I’ve always had a weird relationship with the 1958 Oldsmobiles. Given that Oldsmobile had some of the least offensive styling of the 1950s, this Chrome slathered non sequitur was one of the greatest styling fumbles ever to come out of any manufacturer. But underneath, wasn’t it the same good Oldsmobile as everything that preceded (and followed)?
Oldsmobile was often the most conservatively styled of all General Motors cars (if not the whole American auto industry). Other than a slight lead sled stance and Flying Colors paint job the 1955 models were pleasant, but not arresting.
By 1957 Oldsmobile styling had basically become narcolepsy inducing compared to the flamboyant designs from Highland Park and Dearborn. Although the mild mannered overall competence of Oldsmobiles still garnered its fair share of sales (from the ultra flexible hydra matic, a newly enlarged and enlivened 371 Rocket with J-2 carburetion) something more that a tri-divided rear window was needed to set the sales charts alight.
Unfortunately we were in the waning years of Harley Earl’s magic era of General Motors styling. And like Virgil Exner’s flame out at Chrysler soon to follow, his stewardship of the 1958 General Motors cars was an inelegant finish to a remarkable career of developing the first major in house design studio of any car manufacturer.
It is a tad hilarious to see all of the 1958 Oldsmobile ads tout the slogan of Oldsmobility advertising what to most eyes looked like gilded bricks with wheels, especially in comparison with those fatally faulty Forward Look Chryslers and DeSotos in the same market bracket. The only way the Oldsmobiles could imply motion in their ads were by doing weird angle shots. Notice both coupes in the ads aim towards the sky, to perhaps suggest that good old rocket thrust was in this all new Oldsmobile Queen Mary 88. I mean Dynamic… Eighty Eight.
But in reality, underneath all of the new jewelry, an Oldsmobile was still an Oldsmobile. The 371 came in healthy servings of 265, 305 and 312 horsepower, and that delightfully flexible Hydra matic meant although it wasn’t as much of a big block bruiser as say a Mercury Park Lane or Edsel Citation, it was still able to keep pace in base trim (Car Life Clocked a Dynamic Eighty Eight at 10.2 seconds to 60) or outrun (Super Eighty Eights were good for high 8 second times) the competition.
And where it would lose in in a drag race, and a road race course for that matter (against a DeSoto or Chrysler) it would outlast. The quality woes of those graceful Forward Look cars were well known, and almost universally avoided during the mid price market collapse of 1958. Actually Oldsmobile acquitted itself quite well, settling in the #4 slot for 1958 and becoming the most popular of all 1958 medium priced cars with nearly 295,000 examples going out the door.
Nonetheless, the chrome slathering ways of Earl, and the lessons learned from Highland Park were renounced with sweeping changes to all 1959 General Motors cars save the Corvette. While all other GM cars went all out in flamboyance to end the oddly repressed decade, the 1959 Oldsmobiles looked ready for the stylish, swinging sixties refreshingly devoid of chrome, almost looking, especially in Holiday Hardtop form, like overgrown 1960 Corvairs.
In all of this storytelling I almost forgot I was going to personally defend the 1958 Oldsmobile in some way today too. I have to say, for years I’ve gone back and forth on whether this long derided for styling behemoth is actually attractive to me. And I realize that I’m forever drawn to this rump. Something about the sweetheart dip at the back of the (front) doors on the Coupes and Sedans, especially on the shorter deck Eighty Eights in solid colors, flowing into the signature Oldsmobile rocket tip tunnel tail lamps, works brilliantly.
This little buxom detail makes viewing this Oldsmobile actually quite sensual for me, despite the ridicule . In a lot of ways the same exotic curvature that makes the 1958 Chevrolets seem so rich and “Cadillac” like works here, even slathered in chrome. Admittedly the Oldsmobiles this year were graced with a more serious, almost forboding face. Which for me adds to the allure. This juxtaposition between sternness and sex appeal in what was a truly competent by 1958 standards car is purely intoxicating to think about.
