The 1958 Oldsmobile has often been maligned for its over-the-top styling. But that’s exactly what makes it so wonderful and compelling, to me at least. So I’m happily going out on a limb—or rocket-adorned fin—and presenting a different take on it. I found this striking original example for sale on eBay, listed by Gateway Classic Cars, featuring many artistic close-up photos of all the unique and fascinating design details this car has. In the science of semiotics we study symbols and try to determine their hidden meaning. What is this car trying to say?
Serious draftsmen at General Motors, possibly working on engineering drawings for tail fins, bumper bombs, and hood rockets, 1956.
Every styling detail started as an idea. Harley Earl, the undisputed leader of the GM styling studios, told his draftsmen what he wanted, and it was their job to draw it on paper. Earl, who never picked up a pencil, communicated his thoughts in rather arcane ways, using words like “whiz-bang” and “zong”. But what was Earl’s inspiration?
To find the answer, we have to go back twenty years to the 1930s. This is the time when what we would call “futurism” and a fascination with rockets and the potential for space travel began. Such ideas were dramatically presented in state-of-the-art science fiction films of the time (Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon), and public exhibitions like the 1939 World’s Fair. You can see a lot of 1950s GM styling cues in the 1930s movie spaceship above.
The P-38 Lockheed Lightning warbird inspired Harley Earl to create tail fins. Modern airplanes, jets, rockets, fictional spacecraft–anything that represented the future and speed–were rich sources of inspiration.
Oldsmobile in particular adopted the “rocket” theme after World War II, hitting the market hard in 1949 with a one-two punch: The high-powered OHV V-8 combined with 4-speed Hydramatic transmission made Olds one of the fastest and sought-after cars on the road. Pleasant to look at and completely modern, Oldsmobile called the cars “Futuramic”.
Each year brought newer and greater advances: longer, lower, wider; more power for the “Rocket” engine; pastel colors and two-toning; hardtops (2- and 4-door); more chrome; elaborately sculpted bumpers; smoother Hydramatic; wraparound windshields; new options; speedometers that now go to 120; and more . . . !
With every annual model change, a new standard was set. Each “magic year” of the 1950s produced its own one-year-only, limited edition of automotive art and science–1955, 1956, 1957, building to a crescendo. Each new model stylistically and performance-wise must exceed and make obsolete all previous achievements, while maintaining a certain golden thread of continuity. Now it’s 1958–GM’s 50th Anniversary. What futuristic dreamboats will tempt buyers in Oldsmobile showrooms this year? The product planners pondered the thought, “How can we build cars that will be total knock-outs and outclass all competition?” Think bold–give free rein to your creative fantasies–the future is here–now!
From the author’s personal collection of LIFE magazines which I bought as a kid to look at car ads.
We’ll let our announcer describe it for you:
The new word for ’58 is “OLDSmobility”–a “new way of going places in the Rocket Age!” “A car in a class by itself!” “Excitingly styled . . . with distinctive good taste!”
OLDSmobility is not just about out-of-this-world style–there’s new Four-Beam Headlamps to knock your eye out, and New-Matic Ride: a new air suspension system that lets your family ride smooth and level over the surface of the moon. New-Matic Ride’s unique feature is that it doesn’t work, so few orders were placed, and cars equipped with the device were quickly converted back to steel springs, which worked just fine.
In the pursuit of innovation to give salesmen something to talk about, we have: a New Rocket Engine which provides “greater performance than ever before” with a claim of “improved fuel savings, as much as 20%!” (13 miles per gallon day-in and day-out would probably be typical). A Trans-Portable radio which you can take out of the car; a New Safety-Vee Steering Wheel that does away with the old-fashioned horn ring; and a Dual-Range Power Heater which is somehow superior to a regular car heater, but in a way that only an Oldsmobile salesman could explain it to you. A true innovation, an improved Hydramatic with a smoother 2-3 shift and greater durability, somehow is not mentioned.
So now let’s take a close-up look at this very original and quite pristine ’58 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 sedan, focusing on all the finely-crafted details that give this car so much unique character.
Not just a tail light, but a rocket nozzle topped by a chrome-bespangled tailfin.
And the fuel filler port is hiding inside it. Got to feed those rockets.
Wrap-around windshield (like a fighter jet) with reverse-angled vent window–these always fascinated me as a kid.
Voluptuous curves and straight lines somehow harmonize beautifully.
“Eighty-Eight”–everything looks like it’s shooting forward at incredible speed!
O L D S M O B I L E in big, bold, three-dimensional letters.
