Day/Nite mirror for 57 Ford?

[Zippy2]

Can anyone give me a part # and/or a picture of a day-night mirror that would fit a '57 bracket? Is B5A-18400-A a good number?
Thanks from a new member.

[djfordmanjack]

I used one that I believe to be a 1964ish Comet/Fairlane/Falcon it fits and works perfectly. sorry no parts #.
welcome to the forum ! it would be great if you could post some pics of your 57/project !

[djfordmanjack]

[SkylinerRon]

That B5A-A number sounds right. It's not in the parts book revised editions. I bought a NOS one about 20 years ago and it looks like the posted pictures. Ford may have used the same mirror head for many years with different mountings for the different model cars.

Ron.

[KYBlueOval]

Edsels had a Day / Night Mirror Option. I found one on E-bay a few years ago. Had a bad glass and a low price. The Mounting stem is slightly different, and I can go into details about how I worked that out if you wish to go this route. I should add that the Edsel mirror is Stainless.
Now about the bad mirror glass. I went to the local Pull A Part and yanked a couple of Day / Night mirror heads off and them took them apart where all I had was the unique Day / Night Mirror Glass. As I recall, the Pull A Part price was around $6.00 per unit. I then took the Stainless Head and the glass to a glass shop and they cut and ground it to fit. Cost was around $10.00 as I recall.
John

[Ford Blue blood]

58 Bird looks the same, shorter stem.  Any of the aftermarket suppliers have it/them.

Welcome to the board!  We all live and die on pictures........:<)

[RICH MUISE]

I looked at a few of the online suppliers, and none listed a day-night for '57's except for the retracs and convertibles, and they had a different mounting bracket. I suspect that's what SkylinerRon was refering to about the NOS one he found.
I sure like the looks of the mirror Gunter has, not sure if I'd like the extra few inches drop you'd get with the longer arm.

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, it's not an actual issue with visibility or front view. actually I feel the rearview is better than with a stock unit, maybe this is because of the wraparound tailgate glass in a wagon. the D/N is much wider and now you can benifit of all of the wide tailgate glass without having to move your head to the left and right. To the front it's not very obstrusive, because we have a very low seating position in our 57s. some of these years cars ( Mopar) even had the mirrors fastened to the dash, FWIW.
The old mirror head is still nice and stored away safely. I mostly did this because I really need the effect in nighttime driving on longer trips, because modern cars have incredibly bright headlights. In addition to that my wgn has non tinted glass.

[Tom S]

...I sure like the looks of the mirror Gunter has, not sure if I'd like the extra few inches drop you'd get with the longer arm.

You can just rotate the mirror 180 degrees from the way Gunter has it & lose at least a couple inches of drop.
https://up.picr.de/37695628ki.jpg
I think the way he has it now with the wide end down looks like it's upside down anyway.   

[Tom S]

Ah! Now I see why it's mounted that way, so the lever thing is at the bottom.

[cokefirst]

None of the photos above are for the correct day/night mirror or Glare Proof Rear View Mirror, as Ford called it.  The part number is B5A-18400-A,  I searched for a year and finally found one on Ebay.  I had to have a new mirror cut to install in the frame as the glass portion was damaged.  I found a day/night mirror with a larger glass section and had a glass shop cut it to fit.  To get the old glass loose, I put the mirror assembly in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes and then it came off easy.  I use and adhesive to reglue the new glass to the existing retaining pads.  I will post a photo of the mirror next time I go to the storage where the car is located.

[djfordmanjack]

will be interesting to see the oem mirrorhead !

[RICH MUISE]

that's a '55 part number..........of course may be the same as '57, but do we know for sure that Ford even offered one for other than retracs and convertibles? Didn't we have a conversation not too long ago about Ford changing the pn's from year to year even if the part didn't change? I guess I am wondering if the B5A-18400-A is in fact the "correct" mirror for '57, it should have a B7A prefix.

[Zippy2]

That '55 PN didn't seem right to me either unless the '55's had the same stem.
I've searched many reproduction parts suppliers catalogs and come up empty. djfordmanjack your solution is functional and great but I would rather have a mirror that looks more 50's than 60's.
I think cokefirst's photos of his mirror will be very interesting.
Here's my car.
1957 66B. Was a 292 O.D. Now a 319 (312+.040) T-85 O.D. 4.11. Factory power brakes. T&C radio. Original color (Flame Red). I did all work except engine machining.

[rmk57]

  Heres a pic of the one in my 58 Edsel from 20 years ago. Cropped it a bit so it's not the clearest image.