O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Sept.4

In 1958, GM (with the exception of Chevrolet) went "Chrome Crazy". Chrysler followed in '59. The '58 line-up of GM and Ford, had a lot of unattractive cars. It was also the year of quad headlights, and the Ford designers didn't quite know what to do with them. They ended up looking like add-ons from the J.C. Whitney catalog.

Richard,

Two of the eras best, gotta love em. The 1958 & 59 Chevrolet Impalas. Is it just me or can all of the 50's cars be listed as individuals? The early 60's seemed to signal a change in the industry. IMHO

Got a kick out of the nick name that developed for the Ford retractable convertible: "flip top box".......taken from the then new Marlboro cigarette box.

The Packard is the best looking one of the bunch...

Jeff C

I bought one of those ponderous 1960 Impalas (at least it was a coupe).  It was delivered on 14" may-pops that were shot at 20,000 miles, and that always looked too small for the car.  It was my training in auto mechanics (tune-ups and carb rebuilds, seemed almost constant,  useless now).  That was the car that was being bought in "super-stock" versions by the youth all over the area where I lived.  Hind sight, always

20-20, says a smaller, less temperamental engine (say the old reliable, grossly out of date...designed in the 1920's, stove-bolt six), would have made much more financial sense, but like, today, they often stick you with a gas hog engine to get the good transmission.  Back then everybody wanted the Borg-Warner T-10 four speed, the status symbol du jour.

That Packard had a supercharged 289 V8 engine and was quick. The stylist did a good job giving that Studebaker a Packard look.

A young man whose dad owned a local pharmacy took hid dad's car over the hill from Logan, Utah to Brigham City,  On the way home, as he came out of Sardine Canyon, he tried to put the top down.

I saw the car a day or so later and it looked like a monster had torn the pop-top off the car and wrecked everything from the back seat to the rear bumper, including the top.

The '57 Clipper shown had a Studebaker body and Packard trim.  Don't what was under the hood.

Thanx, again Richard.  During those years I was still growing up (as much as I actually succeeded in doing!)  Regarding the Stude - Packards, they really were a flop in sales.  Which is why they are worth so much to collectors, now.  But in 1955 and 1956 Packards were really large, luxury cars.  They had a new V8 engine of some 352 cu in displacement, had full length torsion bars and rode like a dream. 

When they trimmed up Studebakers with extra chrome on them to go after that market, the former Packard owners saw right through that scheme and quickly left the fold.  The last Packard branded Studebaker was produced in 1958.  It was a sad end to what had once been the finest production luxury car marque.

I worked for Studebaker Corporation in 1961 through 1964, in Chicago as Zone Car Distributor and experienced the last gasps of life for another, long time car manufacturer.  It was fun while it lasted but it just didn't last long enough.

Paul Fischer

Two of the mid 50's cars I enjoyed the looks of were the Studebaker Golden Hawk and the Desoto Adventurer. Both of these cars were available in several nice two-tone color combinations but the black/gold was my favorite. I always thought the gold wheel covers on the Desoto really set it off. This week I received the Road Signature Stude.

The Brooklin Desoto is out of my budget.   Azgary

I'm aware it was a badge engineered Studebaker, but looking back from here it ain't that bad!

I never saw a postwar Packard I could fall in love with.

Jeff C

There is nothing you can say about Packard after WWII, that doesn't make you wring

your hands.  They introduced the 110's and 120's, medium priced models, in the mid 193o's and saved their bacon until and through WWII war contracts, but then built ugly cars with archaic side valve engines, while Cadillac had already built and abandoned overhead valve V-12's and  V-16's in the early thirties.  When finally they hired a stylist, they didn't have the bugs out of a contemporary OHV V-8.  They do get credit for outlasting Pierce-Arrow, Stutz, Marmon, Franklin, etc., all quality independents who didn't have a large corporation with low priced car divisions to prop them up.

Oh man, I forgot all about that catalog.

They had some odd things listed in there, here's the one I always got a laugh out of:

Yes, and bolt-on tail fins to make your old Chevy look like a Cadillac. Remember all of the "car club" metal plates, and the "continental kits". The was my "bible" as a 17 year-old with very little cash and a '53 Mercury.

A little bit of yesteryear is still available. The J.C. Whitney Co. is still alive and doing well. My youngest son orders from them from time to time. I assume they still carry those special do-dads that a car guy must have.

I used to get buried in J.C. Whitney catalogs....haven't seen them for some time, but

then it was on a newsstand.  Like many of the auto parts stores, modern fuel and ignition systems that do not demand constant rebuilding have cut into their market.

I remember my first, new, '73 Dodge with electronic ignition....only the carburetor to

rebuild.  I thought it was a giant leap out of the stone age.  Two acquisitions I made

from JCW, had across the pond influence....one was to replace the center headlights on

my '60 Impala with Lucas headlights with those center metal tips, and the second to

put a European police horn on my '67 Barracuda.

A !:43 1958 Chevy Bel Air HT Coupe by NEO Scale Models.

These were interesting cars from Chevy in their day IMO.  Odd styling, heavy, but with a new 348 ci V8 with options that included 3-2 barrel carbs --- not the fastest cars of the day, but they performed well and sounded GREAT!

