1955 pic of the '57 Ford

[djfordmanjack]

is that the prototype rear or Edsel stuff?
looks like a 57 wgn project in the background

[Jeff Norwell]

Thats Edsel.I would gone to heaven to work in that Dept.I have one of those desks here in the studio.

[lalessi1]

obviously a short throat Fuel injection. If you look closely Jay, you can see the dual twin intakes of the passenger side, that are 45? inclined towards the engine center line. on the drivers side you can make out another 2x2 throttle valves below the breathers. what's with the dual radiator hoses ?
Judging by the the stacked intake throats it should be a Y block ?!? the car in the engine pic must be a production model. look how refined the inner hood structure is. I wouldn't think it would look like that by 1955.
VERY interesting pics. I am just stunned how finished the front headlight/hood/grill section looked in September 1955. that is 1 year ahead of production time. WOW !
I love info like that, thanx for posting Rich.

Good call on the injector setup, I can make it out it now.

[SkylinerRon]

Hilborn injectors. They didn't have a water log crossover.
Run a hose from each head to the radiator.
Probably Moon breathers, too old for much else.
Could be a Daytona or Bonneville car.
Great history!
Ron.

[dgasman]

Yes hillborn injectors. Here's a pic of what they look like

[djfordmanjack]

absolutely gorgeous setup. were they successfull ? Did the Daytona T birds have FI ?

Jeff, it is overwhelming to think about those designers, who were creating in the day, what is considered absolutely classic today.
It's often fun to ask the 'what if' questions. what if they did that different, or chose the other style in the project.
I'd love to see that rear bumper in the Edsel project pic on my 57 wgn.

[Jeff Norwell]

absolutely gorgeous setup. were they successfull ? Did the Daytona T birds have FI ?

Jeff, it is overwhelming to think about those designers, who were creating in the day, what is considered absolutely classic today.
It's often fun to ask the 'what if' questions. what if they did that different, or chose the other style in the project.
I'd love to see that rear bumper in the Edsel project pic on my 57 wgn.

Agreed djfordmanjack!
The design area of the big three was a candy land for a talented artist.Today,not so much.(JMHO)

[hiball3985]

The good old days when design was done on a bench with a piece of paper and you had to be an artist, followed by clay models. Today its all computer generated and a designer doesn't even have to know how to draw a straight line...

[Jeff Norwell]

The good old days when design was done on a bench with a piece of paper and you had to be an artist, followed by clay models. Today its all computer generated and a designer doesn't even have to know how to draw a straight line...

Jim,you are so right.Back then these people were CRAFTSMEN.
I started my career using all the old traditional materials.But today,a lot of young folks do not have the basic skill set and use a digital format as a crutch.
Yes,I use the computer for nearly 99% of commercial work today,but I was trained classically.
There was a ton of talent back in those shops then and all the skill and talent are long gone today.
That's a pretty broad statement and not meant as a blanket.Just an observation in my field today.

[hiball3985]

I started out sitting at a drafting table, paper, pencils, T square etc, and loved making blue prints. I'll bet not many do that anymore. That was a short lived, I decided building the parts would be more fun then drawing them but that fun ended when NC machines started arriving on the scene and I moved on once again. Todays technologies are amazing but not all of them are for me, I still prefer things that are hands on...

[LAUDY57]

Remember, because you used to scale to hand drawn lines, it was best to roll your drafting pencil to get an even thickness line -even with 5H leads? An older fellow draftsman bet me that he could scale to .005 with a good (Starrett) scale when I first started drafting, he could do it (!) and showed me how after taking my money!
It was a BIG deal when we got drafting machines instead of the rolling bar or T-squares!

[lalessi1]

We used sliderules and common sense, there truly was a time when design was a source of pride....pocket protectors, not so much! LSU didn't have a computer when I started school, the building to house the computer was under construction then. I had elementary Fortran programming by the time I graduated. My grandfather witnessed the invention of the automobile, the airplane, radio and television, and the landing of man on the moon! I can only imagine what the future holds for the next generation...

On another note, I still think there is a fake front end on that (55) 57. 

[djfordmanjack]

found this again while searching my files. nice early mock ups , 56tbird engine logos on, 56 hubcaps, the 4dr doesn't even have a dash and you can look through the 2dr, where the bellhousing should be. pretty tall stance in front.

[lalessi1]

Factory Experimental tags???!!!  Awesome.

[Zapato]

Are they sitting on a turntable? The brick wall in the background is really impressive, have to wonder if any of that is still there.

Zap-