So there it is, possibly the most tawdry confession ever to grace Curbside Classic. I have a torrid love for the looks of the 1958 Oldsmobile. I’m ready to face all of the judgement that will happen in the comment section below. Love is never rational ladies and gentlemen.
Looking at this Olds is like driving the Las Vegas strip at night circa 1972, when all that neon bathed the night sky with color and movement.
Though I would submit the Buick was a more egregious, over the top example of the excesses of 1958.
Laurence, I always enjoy your writing. Are you a journalist, writer, or teacher or something?
Though I would submit the Buick was a more egregious, over the top example of the excesses of 1958.
+1000 Don’t forget the Caballero
Between the X Frame, the drowning evolutions of the Dynaflow, the Dynastar Grille, Quality Issues and those huge spears on the side, The Buicks of 1958 definitely were worse. Although the C-Body Roadmaster and Limited Sedans look a bit more balanced to my eye compared to the B-Body extended deck Ninety Sedans.
About the only engineering benefit the Buicks had over Olds that year were the Aluminum Brake Drums.
Work in education administration. Was a Journalism Major before I switched to English Lit, so Curbside Classic is an outlet for a dreamed of career.
I appreciate your ability to find beauty in unconventional places. As an unabashed fan of the 1958-60 Lincoln, I sort of understand. An enjoyable counterpoint.
For 1958, the Chevrolet was the only truly attractive car in the GM lineup, with Cadillac coming in a close second. But still . . . . . . . I always considered the ’57 Oldsmobile a very quietly attractive car (a close family friend, a Roman Catholic monsignor had a metallic grey with a slight red in the chrome trim and red interior – I still remember that car vividly 55 years later) . . . . . . . but what were they thinking at Oldsmobile and Buick for the following year?
Even calling the 58 Chevy “attractive” is a huge stretch for most, myself included. Can’t think of a single ’58 I would apply that label to….
I always thought that the 1958 Thunderbird, and that year’s DeSotos and Chryslers, were attractive cars.
In my opinion, the Oldsmobile was the best looking of GM’s 1957 lineup, and industrywide was only beat by the ’57 Chrysler and DeSoto. I don’t know what happened in ’58, but I do have a pretty solid theory. I believe that some time in 1956 or 1957, several errand boys were running around GM headquarters with the 1958 designs when they all slammed into each other, sending the papers flying. They then picked up the nearest pile and continued on their way, not bothering to make sure they picked up the right one. It sounds crazy, but I’ve never heard a single explanation as to why the 1958 Buick looks so much like a 1957 Chevrolet, or why the 1958 Pontiac looks exactly (and I mean exactly) like a 1957 Oldsmobile (there’s no way anyone could ever convince me that the ’58 Pontiac didn’t begin life as an Oldsmobile).
As for the ’58s, I’m generally a fan of over the top designs. I love the 1958 Buick and 1959 Mercury, and I think the 1960 Continental Mark V is one of the most beautiful cars ever built, but the Oldsmobile is just too over the top, without the elegance or restraint of the Lincoln, Mercury, or Buick (though like the ’60 Valiant and ’62 Dodge, its a design that’s been slowly growing on me). I rate Pontiac and Cadillac as tying for best ’58 GM design, with Buick coming in a close second, then way down below would be the Oldsmobile, and a little ways further the Chevrolet.
The could explain the big rocket on the side of the 1958 Pontiacs, I always though that would have been more fitting to Oldsmoblies too…..
Elegance and restraint… 1958 Buick????!!!
Surely you jest!
It will be ok Laurence. There isn’t any need to defend it. Harley Earl and his 58 Olds have both gone on to greater things.
I understand that prozac will help detune those urges brought about by it’s sensual rump.
Kidding aside. Good story. Don’t much care for the car. Think it rates four stars for you guys both immortalizing the same car on the same day. Why not celebrate.
