Garret Walther's 1950 Oldsmobile

A photo of Garret's Oldsmobile taken in Stockton in 1959. Garret's first car was a 1940 Ford Coupe that he bought without an engine in 1956. "My brother put a 1952 Chrysler Hemi in it," Garret told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020. Backed with a 1939 Ford transmission, dropped axle, big and littles, the car was too much for Garret to keep running as the clutch kept going out, "due to a poorly-built adapter plate. Luckily, a guy had a nice '50 Olds Fastback, and we traded." That was in 1958. Photo courtesy of Garret Walther.

Circa 1959 Garret decided to give the Olds a scallop paint job, after seeing a scalloped 1957 Oldsmobile from Long Beach. "I painted it dark brown and masked off the scallops, drove the car to Modesto, California, and had Gene Winfield paint the scallops in metallic gold. It was one of the first cars in Stockton with scallops," he recalled in 2020. Photo courtesy of Garret Walther.

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1950 Oldsmobile Fastback owned by Garret Walther of Stockton, California.

What a great time to be young

Garret's first car was a 1940 Ford Coupe that he bought without an engine in 1956. "My brother put a 1952 Chrysler Hemi in it," Garret told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020. Backed by a 1939 Ford transmission, dropped axle, big and little tires, the car was too much for Garret to keep running as the clutch kept going out, "due to a poorly-built adapter plate," he added. "Luckily, a guy had a nice '50 Olds Fastback, and we traded." That was in 1958. "What a great time to be young," he told Sondre. Garret's older brother Clyde drove a chopped 1940 Ford convertible, and he had a lot of friends that also were car-crazy, so the Olds was hot-rodded with a 1955 Oldsmobile engine that he bought from a friend. "After a rebuild, I ran it for a short time and the hydro went out. I then found a 1937 LaSalle floor shift trans for $75 (outrageous!) and put it in, along with 4.30 gears in the rear end. Top speed was probably 70, but I got there pretty quickly."

Scallop paint job

Garret remembered seeing a 1957 Oldsmobile with scallops coming into Stockton one weekend. "He was from Long Beach in So Cal. I loved the look." Garret believed the year was 1959. "Of course, like most teenagers, I read all the hot rod magazines. " The magazines had many "How To" articles on painting, so after seeing the Olds from Long Beach, Garret decided to give his Olds a scallop paint job. "I painted it dark brown and masked off the scallops, drove the car to Modesto, California, and had Gene Winfield paint the scallops in metallic gold. It was one of the first cars in Stockton with scallops." Garret had already been pinstriping cars for friends, so he striped the outline of the scallops himself. Photos taken in 1959 shows it running Moon decals and hubcaps.

Sold. Never to be seen again

Garret had the car until 1963 when he sold it. "Never saw it again," he told Kustomrama.