Low/No Option Cars

[Jeff Norwell]

Both my 70a's are heater,radio and clock delete....The texas 70a had only one option which was a Fordomatic....long gone....(thank god)
The other 70A has a dealer installed window defroster.

[RICH MUISE]

Haha....I had totally forgotten about the lighters. I believe they did, as they all came with ash trays. I can't imagine any car in the 50's and 60's that didn't have lighters. I guess that was one feature I deleted on mine in favor of 12v outlets, and I smoke.

[troublemaker427]

Haha....I had totally forgotten about the lighters. I believe they did, as they all came with ash trays. I can't imagine any car in the 50's and 60's that didn't have lighters. I guess that was one feature I deleted on mine in favor of 12v outlets, and I smoke.

I know the lighter was not standard in a '57 Chevy, neither was the ashtray...  I've seen "lighter deletes" for '56 Fords also.  Crazy!!!

[terry_208]

The '57 I have now has no lighter as that's where the choke is located.  Original 6 cyc/od, two tone paint, factory heater, radio, two tone paint, NO rt side visor, arm rests, clock or back up lights. This car was last licensed in '66.

It just happens that was the year I bought my first '57 Custom, 312/od, two visors, arm rests, mono paint, fac heater, aftermarket radio, no clock. I changed the pieces that held the air vent controls so don't remember about the lighter. I also added backup lights. I seem to remember that it also had rear armrests.

[59meteor]

I have a 59 Ford Custom 300 2 door sedan parts car, and I think it had zero options, other than a heater. 6 cylinder, 3 speed standard, manual steering and brakes, no windshield washers, door light swithes for the dome light, a plastic cover where the cig. lighter would have been, and no back up lights. My project 59 Meteor 2 door sedan, is also pretty bare bones, manual steering and brakes, no windshield washers or back up lights, but it did have a lighter, dome light with door switches, a heater, and kinda oddly, a 332 FE and 2 speed FordOMatic. On the 59s, they all look like they have backup lights, as they all have the clears lens in the backup light housings on top of the fins.But on cars without the backup light option, there was no wiring, bulb socket or bracket behind the lens, only a silver colored cork gasket.

[rmk57]

I take it door lights  were optional to? Mine has the switches but never any sign of wiring going up to them.

[lalessi1]

Did '57s come standard with a lighter?

I know 6 cylinder cars had manual chokes and it was located where the lighter was in the V8 cars; there are 2 different back lit plastic "light bars". There were also 2 different ash trays, and 2 different dome lights for the Custom and the Fairlane series. The Custom dome light only worked with the drivers door.

[troublemaker427]

My Custom has a lighter put into the sheet metal part of the dash.  It has a chrome bezel around it that looks factory/dealer.  It is a 223 manual choke car.  My guess is this was dealer installed.  Also the only way my dome light operates is by the switch on the housing, no door jam switch or wiring visible. 

[Jeff Norwell]

Gee........ at this low Price .. Ford Dealers were giving you an air cleaner AND Directional signals......

Where did I put my time Machine.

[troublemaker427]

I'll take three please...

[djfordmanjack]

THAT is an absolutely great and fun advertisement. Never seen it before.
One of these days, Jeff, it would be great seeing you do a new made-up 57 advertisement, capturing all of our love for the 57 cars and making it the worlds greatest car advertised EVER !  it could use a little lowering, a little stance, a few hp added... but you know all of that anyways

[Tom S]

Gee........ at this low Price .. Ford Dealers were giving you an air cleaner AND Directional signals......

And called 'em extras?  Doubt they were gonna sell a car without those. Or without steering wheels, door latches, seats, & tires. 
BTW, $1799 in 1957 is equal to $16161.49 dollars in 2018.
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
Compared to today's new car prices that's a steal.

[hemidave]

 I'll take a black Custom with the 300HP engine and 3 speed stick with OD please.

[Swank]

Compared to today's new car prices that's a steal.

That would be a great price for a car today, ...and for one that we know could still be on the road and looking good 60 years later.

[Tom S]

... it could use a little lowering, a little stance ...

Ehh