Even though they are esteemed among many collectors for their audaciousness, the 1958 General Motors lineup isn’t known, in general, for its cleanliness of line. Most hold the Oldsmobile and Buick up as the most egregious offenders, but because there seem to be so few 1958 Pontiacs running around these days, it’s easy to forget that cars such as this Chieftain Catalina Coupe are actually rather restrained for 1958. In fact, this might be the best-looking 1958 GM product of them all.
The anecdotes about Harley Earl, in the twilight of his career, asking for another 100 pounds of chrome for the already ornate Oldsmobile and Buick are legendary, and there has to be an element of truth in there. This basic Eighty-Eight sedan has four bright strips that resemble a musical staff running down the entire quarter panel and half the rear door. The bright trim on the front fender and door, on the other hand, resemble a rocket whose mission is to blow the musical staff to kingdom come. It’s a little discordant, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t drawn to the Eighty-Eight. Somehow, it kind of works…it’s kitschy.
The Chieftain, on the other hand, is comparatively subdued, and if this example were not painted in an attractive two-tone yellow and green, a combination that was “in” a few years earlier, it would be almost taxicab plain. Two bright strips narrow down at the door and continue up toward the front fender, and three stylized stars adorn the quarter panel, along with the “Chieftain” nameplate. By the way, the two-toning itself was one of two options; the other would include a green roof in this case.
The Catalina was the bottom of the Pontiac lineup, followed by the Super Chief, Star Chief, and Bonneville; aside from the Bonneville, all those names would get a makeover in 1959 (along with the cars themselves).
The front end, too, was attractive and not overdone. It did have the newly popular quad headlights, but the parking lights were boldly integrated into the bumper, and the grille texture itself was nowhere near as complex as Buick’s 160 bright square pieces.
Here’s a shot of a Buick Special taken by JP Cavanaugh for comparison.
But you might be asking about the 1958 Chevrolet, which is also generally well-regarded among collectors, and indeed it shared a body shell with Pontiac. Interestingly, the Impala shown here, with its polished grille and four discrete parking lamps, looks somewhat glitzier than its Pontiac cousin. I’ve always thought, however, that the Impala seems to be frowning, but as the owner of a 1953 Buick myself, I can’t say that I think a sneer is a bad look.
The interior, with its slim dashboard and round gauge nacelles, actually reminds me of a mid-fifties Chrysler product, such as the 1955 Chrysler 300 (click here).
This Chieftain, which I spotted at the Motor Muster car show in Dearborn, Michigan, in June 2026, must be one of the nicest examples in the world. The upholstery, if not original, uses original patterns, which included asymmetrical “Morrokide” motifs atop both the front and rear bench seats. Surprisingly, this car has a gray interior, even though green was available in 1958, and in my opinion, that would have been a nice complement to the Darby Green coves on the exterior of this example.
The rear too is not gaudy, and it may be the area of the greatest differentiation between Pontiac and Chevrolet for 1958. Its four taillights mirror the Chieftain’s hooded headlamps, with large backup lenses beneath, and the two-tone scheme bisects both. Two “shark fins” emerge from atop the bumper to point at the lights, a perhaps unnecessary styling feature that is nonetheless classic Harley Earl.
I’m interested in the exhaust outlets in the bumper, a feature that was not uncommon in the 1950s. Considering that not all 1958 Pontiacs had them, however, leads me to believe that it must have been a part of the $31 dual exhaust package. Being that it also wasn’t uncommon to see bumpers rusted out from the condensation in the exhaust system, this owner has rerouted the exhaust pipes with turndowns. Not a bad choice.
If we’re being honest with ourselves, however, we might have to give the rear-view honors to Chevrolet. The gentle fins, that ribbed center bumper license plate cove, the six taillights (on Impalas)…I think it’s held up well.
But taken as a whole, I don’t think there’s too much to fault with the 1958 Pontiac, and this Chieftain was a real crowd pleaser at Motor Muster. It was actually a big year for Pontiac in 1958 in some ways; it celebrated General Motors’ “Golden Jubilee” and a Bonneville paced the Indy 500 that year. However, that didn’t translate to record sales in a bad year for most of the industry, as only 216,982 Pontiacs were sold. Chevy, by comparison, sold over 1.2 million. Oh well. At least you can’t blame the styling.
What do you think? Did Pontiac do it best in 1958, and if not, what General Motors brand did?
