Ford's 1959 models were the final versions of a body line introduced for the 1957 model year. They were heavily facelifted from the already facelifted 1958 cars.
Ford advertising claimed that the '59s were "Beatifully Prportioned", as the above advertisement headline states (click on the image to enlarge). Although it's hard to read, the text by the gold medals at the lower left states: "AWARDED THE GOLD MEDAL by the Comité française de L'Elégance, for beautiful proportions -- at the Brussels World's Fair"
Another marketing ploy was the cars' resemblance to the Ford Thunderbird, redesigned as a four-passenger car for 1958. The red car in the ad's distance is a '59 T-Bird.
At the time these Fords appeared, I was perplexed with regard to the "Beautifully Proportioned" claim. Even though I was majoring in Commercial Art in college at the time, I failed to see how Fords had such a feature. In fact, I thought they weren't beautiful. But one of my fraternity brothers who was an architecture student told me that one of his instructors backed up the claim, though he didn't provide the reasoning.
Perhaps there are details on '59 Fords that conform to the Golden Ratio (1.61803398875) and other mathematical relationships. Readers are more than welcome to explain the wonder of 1959 Ford portions to the likes of me in Comments.
Photos of 1959 Fords are below. Unless noted, they are of cars for sale or are factory-sourced.
Publicity photo of the top-of-the-line four-door hardtop. Behind it is a Thunderbird. The Thunderbird styling link is the broad C-pillar found only on Galaxie models. The horizontal trim on the pillar evokes the T-Bird's wings badge.
Long trunks and rear overhang were fashionable in those days. But at the price here of a stubby hood and front end ... questionable proportioning.
I think the chromed V on the trunk lid detracts from the generally horizontal styling theme. I suppose it was justified as being a counterpoint. Or maybe it had to do with the V-for-V8 theme common in those days.
The tubular elements atop the rear fenderline are residues of tailfins found on 1957 and '58 Ford Fairlane 500s (the previous line-toppers).
Below Galaxie-level, C-pillars were narrow and backlight windows were panoramic.
I've always thought that the '59 version of traditional 1950s round Ford tail lights were too large.
An entry-level '59 Ford. Windows on the passenger compartment are awkward.
Here we see the two-tone paint scheme for Custom 300s. The decorations on the rear fender area add some visual balance, but seem too "spotty."
The V on the rear of the trunk lid was part of the metal forming. That is, the chromed V's on Fairlane and Galaxies were not simply decorations.
The 1959 was more than a heavily facelifted model. The whole at least outer body was new - the greenhouse including windshield was different from the 57-58's including on the station wagon, although it showed a lot of Ford cues with side trim and tail lights clearly reflecting the 1957. The frame and suspension and maybe a lot of the inner body structures (?) were carried over.
ReplyDeleteThe new 1962 intermediate Fairlane also clearly harked back to the 57 model including its name. I guess the 57 was thought of as a paragon of Fordness.
The "beautifully proportioned" thing is pretty suspect. The 59's were much blockier than the 57-58's, but it was a one year thing as the 1960 model was the opposite. I wonder if the new again (a whole wider lower body) 1960 model was a rush job like 1959 GM cars.
But Ford buyers went for the 59 and the 1960 sales were disappointing particularly for an all new (other than the frame/suspension) model. Then it was back to big round taillights for the next four years. The 59 tail lights aren't all that big really - it's mostly the turbine style dish around them. The 1964 version however is about as big and is all tail light.
Ford brought back the big round tail lights with the reincarnated two passenger Thunderbird along with other cues. It just did all of them wrong.