If you want to see pictures of perfectly restored classic cars, there are plenty of places on the Web for you to find them. But there’s something truly authentic–even haunting–about seeing a weathered artifact like this ’54 Olds parked at the curb. It brings me back to the days of my early childhood when I would occasionally see cars of this vintage in this condition–battered survivors from a lost world that existed before my time–evoking in me a sense of awe and mystery…
As a little kid growing up in the ’70s, for some reason old things always fascinated me. I liked watching Charlie Chaplin movies on Channel 13. In 2nd grade, Mrs. Hamel (our teacher) asked us to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. Other students wrote things like fireman, doctor, baseball player, nurse, etc. I wrote “antique shop keeper” (because I really liked antiques). Needless to say, this did not make me popular with my peers.
Of course my interest in old things extended to cars and I was an enthusiastic car-spotter.
In those days, it was still possible to see ’40s and ’50s cars (and pickup trucks) here and there, still in use. These were not “trailer queens” by any stretch of the imagination, but real “working cars”. Most of them had definitely seen better days–faded paint, rust, dents, pitted chrome, missing emblems, doors/fenders a different color, etc. These old beasts were typically driven by old folks or people without much money.
One day around 1980 or so, I was visiting my maternal grandparents in Paterson NJ. I got permission to take a little walk around the neighborhood. Walking down Buffalo Avenue and around, I saw a black ’56 Buick sedan, a ’57 Ford, and a ’61 Comet parked at the curb and I thought, “Wow–Paterson is a good place to find old cars!”
And beautiful Victorian houses! Just down the street from my grandparents’ place was this slightly run-down but all-original Second Empire house that looked very much like the example above. It had the two-story bay window on the right side, mansard roof with dormers, and all decorative trim intact. Your classic “haunted house”. One day my grandparents told me, “Oh, yeah–they fixed that place all up!” I was excited to go see it. This is what I saw: Ugh!
Total “remuddle job”: all the original wood trim was stripped off; the wrong size and style replacement windows were grafted in; the whole thing (including some former window openings) were now enshrouded in vinyl siding–what a travesty!
Shortly thereafter, my grandparents moved out of Paterson, and I never got to go back to that area again. Even at that age I said to myself, “All these beautiful old cars and houses I love so much are disappearing fast!”
So when I saw this ’54 Olds 98 with what I’ll call “authentic patina” on eBay, it brought me right back to those early days!
This one even has those “cynical humor” bumper stickers that were popular in the ’70s and often plastered onto the backs of old beaters like this.
Seller’s description:
As unlikely as it seems, this Olds would have been one of the most advanced cars of its day: The top-of-the-line 98 model with power steering and power brakes, Hydra-Matic transmission, and the Autronic Eye automatic headlight dimmer (mounted on dashboard).
And maybe factory air conditioning? I’m thinking that’s what these thingys on top of the rear fenders are for. If so, this is a very highly-optioned example. The original buyer went “all-out”!
The famous “Rocket Engine”: 324 cubic inches, 8.25 to 1 compression ratio, 4 bbl. carburation, 185 horsepower. Compared to what was coming in the late ’50s, these figures seem rather mild. By 1959 the Olds 98 engine had grown to 394 cubic inches, with 9.75 to 1 compression and 315 horsepower! And this 1959 Rocket Engine was mounted in a car that was so long, low, and missile-shaped as to make this very-modern-for-its-time ’54 look very old and stodgy! Change happened quickly in those days.
In 1954 Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac were the first volume cars to feature Harley Earl’s radical new “Panoramic” windshield. By 1955, nearly all domestic cars had their own version. Panoramic windshields are cool!
So now I bid farewell to this ancient Olds as it continues its unlikely journey into the 21st century. Very, very few of its peers have made it this far. For a few fleeting moments, it felt like the 1970s once again. I guess that’s what nostalgia is all about.
Auction update: Initial starting bid price was $2000…no takers. The seller has since relisted at $1600. We’ll see if it catches a bid.
Further CC reading:
Vintage Snapshots: 1954 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday by Rich Baron
I think you’re right about the air conditioning, although the car is missing the bright outer parts of the scoops. Here’s a tidier 1954 98 with factory A/C:
https://www.premierauctiongroup.com/inventory-item/7585/1954-oldsmobile-98-sedan
Interesting about those A/C scoops, I thought they would be directly behind the C – pillar, similar to Cadillac’s (for ’55 Olds would move the whole A/C unit “upfront”, in the engine compartment)…
An a/c-equipped car will also have those clear plastic tubes inside the C pillars, just inside the left and right ends of the rear window, bringing in cool air from the trunk-mounted air conditioning unit. It’s faintly visible in some of these photos, and clearly visible in the car linked to above.
That Victorian redo is definitely YAAARGGH! Why do they always have to turn nicely proportioned windows into pinholes? Why did they have to bulge the mansard roof? I can see replacing it with a hip, because the flat top of a mansard can be leaky. The bulge just looks like the wood is about to buckle.
What the heck are you talking about?
They’re referring to the house that was fixed up earlier in the article.
Aha! Thank you!
Go back and look at the images again.
Totally agree. A lot of money, but – UGH! Looks like a tasteless 1960s job. If you can’t appreciate originality, go buy something else!
I’ll never understand why so many make house windows smaller any time they replace them .
In the 1960’s I loved the many Victorian houses dotting New England, plenty of barges like this too in daily service, most had rust issues and were only being used until they could no longer pass annual safety inspection then into the back yard or off to the junkyard they went .
-Nate
“I’ll never understand why so many make house windows smaller any time they replace them .”
I have always assumed that folks settle for the closest they can get in a modern, mass-produced window. Which is usually way, way off from what was there before. This is one reason I have never replaced the aluminum windows across the front of my late 50’s house (despite a zillion sales people trying to get me to). Modern replacement windows would just look wrong.
It’s almost impossible to replace 1950s/60s thin steel or aluminum framed windows with something that doesn’t have smaller glass size and thicker frames. I had to do it at the house I live in now because the old ones were rusty and inefficient; I somewhat compensated by replacing each set of two center-opening windows that opened like barn doors with a larger single pane of glass with no center post, helping to maintain the glass area.
We did away smaller bathroom window way back in “69”. Was a way to have more wall space; still have light, ventilation.
Neighbors did same thing in several rooms for like reasons.
Yes, I remember seeing the occasional 50s car still in use in the 70s, but nothing much after that. Except for one college professor around 1980 who was still driving a 1946-48 Dodge sedan that was in something approximating this car’s condition.
I do remember seeing a 55 DeSoto sedan like the one my grandma traded off in 1967. But this was in the mid to late 1970s. It was a faded 2-tone green, and was being followed by a blue cloud.
When I was about 12 in `72, out riding my bike I spotted a `54 Olds 98 4dr. very much like this one, only white and dark blue. It too, had the factory AC, autronic eye headlamp dimmer, and power windows/seat. It was parked in a shopping plaza on a sunny day, and I recall how “mint” it was for being a `54 model! It even had period-correct whitewalls. While oggling the beast, a lady walked up and started to get in it to leave. She told me the car was her mother’s who was now in a rest home. She drove it to ‘keep the battery up’. She said she was a teenage girl when her folks bought the Old 98 new in `54. She let me sit in it for a minute and I couldn’t believe how clean and original it was! I had never seen a car that old with factory AC! I’ll always treasure that memory.
That’s great! 😀
Same age here. Had a lady who would often bring a mid “50’s, Caddy” to church.
Was yellow,not mint at all. Was not in awful shape though. Doubt it had “a/c”.
I can remember seeing it till maybe “73ish”.
First thing I look for in ” ’54 Olds ” is whether crap PowerGlide or fabulous Hydramatic transmission… (or stick)
AFAIK no ’54 Olds had PowerGlide, unless it was a result of the”53 (?) trans factory fire perhaps? I know some cars got Buick slushboxes (Cad?).
Some Oldsmobiles got Dynaflow in the wake of the Livonia Hydra-Matic plant fire, but not Powerglide.
The oldest cars I remember being commonplace were from about 1961 or 62. The occasional ’50s cars I saw were often at the back of driveways looking like they hadn’t moved in a long time, and quite rusty. Mid-1950s cars looked downright spooky to me. The weirdest thing for me was the disconnect between the super-curvy wraparound windshields and the small, completely flat side glass. That and the seemingly random chrome trim, toothy grilles, two- and three-color paint, and tail fins. They were just so gaudy.
