Streamlined

When I think streamlined I think Jocko Johnson. I think of Stu Hilborn’s slippery lakester or Chet Herbert’s Beast III. Sometimes images of the Howard Cams wooden-nosed Twin Bear dragster even come to mind. There have been hundreds of cars streamlined for street, strip, lakes and Bonneville action during the past century. But today’s example wasn’t designed to smash class records or cheat the wind — it was built as an exercise in elegance.

This 1940 Oldsmobile pictured above almost didn’t make it through its first year. According to the debut issue of Rods & Customs, the sedan caught fire and was nearly destroyed soon after it rolled off the lot. Modern Motors, a Cadillac and Oldsmobile dealership in Glendale, Ca., got ahold of the ravaged iron and decided a simple revamp wasn’t going to cut it.

Two inches were removed from the top and the stock windshield was sloped to create a flowing silhouette. Other than the nosed hood, the only other modification was the installation of single bar flipper caps. A two-tone blue, which was the opposite of the stock color scheme, tied the mild custom together.

The final product was nothing short of streamlined. With its low roofline uninterrupted lines, the car looked like it was pulled from the Ben-Dot streets of Metropolis and transported into reality. It’s an idealized image of an early ‘40s sedan — long, sleek and sinister.

A man named Eldon Gibson from Burbank, Ca. bought the car in 1941. I left him a voicemail asking about a ’40 Oldsmobile and a place called Modern Motors. While I wait for a response, I’ll ask you this: does anyone know anything else about this prewar mild custom?

-Joey Ukrop

Images from Rods & Customs, Rod Action and more recently Rikster’s scans on this thread here.