Related Reading
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: The Forgotten 1958 Pontiac Makes Its First Appearance At CC (by Paul N)
1958 Pontiac: ‘The Boldest Advance in Fifty Years!’ (by Stephen Pellegrino)
Curbside Classic: 1958 Buick Special – Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing To Excess (by JP Cavanaugh)
Personally, I’m partial to the Impala, but you make a strong argument for the Pontiac, Aaron.
I wouldn’t want to clean that Buick’s grille, that’s for sure..
The Olds is just too over the top (for me), as was the Cadillac that year, although for the Caddy, it almost gets a pass for being a little too much.
Agreed.
The Impala’s Lines/curves seems to “flow” better (as they say) as a whole cohesive piece, IMO. The Pontiac is fine, but it’s ‘trinkets & doodads” look(feel) like an afterthought compared to the Impala.
Almost like they had the Chevy done and said Ok now YOU do the Buick. Once they saw what happened to the Buick, they said. Umm..Okay, try again on this Pontiac, but not quite so much “Buick”. (Maybe, maybe not).
Has to be Impala, 3 lights on each side for me).
My dad bought a new ’58 Chieftain in white/green 4 door hardtop form. For me it’s a dealers choice between it and the Chevy, but only the Impala. The lower trim level Chevy’s 4 tail light rear looks awkward. the Buick and Olds were/are hideous.
The ’58 had the one year only 370 engine and we had the high compression premium fuel 2 barrel version. My dad had to build a little bump out in the rear of the garage to fit the thing. It is the first car of ours that I remember and I spent many hours behind the wheel when parked. I did put it in neutral once and rolled down a hayfield hill and barely missed hitting a rock, I was 3 at the time.
Dave, I like your garage story —
Dad had a ’63 Olds 98 and a ’61 Austin 850 (Mini).
In prep for a snowstorm, he tried fitting both into our 1-car garage.
Didn’t quite work, but it was great fun for 10-yr. old Me to watch the mechanical engineering in progress.
Nah, I’d still go with the Impala. Pontiac would be #2.
+1 although I’d pick a Biscayne for less chrome frosting.
Looking only at GM products, in side view i consider the Chieftain best; front and rear i much prefer the Impala.
However, considering only styling, I quite like the ’58 De Soto: clean lines and well integrated rear fins
None of the GM 58s ever appealed to me, except Corvette.
Think of the many millions of dollars that GM spent in tooling up to manufacture all of these 1 year only monsters. Every GM division needed specific dies and assembly equipment to build each specific 1958 design.
Quite wasteful, wasn’t it?
And no wonder quality was, um, ‘variable’, as workers had to learn a new product with new assembly techniques so frequently. As did mechanics working on them.
As an Australian, I can’t imagine changing your car every couple of years. What must resale values have been like for a three-year-old US car back in the fifties or sixties – you’d lose a fortune in depreciation!
Think I’ve posted this before, but here is a great day/night time-lapse view of a ’58 Pontiac’s dashboard. Who wouldn’t feel like a million bucks sitting behind a dashboard like this?
http://www.kingoftheroad.net/pontiac_html/58pontiac_dash.html
Once again, I find myself in complete and total agreement with Aaron’s logical, well researched and photographed entry here.
Ever since the mid 1960’s I have thought of the Pontiac as the most attractive model of GM’s bloated, one year only, 1958 model line.
And this coming from a “Mopar Man” of this time period!
I concur with your assessment, and I think that this Bonneville was the epitome of the “Rocket Age” styling!
One vote for the 58 Cadillac here! But this Pontiac is not bad at all.
I don’t think I have ever seen a GM car from the late 50s in this color combo. And I agree that matching the silver/gray/white interior to it is a head scratcher.
It seems Cadillac rounded / softened their front ends a little more than the other divisions? To my eye they don’t have so much of the square heaviness that characterized the other 58s.
I have a few good pictures of a ’58 Cadillac that I took about a month ago that I thought about including, but the Cadillac was really still a car apart in 1958, so I didn’t think it was a good fit (same with the Corvette, for obvious reasons).
Your decision to compare the Pontiac to a Chevrolet Impala is a valid one, given the pricing similarity. But I’m a “less is more” kinda guy, and if I was forced to pick a 1958 GM car, I’d select a Chevy in the taxi-spec Del Ray trim which eliminated a lot of the gingerbread from the Impala.
