Mistake of '58: The GM Chromemobiles and Far Out '59s

Call me Tasteless, but I love all these space age designs far-FAR more than pretty much every 'standard' car design post 80's.

95% of great ideas that are credited to corporate executives come and came from a nameless employee.

It’s just mind boggling that they could put out completely different models on a yearly basis.

When you could tell a make, model and year from a block away shows how unique and creative car designs were.

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.

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.

These designs were not mistakes but rather amazing. In fact, they're the most creative and beautiful cars that GM ever made.

@1:18 that little red Studebaker I call the bullet nose car. My mom almost died in 1964 was "Teed" on passenger side, Mom's in and dad was driving, we kids weren't with them. She was in a coma for six days, they didn't expect her to live, plevis broken in 37 places, they didn't even sew her ear rt. on yet till they knew she had a chance at living. My poor mama. But she lived and raised us and thank you mother for being our mom. We were 9, 7 & 3 little girls ages we were. Body cast for a long long time in hosp. over a year or two. I miss you mom. RIP Mother Dear. See you in a few years in Heaven. xo

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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!

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 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!

I saw a 58 Chevy for the 1st time on craigslist in a 2 car package project. One car was really rough but ran and was complete. The other one had a good frame, body and floors already done, a spare NOS quarter panel and extras with no drivetrain. I bought them both for $3200 delivered to my house. Frame off restored the better one in 2018 in my garage, I love the 58 style for some strange reason. I found a '68 396 bbc shortblock unassembled fresh from the machine shop (stored 20 years) and put it together with a 700r4 trans. I found a deep blue "firemist" color online which was a cadillac thing and very heavy on the metallic. "Neptune blue firemist" and artic white 2-tone. 2nd car i ever painted and it was a passion project. I repaired every piece of stainless myself which was tedious but rewarding. Its the stainless and chrome that make the car "shine". I spent more time wetsanding and polishing than actually painting the car. i painted every piece off the car.

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

Compared to today's cars, a lump of chrome looks beautiful.