Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri
. . . . Consumer Reports back in 1955 was saying that the cars that year were thrown-together junk with style over substance. Coming from someone that owns (and loves) a 1955 Buick Century, I have to admit that they're right.....holes twice the size of the screws, chrome hung haphazardly everywhere . . . .
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Back in the late fall of 1957, the shop where I worked did radio warranty work for the local Ford dealer and in comes the first Edsel to be sold in the town, with a dead radio. True to nature, it made it to the shop before the servicing information did.
My boss went out to look at it, confirmed it was dead and saw how deeply buried in the dashboard the radio was, and since I was the smallest one in the shop, called me out to pull it.
I walked over and hooking an arm on top of the dash, slid under the dash, just as the dash came down on top of me. It seems that most of the few screws holding the dash to the firewall had missed their holes and were just wedged between the trim and the firewall. We wound up having remount the dash before the customer could pick up his car.
Ford learned the quality lessen in a hurry and their next new make, the Falcon, was one of the best assembled cars for the era.
James.