A chromium rocket leads the way. Such romanticism!
A heraldic shield somehow combines the historical with the futuristic. Are the design elements in this shield related to Ransom E. Olds’ actual family crest?
Massive parking light housings remind you of “War of the Worlds”. The lower part is “ribbed”, just because.
Flamboyant architecture–the gracefully curved roof; the cut-down doors; the interaction of the bright metal trim strips front and rear; the “blister” above the rear wheel shooting forward–all suggest action and excitement.
The rear fenders–speed!
Star-like trunk emblems with matching Oldsmobile crests evoke the beauty of the stars and planets.
Inside door panel: color coordinated; not spartan, not plush. Typically appropriate for a medium-priced car.
Interior view featuring the new Safety-Vee steering wheel.
Cars of this era have these amazing dashboards that I call “intergalactic”. For all the artistic complexity, there are only two gauges–speedometer and fuel. Everything else is warning lights.
Wow, that was really something! But soon enough, the 1958 model year would be over, and what could Oldsmobile do to top this? Answer:
Harley Earl and his wizards have done it again! A car so new, so sleek, so modern (and so much bigger)–it’s almost unbelievable! GM and the USA clearly lead the world. I’m telling you–pretty soon, America will put a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth! Just wait, you’ll see!
Time marches on. The ’60 Olds would be a modified version of the ’59. 1961 seems to be an awkward “transition period” where the stylists didn’t know where to go next. There were now canted fins on the bottom of the rear fenders, making the cars look droopy in the rear. Above is an “all-new” 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 in approximately the same color scheme as the ’58 model shown. Some could argue that this is a “clean, refreshing” design, and I can see that. To me, it also seems very blocky, generic, boring. It doesn’t soar; there are no rockets. Close-up detail photos of this car wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.
Where have all the flowers [old cars] gone? Long time passing . . .
So as a kid in the 1970s, I was always on the lookout for these fantastic finned monsters of the ’50s, which were still occasionally seen, but getting rarer. Even into the 1990s, it was still possible to find a ’58 Olds at a junkyard or stuffed behind other sorry wrecks at a seedy gas station. Here are two I photographed 25 or 30 years ago:
Asking me why I am so drawn to these cars is like asking Captain Ahab why he goes after Moby Dick. I can only say that I find them beautiful, inspiring, fascinating. They express something inexpressible. That’s as close as I can come.
Occasionally a nice ’50s survivor would magically appear, like this Ninety-Eight sedan parked next to my ’62 Mercury Comet, Montville NJ, August 1987. I would love to know where this Olds is today. (I think a girl was driving it?)
I even found a Futuramic ’50 buried in the weeds.
Of course, everybody thinks I’m a little nuts for caring about these cars so much. Also, it’s kind of sad to think about the fact that I’m among the youngest people who still has actual memories of growing up with cars of the ’50s. As time goes by, it seems that the whole subject of ’50s cars is less and less relevant to the modern conversation. But I’ve got my 1958, ’59, and ’60 cars, and I’m still driving them. I still look for other ’50s/’60s survivors while out on the road. I’m not giving up yet!
So remember, next time you see a classic from the 1950s “Golden Era”, know that you’re looking at an authentic work of rolling American art. Rest assured that there will be people a hundred years from now who will look back and wish they could own and drive one (as we can still presently do), and they will marvel at our romanticism.
See also:
Curbside Classic: 1958 Oldsmobile Dynamic Eighty Eight–In Defense of The Baroque Beast
Curbside Classic: 1958 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88–OLDSmobility
Great piece, Stephen, and from the man that has the ultimate (IMHO) rocket engine festooned car, the ‘60 Dodge.
You make a fine argument on how cool these cars are, despite the fact most find them over the top, styling-wise.
There’s an old guy that comes to our local cars and coffee that has a ‘52 Olds that is about as perfect as this ‘58, condition-wise. He’s owned it since new (yeah, he’s that old), but admits it’s not all-original, it just looks that way. It’s been repainted over the years a few times, as well as getting new upholstery a couple of times, but the man loves his car, and has kept this beauty up perfectly.
Of the pictures you show here, I think my favorite is that golden ‘57. Pretty car.
Here’s the guy I was talking about earlier this morning with his car. (and yes, at the time I got his permission to post these pictures here to CC)…
The aft view, and Betsy’s story, if it’s not too big to post.
In 1952, the styling had not gotten too crazy at that point…
I knew Betsy’s owners in MD, the Siegrists, and when I started the OCA Blue & Gray Chapter in 1984 Ron was there. Nicest folks, sadly no longer with us. They had 2 ’53 Olds 98 converts at one time. Hope the kids kept one.
