I’ll drive almost anything, but at heart, I’m a big proponent of the BOP trio of Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. However, like many collectors, I think that the 1958 models, especially the Oldsmobile and Buick, were overwrought. But we don’t always collect cars for logical reasons, and the postwar era of Sputnik, Explorer, the International Geophysical Year, and the like symbolized an exciting time in world history. Very little in the automotive world represents that exciting and anxious time like the wild 1958 models produced by most of the auto industry. Barn Finder Curvette found this nice Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe here on craigslist in Duncan, British Columbia, with a price tag of $22,000 (about $16,000 US).
Of course, Oldsmobile buyers got the “Rocket” V8, a 371-cubic-inch unit with a “Quadri-jet” (not the later “Quadra-Jet”) four-barrel carburetor. So equipped in Super 88 trim, the 371 gave the Olds buyer an eager 305 horsepower and 410 lb.-ft. of torque. The car was recently purchased from an estate, and although it runs and drives, the seller says that “needs a tune up” and a going-through before “taking it on a nationwide tour.” The mileage is listed as approximately 82,000.
The seller was told that the car had been stored for decades before they purchased it, and the clear seat covers tell us that the Super 88 was cherished as a member of the family. As most Oldsmobiles did, this car has the Jetaway Hydra-Matic transmission, which was a four-speed unit, but not in the way one might expect. Since the transmission’s fluid coupling wasn’t a “torque converter,” the Hydra-Matic’s first gear was very low to help the car get off the line. In a 1956 brochure, Oldsmobile bragged that “Hydra-Matic is the only type of automatic drive that employs gears exclusively for torque multiplication,” perhaps a subtle dig at Buick’s Dynaflow.
And just look at that dashboard in all its space-age glory. Actually, it’s surprisingly tasteful for something that came out of 1958. Who wouldn’t love this view?
Apparently, the car has never “lived off Vancouver Island,” so the seller would prefer to sell it to someone who lives there. It was supposedly repainted once, “likely in the ’80s.” The color doesn’t seem to quite match any of the 1958 Oldsmobile color chips (I’d say it’s closest to “Tropical Mist”), but either way, it’s a beautiful color with dark accents. There is some light rust in the rocker panels (no pictures shown), but it looks pretty solid overall.
Yes, the 1958 Oldsmobile’s styling is a little controversial, and it’s not going to appeal to everyone, but if it appeals to you (and you live on Vancouver Island), it’s a rare treat.
I’ve always thought the ’58 Olds, especially the 2 door hardtop had a nice design. It just maybe could use a chrime reduction. I read once, amd I am NOT saying this is true, that the Olds designers were looking at the chrome designs on a slide projector, and that 2 slides stuck together, they liked it and Bob’s your Uncle. Personally, I’m not so sure that actually happened, but you could almost see it. This one looks fantastic, and I’d be very happy to have this “Rocket 88” in my garage.
Ditto, Dave! A glitzy cruiser, it’s a good looking design though it’s be a killer to wipe it down.
And as far as the “chrime reduction” you spoke of here, was that a reference to the change in drivers attitudes when they see Scotty’s Super Bird super trooper on the road? 😝 👍🏻
Absolutely!!! 4 door Crew Cab Superbird!!!
From a time when chrome was applied with a patching trowel. No surface was left unchromed. There’s a 5 mph bumper for ya’, when bumpers were really for just that, bumping. They even chromed things you didn’t see. You can just see the 1958 progression, from a mildly glitzy Chevy, next Pontiac, a bit more, then Buick/Olds, slathering it on, and finally, the Caddy. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with this era GM, it was too much.
Remember “Uncle Bill”, from the farm in N.Wis. ?The guy that never married and never left the farm for NINETY YEARS!! Anyway, as a younger man, he bought a ’58 Olds, 4 door, purple, drove it very little, and it sat outside for like 30 years. “Bills Olds”, was always sitting there, like many farms. The paint was faded, but very low miles. Like this, may have even had the plastic on the seats. After he died, the farm had a “metal drive”, and the fathers ORIGINAL Model TT Ford dump truck, several tractors, and yep, Bills Olds, all gone. They were wonderful cars.
`58 was GM’s 50th anniversary year, and also Harley Earl’s final year in charge of design. I’ve heard (more corp. rumors) in `56 when the `58 designs were in full swing, Earl, who loved chrome, basically told the designers to go all-out. Not sure what was in their coffee back then, but these bloated steam cruisers were already locked up when Chrysler’s swept-wing beauties hit the market in late summer of `56. They (the `58s) actually ended up looking like something 3 years old! IMHO, the crash program GM had to fully restyle the `59’s was a better effort.
Oh yeh. Back in the 50s when auto design was more about artwork than transportation. Gotta love the 50s!