You may have seen my post describing my recent Craigslist purchase of a 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix. Now I had four antique cars, which is kind of a lot for someone who doesn’t have the resources of Jay Leno. So one of them had to go. It was a hard thing to do, but I made my choice, and time marches on.
I decided to sell my ’58 Cadillac, which was profiled here. That may seem an unlikely choice, but unlike the other two cars, the Caddy had some problems which were too difficult/expensive for me to fix. (One of those problems is a by-passed heater core, and winter’s coming, so NO HEAT!) I sold the car (on Craigslist) for about what I paid for it three years ago, and I get the feeling that the buyer is someone who appreciates the car and has the capability to address the mechanical issues much better than I can. Also the difference between the purchase price of the Dodge vs. the selling price of the Caddy is several thousand dollars, which is new cash to add to my bank account.
So that leaves . . .
1958 Ford Custom 300, and . . .
. . . 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne.
So in a sense, I have achieved “perfect balance”: they’re all six cylinder cars from the low-priced three (the Dart being a restyled Plymouth) from the period 1958-1960. And they each have their unique personalities.
Of course, many people in “the hobby” aren’t too excited about six cylinder sedans, but that’s OK. I find they bring real peace of mind because everything works, they all run and drive smooth, idle the same all the time, and are much more straightforward and honest machines. They are easier to work on if something does go wrong. Parts will be easier to find and less expensive, and they will burn less gas.
To me, these are the true nostalgia machines from that Glorious Era–cars that were most commonly seen in previous decades, and driven by ordinary people. When I’m out driving my cars, nobody cares that it’s not a top-of-the-line convertible in mint condition with a big V-8. They’re just happy to see it: “My father had one just like that!” “I haven’t seen one of those in so long!” “That’s beautiful!”
Sure, I’ll miss my Caddy. At least I had the experience of owning and driving one, and I still have these three others to play around with. And–who knows what will turn up on Craigslist next?
Do not apologize. You are the true antique car collector, one of the rare breed who puts owning examples of what the country actually drove, rather than preserving teenage wet dreams and lies about the cars “I owned in high school.” You preserve the cars that Barrat-Jackson pretends never existed.
And you are the answer to the children asking questions like, “Dad, Pontiac made cars other than the Firebird and GTO?”
And who appreciates them for what they are, including their limitations, and does not feel the need to fully gut and remodel their undersides with modern components to make them drive like a modern car.
“You preserve the cars that Barrett-Jackson pretends never existed.” Love that line. Very true.
I’m all for not being selfish with these kinds of things. Buy an old car you like, enjoy it for a few years, then sell it (or sometimes give it) to someone else who you know will enjoy it as much as you did. It will still be in your memories and photos, and sometimes still out there IRL not far away at a neighbor’s house or making the rounds at car shows, and you can use the money and space to own another vintage car.
Nice! Cadillacs are just fancier Chevys anyway. And you’re not drag racing anyone so what do you need the V8 for? The advantages you state are real, you could even stage your own three-car comparison test!
I know you’re no fan of new/current cars, but I was struck by the similarities to the current styling trends: Silver/Gray paint on the Dodge (and the other you posted the other day), mainly white body with black roof on the Ford, headlights (well, the pods, lights themselves couldn’t be shaped back then) that stretch all the way back to the base of the windshield, random protuberances and such on the rear (back then known as “fins”), headlights below the much higher places marker light eyebrows on the Chevy, taillights that stand proud of the bodywork that is sculpted to accommodate them on the Chevy as well, and for all three being larger than the average car on the road or at least what was needed for the (often) sold occupant.
The 50s/early 60s weren’t all that different from the (20)10s/20s…The years that didn’t have all the above traits were the 90’s that everyone thought was a generally boring phase of car design.
Well said. For some years I’ve noticed parallels in the excessive styling and ornamentation of the 1950s cars and those of today. Complex, garish and utterly overdone styling is the order of the day.
It makes for interesting collectibles, and when viewed in isolation some details make for pleasing sculpture. But, on Monday morning, faced with a highway full of modern cars with such details all screaming for your attention, the result is an anesthetic train wreck.
