Introduced by Cadillac and Oldsmobile, the new engines’ common ground was in their oversquare design with the cylinder’s diameter larger than its piston’s stroke, they provided a new world of improved performance and enhanced efficiency. Then in 1949 GM launched its modern overhead valve V-8. General Motors phased in its first new postwar bodies starting with the 1948 Cadillac and Oldsmobile. Studebaker summoned the future almost immediately with its 1947 line, fresh and modern enough that the company claimed to be “first by far with a postwar car”when it arrived in May 1946. After World War II, with the resumption of production for the civilian market, that began to change. American automobiles had been evolving since the horseless carriages made their initial runs, but the progress had been mostly gradual. Such a choice was a conservative one and given the speed with which technology was then traveling, caution was understandable. While the idea of someone ordering a new car and specifying a flathead six instead of a Hemi V-8 may be hard to grasp today, it would have been far less surprising in 1954. And he definitely wanted the six-cylinder instead of the Hemi.” He’d never bought anything new in his whole life and he bought this car brand-new. “What (the seller) told us was that the man was 90 years old and when he’d retired, he wanted a new car. “It had belonged to an elderly gentleman,” said Wally Tompkins, whose 1954 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Newport is shown here.
USED WINDSOR OXFORD DELUXE DRIVERS
THE FLATHEAD ERA was almost over in 1954 and while everyone from engineers to drivers to automotive writers was ready to explain why that engine evolution was a great thing, some remained unconvinced. Maybe He Had a Premonition of Today’s Gas Prices… J| By Bob Tomaine The Original Owner Opted for a Flathead Six Over a Hemi V-8.
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