My dad had a 58 Olds Ninety Eight 2 door in a salmon color when I was born. I don’t remember the car at all but the pics I’ve seen are hideous. I think ALL of the GM cars for 58 were awful. The 59s and 60s have their own challenges, then things settled down.
I saw this one for sale last night out my way.
It looks pretty solid, but it’s too bad about the peeling paint and the wheels (and the fact that the wheels are sunk in to the ground up to the drums).
I’ll buy your argument, Aaron. I think the texture of the Pontiac’s grille is key – less light-grabbing than the others. Offers a bit of visual relief. But I’ve long had a strong distaste for the ’58 Chevy (traumatized by a barf-worthy salmon/rust/rot Delray I’d pass on the walk home from school when I was about 12).
Per the CC database, Olds gained mkt share in MY58; calmer Pontiac and louder Buick declined. A head-scratcher or a sweet spot? I dunno.
Love the way you described the Oldsmobile’s side trim. Maybe that’s an elongated whole note rocketing back to join the staff? Patti Page approved!
Such a shame when a potentially good car is left outside, neglected and left exposed to the elements. You can be sure that this car doesn’t run and that it’s been sitting in this spot for quite a long time. The best thing that you can do for any car is to drive it; the second best is to store and protect it properly.
’58 Impala all the way! A ’58 Series 62 Cadillac convertible like Paul Newman drove in the movie Hud would be #2. Nice article with some valid points however!
I’ve been team ’58 Impala for decades, and I still am. I see it as the big brother to the Corvette, which I would imagine is what they intended. The ’58 Bonneville would be second choice, sharing the swoopier Impala body. Cadillac deVille (Coupe or Sedan) would be next. Buick would have been after that and WAY, WAY down would be the Olds.
Like this one and that year “Impala”, both. Colors on this “Pontiac” are awesome. Would like some clearer looks at that “Merc”, that was hanging out in two/three of the pics!
Looked, maybe, like a “2dor, post”, model. Has to be uber rare, if it is one.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-show-classic/car-show-classic-1957-mercury-monterey-does-anybody-know-whos-running-this-place/
I actually wrote about it back in 2016!
When I read your caption, I immediately said to myself “No contest!”
Harley Earl had really reached his use-by date – but how do you say that to the guy who did so much to popularize the idea of car styling, was near the forefront of US design for ages, and made GM a mint as a result? His early efforts were great, but through the fifties seemed to be increasingly in his own little world.
The Chevy’s front looked okay, but you had those odd-looking bulges atop the rear fenders, which swept down diagonally at the rear, and seemed to curl around the taillights. Very strange. Took some getting used to.
Oldsmobile was hideous; I have no other word for it. It had gone from one of if not the prettiest ‘57 to the ugliest ’58: why? It’s amazing how much chrome Earl slathered on that 88. Stupid in fact: how would Joe Bloggs tell a more expensive Olds 98 if the El Cheapo model had this much gorp all over it? Plate the entire car? It looks like two different cars were cut and shut at the B-pillar; both in metal-shaping and trim, the front bears no relationship to the back. Styling fail, big time.
Buick was overdone, sure, but at least you had the sweepspear part of the side trim to tell you what it was, and join the front to the back. The ‘flying shovels’ on the rear fenders were odd, the taillights ungainly, and the less said about the Limited’s row of pointless chrome ‘louvres’ on the rear fenders, the better.
I assume nobody would cross-shop a Pontiac with a Caddy so I’ll leave that out, as you did – but it wouldn’t change the result..
Pontiac wins by a landslide; the only good-looker from GM for that year.
’58 was not a good year for any US car’s styling. Chrysler made changes just to make changes, in most cases diluting the groundbreaking ’57 styling. Ford-I’ve always thought the ’58 was ugly (especially the front), Mercury was a move sideways and nothing more to be said on the overwrought ’58 Lincoln and the Edsel. The ’58 Chevrolet and Pontiac aren’t TOO bad, although those big bodies on 14″ wheels look kind of silly. I can’t add to the ’58 Olds and Buick negative reviews and the ’58 Cad isn’t too bad for what it is. Studebaker’s low budget attempt is easily seen through and Rambler is just Rambler. Although, I’m sort of a fan of the square ‘Bird, so I really can’t claim to have impeccable taste!