John Taylor's 1956 Oldsmobile

A nice color photo of John's Oldsmobile at an indoor car show.

Photo from the Kustomrama Photo Archive showing John's Oldsmobile at a car show in Iowa around 1956.

John's Oldsmobile as it appeared when it was featured in Motor Life May 1957.

Photo from Car Craft January 1958. By now the car had received pinstriping above the headlights, on the hood, and the deck lid.

1956 Oldsmobile owned by DeWitt Roamans car club member John Taylor of DeWitt, Iowa. The hood on John's Olds was dechromed and filled. It did also featured louvers punched by Ed Biggs. In 1957 John's Olds was featured in Motor Life May 1957, this version featured a 1955 DeSoto grille. In 1958 the Olds was featured in Car Craft January 1958, this version featured a floating type grille made from 1951 Studebaker and 1951 Packard components was installed along with 1953 Ford headlight rings and sheet metal visors that were frenched in order to give a hooded effect to the headlights. Perforated rings were used inside the frenched headlights. The door handles were removed and the doors were electrically operated. The stock side trim was replaced by 1954 Buick side trim. In the rear, the taillights from a 1954 Packard were frenched in and the deck lid was shaved. The hubcaps were Dodge pieces with model airplane prop spinners inserted into the centers. The torch work was done by Lowe's Auto Body in DeWitt and Al Cravero painted it Alcan White and Royal Blue. The remaining mods were performed by John himself and he chose to keep his car at stock ride height rather than lowering it.

John lived across the street from XX when he was a teenager. He was 5 years older than XX, and in 2015 XX told Kustomrama that "John worked for his father in the family painting business and was a true artist. The 56 Olds was also the family car aside from a show car. The only other car they had was a 1946 Ford coupe they hauled painting supplies in. John was a pinstriper extraordinaire and signed his work with a string of elephants, large to small, with tails and trunks joined to form an elephant train."

Magazine Featured

Motor Life May 1957
Car Craft January 1958