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If you hunt and are persistent, you can find almost any part.
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A second one was owned by my grandfather, a '50 Cosmo 4-door black sedan. I told both he and my uncle that I wanted it if he sold it, but it ended up with the heating oil deliveryman before I found out he was selling it.
Right now we don't have any spare cash for a project car, but given my druthers it will be the car I have someday. Being in the Willamette Valley in Oregon where it rains quite a bit, I'd opt for the 4-door sedan as I love the suicide back doors - and my daughter could have her own door.
Anybody else care to share?
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]
"Lincoln Tries to Find Its Way: 1949-1960
The party was over. The pent-up demand for cars after W.W.II had been fairly well supplied by 1948. Up until then, any warmed-over pre-war model was quite acceptable. But the normal laws of economics dictated that once this demand had been met, the various players would actually have to compete against one another. This meant new products. Lincoln answered the challenge with an entirely new car for the 1949 model year, first offering it for sale in April, 1948.
1950 Lincoln:
Two models were produced. The Lincoln, with a wheelbase of 121 inches, and weighing about 4000 lbs, cost $2575 for the door. The upscale Cosmopolitan rode a wheelbase of 125 inches, weighed about 4200 lbs, and was priced at $3238 in the door style. Both cars were powered with Lincoln's all-new flathead V8 of 337ci. At 152 horsepower it was about equal to Cadillac's 160. But it was not an overhead valve engine and would only last 3 years. Initially only a 3 speed manual transmission with optional overdrive was available. Later in the year the GM Hydramatic would be an option."
From another site I found that the '49-'51 Ford V8 was 239 c.i. and put out 100 hp, while the Mercury engine from that same period displaced 255 c.i. and generated 110 hp for '49 and '50, and 112 for '51.
They can certainly sound more powerful with glasspacks.
From "Lincoln The Gold Portfolio: 1949-1960" here are the specs they give:
1949 Cosmo 4-door sedan weighed 4,527 pounds and sold for $3,238 while the most expensive and heavy was the convertible at 4,717 and $3,948. The 337 cu. in. V-8, the first V-8 in a Lincoln since 1932, was rated at 160HP, and was both the biggest engine Ford had ever built and the biggest production engine on the market. The regular Lincoln and the Mercury shared the 7-A body while the Cosmo was a different body style. The 337 cu. in. V-8 was an adapted truck motor.
If you can find this book, it goes into quite a bit of detail on the design and numerous changes for the 49-51 Lincolns, especially the Cosmo. The ISBN number is 1-85520-0163 and was printed in Hong Kong, but was distributed by Motorbooks International in Osceola, Wisconsin 54020. Inside the back cover it gives the phone number for Motorbooks International as (715)294-3345. If this doesn't work, the British side is listed for direct orders as:
Brookland Book Distribution
Holmerise,
Seven HIlls Road, Cobham, Surrey
KT11 1ES,
England
It's sad tha the Cosmo was dropped after only three years and is pretty much relegated to the shadows of automotive history. It is a beautiful car and in many ways a trailblazer in design.
In which ways was the Cosmopolitan a trailblazer in design? I ask because it seems to me that the Cosmo was more or less on a par with the other '49-'51 Ford Motor Company models, and maybe less trail blazing than, say, the Cadillacs of those years. That doesn't diminish my liking of the '49-'51 Fords, Mercs and Lincolns. They were neat cars.
What makes some of those Lincolns and Mercurys so popular is how well they take to being lowered, chopped, shaved, frenched, etc.
Generally speaking a trailblazing design is not apt to be heavily modified in the body shape (as a rule), since you can't do a lot to improve it. Engines, paintwork, etc are a different thing.
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Still, by 1949 a lot of cars had that look. The "pregnant" Packards, Kaiser/Frazer, and Nash were doing it. Studebaker didn't quite have them integrated yet, but still had a smooth, modern looking package. And the Hudsons looked downright futuristic by 1949 standards.
The 1949-51 Mercury always stands out in my mind as being modern looking for the time too, but I think my mind is clouded by the multitudes of customized Mercs I've seen through the years. Seems like they outnumber the stock survivors enough that I sort of forget what they look like. The customized models often look futuristic and sleek, sometimes a little garish, depending on how well of a job was done. But in stock form, I don't think they really have anything on a Buick or Olds from that era. Now a 1949 DeSoto, its closest Mopar competitor, is downright old-fashioned looking in comparison.
The 1949 Ford was probably the most modern looking of the Dearborn bunch though. I think the combination of smooth, integrated rear quarters, as well as tall, almost hood-height front fenders made it look more futuristic than a 1949 Chevy or Plymouth.
But I like the Lincoln design as well. I'd call it "period attractive" for sure.
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Granted without hesitation that the GM cars were using overhead valve V-8's instead of the flathead design, and this is the only true drawback I can see to the Ford/Mercury/Lincoln offerings for '49-'51.
'49 was a year of big changes for Ford in their body designs. And an interesting side note is that the '49 models for Ford were the last ones personally approved by Henry Ford himself.
'55 was a good year for Ford-GM head to head competition IMO. After that, GM slapped Ford silly until the Mustang. Maybe not in sales, but in design, quality, etc, no doubt in my mind at least.
