History One-year only body styles, or "WTF were they thinking?

1964 comet and a repeat in 65. Lack of aftermarket rear quarters keeps ppl up at night and probably turns a number of todays survivors into parts cars.

 

1958 Chevy Impala -- 11 phony vents -- probably a record.

 

The 1954 Packard 359" straight-eight was a one-year only version. A complete new block, valves and crankshaft when they were going to the V8 the next year. The good news was it made more horsepower than the Big Three OHV8s.

Of course, in the WTF category, Packard also offered four different 327" straight eights; five or nine main bearings, hydraulic or solid lifters. No wonder they went broke.

jack vines

 

56 Ford F100 and 40 Chevy. I have one of each... :/

 

I had an extra 40 frame….. sold it last year. Guy was ecstatic.. couldn’t believe his luck. His had a Camaro cobbled on to it. $ 700

 

Not a body style, but 1932 Pontiac flathead V8, is got to be an oddball

 

Copper cooled Chevy.

They were so bad that Chevy recalled and crushed them. Only a few escaped.

A lot of the others listed were minor styling revisions, ie the 64 and 65 Comet. There were probably just as many changes between the 55 and 56 Chevy, and the 56 and 57, as far as that goes as there were with the Comets.

Maybe even the 53 and 54 Chevy. They (53 and 54) carry a strong family resemblance, but aren’t the same, in my eyes. Even the 62, 63, 64, and 65 Fairlane are all the same car, but were reskinned every year. Does the skin make them one year only automobiles?

I think not.

 

‘54 Fords have a bunch of one-year-only parts.

The award for a single-year make with the fewest interchangeable body parts across models and body styles has to go to the 1957 Buick. GM was insane…
https://www.hometownbuick.com/buick-models/1957-buick-models/

 

True…I guess I’m thinking more along the lines of sheet metal, trim, bumpers, etc..

 

The 1958 Packard Hawk.

jack vines

 

The 1958 Packard hardtop. H.A.M.B.-worthy if there ever was one!

jack vines

 

Studebaker-Packard was so cash-strapped, anything they could bolt together from existing tooling was going to be the new model. Thank God the Lark had a demand, or they would've abandoned the car biz before any of the good R engined stuff came along.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Hello,

Not only the 58 lineup, but the year progress from a hard edge fender, 57 chevy two door Bel Air hardtop and the finned wonder 59 Impala. The style certainly made people look at the styling as it progressed into its own realm.

When this new, black 1958 Chevy Impala rolled up into our narrow driveway, it took my brother a long time to drive into the empty garage, as he did not want to scratch either side. I had to stand near the neighbor’s fence corner to tell him how close he was to the corner edge. He was getting as close to the stucco coating on the house as he could control the distance.

For the first time, it seemed like it took forever. But the pointed edge of the neighbor’s corner fence was the difficult point. He knew our dad’s 57 Buick Roadmaster sedan could fit easily and we both drove it into and out of the garage many times. Our dad never hit either the wooden fence corner or the stucco house corner. So, if the large land yacht could fit, so could the 58 Impala.
The tight quarters in the fence area, but look at the shiny rear roof chrome vent (left)from the Impala parked in the small two car garage. Getting in and out was easy when our dad was away at work. But, when he arrived home and pulled into the garage, we had to crawl in the driver's window to back up and get out of the garage space.

It was not just backing up and leaving. The tight quarters made us back up and forth until the Impala was angled to fit into the stucco/wooden fence corner. (years went by and our neighbor took down the wooden fence and put up a concrete block wall with a super strong brick corner staring us in the face. )

The 58 Impala spent many hours in the garage overnight and the only times it spent overnights outside were the several trips up into the local mountain ranges during the winter holiday teen gatherings. Even a thick layer of snow did not damage the full Blue Coral or Classic Car Wax protection. It was my brother’s first new car and he sold two previous cars to get this new model, a 280 hp tri carb, 3 speed transmission, and Positraction stock car.

Jnaki

It was fortunate that I was the recipient of the 58 Impala after our drag racing incident. After and during recovery, he was moving on to the next phase of his activities and the Impala phase was coming to a close. Plus, our mom needed a car for going to the market and shopping. So, we all shared the Impala for a while. We even used the Impala for towing a small trailer with two Greeves Motorcycles out to the local So Cal deserts. It was a long road trip, even with 3:55 gears out to the Mojave Desert for our next racing adventures.

But, for me there were the last several years of 58 Impala ownership that was pretty outstanding. I even went into the mild custom car mode with a set of modifications to the axle hubs to install a set of Buick Skylark Wire Wheels. Now, it was the only 58 Impala in our South Coast region we ever saw, other than at Lion’s Dragstrip. With the Skylark Wire Wheels, it was the only Impala in all of So Cal with that modification until I sold it to go to college.
Thanks to our super modified, expert artiste… @themoose It makes a great memory…

The Chevy architects skipped over a two door nomad style wagon, but, after the smooth 57 Nomad Wagon, a 4 door version just did not make it… YRMV

Note:

Our mom did drive the 58 Impala as it had the requisite parent choice, automatic transmission conversion. But it was a “racing “ version of a C&O Stick Hydro transmission. That still kept the Impala competitive in all sorts of situations.

Recently, I drew what the Chevrolet designers missed on their time at the drawing boards. A two door Nomad style station wagon. We certainly would have purchased one later on, during our 20-30 something road trip days…

 

@jnaki - The '58 Impala was just a pretty car. Hard to believe they were not in favor for so many people for so long.

 

We heard you like fins, so we put fins on your fins!!!

 

34 chevy master 3 window.

Great styling, independant front suspension.

 

Looks more like a sturgeon than a bird!

 

The 1956 Ford Parklane was a 2 door Wagon that was intended to compete with the Chevy Nomad. With all due respect to the Ford, it's not close to the same level as the Nomad. It was only produced for one year.

 

1929 Buick, all models.

1929 was the 25th (silver) anniversary year for Buick, and they redesigned everything.

The public did NOT like the redesigns, and all models (I think) were again redesigned in 1930.

Jon

 

It was 2 years but the 46 and 47 Ford pickups were the ugliest ever

 

Even worse, the 54 engines were made in two different factories and the parts dont interchange

 

One of my favorite.

 

LOL
I thought so.
So I made a new front end for mine that is more "Willys-esque".



P.S., Actually that front end was used starting in 1942 and helped win the War on every worldwide front.

 

Chrysler was.

 

How about the '37 Ford pickup.

 

Were those the "pregnant" Buicks?

 

Yes, that was their nickname in the automotive press.

Jon

 

One of the best looking truck body styles ever

 

61 Buick Electra 225 ?