In the ’50s, Tennessee Ernie Ford was one of America’s most popular entertainers, and Ford was America’s most popular station wagon. Here’s old Tennessee pitching the Ford wagons for 1958.
Throughout the 1950s, Ford Motor Company struggled fiercely with arch-nemesis Chevrolet in the annual sales wars, but there was one category in which Ford consistently enjoyed a competitive advantage over its rival: in station wagons. Often as not, Ford’s wagons were the class sales leaders, allowing the Dearborn car maker to rightly boast of “America’s most popular station wagons,” as in this 1958 spot starring television personality Tennessee Ernie Ford. While most folks today probably recall Tennessee for his novelty hit song of 1955, “Sixteen Tons,” he was also one of the better-known television entertainers of the decade, sporting a broad Southern drawl and calling himself “the old pea picker.”
Although the country performer and the automaker shared the same last name, they were not related. Still, the homespun singer and storyteller and his family-oriented television NBC television program, The Ford Show, which ran from 1956 to 1961, were a perfect fit for the Motor Company. In this 1958 commercial from the show, the spotlight is on the Ford wagon’s people-friendly safety features. Ford pioneered in auto safety in 1956 with its Lifeguard Design program (see the Mac’s Motor City Garage feature here), and in this spot, Tennessee Ernie is pitching some of its key features, including seat belts, padded dash, and recessed steering wheel. Video follows.
Those classic commercials are a hoot! I was never a fan of the ’58 Ford and GM designs. That reverse angle front vent window sort of breaks up the lines of the car and adds to the over the top hippo look. However, I now consider them ugly cute. However the 58-60 T-Birds manage to pull off the look. And the Country Squire wagons with the paneling made the car look sleeker. And those designs could have used all the sleekness they could muster. Same feelings towards the 58′ GM line. Thank God that was only a one year model design run. The 59’s and 60’s were just kitschy cool and things got better for the general looks wise once they started slimming down their creampuffs beginning with the 59’s. Though not a Mopar fan, I had to hand it to Virgil Exner for his “forward look” behemoths. They were ahead of their time looks wise. Once 1960 rolled around, Mopar cars took on the bizarre look. Just my 2 cents but I find them all pure camp.