Car spotting on the street has been a little slow, but I've got hundreds of photos from the 2018-9 Greenwood car shows I haven't posted. The 1932 Ford V8 was the first really fast car sold at a price most consumers could afford (in theory anyway, this was the Great Depression). Bonnie and Clyde were killed in a very similar 1934 Ford.
They say form should follow function. Well, apparently General Motors of 1958 did not agree. The design of this Oldsmobile suggests they asked ten people where they should bolt chrome pieces from a Buck Rogers spaceship onto the car, then they accepted all ten suggestions.
Almost everything about GM's 1958 cars were unique to that year. Despite the designs being all-new for '58, GM immediately decided to scrap them and copy Chrysler's "Forward Look" cars. Those cars, lead by the '57 Plymouth, were lower, slimmer, and somewhat less tarted-up with a lot of ridiculous chrome doo-dads.
In the 1970s perception of Japanese cars in America was that they were only a challenge to Detroit in the subcompact market. But cars like this and the Honda Accord were early indicators that Japan intended to take on American brands in all market segments. Curbsideclassic.com described this car as dull but reliable, noting, "amidst a sea of self-destructing Vegas and Volares, that did have its charms."
I doubt this car was originally sold with the Japanese-style way-up-front side-view mirrors; the owner probably added them.
