior to the war, it wasn’t until afterward that we see a wider array of automatic transmissions in American production cars. Buick’s Dynaflow automatic and GM’s Hydra-Matic automatic, while not especially efficient, were pitched as the height of modern driving convenience. Other new features of the time included the first radio telephones and power windows, the use of a simple ignition key and modern turn signals.
American Automakers
Historians often credit the US’s manufacturing base as one of if not they key factor in winning the war. A quick look at automotive production, a proxy for manufacturing strength more broadly, shows 4.7 million cars built in 1940. By the end of the decade, with the post-war recovery in full swing, production was up to six million units. It was Ford who spearheaded the resumption of production. The first post-war Ford was a 1946 Super DeLuxe Tudor delivered to President Truman.
Still, making cars is hard and it took years before American automakers could get new cars to market. New designs needed to be penned. Then there was the testing and engineering. New tooling had to be built and factories updated. This meant during those initial post-war years from mid-1945 through 1947/48 most production was dedicated to pre-war designs.
New Automotive Designs for Street and Farm
Some of the first post war designs for Detroit’s automakers were modernized updates of their standard pickups. The Ford F-Series and Chevy Advanced Design trucks featured the latest in Art Deco styling and new creature comforts like gloveboxes, heaters, and improved suspensions. The F-Series, for instance had new lever shocks marketed as “Aircraft Type Shocks.”
Like the pickups noted above, many cars also resumed production identical to their pre-war iterations. Cars like the fourth-generation Buick Roadmaster and first-generation Lincoln Continental straddled the war. Even with minor changes (the Roadmaster losing some chrome to post-war scarcity and the Continental getting a new grille), they largely remained the same.
By contrast some cars, including the Chrysler Town & Country, received major updates before returning to the market. In the case of the wood-bodied semi-luxury Town & Country, the chassis and engine options carried over from the pre-war version, but the car was given a new body and more importantly a new automatic transmission. Back in 1941, Chrysler had gotten one of the first automatic transmissions to market, the Vacamatic semi-automatic three speed, in the Town & Country. After the war, the car was given a new automatic, the new Presto-Matic semi-auto three speed.
Willys-Overland Jeep
One of the most iconic American cars of all time had its start not after the war but during it. The Willys-Overland Jeep, or MB, was a small, rugged 4×4 runabout used across both the European and Pacific Theaters. Built to withstand the harshest treatment and meanest conditions, the MB design was modified by Willys-Overland for civilian use following the war, resulting in the CJ or Civilian Jeep. Not only did the CJ become an off-road legend in the US, but that first Willys Jeep inspired the post-war designs of two other famous off roaders: the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Land Rover.
Foreign Automakers
Small Cars Are in Vogue
Whatever challenges US automakers faced in the immediate aftermath of the war they were dwarfed by those of European manufacturers. Factories that had been converted to war production from Stalingrad to Berlin to London had been bombed. Raw materials were difficult to procure and supply chains were in shambles. Credit was tight and money scarce. To maximize materials on hand and encourage cash-strapped buyers, carmakers focused much of their attention on small economy cars.
Models like the Fiat 500 Topolino and Volkswagen Beetle were existing pre-war designs tailor made for tough economic times. The Beetle might not have survived the war had British Major Ivan Hirst not salvaged the bombed-out factory and restarted production of the car to fill out the British occupying force’s motor pool. Like American manufacturers, French carmaker Citroën got their first post-war design to market in 1948 with the Citroën 2CV, which like the Beetle focused on economy and mechanical simplicity.
The Genesis of Legends
Though much less important from a broad economic perspective, the late 1940s did see a major turn in automotive history with the arrival of Ferrari’s first car, the Ferrari 125 S. Just two examples of the Ferrari 125 S were ever built as it was quickly followed by the Ferrari 159 S and Ferrari 166 S. These early racecars were all powered by Ferrari’s signature Colombo V12 and their successes kicked off one of the most famed automotive brands in history.
Porsche was another storied European mark that had its genesis in the immediate aftermath of the war. Porsche’s Stuttgart factory was occupied by the Allies after the war, used as a truck depot. Therefore, Ferry Porsche set up shop across the border in Gmünd, Austria building tractors and agricultural equipment. A contract to build a racecar in 1946 spawned the project that would eventually result in the Porsche 356, the first 50 of which were completed in Gmünd in 1948 with aluminum bodies and a mid-engine layout.
Automotive manufacturing in Japan was banned by occupying Allies in the years following the war. Allied efforts to rebuild the Japanese economy eventually allowed for a resumption of production of passenger cars. The first new post-war design for Toyota, the Toyota SA, failed to sell amidst a faltering economy. On the brink of bankruptcy, Toyota kept afloat with the help of US military contracts, some of which resulted in the development of the Jeep-based Land Cruiser. Stability and success for the company wouldn’t arrive until the 1950s with products like the Toyopet Crown.
Brits and Soviets Rebuild
Like Germany and Japan, British manufacturing had been hit hard during the war, rebuilding was slow and materials like steel were hard to procure and doled out under strict government control. And yet, the late 1940s saw the emergence of would-be automotive legends. Aston Martin began the decades-long run of the DB series with the Aston Martin DB1 in 1948. Only 15 of these early two-liter roadsters were built before the DB1 was succeeded by the DB2 grand tourer in 1950. Jaguar was also embarking on new designs in the late ‘40s including the gorgeous two-seat Jaguar XK120, debuting in 1948.
The Moskvich 400 was the beginning of a long tradition in the U.S.S.R. of copying Western automotive designs for domestic production. Only the Moskvich 400 wasn’t just a copy of the Opel Kadett, in effect, it was an Opel Kadett. That’s because Stalin had chosen the Kadett as the basis for the U.S.S.R.’s first mass produced car. Soviet occupying forces took what they could salvage from bombed out Opel factory including schematics and dies, and, along with a few example cars to be reverse engineered with the help of German engineers, they created the Moskvich 400. The car remained in production through 1956.
