Outside mirrors have a strange position between optional and standard. Left mirrors didn’t start until around 1935. They became standard on the better cars around 1950, but remained optional on cheaper cars until 1967 when they were required by federal law.
Despite the supposed optionality, EVERY car had an outside mirror. Driver training films from the 40s and 50s assumed you had a mirror and told you when and how to use it. The license exam I took in ’66 definitely graded on your use of the mirror. It DIDN’T grade on turn signals because they were still considered extra at the time. I had to use hand signals.
Promotional and advertising pics NEVER included a mirror on the cheaper cars until it was required by law. Were the pics trying to show only the basics, so you wouldn’t expect the mirror with the base price? No, because most pics included a radio antenna. Radios were genuinely optional and far more expensive than a mirror. I owned and drove many ’50s and ’60s cars without a radio, but never saw a car without a mirror.
Comparable promo pics of AMC Ambassador from ’66 to ’67:
Puzzle: By the 60s few if any cars were sold without a mirror. Did they special order the promo cars without the mirror? Or did they remove it for the photo then airbrush the screw holes? More likely the latter.
Polistra's Mill 