American Cars of 1958

[Monksdream]

October 24--A Nation on Wheels

autobug2 says: April 5, 2016 12:26 pm
Well, the newest car I spotted is a `60 Plymouth. In the foreground, a nice creamy gold `56 DeVille. And of note, there isn’t a single car in this image that isn’t collectible; a great benefit to cars of the 50s!
Jay S. says: April 6, 2016 11:16 am
It’s a ’59. The ’60 had a rounded grill, with no ‘mustash’ above it. Speaking of bronze ’57 Chevys, the back end of a ’57 wagon can be seen in the lower left corner.




Isn't it amazing how American culture has changed since the first Baby Boomers were born in 1946? Telephones had rotary dials in 1958. A long distance call cost a fortune. In the current century, telephony has advanced so much anyone can talk -- for cheap -- to anyone, any time, anywhere on the planet. Once the internet became a household appliance, people have been chatting away via social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. People like to talk. Everyone knows that. They usually prefer subjects that most interest them. This book begins with an online conversation from a website about two guys identifying some American car models from a photo of Los Angeles traffic, probably from 1960. The color image is somewhat grainy, yet these two anonymous individuals are able to make them out by year and make. It isn't much different compared to a discussion on a zoology website between two Lepidopterists discussing the taxonomy of swallowtail butterflies.

That conversation was gleaned from a Hemmings Motor News web page. Founded in 1954 in Bennington VT as a dead tree publication full of classified ads for old cars, Hemmings has grown to a 100-employee company that supplies information about antique, classic and exotic cars and trucks. How to restore them. How to buy and sell them. And ultimately what they are worth in the collector marketplace. The magazine and its online version aren’t by any means the only sources. More than a dozen monthly magazines -- even more sources exist online -- provide similar information. But Hemmings is a good place to start before deciding to branch out.
With an eye fixed on making some big bucks, TV executives have capitalized in the past decade or so on this growing interest in old vehicles. Jay Leno of NBC’s Tonight Show fame is an avid collector. Jay Leno’s Garage has aired for the past five seasons in prime time. There are more than a dozen other programs spread across the cable and satellite networks. Collector car auctions like Barrett-Jackson run for three days on ESPN.
Okay, so this business of restoring old cars and trucks isn’t exactly as big as Microsoft. But the business has always attracted Big Bucks dudes willing to shell out well past seven figures for rare and exotic cars. Jay Leno is an example. Most classic car lovers, of course, don’t possess his deep pockets. The typical collector who now owns, say, a 1958 Plymouth Fury like the one in the movie Christine is an aging Baby Boomer.


One recently sold for $23,000 at a Barrett-Jackson auction. The description below is typical car guy jargon:
Restored to look like "Christine" from the movie of the same name. A 1958 Plymouth Fury with less than 400 miles since complete restoration. Power is a 383 V8 with dual Carter AFB carburetors. Push-button activated TorqueFlite transmission. Front disc brakes. All chrome redone in "show chrome" new sport tone side trim. New paint, new Coker wide white wall tires. Working AM radio with "demon" eye lighting. Hidden stealth stereo with 10 disc changer and remote. Drives as good as it looks with safety and reliability upgrades.
Cars from the 1950s are now viewed as works of art, no different from French Impressionist paintings. There is one major difference, though. The Top 10 French Impressionists paintings, the ones most sought after by collectors, sell for an average $124 million. Even the exotic and most sought after European models, mostly Ferraris and Mercedes, approach perhaps $40 million. Like any other market, prices can fluctuate. Economic cycles and collector preference are major factors that determine what a restored vehicle in pristine condition is worth at auction.
What’s so special about the American cars of 1958? The consensus view now among auto historians is the models Detroit’s Big 3 car makers put out that year were, in a decade that focused on excess, reached it zenith. The designers who already were legends among car enthusiasts, turned the aesthetic concept expressed by the turn of the century architect Louis Sullivan that “form follows function” upside down.
But does that mean the critics in those days as well as now consider them visually ugly? When describing the overall look of 50s cars writers will often use a German word, kitsch. It is more like using kitsch to have fun rather than making fun of 50s cars.
Here’s what is what kitsch means from a dictionary perspective:art objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way. To digress, here’s a quote from a website: “The lava lamp is an example of sixties kitsch.” Or, “The front room is stuffed with kitsch knickknacks, little glass and gift ornaments.” Saving the best for last, “As a child, I considered my mother’s ornaments a bit kitschy, but when I took them to the Antiques Road Show I discovered that they were valuable.”
So something having kitsch appeal, one could say, has value, just not a whole lot of value in most cases. Returning to the American cars of 1958, the collector market as a whole places a high price on a select few models. Everything else is priced much lower. It takes a few hours of watching a televised car auction to understand this. A rare convertible, say a 1958 Corvette in original condition with an engine that appeared in only a small percentage or models produced that year might sell for well over one-hundred thousand dollars. Then comes a series of 50s coupes and sedans that sell for between twenty-thousand and forty-thousand, followed by more that sell for much less.
Nevertheless, no matter the collector value, car guys (90 percent are men) cherish each and everyone of them. Many were young, certainly not old enough to drive in many instances,
during the 50s decade. They grew up, left school, got a job. Next came marriage, a mortgage, and children -- lots of children. The dream of owning a chromed out piece of gas guzzling, rolling sculpture powered by 300 horses under the hood had to wait, sometimes for decades. That said, the average age of a 50s car owner is getting up there. He’s a grandfather now. Maybe even a great grandfather rumbling along on an urban street when the weather’s nice in his chromed chariot, reliving, as best as he is able, a special period in his life.
The 50s decade was special in its own way. In the decade that followed, with all its social turmoil, youth rebellion, riots, racial strife, and political divisiveness that still troubles America as it makes it way in the 21st Century, the 1950s were downright genteel. It was a good time to be young. The outlook was gloriously optimistic after four long years of war in the prior decade. The economy didn’t just grow. It boomed. Readers will learn of how much in various segments of this book.
Despite the current consensus of what the 50s were about, that they were dull, a time when people’s chief concerns were with convention and conformity, and that nothing notable happened in the way of scientific discovery, you will be pleasantly surprised. It was a period of high creativity, as well as a time when a few genies were let out of their bottles. Those genies would live on in the decades ahead, as one will see in coming segments.