Posts from ‘Oldsmobile’
There’s almost no glamour to be found in flying these days. The events of September 11, 2001, certainly complicated the process of getting through an airport and onto a commercial flight, but even before that horrible day, flying was becoming more of a grind than an adventure for most travelers. We’ve all heard plenty of jokes about airline food…
1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Hardtop Sedan
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2011 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
By Don Sikora II
It’s hard to believe that the car on these pages is original from the tires up. This 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday four-door hardtop was purchased by an elderly lady in Kentucky and used by her housekeeper for shopping. A nephew inherited the car, but didn’t drive it—although he did start the engine occasionally. The nephew sold the Olds to a collector of original cars who later sold it to current owner Jimmy Blackburn of Texarkana, Texas.
1970 Plymouth Sport Fury GT
If you’re a diehard fan of vintage American performance cars and race cars, it would behoove you to make it to Rosemont, Illinois the weekend before Thanksgiving. That’s when the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals takes over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, filling the main show floor with a dizzying array of muscle cars, race cars, Corvettes, street machines, and auto-oriented collectibles and memorabilia.
1938 Graham
Though American automobile industry was fully established–and thriving–by the time the 1920s rolled around, the auto business was still relatively young when the Great Depression settled upon the nation at the tail end of that free-wheeling decade. After an extended period of economic growth and prosperity, carmakers found themselves needing to retool their carefully crafted advertising to cope with the new realities of severe economic turmoil.
Like it does every October, the Mecum Auctions road show rolled in to the Schaumberg Convention Center in Schaumberg, Illinois, late last month. As usual, the Mecum Chicago event boasted its share of big-ticket, six-figure classics—the top seller of this year’s show was a rare Calypso Coral 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 (pictured below) that went for $275,000.
1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass
Americans have now enjoyed the services of the automobile for well over a century. It’s hard to imagine another development that did so much to shape the country as we now know it. But at just over 100 years of service, the car has nothing on football.
1972 Plymouth Satellite four-door sedan
Summertime is car-show season, and we always try to take in as many automotive get-togethers as we can. Local cruise nights, marque-specific dealership-lot shows, fancy concours gatherings, or what have you… it’s all good. Our Chicagoland home base has plenty of these kinds of events to offer, and in the upper Midwest, car folks know to take advantage when the weather is warm (or, let’s face it—flat-out hot), because it won’t be long before summer’s over and the cold and snow come again.
1963 Oldsmobile Jetfire
Legendary Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg racked up nine Gold Gloves during his 17-year career as a big-league ball player. That’s a number Ryno can point to with pride, and it’s a number even casual baseball fans can appreciate. Not that the famously modest ex-Cub spends much time defending his career, but if he had to, the stats are there.
1956 Chevrolet
You can probably come up with a reasonably long list of things that are quintessentially American. My short list might include Monday Night Football, ketchup, and the Super Big Gulp. However, if you’re looking for a little heritage to go with your national icons, I might suggest that there are few things more fundamentally American than baseball or the automobile.
1985 Buick Electra
Which of the following events was more jarring? The addition of Elmo to the cast of Sesame Street, or the introduction of a front-wheel-drive Buick Electra? Both events, coincidentally, took place in 1985, and both events were met with a certain amount of grumbling.