Tom B

My brother has a Nash Metropolitan while in collage and for a Christmas Gift a Wind Up Key from J C Whitney. I purchased some accessories for my firs car from them. In the '50 we had a lot of fun with our cars

Here are a few models from the period:

 '56 Lincoln and '57 Cadillac from Neo. I like that Neo modeled the regular Caddy with the square tailfins rather than the Eldorado with swept-back fins as other makers have done.

'57 Buick Caballero hardtop wagon and '58 Chevy, also from Neo. The '58 Chevy was a barge and the 348 was heavy and inefficient, but I still like the '58. I remember being really excited when my father brought home his '58 company car, a hardtop in the bronze color that was iconic that year. At age 9, I thought that was about the coolest thing I'd seen, short of a Corvette.

I graduated high school with a kid who lived not too far from me in my home town.  I

was tagged for college, but he immediately went to work selling for a remodeling company, aluminum siding, etc., and he came by the house in a brand new, black, loaded up 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible.  The car looked huge when compared with all the 1955-57 Chevies of the period that the kids were drooling over.  Hindsight

says I prefer that car, to the 1959 and 1960 models that came right after, and I had

a 1960.  I thought the 196l's were clean looking (my grandfather bought one), but then

the 1962's went back to bulbous.  It is weird how wildly Chevy styling changed in that

period.

The word spread thru or elementary school that a new 1958 Chevy had arrived at Emmert Chevrolet on Grand river at Evergreen. I was only 10+ years old and this was beyond my travel distance,but I had to see it. Dad had a new 1955 and I liked the 56 and 57 also. I walked in the back of the service area and there it was in the wash rack. A triple black convertible. I could not believe what I was looking at. I couldn't get home fast enough to make drawings to show to my dad. The next year the exact same thing! What were they doing to my beloved Chevrolet's? By 1960 there was some sanity back but 58 and 59 were ruff first impressions on a 10-11 year old car nut.

By the way my friend on the next streets mother bought the red with white top 1958 Impala convertible that was displayed at the January Detroit Auto show. Azgary

These days, do you really CARE what the 2016 new car lineup looks like? I have to admit, however, that the "sameness" has saved me a lot of $$$ over the past 30 years.

I grew up about a mile from a downtown cluster of new car showrooms.  When I was in my early teen years, about new car introduction time, my buddies and I would ride our bicycles to the car dealers. We would look in the back of their lots for the new models.
At the official introduction a Pontiac dealer would shine a large spotlight into the sky. On warm autumn evenings that was our clue to jump on our bikes and check out all the new models in the showrooms. Today nobody really pays attention to the new model introductions. That dealer is still in business, but they sell Hondas in the suburbs..

Here are a Few more 1/43 Late postwar cars.

1959 Ford Thunderbird by Brooklin

When Ford introduced the almost identical 4 passenger version in 1958 the purist were disappointed.  But it was a sales hit and helped offset the Edsal losses. Although in was not an entirely new concept it help launch a new class of automobile that eventually led to the Mustang.

1959 Ford Ranch Wagon by Ford Parts Models

I am not familiar with Ford Parts Models but the photo looks good.

1958 Lincoln Continental by American Excellence (NEO)

This was an example of the excess of the late '50s

Richard:  Back in the '50's and to a lesser extent in the '60's, the "unvailing" of the next year's model of cars was a big deal.  Car dealers as well as manufacturers all grasped at the excitement of the new models and did special events, advertised the heck out of the event and even had food and refreshments at the showrooms. 

I grew up in Milwaukee and the cars for dealers in our area as well as in the rest of Wisconsin plus Iowa and Minnesota, were brought across Lake Michigan on car carrying boats.  (These were actually ships but anything that floated on the Great Lakes was called a boat)  One was called the "Highway 16" and was a retired WWII Landing Ship.   ( That ship is still in existence, on display in Muskegon, MI and probably will be preserved.)  Drivers would meet the boats when they came in and drive the new cars into a large storage yard adjacent to the dock.  When we knew that the next model cars were due to come in, my buddies and I would drive down to the dock, which was actually on the Milwaukee River, and wait to see the new cars as they arrived in town.  Thus we would get a "preview" of all the new cars, which we thought was being one up on the guys who didn't get to see them.

Nowadays, nobody gives much of a darn about the new cars;  anyway they probably don't look much different than this year's model!

Paul Fischer

Well, this nobody gives a darn about new cars, because they keep screwing them up!

Since I wear out cars a lot faster than I'd like, I am always on trying to stay informed

as to whether anything I'd actually be caught dead driving will be offered, or available when I need to trade, or should I be cruising used car lots.  The last time there was not....they competely destroyed the whole product line of the make I was driving, from its luxury cars to its mid size, and I was forced to get a car, only available in one color, with a smaller gas tank.  I am still  cursing that, after pursuing body wrap and possible repaint, and the whimsical thought of towing a gas tank on a trailer behind it.  The choices get slimmer and sliimmer, and, IMO, lousier and lousier.   I pursued leftover models trying to avoid the rudimentary choice this last time, but found few.  I don't want any of the two Russian apartment house body styles available from most makes, and definitely not their drivetrains.  (Hmmm. actually, this sounds like the

train catalogs, doesn't  it?)

