Then I saw this 1942 Desoto in an old movie.

I don't know the numbers, but some 1942 models were made before factories switched over to war production.

77 pages of em. Many are army vehicles but there are a lot of cars mixed in.

IMCDB 1942 vehicles in film ~ page 1

They're listed alphabetically, A to Z.

Chrysler Corp. 1942 model year: ( ~ 282,336 cars)

Chrysler ~ 36,586 - production ended January '42
DeSoto ~ 24,771 - production ended 2/9/42
Dodge ~ 68,552 - production ended January '42
Plymouth ~ 152,427 production ended 1/31/42

for reference: 1941 Plymouth production was ~ 552,080 cars

no production models for 1943-'45

Most, if not all, 1942 cars are unique. What they did when they resumed in 1946 was a rehash but with tweaks that continued to be carried over through 1947-48. I generally find the 1942 models more attractive than the post-war ones.

They also had "blackout" models due to rationing, so you'll find painted trim.

Naturally Diego is spot on. Remember when they did the yearly changeover(August I believe). Dec 7 41 we were attacked so they had August probably through December to produce cars before all the war powers acts got sorted out and industry asked to change over. It was not just 46 that was a rehash, but new designs really didn't hit the market until around 49. I believe Ford would have been one of the first "new" designs.

The design studios of the major car companies were largely restricted from working on designs for new cars during the war. Studebaker got around this by contracting with a 3rd party company, Raymond Loewy Associates which got them to post-war production of a truly new design ahead of the pack.. And now for the Mopar connection: Designer of the Studebaker Starlight Coupe was Virgil Exner.

Similar thing happened for the Korean war, my 51 has painted tail light bezels rather than chrome due to the war. In fact there was talk at the time about putting production on a war footing similar to WWII. Didn't happen but a lot of stuff became critical war materials and not available for general use for awhile. I suspect had MacAuthur had his way WWIII would of been against China and we'd of gone to complete war footing like WWII.

I had a 42 Ford coupe years back. No chrome trim on it. Was a really nice car, the wind up clock even still worked in it.

Someone before me had put a 312 Ford engine in it, with Thunderbird valve covers. The 312 had broken the base off a lifter and took out that cam lobe. Ever replaced a Y block lifter with the engine still in the car? You have to do it from underneath once the cam is removed. Once I got it running again I immediately sold the 312 to a Thunderbird fanatic (for $100), and adapted a small block Chevy to the stock driveline.

Dad worked with a guy who was a know it all on any subject presented to him. He and Dad stood there looking at the freshly installed engine for a good 10 minutes while the other guy extolled the virtues of a Ford V8. Dad finally asked me to tell him what the engine was. I think that was the only time I ever saw the guy shut up.

I drove the 42 around a summer and sold it for a $600 profit. I thought I'd hit the big time. Often have wished I'd kept the car. Haven't we all.