Building the FoMoCo

Lineup for 1957

in 1/25th Scale

My love affair with the '57 Ford began in the fall of 1956. Yep, that's me over there to the left; the smug look is the result of the brand new Coral Sand and Colonial White Fairlane 500 Club Victoria promo I'm holding.

Ours was a "Ford" family. Everybody drove a Ford as you can see from the photo on the right, which was taken in the spring of 1957. There's a '46, two '51s, a '53, two '54s, my dad's '55, a '56, and my uncle's brand new '57 Fairlane 500 Town Sedan. He sold new Fords at a local dealership, and was the the main reason I got into the model car hobby. Every year from around 1952, I could count on a new model Ford. Back then the dealers had a case mounted on the wall that contained row after row of models that showcased that year's offerings. A visit to the dealership was always a treat!

Fast forward to 1963...

One of my cousins was dating a guy (They were married that summer.) who drove a Starmist Blue & Colonial White '57 Custom 300 Tudor Sedan. Powered by a hopped up 312 Merc mill, it was a hot runner! We spent many a night tearing up the back roads of Copiah County, Mississippi.

In the fall of 1963, I almost got my own '57, a beautiful red & white Sunliner. Unfortunately, my folks didn't quite see things my way, and since my own funds were, shall we say, limited, I had to leave it sitting on the used car lot. I did finally get a '57 Ford though, in the spring of 1966. It was a base Custom Tudor Sedan, Flame Red with a six cylinder engine and stick shift. Cost me, as I remember, $200. I drove it until early 1968 when I traded it in on a '65 Galaxie Sunliner. But enough nostalgia! Let's get on with the models.

For starters, here's a table that shows what models were made of the various '57 FoMoCo lineup. If I've missed anything, please let me know. You can e-mail me at rkbmodels@gmail.com. Of course, many of the out-of-production models are very expesive and hard to come by. It took me serveral years and some online perseverence to assemble the raw materials for this article. I'll go into more detail as we progress through the series.

This will be an ongoing project, so be sure to check back from time to time for updates. Click on any of the thumbnail images below to read about each model and how it was built.