The seven best road cars of the 1950s

Ford F100 (1952)

The F100 name might not be immediately familiar to you, but it is the direct ancestor to a vehicle you will most certainly have heard of, the Ford F150. It was in fact this model which prompted Ford to switch from the previous F1 nameplate to a triple number system that would eventually give rise to the F150, sometimes referred to as the world’s best-selling vehicle.

The F100 was a big departure from its predecessor and you could argue the case that it set pick-ups on the road to becoming the daily driver for millions of Americans. The F100 was the first Ford pick-up to get an adjustable bench seat big enough for three people, optional automatic transmission, powered brakes and, from 1956, seatbelts. To date, Ford has sold more than 40 million ‘F-Series’ pick-ups.

Chevrolet Corvette (1953)

It may be a shock to some that this most American of machines began life with a straight-six under its bonnet rather than a V8. The Corvette was the brainchild of GM stylist Harley Earl, who convinced his bosses of the need for an American-built competitor to the rakish European sportscars GIs were bringing home with them from overseas tours. So, the Corvette was created as a simple, open two-seater with a lightweight fibreglass body and shared components with the rest of the Chevrolet range to keep costs down.

The Corvette got the Stovebolt straight-six producing a heady 150 horses and a two-speed automatic transmission, the only transmission Chevrolet had that was able to handle the output of the monster motor. Sales were almost as slow as the car itself, and there was internal talk of canning the Corvette, but thankfully the car was saved by the timely introduction of the famed Small Block Chevy V8 and a three-speed manual transmission. The Corvette was starting to shape up as a proper sportscar and when Ford introduced its own two-seater droptop, the Thunderbird in 1955, the Corvette’s future as a Blue Oval rival was assured.

Fiat 8V Supersonic (1953)

Fiat introducing a V8-powered two-seater sportscar was as surprising in 1952 as it would be now some 70 years later. The car’s 2.0-litre 70-degree V8 had been intended for a luxury saloon project which never reached production. Somehow it was snuck into a limited run of bespoke coupes and convertibles while management was preoccupied with producing the next generation of lovable Italian peoples’ car. The 8V name was chosen as Fiat wrongly believed that Ford had a trademark on ‘V8’.

Only 114 examples were produced between 1952 and 1954, draped in elegant coupe and convertible bodies by Zagato, Vignale and Ghia. It was the latter coachmaker that produced the most beautiful variant using a body initially developed as a one-off Alfa Romeo 1900. Inspired by the burgeoning jet age the Supersonic eschewed huge fins for a sleek and smooth look that indeed looked capable of breaking the sound barrier.

Speaking of fins and things, the Chevrolet Bel Air was another machine inspired by the aerial heroics of Chuck Yeager and others displaying the ‘Right Stuff’, a styling trope that would reach its zenith in titanic tail end of the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible. The Bel Air was a different beast to the Cadillac and has inspired an even more devoted offering, especially the 1955-57 ‘Tri-Five’ models.

Now iconic from drag strips, suburban cruises and plenty of film appearances, including in the seminal American Graffiti, the Bel Air was actually a family of cars and, apart from its sensational styling, is famous for one huge reason. The Bel Air, along with the Corvette, introduced the Small Block Chevrolet (SBC) V8 to the streets. Compact, light and powerful, the SBC powered generations of Chevys for decades, with more than 100 million manufactured. Its success was assured early on when legendary GM engineer Zora Arkus Duntov set a Pikes Peak record on a four door, V8-powered Chevrolet Bel Air four-door hardtop.

Citroen DS (1955)

A car so out of this world that the French pronunciation of its two-letter name literally translates as ‘Goddess’. In development for nearly two decades as a replacement for the pioneering Traction Avant, the DS was introduced at the Paris Motor Show of 1955. Nearly 800 orders were placed in the first 15 minutes after it was unveiled, and 80,000 during the show’s ten day run.

Designed by Italian sculptor Flaminio Bertoni, engineered by French aeronautical genius André Lefèbvre, the DS got its hydropneumatic suspension courtesy of Paul Magès. As well as its trick suspension, the DS was also the first mass-produced car with all-round disc brakes, a semi-automatic gearbox, power steering and, later, directional headlights. In production for 20 years, almost 1.5 million were made.

Lotus Seven (1957)

The Caterham Seven has been around, in so may guises, for so long that it is hard to accept that it actually had a starting point. It just seems to have been the epitome of the lightweight sportscar since time immemorial. It was in fact introduced as a replacement for – surprisingly – the Lotus Mk VI and, while visually similar, used a tubular frame chassis based on the Lotus Eleven racer. Powered by a 1.2-litre Ford side-valve engine producing just 40 horsepower it was offered as a kit to attract a lower tax rate.

The new entry level Lotus was a huge success, selling more than 2,500 examples in various iterations – the Seven S2, Super Seven S2, S3 and largely unloved S4. Wanting to move his company away from its ‘kit car’ image, Colin Chapman sold the rights to the Seven to Caterham in 1975, a company we can all confirm has been a fine custodian for the car.

BMC Mini (1959)

Small, light, setting the standard for everything that came afterwards and an astonishing competition success. Words that could have applied equally to the previous entry but in fact belong to possibly the most revolutionary car of all time, the BMC Mini-Minor. Which, as it happens, was also marketed as a ‘Seven’ under the Austin badge. The first car with a transversely mounted engine under the bonnet driving the front wheels, the Mini was the brainchild of genius engineer Sir Alex Issigonis, who wanted to maximise the space available for driver and passengers in as small a footprint as possible.

The Mini’s resulting wheel-at-each-corner stance was not only packaging perfection, it also lent itself to excellent handling and peerless prowess on circuits and rally stages for decades, as you can still see as they battle much bigger machinery in the Revival’s St. Mary’s Trophy. Made in Britain, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Chile, Malta, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia right up until the current millennium, nearly 5.4 million came off the production line.