I see some similarities between the ’58 Olds and the ’60 Dodge:
Yes, that ’57 Golden Rocket 88 coupe is a honey!
The staggering ugliness of cars like this is the reason the ‘61 Continental is so memorable. IMHO.
Q: “What is this car trying to say?”
A: See your DeSoto-Plymouth dealer, and tell them Groucho sent you.
I cannot say I like the looks of these, but do appreciate the audacity of the design. To think, there was a time when people considered these normal. And I still remember being amazed when I learned that this 58 was just an extensive restyle of the genuinely new 1957 model.
I found a really nice original 58 88 that I wrote up quite a few years ago. After some research, I came away with some respect for the car, as perhaps one of the best cars you could buy in 1958 from a purely mechanical standpoint, in both performance and durability.
A neighbor lady had a 59 Olds when I was a kid, and I used to marvel at how old it seemed compared to our 64 Cutlass. That was a big change in a mere 5 years time.
Your pictures show one unique and useful feature that I haven’t seen on any other GM car. The cowl vent has a forward-facing scoop so it inputs air instead of just letting the fan suck the air. Nash had this feature in the 50s then abandoned it in 1960. The Nash version was better because it was all forward, with no upward parts to gather rain and leaves.
Some GM cars pulled in air through ducts next to the radiator, which had the same advantages as the Nash vent but probably picked up more heat and exhaust from other cars.
Much of the US and Canada get at least five to six months of winter. Those forward facing vents would digest enough snow and ice just from the hood alone, to become blocked, and frozen solid.
A travesty of design. Makes the Edsel attractive.
I wouldn’t go that far, but think that 58 was the peak for over-chromed for GM. Mopar takes the UGLY award for 60-62 with the backward look designs while the other manufacturers where cleaning up their cars.
The “Trans-Portable” radio concept is with us today, in the form of connecting our smartphones for CarPlay or Android Auto, then taking them with us when we leave the car. Most other aspects of Oldsmobility have faded away. I really don’t like most GM stuff from 1958, maybe Cadillac and Corvette are exceptions, but I loved this post. Thanks!
Never thought of that (you’re right) but did think of the radio/head units of the ’90 that were removable for anti-theft purposes. “Trans-portable” is a clever name – portable transistor radio, get it? As well as being transportable.
My Aunts on my Dad’s side had a string of Oldsmobiles going back to the 30’s and ending with a 1969 88. I’m a 1958 vintage myself (just reached full retirement age for social security) but don’t remember what they were driving in the 50’s.
My Dad was employed making the process to make transistors…ever since he graduated from college with chemistry degree in 1956. In 1959 we’d moved to southern California and he was working for Hoffman Electronics in El Monte, where they made solar cells (including those that went up on Explorer VI satellite that took first picture of Earth from outer space). Hoffman also made consumer products like transistor radios, including a solar powered transistor radio. Dad never bought one but I still have his Eico transistor radio kit that he tried to use transistors that he built…it has bakelite sockets for them, in the 70’s I tried to get it going but the germanium transistors it uses were no longer in production. Dad only worked there a couple years; by 1961 he got a job at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh (imagine moving from southern California to Pittsburgh in 1961…people thought my Dad was nuts…maybe he was? Certainly didn’t follow trends).
Prefer the ’69 Olds to the ’58…I’m not one to be attracted to so much chrome addons. Nowdays it seems that electronics is what helps sell cars (and makes them seem old too, since things still change a fair amount with time). Though I also worked in the field (I’m retired now that I’ve reached FRA) I like basic cars, probably why I still own a 25 year old VW with manual transmission.
The OTT styling almost works on the original scale, we only saw the 5/8 and 3/4 size versions of that on Vauxhalls and on the Victor model it didnt work as well,
Oldsmobile was a special order brand from our GM dealers so very few ever showed up new and the styling has kept them away since then.
“and they will marvel at our romanticism”
Well spoken. I don’t see that romanticism embedded in the cars of the 2000s I grew up around but perhaps we’ll see it eventually. My ’85 Mercedes 300D daily driver certainly wasn’t seen as such when it rolled off the line, but today in its disheveled state there is a certain soulfulness to it acquired over many miles of hard use. Maybe eventually people will even look back at the overwrought extravagance of, say, a BMW XM and see that same quaint extravagance we are seeing looking back at these Olds. Though I will admit the Chrome bedazzled cars of the 50s had a peculiar grace with which they aged that matte finish plastic and oodles of screens won’t be able to replicate.
