In the years following World War II, American life was changing, and the Ford Motor Company was quick to respond with marketing campaigns like the Two-Ford Family. Here’s more.
As the Second World War drew to a close and Americans eagerly returned to civilian life, the Ford Motor Company shrewdly spotted a key shift in demographics. First, families were moving from the cities to the suburbs by the millions; next, many of the women who had joined the workforce for the war effort would not be content to stay in the kitchen. Before the war, a household could get by nicely with one automobile. But in the postwar American lifestyle, many families would need two cars, and Ford used this angle to sell consumers on the Two-Ford Family with considerable success for many years.
In this 1956 Ford commercial, a young housewife in her kitchen (and in her pearls, we note) lays out the issue perfectly. To navigate around the suburbs she needs a car of her own, and meanwhile, for the price of one high-priced car, the family can buy two new Fords. And with the ’56 Ford line priced in the $1,800 to $2,500 range, half the price of a Cadillac, the pitch was quite legit, especially with easy credit.
We admired the Two-Ford Family’s choices in this spot—price-conscious but stylish. Their wagon is the sporty two-door Ranch Wagon, much prized by collectors today. And their new two-door Victoria hardtop is not the more common top-line Fairlane but the rarer Customline model with understated mid-level trim. Here are two Fords we’d be happy to drive any day. Video below.
Thanks, this is an interesting study in sociology.
I remember living in Tallahassee, Florida in 1958 and our neighbors had two ’57 Fords. This little boy saw them as rich.
A point well made running this 1956 Ford ad this way. It truly was the age of freeing the moms from the house and adapting to the two car family concept.. I took my drivers ed classes in one of these nice cars too while my first car was sitting in the driveway at home awaiting me .
Actually the car that also made many families two car ones was the cheap and reliable VW Beetle. Saw many of them in my neighborhood growing up in my neighborhood in the 60’s used as such.
But the Beetle wasn’t a car. The VW Beetle was a member of the family who happened to live in the garage.
I have two Beetles, a 64 deluxe Type 113 and a 65 Standard Type 111. The Standard I’ve owned for fifty years and the deluxe for forty four years. Definitely members of the family.
64:
http://www.centralcoastvwclub.com/images/1964_1967/dons64.jpg
65;
http://www.pismoderelicts.com/photogallery/new%20format%20834/images/img_0131_edited_1.jpg
I want the Coupe. A Fairlane version preferably but the Cusso will do.
Here in Oz only the better heeled had Cussos,, though some had a Mainline ute as well.
More often we had Holdens or pommy cars such as Vauxhall, Zephyr, Austins, Vanguards, Hillmans and the like