Don Stone's 1952 Oldsmobile

As Don's Olds appeared in Rod & Custom March 1954.

1952 Oldsmobile 88 Convertible restyled by Ted Lundquist of Lundquist Coach Craft in San Francisco, California for Don Stone also of San Francisco, California. Before taking the Olds to Ted, he looked around for a shop that would give him quality work in return for his money. Don had certain ideas in mind, and he asked Ted for his opinion. He quickly whipped up a few sketches of what he had in mind, and together they found out what would become Don's future custom car. An unusual bumperless look was selected for the rear, which set the car apart from rest of the cars that roamed the streets in 1954. The car was nosed, decked and shaved for door handles. The push buttons were located beneath the front fenders. Up front, the top grille bar was welded to the hood and fenders. This made the hood permanently shut, but Ted proceeded to hack saw through the bar so the hood could open and shut. He explained that this was done to afford the best possible alignment between the hood and fenders. The bar was then molded to the hood and fenders to make a lip surrounding the grille. The entire headlight and parking light assemblies were removed from the front fenders before a new extended shape from half inch round rod was made and brazed to the fenders. The headlights were not frenched, and the lamps below were dome lights from an older Pontiac. A lip was formed around the edge of the front wheel cutouts. At the same time, the chrome trim on the fenders were shortened. The grille opening had no grille bar, but a fine mesh wire screen. The bumper was rendered by installing Cadillac bumper guards.

The rear end was restyled by removing all the trim, and fins were made with round rod. The bumper was removed, and the wheel cutouts received the same treatment as the front ones. Ted said that fender skirts belonged to the past, and that this treatment made it look more modern. A wheel, he explained was a thing of beauty, and should be exposed. Into the opening were set six lights, three on each side. The top lights were the taillamp, the center were backup lights and the bottom ones were the stoplights and turn signal indicators. Like the grille, the area around the lamps were perforated metal screen. Once all the bodywork was done, several pints of metallic were intermixed with a few gallons of green lacquer and the mixture sprayed over the Olds. The interior was reupholstered in black Naugahyde and the window moldings chrome plated both for a neat appearance and a for ease of cleaning. 1953 Cadillac hubcaps with custom spinners wrapped up the style.

Magazine Features and Appearances

Rod & Custom March 1954