Makes me long for the visual harmony of the 90s.
What a nice collection. Very authentic, and not over -restored . Perfect. I admire your restraint at just 3 classics.
Some people aren’t excited by 6 cyl sedans but I think they’re just fine. These days, original cars are the most interesting. I’m annoyed and bored at many TV and YouTube channels who insist on ripping apart such nostalgic cars to jam in whatever modern parts their sponsors are trying to sell.
To that end it’s nice you vetted the new owner and ensured he wasn’t mumbling something like “LS swap”.
My Dad had a ’58 Custom 300 sedan when I was born and kept it through 1971, when rust got the best of it. It was a 6 with Ford o Matic and power steering, black on black on black on black…well, you get the idea. It had some kind of trim on the side but my memory doesn’t register if it was just bright trim or if it had some of that “gold” color inserts.
I can’t read what’s written on the inner hub of the horn (not the Ford symbol, but the lettering outside). Can you enlighten me?
I can’t read it either, but I know what it says. Back when marketers named options to make them seem extra special, Ford printed “Master Guide Power Steering” on cars so equipped. If that is the original horn ring, it would be a rare option on a lower line Ford.
Thanks, Rob! My Dad’s Custom 300 also had it…but then, here in Uruguay even those level cars were relatively expensive.
If this was your ’58 Cadillac, you may not be so sanguine about the fellow who bought it:
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/370512-for-sale-1958-cadillac-sedan-very-original-runs-drives-excellent-boonton-nj-not-mine-1118-deleted-1120-big-increase-flipping/#comment-2296028
That’s a shame. It’s also a shame how little the flipper seems to know about the market; asking 40G is just ridiculous.
Here’s the direct Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/603920614281371/?ref=search&referral_code=marketplace_search&referral_story_type=post
It is true that the Cadillac was an entirely different thing from the other three, including in terms of complexity (and expense in dealing with it). Nobody can fault you for simplifying.
But I kind of thought the whole idea of enjoying cars of that era was that you didn’t have to spend your time in gray interiors? 🙂
A 3 way comparison test would be interesting. Although the Ford is a generation behind, that would probably not affect the way it operated. The 60 was new, but much of what underpinned it was not. My prediction: The Dodge was the tightest and the best handler, the Chevy was the smoothest and the quietest, and the Ford would be in the middle of about every metric.
I love your ex Cadillac but also prefer the usability of the average i6 powered sedan .
I’d love to test drive the Phoenix, I too think it’ll be a better driver than any comparable Ford or GM product .
What you’ve done here is mature, many never quite get that .
I hope you’ll write a driving comparison in the Spring after the salt is washed away .
-Nate
I appreciate you and your collection.
At my stage in life my favorite collections are owned/maintained by others.
Thank you
It is hard to sell a car even when it’s the best decision. I imagine that the ’58 Caddy had a heater similar to my ’56. There were two heater cores in the kick panels that had thermostatic valves and what seemed like a mile of hose. The thermostats allowed the driver to leave the heater on all the time. The valves kept the water from flowing through the system while it also controlled the fan, which couldn’t blow cold air through the car until it heated up.
I’ve also got four hobby cars and two modern cars, that’s a lot of cars to manage. Of the three old cars, one is in perfect shape, one looks and runs great, but has some issues, another looks pretty good, runs well, but has more issues, and the oldest is not yet running, but I’m working on it.
My plan is to get rid of two of the hobby cars so that I can concentrate my resources on the remaining vehicles. It’s not just the money, it’s the time, labor, and as Robert Pirsig would say, the gumption! I may be retired, but I don’t want to spend all my time working on old cars.
You’ve got a nice collection, four door cars are more easily and less expensively found in good shape. I would like the next car to be in presentable shape, no extensive projects! I want a very simple, 50-60’s car next, with no fancy gadgets, easy to work on, and definitely pre-smog test.
You have such a cool collection! The Silver/Pewter Caddy, Lavender/Pewter Dodge, and the Chevy in Salmon – what awesome colors!
I had no idea people use Craigslist to sell collectible cars.
