 Press Release Photo 1957 |
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"Nothing
Newer in the World"...? That was Ford's advertising slogan for 1958. Maybe the '58's slightly bulky, clumsy look -sporting the seemingly universal quad lights for that year, it's passing resemblance to the more refined T-Bird styling, plus its '57 heritage all helped make it not as new as Ford may have hoped, and possibly the least popular of the 57-59 Fords. A notable change for 1958 was the addition of nine roof ribs to strengthen the weak '57 panel. Less noticeable was the slightly upgraded suspension and shock absorbers making the '58 a better driver and mechanically a superior car than the '57. But the arm-straining 4.5 lock-to-lock turning still lingered on. Power was delivered via the upgraded L-6 engine, known as "Mileage Maker Six". The old 292 Y-Block became the base V8. Ford's big block came in as the 332 Interceptor, plus special, and 352 "Thunderbird Special". Transmission was via standard and overdrive units and Ford-O-Matic. New for '58 was the Cruise-O-Matic self-changer. Also new, but not successful, and only offered on Fairlanes and Wagons was the Ford-Aire option. Utilizing the existing base suspension system with the addition of rear trailing arms, a concoction of compressors, tanks, sensors and rubber air domes led to an unreliable system, resulting in only about 100 vehicles being built with this option - do any exist today? In line with the general slump in car sales in 1958, Ford dropped from a total of 1.67 million in '57 to (only!) 987,485 in '58. The range consists of: the Custom (3 styles); Custom 300 (2 styles) and the Station Wagon (6 styles), all running on the 116 wheelbase. While Fairlanes (4 styles) and the Fairlane 500 (6 styles) ran on 118" wheelbase -making a total of 21 styles in all, according to my Encyclopaedia of American Cars (Langworth) -but Ford sales catalogue only says 20 styles?! Leaving out the Thunderbirds, the numerous body-engine-trans combinations etc. would fill a book to do justice to everything.
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