The present post deals with that design's original styling and the facelifts imposed on it for model years 1958 and 1959.
Unless noted, images below are either factory sourced or of cars listed for sale.
Given the era of panoramic windshields and tailfins, I always thought the '57 Fords were nicely styled when compared to most competing brands. Defects include the golden, anodized side strip and the fish-eye headlights.
The canted tailfins were restrained for the times. Traditional (also for the times) Ford round tail lights were included at the price of some slightly fussy metal shaping towards the rear of the fender.
Perhaps the design looks best from seen from the side. Well-balanced aside from the stubby hood and front end.
Entry-level Fords had a nearly meaningless chrome decoration on the rear fender. I say "nearly" because the spiked dip recalls front fender chrome trim on 1955 and 1956 Fords.
One structural difference was the shape of the tailfins. Here they are simpler than on Fairlanes.
The 1958 facelift was an aesthetic step backward. Those quad headlights were jammed into an assembly intended to house previous headlights in case some states failed to legalize quads. The side trim has an arbitrary shape that no longer relates to the tailfins.
Quad headlight begat quad tail lights along with some sculpting on the trunk lid. A busier, not better, design.
1959 Fords received a major facelift. Besides the obvious new grille on this entry-level model, new side sheet metal appeared.
The most drastic change was a flatter, Thunderbird-like roof and redesigned C-pillar and backlight window.
Almost gone were the tailfins. Round tail lights reappeared, but in massive form. The V chrome strip on the trunk lid detracts from the largely horizontal styling theme.
The 1955-56 may have been largely the same as the 1952-54, but the whole body was really different. I don't think anyone really thought it wasn't an entirely new car. The greenhouses including the whole station wagon upper structure were different. Maybe the rear door on four doors were basically the same. Both were no doubt pretty much based on the 1949 frame and maybe more. The 1957 model was entirely different with a curved frame allowing rear seat floor wells which went through 1964. The 1959 body also included a whole new station wagon greenhouse - one of those one year bodies like the 1958 Chevy.
ReplyDeleteThey really spent a lot of time and money on new body stampings in the height of planned obsolescence, the 1950's.