1958 Oldsmobile Super 88 - The Outer Limits

I don't know whether it's a subconscious thing or not but I have a problem getting my arms around "fifties-cars". I just don't "get-them" like I do most anything made just a few years later. When I see pristinely restored ones like this 1958 Oldsmobile Super 88, I don't see a car I'd like to own as much as I think it belongs in a museum. Who would want such a thing as this? Especially one that comes with an asking price of more than one hundred thousand dollars? I'd be terrified to drive it for fear that a pebble could kick up, nick the finish and knock ten grand off its value.

My disconnect with cars from the 1950's has probably more to do with the fact that by the time I became fully aware of cars, that being probably around eight or nine which would have been 1972-1973, most cars from the fifties had either rusted away or were junked because of mechanical problems.

And the "old cars" I did see weren't parade floats like this thing either. They were more like the Pontiac Chieftan the family that lived across the street from my family that had the same last name as ours did. I've deduced over the years that "Mr. Connolly's" Pontiac was a 1952 and I thought it was not only the ugliest car on earth, but even just twenty or so years old at the time, the oldest car on earth as well. 

If I'm drawn to any fifties cars it's most often General Motors makes and models. Sure, I like a '55 Chrysler 300 as much as anyone and who doesn't appreciate a two passenger Thunderbird but if I was alive and of car buying means in the 1950's, I'd be driving something, "GM". 

Although, I can't imagine I'd give this chrome drenched rolling bomb a looksee. Isn't it horrible? Seriously, up against  similar designs from Chevrolet, Pontiac and even Cadillac, does this thing even hold a candle to it? To me it most certainly doesn't. The '58 Buick's were weird too. My favorite 1958 GM model being the Chevrolet Bel Air "Impala" Sports Coupe. And, to be honest, I like that car because I think it's a beautiful design in lieu of the fact that it came from the fifties. I like '49 Cadillac's for the same reason.

In many ways the design excess of this car helped lead to many of the extraordinarily restrained and tasteful GM designs of the 1960's. How else do we know how far not to go unless we've crossed over the limit at some time? The '58 Oldsmobile's were over the limit. The "Outer Limits" if you ask me.

For more information on this car, click here.