Push button door handles - 1949 Lincoln, but not Ford & Mercury?

[Dosmo]

An automotive trivia thing I have never noticed before is that while the 1949 Lincoln line utilizes push button door handles, the Ford & Mercury handles are the pull-out type.  Ever since I've been around people who are interested in old cars, one of the more well-known bits of general knowledge about the differences between the 1949 and 1950 Ford Motor Company products concerns the pull-out door handles used in 1949.  For whatever reason, the 1949 Ford & Mercury pull-out handles were changed to the push button type in 1950.  

 

It just seems sort of odd that the entire product line wouldn't have used the same type door handles.  Here are a couple of deteriorating 1949 Lincoln sedans that I took photos of 25 or so years ago.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Dosmo
I'm dyslexic (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Earlier Lincolns used pushbutton door latches. I suppose in the 30s or 40s it was an extra cost feature of the more expensive cars, that the cheaper Fords and Mercuries did without. Then in 1950 they figured out a way to make them cheap enough for Fords.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Along the same lines, Lincoln continued the 3 piece back window in 50 and 51 while Mercury discontinued it in mid 49. The new Hardtop Victoria  brought it back in 51 and 52 (Ford) and 52 ( Mercury and Lincoln) 50 Lincoln below

[Rusty_OToole]

Did the divided back window have something to do with the difficulty of making a large curved glass? A lot of cars had it in the 1949 - 52 period. I don't see why they would go to the extra trouble and expense if they didn't have to.

[greatlakesclassiccars]

On 8/18/2017 at 1:42 PM, Rusty_OToole said:

Did the divided back window have something to do with the difficulty of making a large curved glass? A lot of cars had it in the 1949 - 52 period. I don't see why they would go to the extra trouble and expense if they didn't have to.

I believe this is correct, it was purely the difficulty that spurred this.

[8E45E]

I believe '49 Lincolns have a rather complicated, but nice looking dash that was unique to that year only.

 

Craig

[tripwire]

The pull-out handles on the 49 Mercs worked the same, or similar latch mechanism with a lever that was contacted by a pin attached to the pull handle.  But, the outside door handle escutcheons being pot metal, would crack quite quickly. I'm guessing someone decided to move to the push button handles to get away from all those broken escutcheons for 1950.

 

Wes in VT