Auto of the week: 1957 Ford Custom 300 from Psycho

On the run after having embezzled $40,000 from her employer, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) hits the road and flees. Noting a highway patrol officer that has his sights set firmly on her, the paranoid crook decides to swap her car at a dealership, trading her 1956 Ford Mainline for a more modern 1957 Ford Custom 300. The change maintains the attention of the intrigued cop, and it’s only when bad weather forces Marion to spend the night at a motel (not the best move) that she earns some breathing space.

Needless to say, things don’t work out too well for Marion at the Bates Motel (and that’s somewhat of an understatement), and equally her new motor also suffers a nasty fate (being sunk in a swamp by Anthony Perkins’s taxidermy-loving mama’s boy, Norman). A shame for such a stately set of wheels, known for its long, low and wide look, the Ford Custom 300 was one of four possible trim levels available for the 300, starting at the most modest, the Custom and climbing to the Custom 300, then the Fairlane and lastly, the Fairlane 500. The former two identified by their 116-inch wheelbase, in contrast to the fancier Fairlanes on their 118-inch versions.

Between them, these four models outsold the full-size Chevrolets in America in 1957, shifting 1, 655, 068 to be precise, though big changes were introduced a year later. And here’s one final factoid for you Boxwishers, the white 1957 Custom used by Marion and ditched so unceremoniously by Norman, was owned by Universal Studios and as such, popped up in clean-cut retro sitcom Leave it to Beaver. Who knew, eh?