cars built during and after ww2

The last prewar civilian production modelyear were the '42s, which were introduced, as customary then and even yet now, in Autum of '41. Cars were manufactured in The US throughout WWII, they just weren't available to the civilian market; all went to the war effort. What were essentially production 1942 sedans were built and used as staff cars right through 1945, and some limos, stationwagons, panel delivery vans, and pickup trucks, also all just continuing production of 1942 models, were built for the government, too. Though entering production in late '45, the first post-war models were marketed as 1946 yearmodels, and were essentially little other than repeats of the '42s. New models, redesigned/refeatured, began appearing in '47, and by ''49, there was little cosmetic resemblence between the prewar offerings and the renewed postwar production. Unsurprisingly, new car sales exploded in the months following the end of the war, and for a good while, throughout the entire '46 model year and, for some models, well into the '47 model year, demand so far outstripped production that many dealers would not take orders, but would only put buyers on waiting lists. If you were next up on the coupe list, and one came in, regardless of color or equipment, you either took it or went to the back of the list.