1949 Classic Cars for Sale

136 listings Median price: $21,995 Updated daily

The slab-sided 1949 Ford broke the mold, Cadillac's first overhead valve V8 arrived, and Oldsmobile's Rocket 88 was already thinking about racing

Ford had not changed its basic body in seven years. Then 1949 arrived and the company released what was, by any reasonable measure, a genuinely new automobile. The pontoon fenders were gone. The body sides were smooth and uninterrupted from front to rear. The hood and trunk were balanced in proportion. When Ford moved 807,000 of them in the model year, the decision made obvious sense, but in the design studios of 1947 and 1948, it was a real gamble.

Cadillac and Oldsmobile both launched overhead valve V8 engines in 1949, and this is not a minor footnote. The Cadillac 331 cubic-inch OHV V8 produced 160 horsepower from an engine that weighed less than the flathead it replaced. Oldsmobile's 303 cubic-inch Rocket V8 made 135 horsepower and would soon find its way into lighter bodies, pointing directly toward the muscle car era nobody had named yet.

For buyers today, 1949 is a crossroads year in the most literal sense. You can buy a flathead-era car in its final form, or you can buy into the beginning of the modern American V8 story. The 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe DeVille, introduced this year as the first true pillarless hardtop from a major American manufacturer, represents both at once, old money bodywork, genuinely new engineering underneath.

Notable 1949s: Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible Cadillac Series 62 Coupe DeVille Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Coupe Mercury Eight Sport Sedan Buick Roadmaster Riviera Hardtop Lincoln Cosmopolitan Capri Coupe Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe Bel Air

1949 in automotive history

Cadillac introduced its 331 cubic-inch overhead valve V8 producing 160 horsepower for 1949, while simultaneously Oldsmobile launched its 303 cubic-inch Rocket V8, marking the beginning of the end for American flathead engine dominance
Ford's completely redesigned 1949 line sold approximately 807,000 units in the model year, ending a period of stagnant postwar styling and outselling Chevrolet for the first time since 1935
Cadillac introduced the Series 62 Coupe DeVille in 1949 as the first production pillarless hardtop convertible from a major American manufacturer, establishing the hardtop body style that every other domestic brand rushed to copy within three years

Showing 136 listings

1949 Classic Cars for Sale

1949 Buick Super

1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

1949 Packard Deluxe

1949 DeSoto Custom

1949 Ford Custom Deluxe

1949 DeSoto Custom

1949 Chevrolet 3100

1949 DeSoto Custom

1949 DeSoto Custom

1949 Chevrolet 3100

1949 Mercury Convertible

1949 Ford Custom

1949 Buick Super

1949 Kaiser Special

1949 Cadillac Series 62

1949 GMC 100

1949 Ford Coupe

1949 Packard Standard 8

1949 Studebaker Custom

1949 Ford F-1

1949 Ford Custom

1949 Ford Lead sled

1949 Ford Custom

1949 Buick Super