Fomoco 1949 fastbacks

[SfanGoch]

You missed my point. FoMoCo designs were pretty plain and unimaginative throughout the Fifties into the Sixties. The 1958-60 Lincolns incorporated plenty of design accents, such as the front fender coves and headlights, which gave them an ungraceful, chunky look. Overall, they continued the boxy look I mentioned.

Even the '55-'64 Fairlane/Galaxie lineup wasn't nearly as visually appealing compared to what GM and Chrysler designed from '57 onward. Both of those manufacturers bought into producing more streamlined designs earlier than Ford.

Edited April 25, 2022 by SfanGoch

[tim boyd]

The Ford fastback was a design that never entered production as many of you noted, but according to sources, including madsmotorcitygarage.com, the fastback Lincoln was a production offering for 1949.  It sold poorly vs. the notchback style sedan version, as fastbacks in general were rapidly falling out of favor with the post WW-II American car buyer, so it was discontinued at the end of the 1949 model year.  Yet another interesting factoid from this generation of big Lincoln products....TIM  .  

[Paul Payne]

Thanks everyone for their input. So- who will be the first to recreate one- and- will it be stock or custom?

[Smoke Wagon]

6 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

You missed my point. FoMoCo designs were pretty plain and unimaginative throughout the Fifties into the Sixties.

It’s not like Ford had nothing but Vogons working in their design studios. A few designs I’ll agree were clunky looking, like the Lincolns you mentioned. The ‘58-‘60 T-birds look very unappealing to me as well. That isn’t to say that everything Ford put out at the time was like that. The original T-birds, ‘60 Starliners, Fairlane Skyliners, Falcons, ‘61 Lincolns, etc. are pretty well remembered for their designs. 

I think this is becoming a bit trivial though, as no matter how much we debate this subject, beauty will still remain in the eye of the beholder. Otherwise there wouldn’t be such things in this world as the toilet style spare on ‘59-‘60 Plymouths and Edsels’ toe-nail taillights. 

[W Humble]

Riley, et al: the consortium of bright boys who brought us the 1949 (through '51) Ford cars lost traction in the 1952-'54 era bodies, as Ford backtracked on the rear-fender 'haunch' or bulge, and brought it back! 

Mercury did worse; they reinstated a large, bulged-out rear fender that went from 1955-'56!  Only Kaiser-Fraser could claim the full-envelope body sans 'haunches' from that early time; even the vaunted Exner 1947 Studes had bodacious 'haunches' until 1952, though they were integrated into the trunk lines.  Courage of their convictions; not much when style is involved; witness clothing modes, etc.  I M Humble O.... Wick

[Jon Haigwood]

On 4/18/2022 at 3:43 PM, Paul Payne said:

Just discovered these and never saw them before, not even at the Fall Meet at Hershey. More opportunities for customizing?

When I see the last two the name Kaiser comes to mind. With that in mind why is the Henry J seem to be the only Kaiser in kit form ? Would like to see a Darrin . 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Jon Haigwood

[Richard Bartrop]

1 hour ago, Jon Haigwood said:

When I see the last two the name Kaiser comes to mind. With that in mind why is the Henry J seem to be the only Kaiser in kit form ? Would like to see a Darrin . 

Premier made a Kaiser-Darrin, but it's not pretty.  

A decent Kaiser-Darrin would be nice, or for that matter, one of the later model Kaisers.

[W Humble]

K-D neven a die-cast? Thought I'd seen it in 3K Toys, or ?? 

[Oldcarfan27]

On 4/25/2022 at 8:06 AM, Smoke Wagon said:

It’s not like Ford had nothing but Vogons working in their design studios. A few designs I’ll agree were clunky looking, like the Lincolns you mentioned. The ‘58-‘60 T-birds look very unappealing to me as well. That isn’t to say that everything Ford put out at the time was like that. The original T-birds, ‘60 Starliners, Fairlane Skyliners, Falcons, ‘61 Lincolns, etc. are pretty well remembered for their designs. 

Nobody's mentioned the 61-63 Tbirds. And the 57 Ford beat GMs thin roof style by 2 years. And sold more than Chevy!

I'll agree that for some reason, Ford did prefer the 3 box form of design for many years, but to be honest, the Mustang coupe was still a boxy profile. The fastback is what broke the mold.

[keyser]

1 hour ago, W Humble said:

K-D neven a die-cast? Thought I'd seen it in 3K Toys, or ?? 

https://www.automodello.com/category-s/122.htm
bring $$$

[W Humble]

Not me with $$$; despite it's uniqueness, I never liked the K-D.  Nope, I just figured that anything that had been in d.c. was grist for the resin-casters mill, and replicas might be out there.  The old Victress bodies, now....

To my eye, old and rheumy tho it be, the '57 MoPars had a coupe roof line not unlike the FoMoCo's.  Still, it didn't have the solar-oven area of the '59 up cars.

The Moostang was hailed as a revelation with it's long-hood/short deck styling (with the small smoochy-mouth grille opening) but just pike the '62 Plymouth and Dodge coupes!  Even Exner's Valiant/Lancer body when it debuted had the same features.  The Pony's roof was all Ford; from the '58 T-Bird, tho.  The 2+2 was an improvement, but like most owed a lot to previous fastbacks, especially the Italian school.  Nothing new under the sun?!~

[Jon Haigwood]

Lets not forget the 64/66 Barracudas (a Valiant with a sports roof). If you split the window down the center it would look similar to the Corvette 63 Split window. which may just be were they got their design ques from. In 67 they changed up the roof style along with everything else. They tried it on the first Chargers with mixed results. And AMC tried it on the Marlin , that is all I will say about the Marlin.

[W Humble]

For my $, the fastback is one of the most organic, aerodynamic, and aesthetically pleasing shapes ever put on an automobile (that wasn't an open car) and it's amazing how few I ever had.  Of course, there were the semi-f.b. cars like my Dad's new 1948 Plymouth DeLuxe; along with the 21-stud-era flathead Fords it was attractive enough but not sexy.  A Volvo 444/544 comes to mind; neat but not nearly as cool.  The Cad/Buick/Olds (others?) Sedanette on that looong wheelbase got it done!  Customizer/restorer Joe Cruces kept trying to sell me a nice Olds for about $2K; oc this was back in 1975. I was restoring a '35 Packard 3-window, tho.

I'm a 1;1 Datsun 240Z maven, and love it's GT/hatch fastback.  The stick-on fastback that came boxed with the AMT /53 Studebaker Starlite kit was the basis for many models adapted to it; I did my YOM '62 'Vette kit with that -- and while it was my magnum opus in '64, it only rates the back of the shelf today, even after I BMF'd it.  I'm building a new '53 Stude, but this one will have phantom NOVI V-12 DOHC (my own resin), full belly pan, Kamm-back tail, and possibly use some of that fastback assy.

Sorry for typos; lost the dongle to my ergometric Adesso keyboard, and can't get the replacement to work!   77 year old fingers!  Wick