As a kid, I walked to a Catholic grade school 10 blocks from home. Some mornings I’d see a ’58 Olds backing out of a driveway at one of the houses I passed on the way to school.
The car was normally garaged, so I’d only see it when it backed out on whatever its mission of the morning was. Perhaps because of that, the car wasn’t all rust covered like most 1950s Wisconsin cars were by the early ‘60s. That Olds had so much chrome. It impressed my young eyes with its flashy contrast to my family’s lowly Rambler American.
In the winter, the white Olds somewhat blended into the snowbanks along the driveway. I loved watching the owner back it out of his long driveway. Copious white plumes would come from its dual exhaust. The engine burbled impressively as the car idled backwards down the drive. 4 red tail lights and 4 small reverse lamps in the bumper provided lighting effects.
One of my lasting kid memories was noticing that 1 of the 4 reverse lamps was out. I‘d wonder why someone with such an impressive car did not replace a burned out bulb. To this day an unsolved mystery of youth.
These really are superb period pieces. It’s a period I just missed, and by the time we arrived in the US in the fall of 1960, these were already looking out of date. There were a couple in our larger neighborhood, and they did catch my attention. When you’re a kid, especially back then, a three year old car during this time of rapid change really did look stylistically obsolete. But it was impressive in its own OT way.
The 1958 Olds????? What a ugly car. The 58 Buick was just has bad. I think GM thought the public would buy anything they made but, they where wrong. Chrysler came out with the Forward look in 57 and that had GM scrambling. 58 was Harley Earls last design. Bill Mitchell took over and got to work. The 58 Impala was very nice. , Bonneville, and Cadillac where ok too. But Olds and Buick NO. When I was 14 our neighbor bought a 1958 Oldsmobile 98 4 Dr hardtop with the air suspension feature. You never knew if the back end was going to scrap the ground or, stick up high making the trunk higher.
In some book about old cars I once had, there was a small feature about (very) excessive chrome. on this year`s Olds. A car stylist who had one painted music notes on the four chrome strips and ‘Wurlitzer’ on the rear doors. I`m sure that got plenty of laughs from those who saw it!
I can imagine a few notes of Gregorian chant added to those four chrome strips; the four-line staff is appropriate for that. (I once knew how to read that notation; I’m pretty rusty at it now.)
I still marvel at how vastly the look of American cars changed in just 3 years from 1958 to 1961 (at GM and Ford anyway, more like ’60-63 for Mopars). I can’t say I find the ’58 Olds attractive, but it nonetheless is fascinating with all the wild shapes and ornamentation. I particularly like how the taillamps look like rocketships and small items like dashboard warning lights each get their own styled chrome frames. Those warning lights on recent cars are just symbols that glow from a small matte-black area nowadays. Dashboards are rapidly becoming nothing but a few touch screens.
Harley Earl’s ’58 Oldsmobile had absolutely nothing on Bruce McCall’s ’58 Bulgemobile.
For those not familiar with the Bulgemobile, it must be shared. The model names and advertising copy equal the artwork in capturing the age. What a great and memorable career:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McCall
1958 Olds 98…Big, flashy and cumbersome vehicle. My gather owned one… this was my on hands finding. I was 15 years old living with a S.C. Drivers lic.and drove often with parents… and when ever possible with friends (that’s where the cumbersome comes in ). It’s easy for people to throw out a spin on 50 plus old vehicles… it’s like suger plums dancing in their heads. But beleive me… it want a remarkable driving machine.. LOTS of FLASH !
I too grew up in this wonderful time of change and stunning vehicles .
The ’58 Olds was never beautiful to me .
The ’63 & ’64’s however, in spite of being basically boxes, I thought then and now they’re wonderful .
I love your “as found” pictures, the blue two door hard top in particular looks compelling .
-Nate
When I look at these cars, I always think about how, each one of those features had to be either stamped or die-cast, and how the design of the dies for either of those techniques was very much an iterative process. I wonder how many iterations it took for each of those to “pass muster” – plus each of those features then had to work with the whole car as a package, which meant whatever variation between the different pieces also had to be accounted for, which meant, I imagine, a lot of communication between the different teams responsible for the different parts – all done on paper, no computers. Amazing! Yet also indicative of how much personpower was available back then for these tasks.
I have the same reaction when I see intricately-tiled street, sidewalk, or plaza pavings – in many cases each one of those tiles had to be individually cut and fitted, amounting to 1000’s, maybe 10’s of thousands of tiles. What municipality would have the budget for that now?
