Road and Track Speedster Review from 1958

Thanks. I enjoyed reading it.

In the 66 years since this review was written we've seen some serious ups and downs in automotive performance, but the difference between what was considered sporting in 1958 and now in 2024 is pretty amazing.  Even back in the height of the muscle car era a 0-60 time below 6 seconds was rare and amazing.  The 10.5 second time of the Speedster in the review would have been acceptable for economy cars.  My BMW will hit 60 in under 5 seconds, and that's barely noteworthy among performance-oriented cars now.  What's wild is that I can achieve that in a 3700 lb. car with an automatic while averaging >20mpg.  How far we've come in some aspects, and yet we still long for the engagement involved in working hard for our speed with small-engined, lightweight cars in which we have to row our own gears.  We are truly mad!  BWAH HAH HAH!!!

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Lane, I've often thought about the differences between what was considered serious sporting machinery on opposite sides of the pond.

It could be that few Bavarian towns had an arrow-straight, four-lane main street, with stoplights every two blocks, but they probably had a road leading out of town that looked like this:

And, too, I do remember riding in my dad's '52 Buick that, technically, could hit around 100. The fastest I ever saw him go was maybe 70, in an occasional desperate passing situation. But that was a memorable, white-knuckle experience for anyone aboard. The thought of trying to stop that thing (or make it go anywhere but in a straight line) at that speed was simply terrifying.

I can see how piloting a 356 through a herd of such beasts could make one feel sorta 'speedy'.

That Buick is gorgeous, Mitch.

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Lane, that's a photo from the interwebs. It's the exact same year and model as my dad's car, but not our car. I don't recall the paint on our car ever looking that good.

Which leads to another way that cars have improved. Back in the '50s, cars had 'that new car look' for maybe the first six months, mainly because the paint would weather and degrade enough after a few years that no matter how much wax you applied, they'd never look new again.

My dad kept the car garaged from day one, and was pretty careful about keeping it clean, although it was a daily driver on salted roads. After only about four or five years, the paint had lost most of that new car luster, and all of the chrome was pitted. I also remember the rubber interior flooring (carpeting was an upgrade) was splitting and cracked, with the fiber insulation poking through.

Fifty thousand miles was considered 'high mileage', and most folks traded in after three or four years. My dad kept that car for ten years, by which time most of his friends would joke about the 'antique' he still drove.

Yeah, we've come a long way, thanks mainly to Mr. Toyota and Mr. Datsun.

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I have vague memories of cars my folks had before 1960.  They had an early 50s Desoto that mom drove and an early 50s blue Dodge that my dad drove, which I believe he inherited from his dad.  I recall absolutely nothing about the Desoto except that it was gray with a dark gray or black top.  I would jump in the blue Dodge the dad got home and ride in it all of 20 feet or so into the garage at the back of the lot.  The Desoto got prime parking in the carport at the front of the house. Eventually dad traded then Desoto for a baby blue 1960 Dodge Matador with big ol' fins.  I remember looking up (!) at the taillight when he brought it home asking "is it a Ford?  Is it a Chevy? because that's about all I knew.