'57 Fairlane Bonneville Test Car - 50,000 miles at 108 m.p.h.

[Mark B. Morrow]

An Interesting piece of history.

 

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-longest-left-turn-in-history/

[blksn8k2]

Those Firestone decals are a little ironic. My dad had a new 57 Fairlane. Pretty sure it was a 312 with a single 4 barrel. I was a little too young to know for sure. All I really remember is that it was a four door and a nasty two-tone green color. LOL. He traded it in 59 for a new Mercury.

[4d4evr-1]

There were 4 total '57 Fords in our family. While I was 9 at the time I still remember a red and white, black and yellow like in the article and a solid black. Years later my oldest brother bought his second, another solid black...

 

I don't think I ever knew Ford out sold Chevy on '57....

[Mark B. Morrow]

There were 4 total '57 Fords in our family. While I was 9 at the time I still remember a red and white, black and yellow like in the article and a solid black. Years later my oldest brother bought his second, another solid black...

 

I don't think I ever knew Ford out sold Chevy on '57....

Ford outsold Chevy again in '59.

[4d4evr-1]

Ford outsold Chevy again in '59.

My dad also bought a '59 and I remember a steel strike and GM could not get steel while Ford had a steel mill, at least that is what I remember...

[traxiii]

Those Firestone decals are a little ironic. My dad had a new 57 Fairlane. Pretty sure it was a 312 with a single 4 barrel. I was a little too young to know for sure. All I really remember is that it was a four door and a nasty two-tone green color. LOL. He traded it in 59 for a new Mercury.

Not Firestone decals, those are the Mobil Oil Pegasus winged horse.

[grbeck]

This test is ironic in view of the fact that the 1957 Ford turned out to have serious build quality and reliability issues. The Fords weren't as bad as the 1957 Plymouths in this regard, but the 1957 Fords are widely regarded as rust-prone lemons. The 1957 Chevrolet was the third and final year of the basic 1955 body and chassis, and had all of the bugs worked out by then. And Chevrolet build quality was head-and-shoulders above that of both Ford and Plymouth that year.

 

Ford, to its credit, worked hard to improve the car in both 1958 and 1959. The 1958 cars were much improved, and the 1959 cars were quite solid. But then it rushed out the 1960 models (in reaction to the 1959 Chevrolet) instead of going with the original plan to facelift the 1959 car. The 1960 model also ended up not being one of Ford's better efforts.

Edited February 20, 2014 by grbeck

[xr7g428]

That we know these things: "The 1958 cars were much improved, and the 1959 cars were quite solid. But then it rushed out the 1960 models (in reaction to the 1959 Chevrolet) instead of going with the original plan to facelift the 1959 car." and that we still care is pretty amazing. As we turn the corner on the first century of the automobile, we are beginning to lose the granularity of the history. In time, it will seem as if cars just sprang up as fully developed machines, all of the evolutionary steps will blur together. Wasn't it great to live during a time when every year, cars were new and exciting?

[grbeck]

That we know these things: "The 1958 cars were much improved, and the 1959 cars were quite solid. But then it rushed out the 1960 models (in reaction to the 1959 Chevrolet) instead of going with the original plan to facelift the 1959 car." and that we still care is pretty amazing. As we turn the corner on the first century of the automobile, we are beginning to lose the granularity of the history. In time, it will seem as if cars just sprang up as fully developed machines, all of the evolutionary steps will blur together. Wasn't it great to live during a time when every year, cars were new and exciting?

I wasn't around yet during the 1950s, so I can't comment on that time.

 

Today, though, Ford and other automakers offer so many different models that every year SOMETHING is new and exciting.

 

In the 1950s, you had two basic Fords - the "standard" Ford and, after 1954, the Thunderbird. It was easy for Ford to restyle its standard car every year. But that was it.

 

Just in the last year we've seen an all-new Mustang, an all-new F-150 and a heavily revised Expedition.

 

What has changed is the internet. As a teenager in the late 1970s, I remember waiting for the new cars to appear at the local dealerships during the month of August. There was also a freight train line that ran right through the center of town. Around August you could catch the new cars being shipped from the factory via rail.

 

There was no Brenda Priddy snapping photos of prototypes and having them posted on the web months before they debuted. You really didn't know what was all-new, what was heavily face-lifted and what was unchanged until the vehicles either showed up at the dealerships or one of the major buff books featured an article on them. Now we know this stuff months in advance.

Edited February 20, 2014 by grbeck