IMO, the last significant "new" car roll-out was the 1986 Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable.

Tom B

CO Hi:  Things are different nowadays, I believe.  When I was a kid, when a neighbor got a new car, or even a "newer" used car, the whole neighborhood would go over to see, admire, comment on, etc.  the car.   Oh, the "Oohs and Ahs", that you'd hear.  Nowadays, nobody notices a different car, and if they did, I doubt that they would care.

We grew up in an "automobile culture".  We lived, breathed and slept cars.  Hot Rods, when someone would show up with one he built, would attract everyone.  I don't see many young "car guys" around any more.  Of course, I'm no longer in Milwaukee but living in Cleveland.  No racing; drag, circle track or road course and none of my friends around here share my enthusiasm.  I bought a Mustang GT with a 5 speed transmission, the first manual transmission I had owned for the last 40 years.  I loved it.  My wife, kids and grandkids could not have cared less about my "return to my childhood".  Tried to teach my Grandson to drive the car and after one try, he gave up.  Never wanted to learn or drive a stick sift again.

My point is:  My 1/43 cars on my layout represent a time from the past when cars were cars and people found them interesting.  As far as visitors to the layout, they are only a part of the scenery, not of any memories of their own.  I blame some of the apathy of cars today, directly on the manufacturers.  We no longer have real car guys running the automobile companies;  Just a bunch of bean counters and legal beagles.  No imagination, no inovation, not even the interesting almost inspiring names that they used to give cars.   No reason to be a "car guy".

Paul Fischer

I remember going to the Detroit auto show  every year as a young boy. It was near my birthday and was one of my presents. I could not wait to see the manufacturers concept cars, I would come and start working on my models!

Dave 

The thing I don't like about new cars is bloat. Civics are as big and heavy as Accords were only a few years ago. Some Honda models only a few years ago were light and sporty, those days are gone it seems.

What happened to Lee?

About the Civic...great little car in 2001, when I first bought one....and then they

downsized it severely, in 2006...you could barely get in it, but I bought one....then

Consumer Reports said quality had gone south...it had, the 2006 was like something

out of Detroit...I traded early, in 2009, for a bigger Altima, and BETTER Altima, which

was a great car, that CR raved about.  Consumer Reports said the Civic from 2006 to 2012 was not what it once was.....the Civic was redone, but I just noticed CR is still knocking it, but it will be redone again for 2016 and CR is raving about that one.  The

Civic has been an antique for having only a five speed while some models, if you could

find them (darn near impossible), of Hyundai and Kia had six speeds.  THE word is, the regular gas (not counting the premium eater Si) Civic will finally get a six speed.  But with the downgraded choices in the Accord this year, I fear the Accord coupe will disappear, or lose options, leaving only the Civic coupe, which will get a late introduction (so no need to rush into the showrooms).  The Accord coupe for 2015 is the only midsize coupe with a fuel efficient four.  Nissan left the market.  Mustang has an avoidable turbo four, which Camaro will get this year, but neither will have a naturally aspirated four so you wouldn't have to drive an ugly box, and still be able to pass gas stations.

2013 Accord coupe V6 six speed runs 0 to 60 6.4 and 13.9 at 101 in 1/4. Motor Trend road test.That beats many 60's 400 cubic inch musclecars.

My 2013 Chevy Equinox SUV with the 301 hp 6 will do close to that. The gas mpg is only minus one compared to the 4. Remember the big deal made over the Chrysler 300 in 1955?

Getting a new car used to be a BIG DEAL! Why?

After WWII most folks started with an older used car, and traded every few years getting a little bit newer car each time, until that day when they were able to get a brand new car. Everyone dressed in their Sunday best to go pick it up. Then you went to show it to Grandma, Grandpa and the aunts and uncles. And, as mentioned previously, all the neighbors stopped by for a look.

You gradually worked your way up to a new car. Sadly that's not the reality today. Getting a new car is no big deal, at least not for most people. I'm a car salesman, and I see it every day. 

I test drove the 2015 six speed Accord coupe, which obviously, and this on side streets, has more oomph than the four version,  but am determined to recoup the gasoline overcharges back to 1974 by driving the most fuel efficient midsized coupes

I can find.  My four was SHOWING 41MPG on its computer on the PaTP.  The six has

color choices, but this four spins its wheels, and keeps up with traffic.  I have long

since outgrown my inclination to drag race.

I had an '07 Mustang with a V6 and could outrun the earlier carburetored Mustang 5 liter GTs. A motor head buddy told me if I supercharged it I could outrun a  contemporary stock GT. At my age I am not looking for speed, just comfort, so I traded in in towards a Lincoln MKS

I had one of those in my 62 Chevrolet. Repainted the eyes darker red with my girl friend's nail polish. One day in bumper to bumper traffic, the nail polish got hot and caught fire, burning the cat's face. So I had to make read sunglasses for the poor critter.

1958 Bel Air convertibles are extremely rare. They made none.

58 Chevrolet convertibles were all Impalas.