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Lincoln used GM's 4-speed Hydra-Matic, an excellent transmission, in its '50-'54 models. Buick introduced Dynaflow in 1948 (ultra smooth but very inefficient in terms of gobbling power and poor gas economy), and Chevy made its Powerglide available in its '51 model.
Ford Motor Co. introduced Fordomatic and Mercomatic (the same torque converter 3-speed design), but I think Lincoln first adopted this (Lincomatic?) transmission for its '55 model. The Ford automatics were okay - more efficient than Dynaflow and Powerglide, although less rugged, and definitely neither as rugged nor efficient as Hydramatic, but smoother. You definitely felt the shifts with the old Hydramatics, kind of like the old Benz automatics.
Really? Ford used a GM product? I never knew that. Any info on that somewhere?
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"updated November 30, 2002
Hydramatic Transmission Manual for the 1949-1950 Lincoln
Hydramatic transmissions (built by General Motors) were used for years in Lincoln cars. This rare factory service manual covers the Hydramatics used in the classic '49 and '50 Lincoln cars.
Contributed by Mike Schmitt.
INDEX:
Operating Instructions
Fluid Service, Manual Linkage
Throttle Linkage
Band Adjustments (External)
Valve Control Assembly - Disassembly
Front and Rear Servos
Reverse Anchor, Bracket Assembly & Shims Remove, Install
Transmission-Remove
Trouble Diagnosis"
"Starting in 1948 Hydramatic became optional for Pontiacs, although Buick and Chevrolet chose to develop their own automatic transmissions. One million Hydramatics had been sold by 1949. In the early 1950s various manufacturers that did not have the resources to develop an automatic transmission bought Hydra-Matics from GM. Users included:
1950-1956 Hudson
1950-1956 Nash
1951 Frazer
1951-1955 Kaiser
1954-1955 Willys
1949-1954 Lincoln
In 1952 Rolls-Royce acquired a license to produce the Hydra-Matic under license for Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles. It continued production through 1967..."
The Rolls cast their own case for the Hydramatic. Probably was the best part of the car, next to the upholstery.
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Ford followed up the next year with it's Fordomatic.
In comparing Powerglide and Fordomatic, Fordomatic was the more efficient and versatile of the two transmissions, although if you left the gear lever in "Drive" the car started in second gear, thereby utilizing only two of its three gears. You had to place the selector in "Low" to start out in first. I believe the early Powerslides, whoops Powerglides, were similar to the Dynaflows, in that they started in the second of two gears, if you placed the selector in "Drive." You engaged first by putting the selector in "Low." Because off-the-line acceleration was painfully slow in Drive, Chevy changed it (in '53 or '55) so that the car started in first regardless of whether the selector was in Drive or Low. Ford didn't make that change, apparently feeling it wasn't necessary, since their automatic used two gears in normal every day driving, just like Chevy's. Another difference was that Chevy's first gear was lower than Ford's second gear, so under normal use Chevys were a little more responsive off the line, with comparable engines.
Now when it came to durability, Powerglide was more rugged than Fordomatic. That's not to say that Fordomatics were problematic for the average owner, but Powerglides rarely failed.
In 1953, the Powerglides started shifting by themselves.
Plymouth didn't get a "real" automatic until, I think 1954.
Chrysler messed around with Fluid Drive and Hy Drives.
How would a Powerflite compare to a Powerglide or FordoMatic? Wasn't the FordoMatic a 2-speed? One of my officemates recently bought a '62 Ford Galaxie 4-door, and he said it had a 2-speed, and called it "Fordomatic".
Ford introduced a two speed automatic, similar to Powerflte and Powerglide, well after they offered the original three speed unit, but I don't know off hand just when that was. Maybe it was 1959, when they introduced the 1960 Falcon. The Falcon automatic was a two speed unit. That transmission was also featured in the Mercury Comet and, I believe, the Ford Fairlane and Mercury Meteor, or at least the smaller engine versions of those intermediates. They continued to make the three speed unit (Cruisomatic?) available, however, for a few or several years. The two speed was an additional Ford transmission.
Man, I hope I don't offend anyone, but it occurred to me that we must all be a bunch of certified nuts, living in the distant past, agonizing over such trivia. Oh well, I suppose it's no different than recalling old baseball scores and related details. At least it's legal and harmless.
"Well Yah Jerry Farnsworth came up from Triple A in February of '96 with an ERA of 2.54 against lefties but interestingly 5.57 against righties in cloudy weather conditions. He always wore one blue and one red sock...I'm not sure which one on which foot---anyone out there remember that?"
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In my high-performance days, the PowerGlide was called the "slip'n'slide" and would be thrown away as quickly as possible to replace it with a Turbo 400 as the best performance automatic. Well...I have a good friend who's drag racing, and guess what the performance auto for racing is today? Yep, the PowerGlide - with many modifications, of course. But I've seen street rods that are using the PowerGlide for high-horsepower motors, like 600+ hp! Truly strange...
But yes, we are going way off topic here so either we have to steer back to the Cosmo and related areas or wrap this one up I guess.
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