Interesting Read! Did You Know?

[lalessi1]

Killing time, waiting for a new cold front, I wanted to know if Ford made a Business Sedan in 1958. A quick Google search I found a bunch of 1958 sales brochures online, one was for Police Cars. Did you know....
   
      Ford offered a 303 HP 361 V-8
      Optional seats offered a 77 posistion manual height adjustment
      No Customs were offered, only Custom 300's, but on police cars at least the gold trim was optional
      Business sedans were available in the 20 model line up
      Alternators were optional on police cars
      A '57 Thunderbird was shown on the model lineup page
      Factory air conditioning was under dash

http://mustangattitude.com/cgi-bin/brochuredisplay.cgi?year=1958&manuf=Ford&model=Ford&smod=PoliceCars&page=1&scan=26

     

[hiball3985]

Thanks Lynn. I remember Jay and I discussing the Alternators on 57 cop cars, most people didn't know they were available as an option. It included a large ugly invertor /converter, not sure of the correct name that mounted on the front of the radiator support. It's listed in the parts book.

[rmk57]

The 303 hp 361 P/I must be the the same engine they put in 1958 Edsels. I had one in my Villager wagon and it was called the  E400, named for the amount of torque it produced. Good engine, never let me down.

[Marc]

Good stuff, thanks for posting that!
Interesting how they still showed last years T-bird. Makes sense though since the '58 bird was a pretty radical restyle, whereas the rest of the lineup pretty much just got a face lift.

[SkylinerRon]

Leece-Neville were the alternators. Started in 56.

T-Bird A/C was under the dash, Pass cars thru the top and bottom of dash.

Ford built 57 T-Birds well into the fall of 57. 58's weren't built till the end of the year.

Ron.

[Lou]

In my 49 to 63 Ford literature collection I have several 58 Ford brochures and folders showing both the small bird and the 4 seat bird. There were 4 to 6 issues of most all advertising each a little different. 

[gasman826]

Did not know...I'm rebuilding the Raunch Wagon doors.  I used spare parts to rebuild the division bar and vent windows in advance.  As I was sliding one of the vent assemblies into the fresh door, I realized it didn't have the polished, stainless deflector above the vent window.  No problem, I went to the spare parts bin and pulled another vent assembly and stripped off the deflector.  After buffing the stainless, I aligned the deflector to the vent frame and there were NO holes!  Did Business Coupes and Couriers NOT have the little stainless deflector above the vent window?