Laurence, great article! I’ve always secretly liked these boats, too, along with 1974-76 Ford intermediates, which is another guilty pleasure for me! This is a great article.
This car has a definite robust character. It’s also the polar opposite of its Mopar competition. While the Chrysler and DeSoto were sleek, very attractive cars with terrible quality and far too much corner-cutting, the Oldsmobile is an overdone brick with solid engineering and decent (for the times, anyway) quality control.
To add to what I said in the other article, if I had one I would polish it every Sunday, more religiously than how I go to church.
Introducing the *compact* Oldsmobile! Full power of the Rocket V8 in an amazing lightweight package! The new 1958 Oldsmobile 48!
or F 84?
Or Cultass Calais Quad 2-1-1? Anybody?
CarCounter, I love your “downsized” 98 here! It is both well done, and hillarious! It reminds me of G.M.’s subcompact concept, the 1947 Chevrolet Cadet (which is in another CC article).
In the words of the immortal Spinal Tap ‘I cannot leave this behind’.
🙂
IF you were to ask me a couple of decades ago, I’d of told you these finned behemoths were a total eyesore however, in my middle age I is the beauty of these cars. Beauty as art as I still have no desire to drive these bloated monsters.
+1 With the distance of time and perspective, these cars are becoming more delightful all the time.
Pray what’s the car
In your avatar?
Anything with a Rocket emblem on it has my attention. Hell, I find Achievas interesting. So why can’t I get excited over these? The 1957’s have a certain understated beauty in that design idiom as do the 1959’s in their own.
It’s like Harley Earl’s mojo ran out right about late 1956 and he never really recovered. I’m not in any way diminishing his impact on the industrial design, interior design and automotive industries. But everyone has their run, and I think his run was done about this time period.
But there’s no need to defend this car, it’s had 54 years to prove a point, and it has. Out of all of the cars of 1958, it’s probably done the best, in regards to reputation and durability. The beauty queens of this era, the Forward Look cars, are all but gone, with the exception of the garage queens and show cars.
The fact that one of these cars turned up in an Indianapolis neighborhood 50+ years after it’s assembly meant that it was worth something, apparently to several people, to keep it in this form for so long.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who likes the Achieva.
Most folks dump on them, but I really liked the rather plain body on those cars. I really liked the fact that the SCX could get the high output Quad4 with a Getrag ‘box. It wasn’t as swoopy as the Integras, but sure could run them down. I passed on one several years ago, and have been kicking myself ever since. A coworker’s teenaged son bought it, and promptly wrapped it around a telephone pole…
But the Q4 is now ancient history, the one in my Sunfire GT has seen it’s better days. I’m getting older too, and since there are no Rocket cars (or Tin Indians) left to buy, I’m looking forward to a nice, quiet Malibu.
I’m another that likes the SCX, though by the time I went to market they were gone and I ended up with a Q4 Grand Am with balance shafts. The Q4 was great but didn’t age gracefully (water pump, for example).
Enjoy your Malibu when you get it.
My mother-in-law had an Achieva. On one of her visits to us out of state, she had a medical issue that left her staying several extra weeks with us, and my dad had to go retrieve the car from the airport. His verdict? “Mrs. H’s car is a piece of s**t.” And he wasn’t one to toss that phrase around much.
I’ve never driven one, but I really like the styling on the Achieva. It looks like a pocket-sized Ninety-Eight (all the way down to the fender skirts on the sedan), and I love the fact that it was one of the few compacts available in a number of “grown up” colors that would normally be reserved for a Park Avenue or DeVille.
I liked the Achievas too. I think the Sport Coupes looked better than the Grand Am GT. They were much less frequently seen on the streets though.
I’ve always loved the ’55-’56 Olds but the ’58 has started to grow on me. There’s just something about the car. I think it’s how the chrome rings the headlights in a sideways “U” layout.
