History Question about 1958 Fords.

Butt ugly? I like Butts!

 

Some people didn't like 58s they didn't have the traditional for Ford 1 big round taillight.

 

Ha ha ha. OK, I gotta admit, there are some nice lookin butts out there!

 

I like mine

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Both of those and ugly. LOL

 

It's kind of sad but funny at the same time - Ford actually had service bulletins addressing the rust-out of front fenders around the headlights of '57-'58s as early as 1958!! I just got ahold of a batch of Technical Service Bulletins from 1958-1960 and was surprised to see this - well, maybe not surprised as much as stunned. Planned obsolescence certainly didn't start with the Vega.

 

All the companies hit a homerun in 57 but struck out with the drastic changes in 58 then in 59 just didn"t show up to the game. There were 2 many good looking 55,56,& 57s around so 58s turned into family cars . I had a 2 door post 58 and it was a slow tank compared to the 57 s.

 

I have this 58 ford for about 25 yrs now got over a 160,000 n the frist y-block great car and fun to drive

 

This sounds like a good explanation, but these cars are designed and built in 57, released in the fall of 57. How do you suppose they knew the rancheros and sedan delivery models were busting out 58 tailites? It was all about production, these were built to be utility type vehicles so they kept the 57 rear

 

I don't know how Ford tested the new designs, but I can tell you from experience (I owned a '58 wagon) that those lenses could be knocked off all too easily when loading difficult loads. After busting a few, I learned to pay close attention. And to add insult to injury, the wagon didn't use the same lens as the sedans but had a slightly shorter (lengthwise) version that was hard to find later.

 

That was a bad year for Ford. Can you say Edsel?

 

Since you mention the Edsel, which is always associated with "failure", I'll share some insight about that. It really won't change anything, but I think it is an interesting perspective.

Certainly the Edsel sales numbers, in absolute terms, were not as high as needed to return profit on the investment, and........the styling was controversial to be sure.

But in relative terms, the Edsel was, arguably, a mild success. To be fair to FOMOCO, what has to be taken into consideration is the automobile market of the time frame, 1958 thru 1960/61. The US suffered a significant economic recession, beginning in '58 and car sales were well below normal. Taking the overall market sales into account, and applying Edsel's market share in the lower-mid to upper-mid price range to the total numbers, Edsel held it's own, it's share of market percentagewise was reasonable. But "it's own" wasn't enough numerically, and it's controversial styling becoming a butt of jokes, it spelled it's demise.