49s

[Art Archambeault]

Would any one have a reasonable estimate as to how many 49s still exist worldwide.  Total of all the series, not specific series.   Thanks in advance.  Art

[Robt.Vonheck]

-as a long-time afficionado of the ingeniously designed 49-Cad. in particular, i would venture an estimate of some 12,500 survivors in various degrees of condition; --of those probably some 4,500 are excellent specimens!   Perhaps some else has a more educated appraisal (someone like Geo.McVey the quality-reproduction master, -wish he would pipe-up here for us!); -yet why do you ask, are you thinking of reproducing some components (remember, excepting for the facia-configuration, engine, and dashboard, the 48s are very similar).  You know, one strange observation, of all the 49ers ive seen over the years (have owned six 49s myself as an admirer), --never ever saw one that had been in a horrible deathly-collision as one sees of other cars (as though blessed by the Pope or something); -in fact, recall as a kid my Dad impatiently pulling out of a long line of stopped cars during an Easter-sunday on the old 3-lane Hwy,-101 (going SanDiego to LosAngeles), --whereupon the  car that was in front of us was immediately slammed into violently by another car doing about 65-mph (the radio-news later said people in both cars were killed), the 49-Cad. having performance vastly superior to other cars of its day could instantly pull-out and accelerate past snarrled-traffic in a way impossible in say a Buick, Packard, or Ford for example); ---thus most survived only to sadly be crushed for their metal, or melted into the ground as neglected victoms of the elements...
      ~Bob vH

[Art archambeault CLC#22010]

  Hi Robert. Thanks for your reply. Purely from an automotive standpoint, because of the engine specifically and the design secondly.  When this engine came out, everthing before it became obsolete, everthing after it, owes it self to it. Every V8 after it can be traced from a heritage standpoint, right back to it. It changed the auto motive industry for ever, right to this day.  Anything Carrol Shelby or any guru of engine production design can be traced back to it. Notwithstanding the various experimental designs being worked on at the time, it was first.
  Design, well, the Seddenette speaks for itself. Last year of a split windshield , just the right amount of ornimitation. Combining all these , with performance, sleek design for the time and with the exception of the rotary engine, still the design carried to today. For me , what a car should be. Ofcourse, people are partial to what they own and so am I. When the industry moves to the next means of propulsion, what ever it is , then I believe these cars specifically will be of greater significance, if not in worth than in historical perspective.  Art

[Art Archambeault CLC#22010]

  One more note. If not the Standard of the World any more, than at the minimum, the Standard Barer    Art