I think this car would be awesome with a Olds 455 under the hood….
58 was the year of the TANK but I have to admit they look better to me now than for a long time but the Olds looks like an over styled Chev
The 58 Chevys are now collectible and featured at B-J auctions. They’ve come a long way from being a ‘Threes’ Company’ joke car.
My great-grandmother owned an Olds from that ilk, and gave it to my father around 1964, when I was learning to drive. It was an enormous beast. Dad traded it in when he bought his Pontiacs later that year.
I think I have Chrome Diabetes, you say that like its a bad thing?
Seriously though, the 1958 Oldsmobile and Buick are both interesting cars that have been shunned for a long time, what I find interesting is that both the Olds and the Buick have so much trim on them that even the bottom of the range cars like the Special and Dynamic 88 look like the top of the line models, me and a friend made that observation when looking at a clean 58 Buick Special 4 door hardtop at a local cruise in.
I agree. I posted this photo to the Cohort a while ago, and had to really look to tell that it was a Special. The only way to tell if it’s a junior model is the (marginally) shorter wheelbase.
This is probably the worst looking GM car from 1958, other than the the ’58 Chevy IMO. Having said that, it’s good to see the survivors out there as examples of pure automotive styling (?) excess.
I’m sorry, but time does not make the cars better looking. It’s possible to be nostalgic about a time when wretched styling excess was the norm -it’s such a ’50s thing! Sorta a “so ugly it’s cool” thing. But any honest person would have to say they are just ugly.
I don’t know if I dislike the chrome on the front fenders more than the chrome on the rear fenders, or vice versa. On the front it looks like someone actually sat down and designed it, yet still couldn’t come up with anything better. At the rear it looks like the plant manager just said “hey guys, we ordered way too much chrome trim. I want you guys to run four strips down the rear quarters of every car that comes down the line until it’s all gone.”
I Notice several things looking at the tail end of the 58-88… I see where Those odd “Half Fender Skirts” of the 90s Oldsmobiles came from… These 88s Have Them Too… ancestors of the look sported by the 1990s -98, and Achieva 4 door models..
As For The Taillights… They remind me of one of Dad’s Pall Mall unfiltered cigarette tips.
That, and a 58 Olds Ambulance I have burned into my Memory … was there such a creature in Ghostbusters or Animal House? For Some Reason I Can See This Rear end on a Scary Ambulance from childhood.
I also remember the neighbors who drove this rolling jukebox well into the 1960s as being somewhat behind the times rolling around in their grande Wurlitzer Mobile… Olds-Mobility indeed.
Wow, if these are a guilty pleasure, then I’m the guiltiest… Not only are the ’58 Olds cars my favorites design-wise for ’58, but they’re actually my favorite Oldsmobiles of all time… always loved the chrome bands down the side, ever since I was a teenager.
Check out droldmobile.com for a really interesting take on the wagon version of this car.
I see some Plymouth XNR and some 1971-74 Plymouth B-Body (1971-1972 for the coupes) in the grille of the 1957 Oldsmobile in the third-to-the-top photo.
Definitely a car that’s easy to poke fun at for its visual heaviness, not to mention the actual weight of all that chrome.
But there was something about some cars of the late 50’s – Mercury and Lincoln come to mind as well – that made the intricacy and layering of enormous amounts of detail almost beautiful.
It’s a bit like costume jewelry. You know in your mind that much of it is cheap and tawdry, but then all of a sudden the image overpowers the reality and the fantasy almost works.
The dairy people in my town (and therefore among the richest citizens) owned a ‘58 98 in a deep metallic blue. They kept it for years and treated it like a priceless treasure. As an 8 year-old, I thought it was incredibly beautiful. What did I know (we had a tan and brown Rambler Classic wagon)? My grandparents had a ‘56 puke-green Roadmaster, the heft of which my grandmother still praised well into the ‘70’s.