1959 Ford Thunderbird: A Full Year, a Second Engine, and NASCAR

This record's own overview states directly that Byron Olsen, writing in Old Cars Weekly, gives 67,456 Thunderbirds for 1959, 10,261 of them convertibles, and that Wikipedia gives the same two figures directly, citing Hemmings Motor News. This record's own dek attributes the total directly to a full year of Square Bird production, adding directly that a 350-brake-horsepower Lincoln 430 V-8 joined the options list and that Thunderbirds won six NASCAR races that season.^1,2

This record's own overview gives the 352 V-8 at 300 brake horsepower as remaining standard for the year, with Olsen crediting the optional 430-cubic-inch Lincoln V-8 at 350 brake horsepower for 1959-60; the same overview notes that Old Cars Weekly records the rear suspension changing from coil to leaf springs for 1959, a chassis change this record's own text does not connect to any specific handling or ride complaint.¹

This record's own overview also states that Ford's corporate history dates the Thunderbird's NASCAR debut to 1959, with six wins that season; this record's own key facts section repeats the same six-win figure as the car's first season in the series, though neither source names the specific races or tracks where those six wins came, leaving the claim as a season total rather than a race-by-race record.³

This record's own production section partitions the 67,456 total in full into four engine-and-body rows from the Over-Drive Magazine table: 54,041 series H9 hardtops and 9,093 series H9 convertibles with the 352, and 3,154 series J9 hardtops and 1,168 series J9 convertibles with the 430, the two convertible rows summing to the 10,261 convertible total and the four rows together to 67,456; the table's own model totals separately give 63,134 for all 352-engined cars and 4,322 for all 430-engined cars, those two figures likewise summing to 67,456.⁴

This record's own options section prices the 430 engine itself at a $177 upcharge, Dual-Range Cruise-O-Matic at $242, overdrive at $145, and a single air conditioner option at $446, the costliest item on the list. This record's own paint table carries 18 colours, each with a Ford paint code given as a letter and a number together, its own note flagging that the source itself prints code K's name as "Standstone" rather than Sandstone, a transcription quirk this record's own text preserves as printed rather than silently correcting.⁴

This record's own specifications section gives a 113-inch wheelbase shared across the 1958-60 generation, a 205.3-inch overall length, a 76.9-inch width, 60.0-inch front and 57.0-inch rear track, and 8.00x14 four-ply tubeless tires; a separate row states the 430 V-8 came with only a 2.91 rear axle ratio and no optional alternative. This record's own prices section carries four figures by body and engine: $3,696 and $3,979 for the 352 hardtop and convertible, $3,810 and $4,091 for the 430 hardtop and convertible, all four rows sourced to the same Over-Drive Magazine production table. This record's own conflicts and unpublished-leads sections are both empty for the year, this record's own identification and performance sections carrying no entries either.⁴

This record's own interiors section carries 21 entries from the Automotive Mileposts interior trim page: four nylon check-fabric combinations coded 1X through 4X, six all-vinyl combinations coded 5X through 9X and 5Y, four genuine-leather combinations coded 1Y through 4Y, and seven convertible-top codes that each name a top material and colour with a matching lining and frame. The leather codes carry a note that leather was an available option for the first time in 1959. Every row is sourced to the Mileposts page rather than to Over-Drive Magazine.⁵