Classic cars of the 50s and 60s had unique styling

[Fishmanic]

I love classic cars as they had class and unique styling...something new cars can't even begin to immitate.
Here's a 1958 Olsmobile 98...looks almost like a spaceship.

 

[Magnum Man]

My 1960 El Camino... meet ya at the moon...



out of the hanger & readying for take off...



New gauge panel last year...

 

[MattW]

British cars from that era didn't have styling like the American ones. But we sure did make a few decent ones now and then

My family was lucky enough to have an MK.II many years back.

 

[Lcc86]

British cars from that era didn't have styling like the American ones. But we sure did make a few decent ones now and then

My family was lucky enough to have an MK.II many years back.

Have to be honest (and probably a bit biased as a brit!) I much prefer the British and European cars of that era, much more understated. That said, once a year there's a vintage American car cruise that comes to my town and I always go and take pictures even though I don't know most of the cars!

 

[jaylach]

not the 50s or 60s but my dream car that I'll never have... 1941/42 Packard Super 8.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Fishmanic My Dad was an Oldsmobile man through and through . That ‘58 Olds 98 is awesome . Oldsmobile tied in a lot of their car stuff to rockets . Remember the Rocket 88 ? We had an Olds F85 , which was a mid size car , but the real F85 was a fighter jet of Korean War vintage . My first car was a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and I would dearly love to have it back . Knew a guy that had an Olds 442 and that thing was a monster .
edit : okay , I was wrong about the F85 . That was an experimental fighter called the Goblin that was carried inside the bomb bay of the B-36 Peacemaker . Look that one up to see something weird . It resembles very closely the flying bombs that The Red Skull had in his flying wing in the first Captain America movie . The fighter jet I was thinking about was the F86 Sabre , which coincidentally , is close to “Cutlass” as in Olds Cutlass . The Olds F85 had as its top trim level the Cutlass which then went on to be its own model . Now let’s talk about the Toronado . Along with Buick’s Riviera the coolest car ever .

 

[GaryE]

My 1989 Toyota Corolla 4wd wagon was the true classic. It was like driving a kleenex box with rust on it.

 

[jaylach]

My 1989 Toyota Corolla 4wd wagon was the true classic. It was like driving a kleenex box with rust on it.

My first car was a 1969 Chevy Impala that my grandpa found for me at a police auction for $600.00 USD in 1973. My second was a 1956 Chevy Belaire four door, black bottom and white top, with a little 265CI engine with a one barrel carb and a two speed power glide tranny. This was in 1974 so only 18 years old and I got it for $50.00 USD (yes, fifty) and it was next to showroom condition. Not only did the headliner not sag, it was even clean. I won't post the story unless asked but that car was stolen by a cop...

LOL! A friend of mine from Ohio traded in a 1969 fastback Hemi Cuda for a little sub-compact 4-banger. Hated himself for years after.

 

[jaylach]

Oh, I just HAVE to add to the above post.

Can't remember the year but my third car was a Ford Galaxy 500 with a Boss 302 and C-6 auto tranny. The car was a rust bucket to the point that the rear bumper literally fell off but the engine and tranny were prime. At a guess I'd say that it was a very early 1970s or late 1960s model. I paid $175.00 USD for the car but bought mostly for the engine and tranny.

My fourth car involved the Galaxy 500. For free I picked up a 1969 Ford Mustang with a blown engine but the body was in pretty good shape. From factory the Mustang came with a 6-banger and three speed manual tranny. I pulled the Boss 302 and C-6 tranny from the Galaxy and dropped into the Mustang. The thing screamed and looked pretty cool with a bit of a 'rake' caused by 14 inch rims on the front and 15 inch on the back. Actually twisted a drive shaft on that car. Got rid of it just due to it being a pain to do maintenance after the first time I changed spark plugs. Had to unbolt the driver side motor mounts and lift the engine to be able to change the two middle plugs on the driver side due to not being able to get past the steering column.

