I have been trying to find out the deal with these mirrors. I've looked at all other Roadmasters and could not find one with these mirrors. could someone please tell me more about them. Its a 57 Roadmaster 75. Thanks, Leon
Any idea why they are on there or do you think since it was a late model car it came with those. I also noticed that all other model hade there mirror real close to the door and mine is on the fender behind the tire, in front of the antenna. I also have two mirrors instead of one. I really do believe that it is original its been in my family since far back as i can remember, used to be my great grandfathers car. Thanks, Leon
Actually, I think these are aftermarket mirrors made by a company called Yankee Manufacturing. You see them a lot on many different makes of cars in the mid-'50's to early '60s. 1957 and 1958 used two different outside mirrors that I'm aware of. One attached to the door itself, and had a teardrop base and plain head, and the other style attached to the fender and had a half-hood over the mirror head. Check eBay sometime when these come up for auction, and see what they go for. You'll be amazed.
But what about the placement of the mirrors. I couldn't find any other 57's with there mirror on the fender. I just got off the phone with the junkyard and asked him about the mirros and he said that the car came without mirrors and the dealer put them on after they recieved the car. How does that make since to you. He also said that he has seen some with the bullet type mirros.
This is essentially where the mirrors are located on my '58 Special, and it seems when cars had the panoramic windshields that many '50's cars had, placing the rear-view mirrors out on the front fenders was pretty common practice. Made them a real pain to adjust, though. As to the choice of mirror, the original dealer may have handled this mirror in its parts department as an accessory, and just chose to install this mirror instead of a factory one partially because of the cost(?), or unless the customer specified that he wanted the factory mirrors. These are actually kind of cool mirrors, because you can tip them out or in, plus pivot them to get the angle that gives you the best visibility. They're fairly common at swap meets, if you ever need a replacement, and it's not that hard to find them in good shape.
I agree with Nailhead58. I have heard that there were several different types of mirrors avalible during the fifties. I've only seen one other 58 with the same mirrors as mine and they were mounted on the fenders, mine are mounted on the doors.??. o No:
