Growing up on Long Island in the 1970's, to me, cars from the '50's were more like set pieces from a movie or TV show; it was as if they came from another, ahem, dimension. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, this 1959 Ford Custom 300.
That was because by the time of even my earliest memories, which are scattered between 1968 and 1970 or so, cars from the '50's were gone. Long gone. Blame their terrible build quality and lack of real corrosion protection for that. Planned obsolescence made them disposable commodities as well.
Our patina-soaked '59 here is part of Ford's class of 1957 that, save for the Thunderbird which itself underwent some cosmetic revisions, were the company's first all new models since 1949. This car's 240-cubic inch, overhead-valve, inline six dating back to Ford's first OHV six that replaced Fords very long in the tooth flathead six for model year 1952.
The years between the end of World War II and when this was shiny and new were a remarkable period of development, advancement and refinement of the automobile. Suspensions were modernized, power steering and braking were mainstreamed along with overhead valve engines and automatic transmissions. During that time, what one could construe as the automobile we know now came of age since anyone today, in theory at least, could drive anything from that time. Especially something with an automatic transmission. Same can't be said for many pre-war makes and models.
Ford had 19-different models for 1959 that were all quite similar looking and all evoked at least the essence of the range-topping, four-passenger Thunderbird. At the bottom of the lineup was the Custom 300 series which, again, our humble, Facebook Marketplace find here is.
Contemporary road tests were damning with faint praise. Critics found their size ponderous, which is amusing considering the leviathans to come in the 1960's. They also found handling wonton, braking abysmal, engines adequately powerful but thirsty. Plymouth and Chevrolet models fairing no better although the Ford and the Chevrolet at least didn't start rusting in dealer lots before being sold.
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Arguably, the most famous of all '57 (vintage) Fords was the 1957 Custom 300 "Fordor" that Marion Crane, portrayed by Janet Leigh, drove in "Psycho" and subsequently sunk by Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates. More fun facts, the '57 Ford in "Psycho", was first used by the Clever family in "Leave it to Beaver".
Can't make this stuff up, kids.
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