Ford Motor Company enjoyed a good year for 1957. The Ford Division introduced thoroughly revamped cars throughout its line-up, and even offered supercharging for the first time ever as an option on Thunderbirds. Mercury models were also redesigned and moved up-market in preparation for the pending arrival of the Edsel division. Only the Lincoln and Continental remained mostly unchanged. Motor Trend was ready with all the details in the 1957 Auto Show Issue.
Ford also jumped on the longer, lower, wider bandwagon for 1957. The cars stretched 3.2″ to 9.2″ in length, dropped 2.1″ to 3.5″ in height and grew in width by 2.3″. Taking the larger bodies into account, engine output also grew, with everything from the inline-6 to the top V8 adding horsepower. While styling was all-new inside and out, Ford’s “Lifeguard Design” themes from 1956 continued to get some emphasis, with a deeper-dished steering wheel and limited protrusion of knobs being touted as safety features.
A nifty innovation that Ford trotted out for 1957 was the retractable hardtop body style. While the stow-away metal roof enjoyed only limited popularity during its three year run in the late 1950s, the idea resurfaced again about 20-years ago and still enjoys some popularity on open-topped cars around the world.
The best news for the Ford Division was that it beat arch rival Chevrolet in sales for the model year, earning the top spot as the best selling car brand in the U.S.
To my eyes at least, the third time–or in this case the third year–was the charm for the first generation 2-seat Thunderbird. The added length, bolder grill and subtle tail fins look just right to me. Performance was also significantly enhanced, with better handling and more powerful engines, including the 300 horsepower Supercharged Thunderbird Special 312 V8. Customers were pleased, as T-bird sales surged 37%, climbing to 21,380–well above the “other” American 2-seater from GM.
Lincoln marked 1957 by launching a new 4-door hardtop “landau” body style. This tardy addition to the line–both Cadillac and Imperial had offered 4-door hardtops in 1956–became Lincoln’s best selling 4-door. Styling enhancements included the de rigueur canted tail fins and new headlight clusters ready-made for the adoption of quad lamps in front.
The Continental entered its second (and final) year as the ultimate flagship model for the Ford Motor Company. The cleanly styled, carefully crafted luxury coupes did not fare so well for 1957, with sales dropping 83% from 1956. The market for ultra-luxury cars in the late 1950s was minuscule, and Continental’s $9,966 base price ($85,348 adjusted) was considered shockingly expensive. The proposed convertible, which might have sparked some additional sales, never officially materialized–apparently only two were ever built, essentially both were prototypes.
Mercury based its 1957 styling direction on themes established with the Turnpike Cruiser concept car of 1956. While much chunkier than Virgil Exner’s Chrysler Corporation designs, the Mercury was still very futuristic in the 1950s “dream car” idiom. In fact, beyond lending its looks to the ’57 Mercury line, the Turnpike Cruiser also became the newest top-line series, featuring Seat-O-Matic, a version of the “memory seat” (shades of the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham) and a retractable rear window on 2- and 4-door hardtops. In spite of the new style and fancy models, sales dropped 12%, but Mercury did not fare as badly as the medium-priced makes over at GM. These results were particularly remarkable given that Mercury was moving aggressively up-market into a higher price bracket, dropping low-line models and seeing average price increases of 23%.
Undoubtedly FoMoCo was pleased with their performance for 1957. The company took sales and market share away from behemoth General Motors while withstanding the onslaught from the flashy new Mopars.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
1957 Chevies are ridiculously prized today, 1957 Plymouths were lauded for their styling, but Americans chose the 1957 Ford over both in 1957. This reveals the difference between understanding contemporary Americans, and today’s nostalgic rewriting of what we think they thought back in 1957, doesn’t it?
That’s why I highly value contemporary ephemera from 1957. It’s a snapshot. We don’t make decisions on what we will know 68 years later, but what we know now. In this case, there’s a reason Americans chose these cars over the “classic” 1957s we think of today.
I wasn’t alive in 1957. I honestly have no clue why more chose the Ford over the classic 1957 Chevy, or the coveted 1957 Plymouth, or why they chose the Mercury over a number of classic 1957 rides from GM or Chrysler. But they did.
Ford spent incredible amounts of money on must-see TV during these years. Lucy & Ricky sold Ford, and Ed Sullivan told us weekly about his new Big Mercurys. One minute long showroom as with top TV stars praising these cars with both humor and glamour. The big Emmy-winning TV special in 1957 was the hours long, “Edsel Show”, with every huge movie and recording star performing their hits.
It could have been that Thunderbird halo. It could have been the expectations of the Edsel. It could have been the 3 years and running glamour of the Mark II. The spaceship Mercurys. The Skyliners. The buying cycles. Whatever it was, there was an edge to Ford Motor Company’s products in 1957 that somehow got lost over the past 68 years, compared to today’s too common ’57 BelAir.
I’m interested in why that happened.
My dad worked at a Chevy store in NZ, 57 sales were poor nobody liked them, too much lipstick on the same old pig when Ford and Chrysler had up to the minute new cars on offer.
I as alive and quite car aware in 1957, and Fords were chosen because they had more conservative and tasteful styling, full stop. Dad traded his ’56 Chevy 210 for a ’57 Ford Country Sedan. The ’56 Chevy was clean and classic, while the ’57 Chev was rather outre in comparison. People had better taste then than they do now. No poodle skirts and fuzzy dice allowed, thanks.
That diagram for the big “Ford Sunliner” was interesting. Don’t think I ever realized the top went down in full, unfolded, size. Must a been huge “back there”.
The drawing is somewhat misleading — the front 12 inches or so of the roof did fold under the rest.
Anyone know how that Mercury seat control worked? A round dial labelled A through E and also 1 through 7, with up, down, fore, and aft closer to the center. I can’t figure it out.
Taking a guess here — positions A through E were for seat height (up/down) and 1 through 7 were for seat fore/aft settings. Pushing the knob and rotating it likely set the seat height, and pulling and rotating it set the fore/aft position.
So for a short driver (presumably a woman), she’d select A2 and her tall husband would pick E6 or E7.
A convertible Continental Mk.II ?
Never saw one, or heard of one.
It never made regular production, but the Derham car still exists: https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo22/lots/r0014-1956-continental-mark-ii-convertible-by-derham/
There were two others converted by Hess & Eisenhardt, at least one of which also survives, and a number of later owner conversions.
Here’s a 2001 photo of me reprising the pose of the woman in the first photo of the ’57 Thunderbird. This car belonged to the mother of a colleague at work. (Note the aftermarket wide-angle rearview mirror attached to the factory inside mirror.)
“Front opening hood makes servicing easier”. Said no mechanic (including this ex mechanic) ever.