Mistake of '58: The GM Chromemobiles and Far Out '59s
2022 ж. 8 Қыр.
2 571 380 Рет қаралды
A classic car connaisseur tells the story of General Motors misstep in 1958. The future wasn't about chrome, but about tailfins. This video goes deep into the design process that ulitmalety resulted in the most space age cars ever made... the 1959 Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac!
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Call me Tasteless, but I love all these space age designs far-FAR more than pretty much every 'standard' car design post 80's.
As a young designer at GM, I was working on the 59 Pontiac design, when Jordan got a bunch of the studio designers to see these brand new ‘57 model Plymouths, Dodges, Desotos and Chryslers just rolling off the assembly line. He wanted to see if we were as shocked as he was by what he had seen earlier that day on his way into work. Well, we were. Jordan went back and convinced his boss Bill Mitchel to immediately start reworking all our ‘59 design programs. Mitchel took quite a brave risk to do this without first approval by Harley Earl. Earl ultimately agreed with the changes we all came up with.
It’s just mind boggling that they could put out completely different models on a yearly basis.
These designs were not mistakes but rather amazing. In fact, they're the most creative and beautiful cars that GM ever made.
I worked in an automobile repaint shop during the early 1970s, and how I remember what a nightmare it was to prep and mask those rolling jukeboxes against overspray.
Though some people may prefer the cleaner designs, I think the over extravagance of chrome is iconic in its own way and holds its place in looking good.
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When you could tell a make, model and year from a block away shows how unique and creative car designs were.
Cars from the 40's-60's just have way better styling than anything now in my opinion, and I think I share that opinion with a LOT of people.
I may be an oddball, but I love the '58 GM line. Completely over the top. My uncle had a lower end Oldsmobile in black for a short while when I was a kid. Probably '85-'86, it was a Minnesota car and a rust bucket, but that chrome always had a polish to it!
Some of the most beautiful cars ever built came out of the 50's and early 60's. Maybe because I was coming of age then, but seeing cars of that era inspire me more than any other styles.
A real piece of art, not just a car design!!
My grandfather had a 1958 Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Coupe. He said he bought it in part because it had the most chrome you could get on a car.
I love those 59' Cadillacs. Absolutely over the top tail finns. Crazy, daring, a statement on its own. We shall never see their likes again.
For many years, dashboards changed year to year and engineers did some fantastic work in styling! A lost art. 58s are problematic in terms of restoration due to difficulty in getting oem parts. They still are very beautiful and special.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks cars have faces with expressions! My grandfather owned a Mobil service station. Chevy was our family’s brand. The grandparents would buy a new car every few years in the 50’s and hand down the old car to one of the kids. My mother finally got her first brand new car in 1965, a Chevy II, a very attractive car!
Yes! I remember when you could look at a car.... just about ANY car and know right away what year it was. Try doing that today, and you'll be hard pressed to even discern the difference between MANUFACTURERS.
This video gave a seventy four year old guy a surge of nostalgia. The production and presentation is in my opinion, fantastic! You earned another subscriber as a bonus for your hard work.
The '58 Chevy and it's rounded fins has become recognized as a good looking car. I love them. The "batwing" fins on the '59 Chevy impala were the height of "fin" design. They were beautifully integrated into the design and didn't, at all, look added on as an afterthought.
When I was a child (1969-72 ish) a bloke up the road from us had loads of American Cars in his drive, probably 6-8 . . . He lived on a smallholding with a massive area to park. They were this era and I loved sitting in them and pretending to drive them. They seemed absolutely massive compared to our (UK) cars. . . Still LOVE them