1950 Studebaker Commander 4-Door Sedan

Photo by Cliff West

Studebaker was "first by far with a postwar car," introducing all-new models designed by Raymond Loewy in 1947, while the other automakers were still selling facelifted versions of their prewar models. Unfortunately for Studebaker, the high demand for new cars after the war meant that their new design was wasted on consumers who just weren't that discerning. By the time the other automakers introduced their truly new cars, Studebaker's design looked dated.

For 1950, Studebaker responded by giving its models a facelift in the form of the bullet-nosed front-end pictured here. The look was definitely different, though there were some similarities to the 1948 Tucker, and Ford used a similar though less dramatic bullet in its grilles for 1949 and 1950. Studebaker called the aircraft-inspired styling the "next look," but it would tone-down the styling for 1951 and become much more conventional in 1952 before finally introducing new designs in 1953.

Along with the new styling, the 1950 Studebakers also introduced a new fully automatic transmission as an option. Called "automatic drive," it was developed with the Detroit Gear Division of Borg-Warner.

Pictured here at the Towe Ford Museum (now the California Automobile Museum) in Sacramento, California, in March 1992 is a 1950 Studebaker Commander 4-Door Sedan. The Commander was Studebaker's higher-priced model, riding on a 120-inch wheelbase, and was powered by a 102-horsepower 245.6 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine. The lower-priced Champion had a 113-inch wheelbase and an 85-horsepower 169.6 cubic-inch 6-cylinder engine.