While that’s generally accepted as true, there is more than one way of looking at the sales numbers in the auto industry that year.
The final tally, according to our trusty reference, the Standard Catalog (Krause Publications), was 1,522,406 for Ford versus 1,515,177 for Chevrolet, a difference of 7,359 units.
Clear enough? Not so fast. The distinction is that Ford sold more 1957 Fords during the 1957 model year than Chevrolet sold of its 1957 Chevrolets.
But Chevrolet actually sold 136 more cars during the 1957 model “calendar year” than Ford.
Confused? The thing was, some 7,359 of the Chevrolets sold during that time period were leftover 1956 models.
From a production standpoint, Ford churned out 1,655,065 of its 1957 model Fords. But the final 132,659 of those wound up being sold outside the 1957 calendar year.
Those carryover models, coupled with a deep recession in the country’s economy, fouled Ford sales for 1958. Oh, and don’t forget the introduction of the Edsel that year. Production of 1958 Ford models dropped to just 967,954 units. Ouch!
Chevrolet handily regained the sales title, even though the recession helped drive its sales down to just 1.2 million units.
