Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
and compared to US cars of the time that MG was beautiful
All I see is an mg or something. I have always thought the 59 Gm and ford were great styles. 57 ford though better than 59, but 61 best. Hard to beat a 59 Chev, Pontiac or olds. Chrysler blew it in 59 though after the 57 and 58 models. Nothing out of Europe or Japan compares.
I have a wider appreciation for the 1959 cars. I like Mercedes Benz SLs and the 300D. The Jaguar XK120 is a great looking car. I’m also fond of the Lincoln Continental Mark IV. There are others.
That Magnette looks like a 1950 design (which it is)… in 1958.
Now, I like the Magnette, but to the North American buyer in 1958 the styling looks old and out of date compared with this:
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All of this is really a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.
I always abhorred the '59 GMs, and thought that the '59 Ford was decent-looking.
My father had a '59 Plymouth, but I much preferred the look of the Ford.
If I had been able to buy a new car in 1959, it would have been a Studebaker Hawk.
We missed having a 59 ford. Dad had made a deal to trade the 57 ford for a blue 59 ford wagon. But when we went to pick it up they hard added an extra $100 to it. Seems like old habits die hard. So we ended up with a 58 Chevy wagon instead. We waited in the car so I don’t know what dad told him but I’m sure it was not fit for young ears. Wouldn’t have been the first guy he laid out on the floor but I don’t think he went that far. The Chev was blue too, moms favorite color and dad pleased mom. Over 60 years and I can still see him walking back to the car telling the dealer where to go. I’m much less excitable but a hundred bucks is still a hundred bucks.
To me, one of the most beautiful cars of the 50’s was the '59 Olds 98 4 door hardtop with the wrap around rear window and the cantilevered flat roof. All the GM divisions shared that body style but it worked best on the C body Olds.
Somewhere long ago I developed an appreciation for understated elegance and practicality while viewing vehicles like US cars from the late 50s as particularly tacky. The Studebaker Lark is the only vehicle of that time that seemed attractive to me. But certainly opinions do vary.
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Heh heh, only a mother could love. We had a lark but it was pure utility and parked next to the 61 mercury, pretty plain Jane. But then as the song goes, if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly woman your wife. Still . . .
Nice looking MG, no doubt about it. And better looking than the big tail fin popular USA cars of the era. The tv show Leave it to Beaver did a pretty good job of showcasing that era’s cars. Late 50’s the family had the big tail fin car, early 60’s they switch to a much nicer looking car imho, a Corvair I think. Besides the MG, the Saabs of that era had good styling too, but I think they were all 2 cycle engines.
No Corvair on LITB, I think.
I think you are correct, they did switch cars for early 1960’s shows, but not a Corvair. Google seems to suggest Plymouth Fury. The actor Tony Dow had a Corvair, maybe that’s what I’m remembering. Presumably car companies would compete w/each other for which cars will be shown on popular tv shows, cheap advertising.
Here are many of the cars:
IMCDb.org: “Leave It to Beaver, 1957-1963”: cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles
I think I was confusing father knows best where bud bought an old model t or something.
Those were some beautiful cars, and no rust.
I believe the most beautiful car produced in 1959 was the Jaguar Mk2. Corvette was a very close second. The 57 Olds Super 88 also has a special place in my heart, best car I ever owned.
All I can envision looking at that MG is a blown (maybe tunnel ram) small bock sticking through the hood with some really wide tires in the back… But everybody likes different things…
I thought the 59 Plymouth was better looking than the ford or Chevy even though my father in law hand carver the pattern for the 59 Ford tail light. I thought the horizontal fins on the 59 chevy were ugly and the 60 and 61 were uglier. I guess beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
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Post WW II domestic models annual grand displays of ever more outrageous extremes of conspicuous consumption design were the result of a successful marketing scheme, I recall a report in the late 50s of a growing trend among men in India growing their fingernails to outrageous lengths for no reason other than to draw attention to themselves and their apparent status and wealth. It occurred to me back then that buying a new car every year was a similar effort to display status.
You’re watching too much Roadkill. 
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