1920 Classic Cars for Sale
Enclosed body sales climb past 10 percent for the first time, General Motors' Alfred Sloan reshapes strategy, and the postwar recession hits list prices hard by year-end
1920 opened with genuine postwar optimism and closed with the first serious postwar recession. Automobile prices peaked in the spring, then manufacturers, Ford most dramatically, slashed prices in the fall to move inventory. The Ford Model T Touring dropped from $575 to $440 between August and November 1920. Buyers who waited were rewarded. Those who bought in spring paid a premium they would not recover.
General Motors was reorganizing under Alfred Sloan's emerging strategy of market segmentation. The idea, still forming in 1920, was that GM could own every price point from Chevrolet to Cadillac while Ford owned only one. The implications for the next decade were enormous, but in 1920 they were still blueprints. What buyers saw on the street was a GM lineup that felt scattered, not yet coordinated.
The closed car trend was real but not yet dominant. Enclosed bodies, sedans and coupes, accounted for an estimated 10 to 12 percent of new car sales in 1920, up from under 5 percent in 1915. The economics were pushing the change: plate glass had come down in price, weather protection was genuinely valued, and women buyers, a growing market segment, strongly preferred enclosed cars.
- Ford cut the Model T Touring price from $575 to $440 in two stages during the fall of 1920, one of the most aggressive price reductions in American automotive history to that point.
- Enclosed body styles reached an estimated 10 to 12 percent of US new car sales in 1920, the first year this segment crossed the 10 percent threshold.
- Hudson Motor Car Company introduced the Essex Four at $1,495 for the touring model, directly targeting buyers priced out of the middle market, and sold an estimated 21,000 units in its first full year.
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Dealer
United States
1920 GMC T-Series
Market: The 1920 market for collectors is broad. Ford Model T coupes and sedans from this year, with correct Ruckstell axle or Warner overdrive accessories, run $12,000 to $22,000 restored. Cadillac Type 59 sedans, rare survivors in any condition, attract $45,000 to $75,000. Packard Single Six prices have softened relative to Twin Sixes but correct examples still bring $35,000 to $65,000.
Buyer's note: Confirm that price-cut-era Ford Model Ts have matching firewall stampings and original body serial plates, since many 1920 cars were assembled from mixed inventory during the production slowdown and parts provenance gets complicated.