Wednesday 19th March 1958

After sharp recession that hit the U.S. in the fall of 1957 led to steep declines in the sales of big, glitzy, middle-market cars like Ford’s new Edsel, the soaring sales of Nash’s compact Rambler and small imports like the Volkswagen Beetle, Henry Ford II approved the development of a compact Ford car. The new car, developed under the codename XK Thunderbird, underwent several changes of nomenclature before being dubbed “Ford Falcon” in April 1958. (That name was originally owned by Chrysler, but Ford obtained it through a bit of inter-corporate quid pro quo.)