Chronicles: 1950 Year In Review

Originally designed to be utalitarian, the Type 2 would quickly become more luxurious and passenger friendly throughout the 1950's...

The 1950 356 weighed in at an incredibly low 600kg...

The ugliest car to ever grace the Le Mans track was arguably the Cunningham "Le Monstre"...

The 1950 DB2 set the stage for all future Astons...

Production of the Holden 48/215 was increased to 80 per day in 1950, but this was still short of being able to fill orders being taken at the showrooms around Australia...

Australia's worst air disaster - the crash of the ANA DC4 "Amana", would occur in 1950...

The Type 2 Volkswagen, or "bus" was born in 1950. It was designed as a spartan vehicle for new businesses starting up after the second world war. The earliest buses didn't even have a rear window or bumper. Originally, the bus was to be built on the Beetle chassis, but it proved too weak for the larger bus.

A new chassis was designed specifically for it. The buses built before 1956 are called "barndoors" because of their large rear engine lid. Soon after its introduction, there seemed to be a market for a more luxurious, passenger-friendly Type 2, and so the variations began.

While the original prototype of the Porsche 356 was completed in 1948, it wasn’t until 1950 that commercial production commenced and they started appearing on the showroom floor. Perceived as a rather dumpy-looking rear-engined sports car, the 356 was modelled on the VW Beetle, another Ferdinand Porsche design.

Early editions of the 356 had split windscreens and an 1100cc flat four motor that produced a mere 40 bhp, although the power was to steadily increase over time. For Porsche, the power to weight ratio was considered far more important then than readily available horsepower. While their target weight of 555kg was never achieved, the original 1950 model 356 only weighed in at a mere 600kg!

1950 was also the year Briggs Cunningham finally had his chance to race at the French Le Mans circuit. Le Mans had been Cunninghams Holy Grail for many years, but race regulations stated that prototypes could only be entered by an established motorcar manufacturer. Undaunted, in 1949 he hooked up with Phil Walters and Bill Frick who had also experimented with engine swapping, and in 1950 they formed Cunningham, Inc.

With his newly formed company Cunningham was ready to make his first assault at a Le Mans podium finish. He entered 2 cars in the 1950 race, the first being a standard bodied Cadillac two-door coupe that, much to the amazement of both the crowd and commentators, was to finish 10th. But it was his “Le Monstre” entry which most people still remember.

The aptly named “Le Monstre” was Cunninghams first-ever prototype sports car – although it shared much in common with his other entry. Cunningham and his team had simply removed the Cadillac body shell and draped it in their own peculiar and rather ungainly version.

Dubbed the “C-1”, it would remind you of the saying “a face that only a mother could love”. The story of Briggs Cunningham makes for a good read, and if you would like to know more you can read the feature from the "Lost Marques" section of the site.

The Aston Martin DB2 of 1950 was seen as the benchmark car for all future Astons, successfully blending a mix of old world charm with a silky smooth and powerful six-cylinder twin-cam 116bhp engine from the Lagonda 2.6 saloon. The DB2 could top 185 km/h with the standard engine, but more than 193 km/h with the high-compression Vantage engine, which in its time, represented amazing car performance.

By now, "Australia's Own" Holden 48/215 "FX" was established as a favourite mode of transport with most Australians. GMH had been increasing their production capacity every year since the cars launch, and by 1950 there were over 10,000 employees, output was around 80 cars per day, and some $43 million dollars was being paid to outside suppliers for materials, components and services.

Mid year (June 26th), Australia would suffer its worst air disaster when the ANA DC4 "Amana" would crash near York in Western Australia, killing all 29 passengers and crew.

Believe it of not, it would take until 1950 for the Northern Territory government to establish formal schooling for the territories Aboriginal children. The lack of facilities, until then, had been rationalised by the claim "beyond the age of 10 they couldn't keep up with white children anyway".

Formula One Championship: Guiseppe Farina (Italy) / Alfa

NRL Grand Final:

VFL/AFL Grand Final:

Melbourne Cup: Comic Court (P. Glennon)

Wimbledon Women: Louise Brough d. M. duPont (6-1 3-6 6-1)

Wimbledon Men: Budge Patty d. F. Sedgman (6-1 8-10 6-2 6-3)

The Movies: