(first posted 3/27/2017) For so many years, 1959 seemed like such a normal year. Moreso for me than for others perhaps, because that was my birth year. I have been writing “1959” for practically a lifetime. Well, I guess not quite yet. I hope. And was it coincidence that my first CC was on a 1959 car during a 1959 theme week?. But back to my point. I have been noticing something lately: When I write “1959” it doesn’t look quite so normal anymore.
Maybe it is that we are closing in on the end of two decades since the great Y2K shift in which all normal years now begin with a “20” instead of a “19”. But this is not completely it. “1996” or “1987” still look like normal years when I write them out. But “1959”, not so much.
I think the first time I noticed something odd about 1959 was around the mid 1990s. I am an attorney in my daytime life and I drove to Terre Haute, Indiana to take the deposition of an injured heavy equipment operator in the course of defending a personal injury suit. I sat down across the table from this rough looking overweight fellow who had clearly lived a long and difficult life. “Please state your name, address and birthdate” was my opening question. When he finished off with “1959” I nearly choked. Was I really just about the same age as this guy? Holy Crap, time to start taking better care of myself, because the bell curve was starting to do some nasty work.
“So” you might be asking, “what on earth does any of this mental meandering this have to do with this ’59 Catalina that you promised us you were going to write about?” This would be a very good question. And my answer gets going right about here.
I have been writing for CC for what, about six years? In that time I have practiced the fine art of scanning the horizon for interesting cars to photograph. As time has passed I have found my standards getting higher. There was a time when I would walk out of my way to shoot an Isuzu I-Mark or an Acura Integra. But those days are mostly gone. There are younger writers here who have more to say about these cars than I do and I am happy to cede that part of what we do here to some others. But something like this?
I saw this car parked in a Sam’s Club parking lot in Lafayette, Indiana while on the way to visit my mother. I passed by an 80s Pontiac 6000 wagon and a 50s Chevy pickup with a modern paint job and wheels. I was actually second guessing myself about the 6000 wagon when I saw this huuuge expanse of copper about 50 yards away. Mrs. JPC was with me and I told her to hold on because we were making an emergency trip to Sam’s.
As I pulled up closer I could tell that this was a really, really clean original car. I turned up my nose at the blue pickup because of the wheels but I would not do so for this one. As I started snapping pictures the sheer scale of this thing just kept smacking me in the face. Every single dimension, every single line was exaggerated. There was simply nothing “normal” about this car. Just as Dorothy reached a time when it was clear that she was no longer in Kansas, It was another wake-up moment to me that 1959 was a ridiculously long time ago.
I grew up around cars like these. My Aunt Norma and Uncle John had a ’60 Catalina sedan in a similar shade of copper. By the time I was ten or so the crazy-busy surfaces and the overdecorated nature of cars from this period were starting to look a little odd, but the proportions were as fresh and modern as any big car still made. But now? This thing just looks weird. A good weird, but weird nonetheless.
The nameplates are weird.
The taillights are weird.
The twin V fins are definitely weird. And fascinating.
Then there are the colors. Is there a more “1959” color combination than Cameo Ivory over Canyon Copper? Copper was really the “it” color that year. My CC Avatar comes from the cover shot of the 1959 Plymouth brochure which featured a copper Sport Fury. While golds and silvers have had really long runs over the decades, copper (alone among the precious metal derived colors) has never been a long-term success. But it was sure hot in 1959. And boy was that roof panel teeny-tiny. It makes me think of the Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini that was a big hit song in 1960.
There were a couple of things that detracted from the glorious weirdness of this car. First were the wheels. Their dimensions seem to fight the rest of the car’s design. They are at the same time both too wide and too low in profile, making them look too small. While they might make for a nice driving experience they are just so not-1959.
There is also the interior. That white interior is all 1969 to me, not 1959. Car interiors were not noted for their durability in the late ’50s so perhaps someone did the best they could in making a nice driver-quality interior to replace a ratty one that used unobtainable fabrics and patterns.
It’s a nice job and definitely not weird. Because the actual 1959 Catalina interiors were weird. But on this car, not-weird is kind of, well, weird.
Many of the cars I photograph look great from the street but pretty substandard from close up. Frankly, when I saw the wheels and the solid white interior on this one, I was preparing to be disappointed. But the paint, chrome and dash were all amazing on this car, and all original if my guess is accurate. Still, how is is possible to not be just a little bit disappointed when the actual car doesn’t quite live up to the famous Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman artwork.
The sun was in a challenging place as I took my photos and I had somewhere to be, so I did not linger. As I was getting into my car I saw the owner approach, open the door and slide in. I cracked my window to hear what I presumed would be the mighty 389 fire to life and was not disappointed. The owner’s route and mine coincided for about a mile and through a couple of traffic lights. This gave me the rare chance to watch this big, suave Poncho undulate along the asphalt as little clouds of unfiltered greenhouse gasses chuffed from the twin exhausts. Yes, 1959 was a long, long time ago.
I guess coming to grips with the passage of time happens to all of us at one point or another. Some have undoubtedly come to this point in their own lives well before now and the rest of you will soon enough. So to repeat: 1959 was a very, very long time ago. And at the same time it was (and remains) very, very cool.
Further Reading:
1959 Pontiac Catalina Vista Sedan (Paul Niedermeyer)
1959 Pontiac Catalina (Aaron65)
1960 Pontiac Ventura Hardtop (Paul Niedermeyer)
1960 Pontiac Catalina and Bonneville Outtakes (Paul Niedermeyer)
“Too weird to live, too rare to die.”
Not being familiar with these as cars I would have assumed the interior was redone but mostly correct…and how wrong I would have been. That asymmetrical treatment is weird alright.
The plain, single color interior would have been considered cheap-looking rather than elegantly simple in 1959.
Here’s a picture of a real 59 Pontiac in copper that a quick web-search turned up. Let’s use say that it matches the zeitgeist of the exterior
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikedowd/5851796986
My head would have exploded. My eyes are light-sensitive – dash-trim glare is very distracting and sometimes painful. The “painted chrome” trim surrounding the shifter on my Outback is covered in leather. This Poncho and probably anything from that era would have killed me….
As another ’59 model (calendar year, by model year I’m a ’60) I echo your sentiments.
Thanks for a entertaining read.
I have a soft spot for all of the 1959 GM cars. While the Poncho was a pretty “clean” ’59er, the wild interiors are awesome. Late 50s design on steroids! Mean while the really wild ’59 Cadillac has an interior design that is damned near Spartan compared to the “lesser” Pontiac’s!
Nice Find JP. I knew every curve and detail of the 1959 Pontiac (and all that came after for many years). The shape of the dashboard, which I felt was so big it sort of blocked my view out the windshield, was reused in 1960 but with a horizontal orientation instead of the three round dials.
Back in 1959 when I walked to my 9th grade classes I would pass a teacher owned copper colored 4 door flat top Bonneville every day. The sight of that beautiful machine would create a dream-like state in me that the other cars there could not.
Today is a cold rainy Monday morning, but you have provided a nice dreamy memory of warm sun on a copper colored wide track. Thank you.
Thanks, RL. You remind me of my school years when a 7th or 8th grade science teacher at my middle school drove the twin to your teacher’s copper 59 Bonneville. Only Mr. Tallman’s car was at the other end of its life cycle. This would have been 1973 or 74 and the poor old Pontiac was dulled, dented and rusted.
I remember thinking that if a fellow is going to drive an old heap, he might as well drive one with some personality, and that copper 59 Bonnie fit the bill.
I had a similar imprinting experience with 1960 Pontiacs. The neighbors across the street in Iowa City, where we moved to in 1960 from Austria, had a matching set of 1960 Pontiacs; his car was a Bonneville 4 door hardtop, hers a wagon. They were parked side-by-side in their driveway. It was quite a sight, and I spent a lot of time gazing at them.
I know how you feel. I can’t believe we’re almost through the second decade of the 21st Century already! When I was a kid, I couldn’t imagine this far into the future.
That Cat is a great find, we’ll probably never see another one that nice, at least as an average owner type of car. I like the lower trim levels of that era of GM car, they seem to have the most honest styling. The higher trim models just add lot of gingerbread and seem over done.
Thinking about it, weird is a good descriptor for 1959. The prior year will never be accused of being an ode to dull, but for 1958 the word “goofy” might be best. “Weird” does encapsulate many automobiles from 1959. 1960 could be called “hangover”. 1961 could be called “dehydrated”.
This was an infinitely better choice to capture than the 6000 wagon. And, like you, I’ve been finding myself to not be as enthusiastic to photograph some cars as I am others.
Incidentally, I suggested we paint our living room a shade of copper, something to give it more pop than the mucus beige we currently have and something to match the fireplace. Couldn’t believe that got poo-pooed.
What I’ve found weird about the ’59’s is not so much the cars (dated comes more readily to mind) but the ads. That artistic license to make the cars look longer, lower, wider, larger than they actually were – and how, back in the day, we didn’t notice the exaggeration. But then again, all the manufacturers were doing that, and had been doing that for at least the entire decade, if not decades before. And back then it seemed normal, and you would look at the pictures and get the artist’s intent without being put off by the exaggeration.
(Except for Studebaker, who actually portrayed their cars in the ads and catalogs as they actually were. Which made them look even more pathetic compared to the competition.)
’50s spaceships are very cool, especially in that shade of brown. The wheels look odd on this one though. The rear ones look like they’re too wide apart, or is that how they ought to be? Buick stuck to the 15 in. wheels, IIRC, and those looked much better on cars like these, in my opinion.
1959 was a weird year for American cars, to be sure. The only “sane” one among them was the Studebaker Lark. But without that massive dose of weird, the world would be a dull place.
I was 10 and visiting my Uncle Louie in Endicott, New York when he purchased his 1959 Dodge Custom Royal 4-door hardtop and this event began my attraction to late 1950’s American cars in all their wonderful (and weird) excesses! Getting to drive this ’59 Dodge for a couple of years when my uncle gave it to my Dad in 1967 cemented my love of these vehicles. Unfortunately, my Dad decided it had to go due to rusted out floorboards…but in 1983, I bought my own ’59 Dodge and still own it today.
Nice! So much more flamboyant than the 59 Plymouth Fury I drove in 1979-80.
Don, Just looking at your beautiful 1959 Dodge, and knowing it is still on the road, makes me feel good.
This is my ’59 Dodge…
Anybody having the story behind the particular design detail shown here, where a coupe kind of looks like a sedan from the side.
Or it is basicly the idea behind calling a car a 2 door sedan?
It’s a two door sedan. Same roof as the four door sedan.
The “coupe” would have been the two door hardtop. The word “coupe” once applied to the body style with a shortened roof as compared to the equivalent sedan, but that really disappeared in about 1952-1954 or so. And hardtops became popular at about the same time, or a couple of years earlier. So the common use of the word “coupe” came to be shifted to the 2-door hardtop, even if its roof really (often) wasn’t any shorter than the sedan roof.
Note : I say “common use of the word coupe”, because many manufacturers didn’t use that word to describe their 2-door hardtops. Others did, like Cadillac, of course. But then the Cadillac coupes really did have a shorter roof than the sedans, at least much of the time, if not all the time.
Strict “coupes” (with a more closely coupled rear seat and shorter roof) sort of went extinct in the early 50s in the US and were kind of replaced by the stylish new hardtops.
Most 2 door sedans tended to mimic the styling of the 2 door hardtops but a few (like the 57-59 Plymouth and Dodge) looked more like the 4 door sedan, but with only half the doors.
Most 2 door sedans tended to mimic the styling of the 2 door hardtops but a few (like the 57-59 Plymouth and Dodge) looked more like the 4 door sedan, but with only half the doors.
Hmm. My memory tells me that almost all 2 door sedans used the same basic roof as the 4 door sedans, while the hardtops often/mostly had a different roof altogether. In fact, my definition of a two door sedan is just that; that it has to use the same roof as the 4 door sedan; otherwise it really is a coupe.
Can you give me an example of a 2 door sedan that mimics the styling of the hardtop version? Seems to me that those cars that might fall under your description, like the GM Y and A body 2 doors, were what have become to be called “post coupes”.
Undoubtedly, I’m missing some. Maybe my brain isn’t working well this morning….
I wasn’t arguing that the 2 door sedans and hardtops shared stampings, just that the general shapes were similar. Like the 59-60 GM cars where the 4 door sedans used the 6 windows while the 2 door sedans looked similar to their hardtop counterparts, but with pillars and framed windows. Also the 57 Fairlanes made their 2 door sedans quite hardtop like.
Then again, many were quite different like the 60-61 Plymouth and Dodge which looked much more like the 4 doors. I would agree that this pattern predominated as time went on.
Obviously, it varied, based on economics largely, and other factors. In the case of the ’57 Fairlane, Ford did use the same roof on all of the sedans and hardtops. Essentially, the sedans were hardtops with posts and window frames. And given that the Fairlane was a notch above the regular Fords, that rather makes sense. The Fairlane was designed to look like a hardtop in every case.
It really boils down to whether the same roof was used or not.
But the fact that 2 door sedans “mimicked” the hardtop styling is really just because that’s how all the body styles were, meaning the 4 door sedans were the same too, except for not having a rear door. If not having a rear door is “mimicking the hardtop coupe”, than of course you’re right. But there’s really no other way, except to create a totally unique roof for a two door sedan.
I hate to get too hung up on this, but more realistically, the two door hardtop coupes were mimicking the 2 door sedans, since they were there first. 🙂
but a few (like the 57-59 Plymouth and Dodge) looked more like the 4 door sedan, but with only half the doors.
I’m still confused by this. How were these any different than the ’59 GM cars you mentioned? They both used a single flowing roof, for the sedans, 2 and 4 door, similar in its basic design/look to the 2 door hardtop. To me these are almost perfect analogues to the GM cars of the time.
Those late 50s Chrysler products were always so sinister and menacing when I was a kid.
I used to pretend my Western Auto banana seat bike was a 57 DeSoto.
The things that warp us as kids.
A delightful writeup, Jim.
And I totally get you on how cars that used to excite you a few years ago aren’t enough to make you stop your car today. It’s one of the reasons I don’t contribute as often now. The others are all about the stupid levels of busy my life has become in the last year or so. I expect that to ramp down here by autumn. I have a bit of a backlog of cars brewing!
But none like a ’59 Pontiac. This is the kind of car I expect to find only at shows. And in original-ish condition no less! I wish the owner had restored the interior properly, but I do understand why he didn’t.
Very nice indeed. I prefer the 1960, but that’s mostly because one was the first car I ever rode in as a newborn.
The 59 manages to absorb all that weird detail and still come off looking like a pretty clean design. But if you look at that last shot from the back, and in your mind delete the chins at the end of the bumpers, and remove the fins that would have been a nice design for the early 60’s.
“But if you look at that last shot from the back, and in your mind delete the chins at the end of the bumpers, and remove the fins that would have been a nice design for the early 60’s.”
Kind of like this?
Nice review!
Reads like an excerpt from King’s ’11-22-63′.
Would have been nice if that Catalina example still had the wonky-zonky upholstery patterns as shown in those brochure pics! Could see George De Moerenschildt himself at the helm there, on his way to meet his young former Army friend-turned-propaganda distributor. 😉
I remember 1959 well as I was a car nut even as a boy. I always have been a fan of that copper color on those cars. My grandma had a ’59 Biscayne in that shade, a far cry from the gray ’52 Plymouth she traded in, and my aunt and uncle had a ’59 Olds 88 also in that color. Dad had a ’59 Chevy BelAire that was a kind of beige, but the interior was that copper color. In my opinion, the relatively understated ’59 Ford Galaxie is the best of the lot.
If you think the ’59s are getting hard for you to relate to you should have my birth year. I was born at the end of 1947 and really feel no connection to those cars. They all look ancient to me and I can say that as a former street rodder. The first car I can even remember is the ’40 Ford Standard that my dad drove when I was small. In fact, I like to say that I was weaned on a ’40 Ford. As a toddler, Dad got me to give up the bottle by offering to let me help brush paint his car. Brush painting a car makes me cringe now, but I can say that was the first time I worked on a car.
Love that story of painting your Dad’s car with a brush. An 8-9 year old 60 Dodge Dart Pioneer was repainted with a brush and light blue pint over a metallic brown.
Older bro’s father in law painted his Falcon Econoline in Ford Blue with a brush. No need to wash it first, just paint over the dirt and rust.
Cringe is the word.
I can remember seeing cans of automobile paint meant for brushing on at the Western Auto store in our town when I was in there looking for parts to glitz up my bicycle as a kid.
In the early seventies one of my old high school buddies bought a ’60 Rambler American to drive to work at the coal mine. The trouble was that it was pink! He used many rattle cans of cheap flat black to paint it first in his driveway.
About the time that I started driving (born in 1951), my grandmother purchased a 1959 Pontiac in that same copper color, although hers was a Starchief four door sedan. I’m pretty sure that the white seats in the featured car are some sort of replacement; as someone said they look seats from the late sixties/early seventies. My grandmother’s Pontiac had a red interior with the seats in a combination of cloth and vinyl.
I only got to drive that car a few times but I remember that the 389/Hydramatic combo was very strong off the line. Compared to my six cylinder Ford the Pontiac felt like a race car or something. Given my inexperience behind the wheel it is probably just as well that I didn’t drive it very much.
The tin worm began to seriously gnaw on the Starchief in the early seventies. At that time Kentucky required annual vehicle inspections and the Pontiac got to the point where no garage would issue an inspection sticker. It was replaced by a 1963 Catalina two door hardtop which was in better condition but wasn’t nearly as nice a car to drive. My grandmother never really cared for the ’63 Pontiac and it was swapped for an early seventies Ford after a few years.
Weird not only for the exterior. The dashboard has gauges for fuel and generator but warning lights for temperature and oil pressure. Odd choices.
Chrome, chrome and more chrome. That dash that you posted had to have been one of the leading contenders for “The All Time Most Chrome on the Dash” award. Must have positively blinding in bright sunlight.
Good write-up, and you were right to pick this over the 6000 wagon….if it was a choice of either/or.
I’m not usually someone who thinks “bigger is better” when it comes to wheels on ANY car, much less a factory stock looking original, but this car definitely needs something bigger-taller (looking) to roll on.
And I agree, this car with it’s huge expanse of metal, looks terrific with that small “patch” of white roof.
IMHO, the car that best competes with these 59 Pontiacs is a 59 Mercury, both HUGE, boxy looking cars. Though Mercury had nothing that competed with this Catalina 2 door.
I saw a 59 Pontiac many years ago, parked outside of a bowling alley and I parked right next to it. Right off the bat I knew that the owner liked bowling and Schlitz beer. The whole inside of the roof and the sun visors were covered in Schlitz bottle caps, and on top of the rear fenders above the backup lights in the “gutter” were glued a couple of ten pin bowling balls, just looking like a couple of tailfins. Different times indeed!
My first car was my father’s 1959 Catalina Sport Coupe. It was Gulf Stream Blue, and it had the high compression 389. I put on dual exhausts with glass packs, and chrome reverse wheels with wide oval tires. The guy who worked at the corner Texaco had a 62 Impala, with a 64 GTO engine, that he raced. He parted it out, and I bought the intake manifold, and Carter AFB. He installed it for me. This car was a fun, fast, cruiser. I loved it!
To me, 1959 was a bit of a sweet spot for GM styling. I just can’t get enough of looking at this, the Chev, and the Buick from that year. Each based on the same body with the same rooflines, yet so different from each other with the front and rear end treatments. Then there’s the Caddy as well. Beautiful car, nice find and writeup!
Of all the fin inspired designs, the 1959 Pontiac IMO was the least attractive. IT looked bulbous, ockward and excessive while being void of style. Other GM’s for 59 were shocking at the time , but they have aged better and represent the era proudly.
Swagger on wheels.
This is where Pontiac quit being the fancy Chevy, where DeLorean and Knudsen’s work began to bear fruit.
It’s a style that I think students of design and American history will study for generations to come, for all it represents of our nation at that time. The optimism…AND cynicism.
Nice work, Jim. I can’t get over the giant Catalina chrome script on the door panel…lest one forget what one is driving.
Those “Catalina” door panel emblems look as if they’re off the fenders of a later model Pontiac, Imperialist. They don’t look the proper scale for use on an interior.
The photo link in an earlier post shows no script of any kind.
Old Car Brochures web site shows no such decoration in the 59 Pontiac brochure.
There is a Catalina Sport Coupe featured in it, same color as this one and there is just embossed color keyed vinyl on the door panels. No model line script.
1965 or 66 I’d say.
I had a 1966 Catalina, and I’m going to say “me too” here. The size and the script are exactly like the front fender emblems on my old Cat. Nit-picking aside, this ’59 is a very nice old car. I especially like the little window cranks for the vent windows. I mean, how cool is that?
I have to agree with DwezilAZ on this. I thought those were really cool when I saw them, but the brochure shots showed nothing like them on the stock 1959 door panels. Perhaps an attempt to give that all-white vinyl interior a little personality?
I can’t recall ever seeing anything like it either, I think the owner did it. It’s kinda cool though.
Great article. It really captures why cars from this era look so “different” to modern eyes.
Pontiac began using the asymmetrical seat upholstery pattern in 1957. It was originally meant to imitate the “off-the-shoulder” look in women’s evening gowns of the time. That look was even touted in the ads for 1957. The 1959 upholstery pattern is a watered-down version of the previous style.
The big, bold stance of these cars still comes through today. Today I believe that the “flying buttress” four-door hardtop is the body style that looks the best on all of the 1959 GM cars. That glassy greenhouse with the wrapped rear window and ultra-thin C-pillars really shows off the 1959 styling the best, especially in the Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac lines.
A neighbor had one of these in black when I was junior high school age. It was the beginning of wide track and split grille, among Pontiac’s contributions to automobile lore. Another neighbor had a 59 Impala 4 door hardtop in light yellow and avocado, another period color combination.
Such a shame you blurred the plates, but what a nice looking vehicle. Folks born in 1989 like myself are dying overseas while in the military, having kids, murdering people, doing stupid activities like Meth, and even Taylor Swift has an album called “1989.” Sure is putting things in perspective.
I was approaching 8 years old when the 59 Pontiac was introduced and I loved it. One of our older neighbors, a widow, ordered a four door sedan (Starchief?) in metallic grey. I studied every line, loved the split grille, wide stance, and, in particular, the full wheel covers that spelled out “Pontiac Motor Division” – I thought that was very classy☺. She did not order whitewall tires, a major omission, or so I thought at the time. In retrospect I realize how handsome the car was in that dark metallic grey with full wheel covers and blackwalls – the lady was ahead of her time.
I had the same feeling watching a ’65-’66 Mustang go down the street the other day. It looked so…dated.
I’ve found the same phenomenon with other 60’s and 70’s cars, too. They look so tall. They’re slathered with chrome (compared to 21st century vehicles).
I look pretty dated nowadays too. So I guess that feeling is inevitable.
Wow, JPC, it’s like we were sitting around at a CC gathering, talking about things very much on my mind as well. A nicely written and provocative column–thanks for your efforts with this one!
The 1959 GM “Up From Clay” promo film is *mostly* shots of the batwing Chevy in development and assembly, but the B-O-P cars do show up a bit. It still jars me to think that my (late) grandfather was younger then than I am now……….
“Up from Clay” is awesome! ??
Beautiful car and beautiful write-up! Can never get enough of GM’s wild 59s!
The Chevy Bel Air crashed by the IIHS had the same color combo.
“Up from Clay” to “Murdered by the IIHS” ? .
Perhaps, but maybe that’s a fitting tribute to the 36,223 people killed in automobile crashes in 1959.
Whoo Hoo! ?Now we can celebrate that only 33,883 were killed in 2009! I realize that that unnecessary and useless “test” (even if you discount modern safety construction, a 50 year old car was hardly in the same condition it was of the line.) was to dramatize the fact that cars have been improved. It was retarded and a waste. Oooo,look my Dell XPS 8900 does Photoshop better than my old IBM PC-XT ever could!, I’ll even bet it can even run “Pac Man”! I need a flashy click bait video to know that?!????
When I spotted the photo of the Catalina I’m reminded of an uncle on the farm who had a 59 Strato-Chief 4 door sedan. This Canadian model was the equivalent of a Catalina. Pretty sparten but a reliable and spacious! My five year old body would slide into the driver’s seat and I was soon pretending to be driving somewhere.
He stuck with Pontiacs for many years, buying better optioned models each time.
What’s ‘weird’ about 59’s for sure is we are in the era of taller, blockier and trucky-er styling. Lower is definitely “out”.
True! My wife’s 05 Corolla would ‘tower’ 4-6 inches over the Catalina and the Eldorado Biarritz, even though it’s probably 6ft shorter in length and 2ft less in the beam.
If I were to have a Stephen King moment and me and the Toyota ended up on a 1959 street, those folks might react to it the same way we reacted to the Smart For Two when that debuted! lol
It is hard to capture in photos the proportions of cars like this. Remarkably low, long and wide compared to modern vehicles.
I saw a ’59 Lincoln in a museum a few years ago and its low height was almost astounding – to the point that it didn’t look very comfortable to be in.
I love these “weird” cars of the late ’50s and early ’60s. It is unfortunate that between becoming instantly dated by about 1963 and marginal durability that so few are left.
By the early ’70s, it seemed like the only cars of the “weird” era still noticeable on the road were the ’59 Ford and the bat-wing Chevies – thanks to the sheer volume of sales.
Oddly, Of the 5 GM marques from 59-60 (there were 3 ‘1960 Buicks in my neighborhood in 73, It was a blue collar area and many high schoolers had late 50s-early 60s cars.) that I encountered in the early-mid 70s were the Cadillacs and Buicks. I woula assumed I would have seen way more Chevies! Another weird thing is I encountered more 1960 Chevys than 59s?!? I do agree on the 59 Fords – Those were still relatively “common” then. Like a 94 Century today ?.
At least by being a 1956 model, it was a good year for Chevy.
https://media.ed.edmunds-media.com/nissan/titan/2004/oem/2004_nissan_titan_extended-cab-pickup_base_fq_oem_1_500.jpg
Not my Titan, but same color, wheels, and cab style. although mine lacks the chrome grill and section on the front bumper. Body color on mine. I still think this color looks great, especially on a bright sunny day.
Great find,great colour, great fins, great rear lights…..great stuff, JP!
Born in 1943. The 1959 US cars were the culmination the 1950s American Snoopy Dance. We were just about the only country not devastated by WWII. American Iron was the gold standard. A 1950 Chevy was considered a luxury car in many parts of the world. The last part of the Snoopy Dance, to me, is the ’59 Caddy. I recall the flying buttress roof; looked weird to me altho looked good on the ’60 Corvair. We had a new ’57 Dodge four door hardtop. What a piece of crap! Cardboard headliner and poor weather sealing. The upholstery was flashy garbage. As a fourteen year old I was not proud of our new car. Looking back, the only ’59 car that looks good to me is the Chevy; even the cheapest Chev still looks good to me, but… a 1949-52 Chev (or Plymouth or Chrysler ) today looks better than a 1959.
