The journal said Fairlane wagons offered a «stable, massive-automobile feel, low noise stage,» however six-cylinder engines were deemed insufficient to cope with a station wagon’s weight. Naturally, MT deplored Ford’s two-pace automated transmission for the wagon, suggesting that a 195-horsepower, 289-cubic-inch V-eight with Cruise-O-Matic could be the only option. (The 271-horse V-eight was not supplied in wagons.) In contrast to the prior 12 months’s wagons, seat cushions were not included to make what Motor Pattern called an «nearly ineffective» third seat from the rear well. Instead, that space was now helpful just for storage.

It was Harlow Curtice, then chief of Buick Division, who tried to determine the large Buick as a competitor to Cadillac, an effort that his superiors finally torpedoed. However now, in 1958, Curtice was himself president of GM and all people knew that he continued to take a special curiosity in Buick.

In keeping with Motor Trend, Ford relied on its «intensive consumer research program,» which, apart from the Edsel, «appeared to repay for them.» By the tip of the Fifties, research suggested a market for an «in-betweener» model someplace betwixt the steadily rising standard Ford and the upcoming compact Falcon. (Do not forget these have been the days when American hydraulic motors price was thriving fairly properly on the power of its Rambler Six/Rebel, which fit almost smack-dab between the 100-inch-wheel-base American and the 117-inch Ambassador.)