(Pics) 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88

Great looking model. Your photos are outstanding. I love the 1st shot with the airplane.

Another outstanding presentation Mike.

Good Lord! That's a Bell X-2 up there. I remember Captain Midnight flew that plane (actually they just used file footage. LOL)

Posted by: @rich-sufficool

Good Lord! That's a Bell X-2 up there. I remember Captain Midnight flew that plane (actually they just used file footage. LOL)

LOL, that's close ! It's the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, the first official aircraft to achieve Mach 2. (I think Olds later had a "Skyrocket" V-8 engine) The equally cool Bell X-2 was the first to Mach 3, but sadly the phenomena of "inertial coupling" caused it's crash during the record flight. All these white "X-plane" types look great and very much the part.

Posted by: @mikedetorrice

Posted by: @rich-sufficool

Good Lord! That's a Bell X-2 up there. I remember Captain Midnight flew that plane (actually they just used file footage. LOL)

LOL, that's close ! It's the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, the first official aircraft to achieve Mach 2. (I think Olds later had a "Skyrocket" V-8 engine) The equally cool Bell X-2 was the first to Mach 3, but sadly the phenomena of "inertial coupling" caused it's crash during the record flight. All these white "X-plane" types look great and very much the part.

 

Yep, yep! That's the one (that Captain Midnight 'flew'). I always thought strange that it was commissioned by the US Navy. With the stubby wings and all the aerodynamics that allowed supersonic flight, I can't see how that aircraft would have enough low speed lift for carrier deployment.

Posted by: @rich-sufficool

Yep, yep! That's the one (that Captain Midnight 'flew'). I always thought strange that it was commissioned by the US Navy. With the stubby wings and all the aerodynamics that allowed supersonic flight, I can't see how that aircraft would have enough low speed lift for carrier deployment.

 

I think the Navy (in conjunction with NACA) sponsored both the Douglas jet-powered D-558-1 Skystreak and the later swept-wing jet/rocket (later just rocket) powered D-558-2 Skyrocket as purely research machines, (how fast and how high can we go) much like the USAF did with x-planes like the Bell X-2 and the North American X-15 and never intending them to be turned into military aircraft.

This I guess would be much like the car companies many times did with the wilder "dream cars" like the Ford Gyron, GM Firebird III and some others. But regardless of whether some of these planes and cars were meant for production or not, it sure led to some amazing designs and aspects of them later made their way into actual production craft and vehicles ! 

Mike, the '57 Oldsmobile is my personal all-time favorite car!  Period!  It's that rear split window that puts it over the top for my in styling.  But then I like Oldsmobile's to boot, but the '57 is simply a gorgeous automobile.  I have three of the Highway 61 versions of this model and all are prized collectibles.  I'd always hoped that one of the 1:24 scale diecast mints would have produced a '57 Olds, but alas it wasn't to be.  

Great photos, and yes I too, like the first one with the airplane in the pic.  It sort of exemplifies the "Rocket" relationship to Oldsmobile that was their theme in the Fifties.  THANKS for sharing!

Thanks, George. I think the wonderful '57 Olds is a favorite of many, both as a real car or model ! The H61 (and now Acme) versions in 1/18 are superb and I also have 3 of them (along with 2 Yat Ming convertibles) This would have been a knockout hit in 1/24, too, and I wouldn't doubt it was on some short-lists at several companies thinking about doing a '57 Olds at that scale. "Rocket" Olds from nearly any year would be a treat  in model form.