I remember when '59 Fords came out, I was 17 at the time and they had one hell of a time keeping brakes on them. Recall, recall, recall. The brakes weren't big enough for a mid-size car, much less a full-size car, so they would glaze over and fade from heat. I wish there was a pool of information for folks like you to be able to say, yeah, you use the spindles from a xxx and the rotors from a xx and the calipers from a xxxx, but as far as I know, there is no such list of stock pieces for these old cars.

There are several aftermarket companies making a good living from supplying disc brakes for them, though. Master Power Brakes http://www.mpbrakes.com , ECI http://www.ecihotrodbrakes.com/ and SSBC come to mind http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/