May 1955 Auto Age Article

[AZTB]

A friend here at work picked up some old car magazines from the 50's...you know the ones, they have that distinct smell about them. Well, one of interest was the May 1955 Auto Age article on the new 1955 Thunderbird, Lincoln & Mercury.

I've attached the article in 3 parts (due to the memory limitations of this site), and you will note that some of the pages are missing the end of sentences on the RHS. This is due to the age of the magazine and my unwillingness to damage the spine of an old magazine by forcing it to copy.

Part 1a contains the front page of the magazine and the cover page of the article. Parts 1b & 2 is the article itself.

Hope you enjoy...
Jim

[merlot4]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

It was generous to share this article, Jim. I enjoyed reading it. It's always interesting to see things from the perspective of the actual time.

[AZTB]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

In describing the Mercury, I liked the part where he said, "Zero to 30 in only 4.3 seconds" and "zero to 60 in only 11.4 seconds." Pretty heady stuff for its time.

[V8 Cat]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

In describing the Mercury, I liked the part where he said, "Zero to 30 in only 4.3 seconds" and "zero to 60 in only 11.4 seconds." Pretty heady stuff for its time.

Sounded extremely fast to me in 1955 when our family car was a 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook 6 cylinder (100HP) with Hy-Drive (fluid drive). You could shift it like a manual 3 speed (like I did when I drove it when I turned 16) or put it in 3rd and use it as an one speed automatic (like my parents did). I know it had to take that car at least 25 seconds to get to 60mph in that mode so any car that got to 60 in less than 12 seconds was rocket. I don't remember reading this particular article although I was reading everything about cars I could get my hands on, but seems like I have been concerned with 0 to 60 times my whole life.

[merlot4]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

In describing the Mercury, I liked the part where he said, "Zero to 30 in only 4.3 seconds" and "zero to 60 in only 11.4 seconds." Pretty heady stuff for its time.

Heady indeed, who would have foreseen economy and family sedans that routinely out-accelerate and even handle better than some sports cars of the past?!

The '55 TBird was introduced, as far as I can find, for $2695, which price adjusted for today would be the equivalent of $23,067. A fair amount of money since the average wage was about $3,301. I hope you don't mind me adding this, Jim but just for fun, and to augment your time capsule, here is a link to costs and events in 1955:

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1955.html

[RustyFrye]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

Oddly enough, the part that surprised me was they referenced engine displacement of an American made auto in liters.

[Larro]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

That was a fun little time machine. Thanks!

[jerrym3]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

4:09 rear on the 55 Merc (with OD trans).

That's a very low gear ratio.

[lasuvidaboy]

Re: May 1955 Auto Age Article

Jim, Thank you for sharing this terrific time capsule!