The Cars of 1941
The ’41 Ford was freshened, getting a push-button start (sound familiar?) that could only be activated after the key unlocked the steering column.
Chevy’s Suburban — yes, the same one — also got a refresh in 1941, and yes, it sat eight occupants, but it was available only with inline-six-cylinder engines. Chevy didn’t start offering V-8s in large numbers until the “small-block” V-8 arrived in 1954.
The 1941 Buick Century had a 165-horsepower inline-eight-cylinder engine that could hit 95 mph. It was nicknamed “the banker’s hot rod.”
Of course, 1941 is widely remembered by car enthusiasts as the first year of production for the Willys Jeep, a design that has stood the test of time. It’s a design that is still alive and well in today’s Jeep Wrangler.
The 1940s also had a number of automotive nameplates that are no longer with us today, including DeSoto, Plymouth, Mercury, Pontiac, Crosley, Nash, Packard and Studebaker.
