DB #0009 - 1949 Ford Custom Deluxe Country Squire Wagon

[bubenator]

This is from a major mass-produced vehicle, but something is very strange.
What vehicle is this from and what makes it so interesting?

[bubenator]

Time for an Expert opinion!

[Zerk]

Can this be an Austin Mini Van, converted after sale to a posh little passenger car?

[bubenator]

No, not an Austin.  It's actually a lot more common than that.

[mymokke]

I'll throw a guess ........ Is it a Plymouth Suburban form the late 40's early 50s?

[bubenator]

No, it's not the Plymouth, but you're on the right track.

[D-type]

More common than an Austin?

Chevrolet?

[targhediferro]

Is it a Ford Custom 1950?

[bubenator]

Ford, yes!
The other aspects need a little more clarification!
1950 is close.

[mymokke]

If 1950 is close I'll go for a Ford Country Squire 2 door wagon of 1951?

[targhediferro]

I try with 1949 Ford Country Woody Wagon

[bubenator]

I try with 1949 Ford Country Woody Wagon

Fair enough!  I'll award a point though it needs a little clarification.
The car is a 1949 Ford Custom Deluxe Country Squire Wagon.

As you probably know, the only wagons offered by Ford between 1949 and 1951 were 2-door wagons - with an optional third seat.
The innovation here was that this was the first time wood panelling was used on top of the underlining steel skins.  Previous wagons had true wood panelling on exterior body surfaces.  The manufacturing process was pretty complicated and expensive, so wagons were only available in the "Custom Deluxe" series.  The more basic Custom series didn't have a wagon offered.  The well-known Country Squire was an option package on top of the Custom Deluxe series - hence the long name.

But the important part is that third seat.
This was a full-width, forward-facing, non-folding, 3-passenger seat.  I don't know of any other 2-door wagon with that kind of seating configuration.  Can you imagine trying to get real, live humans back there?
In 1949, the second-row (2-passenger) seat was vertically split as shown here likely to facilitate getting back to the last row.  In 1950, this was changed to a slightly-narrower non-split 2-passenger seat so the entire second seat could fold flat.  1951 had the same seat configuration as 1950.

I find this period advertisement as particularly amusing.  Here was have 8 apparently-happy full-sized humans crammed into a wagon with no apparent suspension sag and smiles all around.  I find it just a little hard to believe.