"Tuning" The '57 Olds/Buick TRI-WindowsTo kick off a series of later-model "Sketchpads" (remember, anything after 1948 is considered "late" to Street Rodder magazine), ye ol' editor Brian Brennan asked me to look at the one-year-only '57 Oldsmobiles and Buicks with the cool triple rear windows. Between the limited visibility created by the extra pillars, and the option of a one-piece rear window in Roadmasters-which I'll bet found more buyers than not-the unique backlight never made it to its sophomore year. But that's OK with us. Combined with the flamboyant styling found on these last Harley Earle designs, you have an attractive starting point for an unprecedented project.
With a plan to take some weight out where you can-like the drivetrain, suspension components, and wheels-your project can go from barge to bullet in the handling and performance category. As for the outside, we'll explore some ideas you may want to consider.
The option known as "J-2" with the three 2-bbl carb performance option seems to have found its way into many a '57 Olds, so you may luck out and find one lurking under the hood. That could change your direction a bit if you were thinking about a pro-touring or more contemporary direction, but we have seen at least one vintage Olds engine converted to later fuel injection via a fabricated intake manifold. Hooked to a five-speed or later automatic, it could be the best of both worlds.
Whichever way you choose to go, you're starting with a car just unusual enough to turn heads even in stock form, with production numbers high enough to make them fairly easy to find, and just itching to be blessed with your own custom touches for a truly one-off masterpiece.
Truck/Oldsmobile
Stepping slightly beyond our subject, all of the '50s GM products were massive; so massive that, in many ways, they could easily have been altered to become the basis for a truck body. Some of the body lines, as you'll see with the '57 Olds example, almost match up perfectly with Chevy's truck offerings throughout the mid-'50s. What I have sketched are quarter-panels heightened to tie into the truck body sides, and then welded onto the bedsides, similar to what Chevy did with the Cameo Fleetside trucks from 1955 to 1958. I've shown the Cameo rear bumper and bumper ends worked into the Olds sides, which creates some work, but might save you from having to lengthen the impossible-to-weld pot metal taillight housings. Sedan stainless may work better than hardtop, and the front trim may have to be fabricated. Up front, the stock truck-like Olds bumper has been heightened at the stock mating of the top and bottom halves to help fill up the frontal mass. How nice of GM to make this such an easy adaptation. I recall hearing about passenger-car dashes being installed into trucks, so it may make your conversion complete to try and adapt the dash out of your donor Olds, as well.
'57 Oldsmobile Black Sedan
Just so you don't think you have to go nuts to make a cool cruiser, this drawing shows almost nothing modified other than lowering and '50 Olds dog-dish caps on matching black steel wheels. I have left on all of the trim. Olds made more than 20,000 sedans-some as Rocket 88s, with the cool exhaust running through the bumper, as shown. The better the condition, the more you'll pay at the front end, but there will be much less spent at the back end. I've said it many times before: The corresponding-year Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and so on, are just as cool as Chevys and Fords when you drop your built-in bias toward those marques. I'd much rather take in a unique '57 Buick than another Chevy any day-how about you?
'57 Oldsmobile TWO-Door Wagon
Oldsmobile was back in the wagon business starting in 1957 with its great Fiesta four-door hardtop wagons, but that's not what this is. This is a two-door hardtop converted into a wagon. Olds never made a two-door wagon, but with the roof and upper and lower tailgate salvaged from a rusty donor, you're in. The two-piece tailgate would be leaned forward, and the top extension would be spliced onto the existing top. The side glass is flat, which should help the pocketbook. Side trim is stock, though I have shown the front trim removed, and the rear bumper has been flipped, even though it looks so natural you might think stockers look a little weird after seeing them turned this way. You might want to consider painting the upper portion of the front bumper, but I have left it chrome in this sketch. You guys were able to come up with ribbed station wagon tops for your '30s sedans in the past, so I know there are many an unrestorable Olds Fiesta or Buick wagon lurking out there that could give up their tops for this great custom wagon concept.
'57 Buick Purple
Anything two-door can get pricey-and that includes our subject matter. But four-doors? Not so much, so why not try to take a '57 Roadmaster four-door hardtop and do the traditional custom trip on it? Lowering, shaved door handles, Larry Watson-style scallops, period Buick Skylark wire wheels, and donkey d-ks out the back make for a striking custom hardtop that doesn't have to apologize for the extra doors. These big boats make for great cruisers, and with a combo black and white pleated custom vinyl interior, you'd have living room luxury on your way to any number of far-off destinations. But if the reverse kick on that four-door top leaves you a little cold, check out the blue '57 Buick.
'57 Buick Blue
You've seen the traditional-custom route performed on the purple Buick in this "Sketchpad;" now, here's an example taken a few steps further. For this four-door, we have stolen a two-door hardtop top from either a '57 or '58 Buick or Oldsmobile and grafted it onto the four-door shell. Though the approach looks traditional, the Skylark wheels are 17- or 18-inch custom-laced versions for a more powerful visual presentation. Custom-made chrome-plated lower door covers carry through what the full-chrome bumpers start at the ends. Stock body trim has been left off. Running along the upper portion of the chrome break is a black stripe that is carried over onto the upper front bumper. Custom-spun black bullets attach to the bumpers, with custom molded taillights worked into the stock bezels. The doors are separated by a metal jamb, and the rear doors are now hung suicide style for a more formal look. And, even though there is some work to be performed and a top to hunt down, this should more than offset the high price of either a two-door or even a wagon, as their popularity seems unabated. When they look right, no one cares whether they're two-doors or four-doors, except your wallet.