Fastest car I've ever been in on the street was built by a friend in high school to beat Vettes. Never knew exactly why he hated Vettes but he did. It was a 1967 Cutlass Coupe with a 1968 455CI engine that he totally built. If you like 'muscle cars' this was it. Fully cammed with domed pistons, high rise intake manifold, tri-power carbs (three two barrels) that were all on mechanical linkage instead of the normal center carb being manual with the outer carbs being vacuum activated. With the three carbs being all on mechanical linkage they could not pull enough air at lower speeds. He didn't want to 'break' the hood with a blower so, being a bit of a car genius, he fabricated, by hand, sheet metal ducts that went over the wheel well and wrapped around the sides of the radiator to force air. The ducts on both sides even included impellers to force air flow. In other words he hand built his own hidden blower. Rode often with him while he destroyed Vettes and he never lost. There was one time when it was a close call but he just flipped the switch to inject Nitrous oxide into the air flow and it was over.

Another cool car I remember from way back when was the owner of a machine shop I did part time for extra cash. He was building a ZZ Top type coupe and had all the machinery to build the engine. This was in the mid 1980s and, pulled 560HP on a Chevy small block. Sad to say that I left Ohio before the car was finished.

 

[Fishmanic]

I had a 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible. It was torquoise colored with a black convertible top. Next, I had a 1974 Gran Torino Sport with side stripes in blue. Nice looking car. Then I bought a white 1977 Gran Prix with light blue landau roof with T-tops. Had the 301 v8 engine and buckets with center console. That car was a head turner and was a comfortable ride.

 

[Colin_T]

My 1989 Toyota Corolla 4wd wagon was the true classic. It was like driving a kleenex box with rust on it.

I had a 60s model Toyota corona sedan as my first car. It was full of rust and paper mache was used to fill the holes in the boot. Some had gaffa tape over it and it was spray painted on the outside to match the rest of the car. The engine was old and tired and the mechanic had a baked bean tin wired to the rocker cover and a breather hose from the engine fed into it. Every week I popped the bonnet and poured the oil from the baked bean can back into the engine and topped it up with some more oil. It was falling apart but it had a smooth engine and a beautiful gearbox. It was a 4 speed manual with half a million kms on the clock but it changed gear so easily.

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I was watching a tourist guide to Cuba on YouTube last week. Something like "10 things not to do in Cuba". Don't ask me how I got onto the video I really don't know. Anyway, they had a guy walking around with a camera and half the cars there were from the 50s & 60s and they looked fabulous. The colours are way better than what we have today on modern cars (black, grey and white). The older cars just had more interesting shapes and styles and a much better range of colours. They might not be as safe as modern cars and certainly aren't fuel efficient, but they are much more interesting to look at.

 

[simonas]

British cars from that era didn't have styling like the American ones. But we sure did make a few decent ones now and then

My family was lucky enough to have an MK.II many years back.

The British cars had better styling , of the 4 you have shared there the E type is often classed as the most beautiful car ever made

I can appreciate the style but I really do not like the over the top styling of the 50 and earlys 60's american cars now the late 60's early 70's cars I can and would love a Dodge Charge or Chevy camaro SS etc but having driven a couple they look far better than they drive

Older cars though are so much better. I've never had a new car, my 4 are over 25

 

[Back in the fold]

My 1989 Toyota Corolla 4wd wagon was the true classic. It was like driving a kleenex box with rust on it.

Philistine .

 

[Magnum Man]

I don't know what years, as I've never actually owned a Toyota... but my personal opinion, is those Toyota Corolla fast backs, that kind of looked like Mustangs are going to be collectable in the future... I think late 70's, when American cars were junk... if someone wanted to collect a car from that era

 

[GaryE]

My Toyota was ugly, but it ran forever - if I recall correctly close to 700,000 km, largely winter driving.

40s and 50s cars were art - they were creatively designed and sculpted. 60s and 70s, other than early mustangs, were evolving toward looking like aircraft carriers. My Dad's 1957 Buick Special, which he bought for $50, was a thing of beauty. Nothing ever rusted like it, but the fins... like a fish!

I bought an Americanadian car to replace my 98 tercel, and the tercel was on the road doing fine for 7 years after the Ford had gone for scrap. I'll never make that mistake again. But I do wish carmakers would get creative and make small, fuel efficient cars as pretty as late 50s vehicles. Not copies - new designs. Those overly large SUV behemoths, and urban trucks are awful things. I recently looked at a bunch of SUVs for both sports and utility. You'd need a ladder to hoist a kayak onto the roof, so they were useless at anything but just being big.