American Car Spotters Guide - 1959

Total passenger car sales for 1959 amounted to 5,591,243, Pontiac produced their 7-millionth vehicle and Chrysler reorganized their car sales division by forming the Plymouth-DeSoto Division, the Chrysler-Imperial Division and the Dodge Division.

Following the lead of the smaller 'independents', who during the 1950s had introduced small cars with varying degrees of success (Hudson Jet, Kaiser Henry J, Nash Rambler, Studebaker Lark, Willys Aero) and the increasing impact of 'imports' (mainly Volkswagen) on the home market, the 'big three' had decided that the time was ripe to start competing in this field and late in 1959 introduced what became generally known as the 'compacts'.

General Motors launched their Chevrolet Corvair, Ford their Falcon and Chrysler their Plymouth Valiant. They were introduced as 1960 models. It meant that from now on the two main types of American cars were 'compact' and 'regular' models (during the next decade to be joined by the 'intermediates').

Cadillac offered Cruise-Control automatic acceleration, maintaining a pre-set speed whether going uphill or downhill.