Very cool but needs different wheels and lose those emblems on the door panels…I had a ’59 Star Chief sedan back in 89-92. I found it on a Toyota lot for about $800. It was a bit rusty but not terrible @ that time. It was my daily driver,drove it everywhere. I got a flat one day coming home from work. I walked to a local service station for help since my spare was also flat. He towed me into his place and I ended up buying 4 new tires from him. He was busy so I proceeded to to remove the wheels while on the hoist. I could’nt get off the driver side lug nuts to save my life,good thing he was familiar with the old ponchos. It had left hand thread studs on the driver side! Never knew they did that. Well,she got too rusty for me and I sold it off to a young couple looking for a project. Man,I really miss that one and am looking for another. Thanks for the good read and pics
1965 for me, so I’m right there behind you. But still a cool year in the cool 1960s.
I was about to write the same…..
In 1954, Steve Allen wrote his most well-known song, ‘This Could be the Start of Something’.
In 1956, Bunkie Knudson became the general manager of the Pontiac division.
To me, the two meshed with the first ‘Wide-Track’ Pontiac. It was Knudson’s ‘Start of Something (Big)’. From 1959 forward, Knudson, Pete Estes, and John DeLorean had their collective fingers on the pulse of the American auto buying public for the entirety of the next decade, and it all began with the 1959 Pontiac.
How did I miss this post the first time around? We share a birth year. I’ve always used it to claim to be a child of the Fifties, but always felt like a bit of an impostor doing so. It’s not like I was going to any sock hops.
Actually, I have much more trouble with the year 2023 than 1959. For so much of my life, 2023 was a year that existed only in science fiction novels.
As for the Pontiac, somehow the straight-on side view really makes the shared body lines with Chevy painfully obvious — something that Pontiac did a much better job of disguising from about 1963-1970.
I fit into this particular demographic, and was vaguely familiar with the GM ’59 offerings in my formative years. I look at them more like time machines to my parents when they were young. My aunt had a ’59 Buick convertible (not sure if LeSabre or better–can’t remember the # portholes, but distinctly remember the canted headlights) which she called “the rattletrap” and she pressed on with that car since new up to after 1972. I went to see a friend of mine in another part of Atlanta (he went to a prominent private school) and his parents still had a ’59 Olds Jetstar hardtop with a flattop roof in the carport–this was 1977. Yes the ’59 Caddy was Harley Earl’s fever dream, and I really like this Poncho’s pointed backup lights. But I still like the Chevy Impala best and can’t get enough of Pellegrino’s 4-door Biscayne on display. 1958 was the last year of the residua of bulbous designs (the 1958 GM offerings come to mind) and 1959 is when longer lower wider became the dominant default of auto styling.
Aging sucks. So how has this adulting thing worked out for everyone?
Adulting is fine, but aging stinks. It’s terrible what time and age will do to a human body. Very sad. Takes a once vital and active person and turns them into practically a blob.
To have grown up and experienced the 1950’s you would have to have been born in the mid 1940’s, that way you’d be old enough by the early ’50’s to be well aware of pop culture, and be attending high school in a few years, just as the mid Fifties took off. I think it’s funny when people make a big deal about songs that were popular in their birth year, better to remember those from your Freshman year of high school.
I was born in November of 1954, I rightly consider myself a child of the Sixties. The first car I remember is my Dad’s new ’59 Impala two door hardtop. Black with a red interior, V8/ Powerglide, with that cool hooded speedo. This was the first year of Pontiac’s split grille theme and it was defined with sheet metal. In 1960, the grille was one piece, then split again in 1961. I do love these airy green houses, though my dad hated how hot it got in the back seat, as well as how low the front seat was. He traded for a new ’64 Pontiac Tempest wagon for 1964, white with a red interior, I loved that wagon.
Between the ’59 and ’60 models my favorite is now the ’60 Oldsmobile, flat top four door hardtop. The rear end looks like a jet airplane.
That white Olds you pictured is a good looking car with the flat-top roof!