Re: 1955-57 What-If Line-Up

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2010/11/29 14:30:10

I know what you are saying about the up close reaction, I had a similar experience with a 1960 Lincoln sedan a few years ago. Agree, it's impressive. Maybe it doesn't photograph well. But it was definitely a square bird. In fact, was built at Wixom in Michigan alongside the new '58 T-Bird in a new factory and both shared a unibody platform. Lincoln picked up the platform as a late add because T-Bird volumes weren't enough to fill the plant. Both continued the unibody until T-Bird went to BoF in 1967. The 1968 Lincoln Continental Mk III shared the BoF platform and the Lincoln sedans gave up the unibody for the 1970 model year. It is quite remarkable that the American car industry was so innovative in the late 50s and early 60s. my recollection is that the following had unibodies in the 1960s:

AMC - all
Chrysler Corp. - all (Imperial beginning in 1967)
Ford Falcon, Mustang, Fairlane (Torino until 1972)
Mercury versions of Ford
GM compacts until 1964
Lincoln Continental
Ford Thunderbird until 1967

There is a good book on Lincoln post-war out there. They say the mgmt at the time the 58s came out - and did not wow the public - concluded that Cadillac always had consistent styling while Lincoln jumped around. Once Lincoln's planners (I believe it was actually McNamara) saw Engel's mockup of a proposed 61 T-Bird they latched onto it as a Lincoln and thereafter embarked on a campaign to retain the same style. Served Lincoln quite well for over a decade. I think Packard jumped around too much post-war. When they had the same look from about 1906 to 1931 it served them quite well. Consistent styling in the 30s and into the 40s was also helpful. Then all $%^&* broke loose. :)