Do You Remember What a Big Deal This Was?

Born in 1948 and growing up in the "Fabulous 50s" I was used to the automobiles of the era having one sealed beam headlight on each side.

Then, without warning, the 1958 models were introduced and all the cars manufactured by the "Big 3" automakers (General Motors / Ford / Chrysler) suddenly featured radical DUAL headlights on each front fender. This was a really, really big deal for the 1958 models. Suddenly, all other cars with just a single headlight looked dated.

1958 Chevrolet with the "new" dual headlights

1958 Ford with the "new" dual headlights

1958 Plymouth with the "new" dual headlights

How did it come to pass that all of the big auto manufacturers came out with the dual headlights for 1958? Was it orchestrated by the headlight manufacturers? Did the Big-3 sit down together and agree on this? Did corporate spies provide the information from one manufacturer to another?

Anybody know the story of how we went from single to dual headlights for the 1958 car models?

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

Don't know where it came from but the 58's were some of the worst cars to roll out of Detroit.

I do know that Smokey Yunick said things about his dislike for the 1958 Chevrolet that can't be repeated on this web site!!

Just read this explanation on the JalopyJournal website posted by Patrick66 that seems to make sense:

State laws across the country, as well as Federal law, forbade quad headlights until 1956. The automakers wanted to utilize quads in the new styling, and lobbied to allow it. This is why you can see several 1957 models that had either dual OR single headlamps on each fender, depending on what State the car was to be sold in. Several States continued to outlaw them through the 1957 model year. So, by the time the 1958 model year cars rolled out, all States had repealed their prohibition of quad headlights.

Yes, there were customs and prototypes that incorporated four headlights earlier, but legally, they were not available until the 1957 model year, and then only on certain models.

They were all 12VDC by this time, and all were the smaller headlamp (that were quads).

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I always thought it was interesting that the 1957 Chevy was the first model to win consecutive Southern 500s at Darlington.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Randy, I thought they were also some of the ugliest.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Never knew all the details Dave, but I remember when they first came out. First one I saw was a 1958 Dodge. Duel headlights and tail fins! Those were the days. I really enjoyed the pictures.

Randy, I have always heard that 1958 was the worst year Detroit ever had. I have a story to back that up but it involves a Ford and a race track so I'll save it for later.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

1957 Chryslers, DeSotos and Imperials had duals in states where they were approved. The same with Mercury. All those cars were designed with duals and looked much better with them. It was expensive, because different hoods and fenders were required depending on design. Nash had duals as well. The company was in financial trouble so they decided to screw the regulations and put them on every car whether it was legal or not (typical Romney thinking).I don't know if 1958 was Detroit's worst year, but it was a bad one. Not because of the designs, but because of the economy. Remember, between 1956 and 1961 we lost Kaiser-Frazer, Packard, DeSoto, Hudson, Nash & Edsel. Studebaker moved to Canada for cost savings but was dead by 1966.GM celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1958, at the height of that recession. Every car they made had a brand new body that was used for only one year. It cost them a fortune. Chrysler Corp. had brought out the forward look in 1957 and Ford didn't want to lose sales to GM or Chrysler so they couldn't slack off on redesigns either.

Andy, I really appreciate that recap of history. See, I had forgotten those facts and figures about the economy but then I was a kid then and I guess I didn't think about such things. Seems today is sort of a throw back to those years of the 50s. I really enjoyed your comments.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

And I thought today's cars were cookie cutter!

While not my favorites....I always thought the 58' FoMoCo and GM cars werekind of coolthey are by no means my favorites. It's hard to like the square front ends of that year's Old's and Pontiacs too.

As early as 1956, you could order a kit through JC Whitney to convert your single lights to duals too.

-Cody