One More For The Road

Choice – or a lack of it – has a big effect on the cars we end up owning. Tomas Karlsson of Lyrestad in Sweden found his options severely restricted when he went looking for a 1958 Oldsmobile 98 convertible. They were always uncommon by American standards, though not exactly rare, with 5605 of them sold at a $4200 base price, more than any of the other Olds 98 models. But that spectacular styling dated fast and the big 371cu in V8 sucked through a generous Quadra-jet carb, making for a thirst that seemed alarming by the time the oil crisis struck in the early Seventies. A great many were taken off the road and scrapped, dumped or just parked. ❯❯

So where did Tomas find this beautiful example? Well… it wasn’t beautiful when he found it. It had made its exit from daily life