The Olds and Buicks were probably the most modern-looking American cars in 1954; the smaller bodies used by Chevrolet and Pontiac that year that hadn’t seen a full redesign since 1949 looked a generation or two behind. I have to believe the newer look helped Olds and Buick resale value, given they still looked reasonably up-to-date in 1958 whereas the Chevy and Pontiac looked a decade old by then, and also lacked V8 engine options.
When I was in middle school in the early ’70s, there were two old Buicks running around town for every day use. There was a nice unrestored 1939 Buick driven by my baseball coach and another slightly older one in pretty crappy shape. The ’37-’38 Buick was near the college and driven by an ancient couple who just never got a newer car.
“Never” is right!
The car didn’t sell at $2000? Wow. At $1600 it is a steal! If that was on the West Coast, instead of East, it would more than likely be with me now. No way I could pass that up and besides I need a car from the 50s to compliment the 60s, 70s, 90s, and 00s. The 80s is a tough decade.
SAAB Turbo!
Definitely a nostalgia trip that’s hard to replicate with a restored car!
When you mentioned that as a kid in the ’70s, that old things always fascinated you – that got me thinking. I was the same way, and I trace it back to when my parents bought a 1930s-era house when I was 3. The house had just one previous owner, and it was like a time capsule – plus, they bought a lot of the furniture too from the old lady selling it, since my folks were moving from a much smaller house. Anyway, I loved the old furniture, and just the sense of being in a different time, and I’ve kept that fascination with old things throughout my life. And as an aside, when my folks moved out of that house 15 years ago, I was able to take some of the furniture that I liked so much as a kid.
One of my Aunts bought a new Olds four door hardtop in 1956 and she kept it until she bought a new Grand Prix in 1969. That was quite a contrast in eras! The ’56 was driven extensively, running back and forth on many trips to Tijuana and deeper into Mexico. The car received a repaint after a traffic accident and the interior was redone in vinyl sometime in the mid 1960’s. This was the oldest car that I ever saw in regular usage. Even my Dad was buying a new car every few years through the 1950’s and early ’60’s.After that he would buy used cars, but they were generally only three or four years old. My Auntie was a bit of a character, and I think that she liked the attention that the Olds generated.
I second that feeling of outrage at the desecration of the Second Empire house. It was common at the time. As if the house now looked “modern” after a remuddling. (I read Old House Journal for years) Unfortunately, these houses were considered “eyesores” as more modern houses were built around them. It would be a long time until antique houses began to be valued for what they were. Growing up I had a buddy whose family owned two Victorians in Oakland near Downtown. Both had the trim removed and then been stuccoed with the windows replaced. It wasn’t until I was out of high school that I even paid any attention to the style of those houses.
My maternal grandmother purchased a 1954 Olds 98 similar to this one, it was two tone blue and white, well equipped although it did not have air conditioning. My grandmother never learned to drive, if she needed transportation her housekeeper or one of her daughters would usually drive her. It was certainly luxurious, I remember riding in it when I was young and later occasionally drove it, it was a very solid and comfortable vehicle. My grandmother kept it until she died in 1966 and it was purchased by one of her daughters who had it for several years. After that I have no idea of what became of it.
Bonnie & Clyde (1967) got me interested in old cars. When I was 14 (1969) I discovered a daily driver Model A downtonwn. No paint, but otherwise in decent shape. An “old car” back then was maybe 1953, so I was astounded! My big regret is that I never tracked down the owner and heard his story. Lady Bird’s Clean-up America campaign hadn’t been fully implemented and there were dozens of empty fields full of abandoned cars from the 40s and 50s. Even the police station had a 13 year old Packard squad car in the bushes out back. Most were complete and must have had engine trouble. Kids were better behaved back them so there were no broken windows or graffiti.
These days a 40 year old car is somewhat more common. And those 15 year old “old cars” are all over the place. I miss the days when a boy could stumble upon some treasure in a sunny field and spend an hour gazing at the elaborate construction of an ancient dashboard and acres of chrome.