I never realized how much the 1965 Chrysler dash ripped off the 1958 Ford dash until now.
but did it 1000x better
Ford had the cheesiest dashes and steering columns
I remember how the speedometer needles on Fords pulsated back and forth while GM and Chrysler were smooth and stable
Indeed, Ford stuck with spindly exposed steering columns way too long, I think until 1964 or thereabouts.
That’s a nice collection. To be honest I think it gets a bit old going to car shows and seeing nothing but over-restored hardtop coupes and convertibles with the biggest engines offered, so these are a really nice change of pace. I’m really liking that ’58 Ford, especially.
And, if anybody ever criticizes you for your choices, just remember, as long as you’re enjoying them, that’s the important thing. And, there are worse things to collect. I’ll confess that I’ve owned three Mopar R-bodies!
Your Cadillac was in too nice a condition to fiddle with, and normally I don’t like restomods, but nearly every GM ’58 cries out for considerable de-ornamentation.
Except the DelRay. I made the observation that it looked better than the Impala here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-classic-1958-chevrolet-delray-two-dor-sedan/
Three majors basic cars from 59-60 which are always overlooked but always the most interesting as they are so rare. These are the ones I look at when at a car show. There can be 75 Mustangs with half of them red as always with their engine mods, etc, etc, etc, but there will be two six cylinder Mustangs. Those are the ones I admire and vote for. Basic, as it was, always trumps hotrod or restomod.
I’m curious about the Cadillac? What made you feel that the buyer was buying the car for himself and not for flipping? How did he hide his intentions from you? They are the kind that always ask “are you selling” and I say “never to you.” Almost seems like I’ll need a lie detector test one day to reveal the truth.
It’s interesting to evaluate the Cadillac, Ford, Chevy and Dodge for 57-60. Ford never went crazy on the fins. The 57 is the best looking car in my opinion. The 59 was more substantial. And the 58 seemed to have the most stuff thrown on it. Lots of ornamentation, double headlights that seemed tacked on, taillights that didn’t seem to fit the car, and a multitude of side trims. Although this black and white car seems to have a simpler trim. The 60 Ford was when they finally went to a car more in line with the 57 Mopars and the 59 GM’s. But it didn’t last long.
The 59 Chevy was just all out there on futuristic design. Wildly different from the 57 and 61. And closer in concept to the 57-59 Mopars.
The 58 Cadillac was more like an earlier 50’s car with tons of stuff thrown on it. It had an elegance all its own. But it’s not as outrageous as the 59. But it was already an old design at the time it was introduced.
And finally the 60 Dodge had scaled back the fins from the 57-59 cars. The long low sleek look was gone and replaced with a stodgier design.
I think we tend to look at these cars as all part of an era. But when you actually line them up by year, you see things in a very different way. I once went to a 2 day Auto Show. On Day 1, cars were arranged by BRAND. On Day 2, the cars were arranged by YEAR. I thought it was a brilliant idea.
Very nice collection of economical cars. I greatly prefer the small V8s that were by then typically ordered by even most blue collar of owners, there was a reason they quickly obsoleted the 6s in even the most lowly full-size cars, as their torquey smoothness and flexibility with almost universally ordered automatics by the late ’50s cannot be denied. 3 Spd manual 6s were preferred only by the most hair shirt skinflints and cheapskates, so it’s laudable that now someone appreciates the few that are left to preserve for others to see.
Your low priced trio of cars are really interesting, in my opinion much more so than some fake Chevelle SS with 600 hp stuffed into it. Anyone with more money than brains can do that and to each their own. I am much more interested in real history, like these cars. Here in Canada, probably more than half the 1959 cars had the six cylinder motor and most of them would have had three on the tree.
Yes, the Cadillac is super cool but they have a real problem: the automatic HVAC system. I am not familiar with the older cars but in everything post 1968, the automatic climate control is a freaking nightmare. There are just too many inputs, sensors and vacuum lines for it to be reliable for any length of time. Fixing it means replacing the controller (ka-ching) and every single vacuum line and even then there is no guarantee it will work.
The Grand Lady is also without a functioning HVAC system. Plenty has been tossed at it and I know a guy in Victoria who says he can fix it but I’ve heard that before.