@Stephen: How could you not elaborate on the cleverly hidden fuel access? A family friend came to visit, driving one of these ( a 98 IIRC) and I was wowed by magnitude of the trim, and especially the tail lights! 🙂
I purposefully don’t tell you everything, giving commenters an opportunity to point things out.
Yes, it’s true–the level of stylistic detail on this car and concern for aesthetics to the nth degree, is what makes these cars so special.
Quoting the ’58 Oldsmobile brochure: “The new gas port is beautifully concealed, even up close. It’s easy to reach…easy to open, yet there’s nothing visible to mar the unbroken sweep from the new front end to the sparkling Twin Blades.”
Gas cap opening, shown on a ’58 Fiesta wagon:
We don’t want to hide wonderful details like that from our readers, right? I just added it to the post.
When I was young, we had a ’60 Oldsmobile Super Ninety Eight. I still think it is a nicely styled car. The 394 had good powere but still got 18 mpg on a trip. We lived in the country but even though I was only 11 years old, my dad let me drive to town one day. Today if we were seen, his rear would be hauled to jail.
The first car I bought after graduation was a 5 year old Oldsmobile Delmont 88. It was also a nice car and that 425 had a ton of power!
Even back in 1958 when I was twelve years old I though the 1958 Oldsmobile was simply awful. It always reminded me of those goofy looking rockets out of the Saturday serials at the movies. And the 1958 Buick wasn’t any better looking either. One of my uncles and my grandmother owned 1954 Oldsmobiles(an 88 and a 98 ) and I thought they were much better looking vehicles.
Thank you for writing up this model. The ’58 Olds always amazed me with its excessive brightwork, almost having a cartoon look. It’s like the designers didn’t know when to stop adding doo-dads, each day upping the ante. However, the GM lineup for ’58 each followed a similar pattern, with Buick IMO as the runner-up.
Olds (and all of GM) sure kept busy changing their designs in the late 1950’s, with the ’59 models bearing little resemblance to the prior year.
Cheers!
The 1958 model year was the first for which I became car aware (at least for all of the major American makes). As a 6-year-old, I was in awe.
What is this car trying to say? To me it’s like that obnoxious colleague who just won’t shut up. Talk, talk, talk, but none of it of any importance, and leaving you trying to think of a polite way to get out of there, but you can’t think because of all that relentless meaningless noise…
You certainly captured the essence of the era in your writing, Stephen! Great job of setting the scene. Every feature had to have a kitschy name. And there are so many individual points of interest here, little chrome doodads cast into a cornucopia of contours and sprinkled with abandon all over the place. Wherever you looked there’d be something to sparkle and twinkle – and probably curse at when time came to wash your car.
All those details, all on the one car though. It’s a bit much. What kills it for me though isn’t so much the glitz but the underlying shape. To me the sharp chrome-outlined scuplturing on the front fenders and door surfaces fights with the smooth roundness of the rear doors and fenders, where there’s only those four chrome strips to add visual interest.
I’d be asking if the dealer had any left over ’57s.
Love ❤️ these cars from the time when cars were recognizable from two blocks away. Everything today looks stamped from the same mould. All the hoopla from the 70’s energy chrisis shot styling and imagination in the butt. We had nothing to fear about the oil and gas supplies. Put a couple safety features into them and bring them back. I’ll take two or six. Ha 😄
Great write-up, and terrific pics, Stephen. Fun comments, too, but so many curmudgeons (j/k)
I think it’s beautiful, and think your closing point distills it’s historic place nicely. It’s a mass-produced Art Car, that captured a moment in our (mostly) collective consciousness.
…” Asking me why I am so drawn to these cars is like asking Captain Ahab why he goes after Moby Dick.”….
To be fair, Captain Ahab was pissed off about Moby Dick taking off his leg !
You are right. These cars especially the 58’s are rolling works of art. If I had a nickel for every photo that was taken of my 58 super 88 sedan, I could have done a frame-off restoration a number of times. It doesn’t matter what other vehicle we are parked next to, most passers by stop and scrutinize the lines of the 58. It is also surprising to me that so many people “had one just like it.” Since the production numbers were on the low side. Great article.
I too love ’em, here’s mine, sold about 5 yrs ago to a guy in Watkins Glen… wonder if he takes it on the track! lol Many don’t get these cars, but those that do realize their significance and that they are art pieces. Mine was gonna bew painted purple, had I kept it. No PS so it was too much for this old guy to handle.
What it would have been… THESE are the right colors for a ’58 Oldsmobile.