The Clean Power Plan simply makes sure that fossil fuel-fired power plants will operate more cleanly and efficiently, while expanding the capacity for zero- and low-emitting power sources. Ford continued to stress safety for a few more years, but put more emphasis on performance. The Custom wagon now bore Country Squire script, but would be the last true Ford woody. Only detail changes would occur to this basic design through 1954. Wheelbase crept up to 115 inches for a revised model slate that started with a cheap Mainline Tudor/Fordor, business coupe, and two-door Ranch Wagon, followed by Customline sedans, club coupe, and four-door Country Sedan wagon. Topping the range was the V-8 Crestline group of Victoria hardtop, newly named Sunliner convertible, and posh Country Squire four-door wagon. That and a price identical with the Sunliner convertible’s — $2164 — held ’54 Skyliner sales to 13,344. Only the Country Squire and Mainline business coupe fared worse. The “tiara” looked like a roll bar, but added no structural strength; a Plexiglas insert rode ahead of it, as on Skyliner. Skyliner was also ousted for ’55, but Ford had another idea.

Ford also began selling “Lifeguard Design” safety features, equipping all models with dished steering wheel, breakaway rearview mirror, and crashproof door locks; padded dash and sunvisors cost $16 extra, factory-installed seatbelts $9. After finding a bone on the ground and begging some hog’s bristles from a jailer, Addis fashioned a modern “toothbrush” and began mass-producing them in England. With the Korean conflict ended, Ford Division built 1.2 million cars to edge Chevrolet for the model year (Chevy consoled itself with calendar-year supremacy), but only by dumping cars on dealers in a production “blitz” so they could sell for “less than cost.” Ironically, Chevrolet wasn’t much affected by this onslaught, but Studebaker, American Motors, and Kaiser-Willys were, because they couldn’t afford to discount as much. Ford finally offered a self-shift transmission in Ford-O-Matic Drive — a three-speed automatic to outdo Chevy’s two-speed Powerglide. A full steel-roof model was also offered for $70 less than the “bubble-topper”; predictably, it sold much better: 33,000-plus to just 1999. The totals were 9209 and just 603 for ’56, after which the Crown Vic was dumped. A new 312-cid “Thunderbird” unit with 215/225 horsepower was ­optional across the board, and a midrange 292-cid V-8 offered 200 horsepower.

Styling was handled by Franklin Q. Hershey, who also gets credit for that year’s new two-seat Thunderbird (see separate entry). Club coupes were abandoned, wagons grouped in a separate series, and Crestline was renamed Fairlane (after the Ford family estate in Dearborn). New models were supposed to help, particularly new cars, which Ford heralded by proclaiming 2004 as “The Year of the Car.” But recovery proved stubbornly elusive. These wagons, by the way, were Ford’s first all-steel models (the Squire switching from real wood to wood-look decals). Also new for ’51 was Ford’s first hardtop coupe, the Custom V-8 Victoria. Ford’s model-year volume declined by about 200,000 cars, but Chevy’s fell a similar amount, reflecting new government-ordered restrictions on civilian production prompted by the Korean War. And indeed, by 1952, Ford Motor Company had passed a faltering Chrysler Corporation to regain the number-two spot in manufacturer volume. Seeking greater competitiveness, Ford slightly downpriced its ’51 models and applied an attractive facelift featuring a new grille with small twin bullets on a thick horizontal bar.

With the “horsepower race” at full gallop, the 239-cid V-8 was ousted for a 272 enlargement, packing 162/182 horsepower as an option for all models. The 1957 Fords were all-new, offering a vast array of V-8s from a 190-bhp 272 up to a 245-bhp 312. The 223-cid six was standard for all but one model. Speaking of which, the 272 V-8 delivered 173 horsepower as a ’56 Mainline/Customline option. Doing more with less, Ford introduced a new 215.3-cid overhead-valve six with 101 horsepower as standard for Mainline/Customline. Though still without a hardtop and a fully automatic transmission like Chevrolet, Ford bested 1930’s imposing model-year output, making more than 1.2 million cars. But Ford as a whole did splendidly in banner 1955, shattering its postwar record of 1953 by building nearly 1.5 million cars. Together with ball-joint front suspension, also new, the Y-block greatly narrowed the engineering gap between expensive and inexpensive cars. The venerable flathead V-8 was honorably retired for 1954 in favor of a new overhead-valve “Y-block” V-8 (so-called because of its frontal appearance in cross-section). The flathead V-8 was tweaked to 110 horsepower. Its initial 239 cid was the same as flathead displacement, but the ohv had different “oversquare” cylinder dimensions.