Owner Bill Jewell found the 1935 convertible seven years ago, in very poor condition; he renovated the mechanicals himself but jobbed out the body and interior restoration to local experts. Bob English for The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
The over-inflated automobile market of recent years may have collapsed like a blown tire after hitting a recessionary pothole of such epic proportions, but the doom and gloom headlines tend to obscure the fact that sales in North American this year could still top 12 million units - not everybody's life has been put on hold.
And that was also the case during the long, dreary Great Depression of the 1930s. The reality was, as it is today, that the majority of people still had jobs, and while they may have reined in their automotive aspirations a bit, many bought new cars. And there was still a small market for sporty-looking middle-class coupes and convertibles like the classy 1935 Oldsmobile seen here.
This handsome two-plus-two-in-the-rumble-seat roadster was driven to a late-fall, old-car meet recently by retired Bowmanville, Ont.-area dairy farmer and Olds enthusiast Bill Jewell, 83, who also owns a 1935 Coupe.
Oldsmobile wasn't exactly overwhelmed with buyers willing to be seen driving something rather flash in 1935; it built just 8,468 business coupes, 2,905 sport coupes and 1,598 convertibles that year, out of total production of just over 120,000 units. But it was riding out the depression in better shape than many with its offering of increasingly stylish inline-six and eight-cylinder models that were seen as practical and not too pricey.
Oldsmobile was founded in 1897 by pioneer Ransom E. Olds, became part of GM in 1908 and after a century as one of North America's more revered brands - for among many other things being the first to use chrome plating - was sent to history's scrapyard five years ago.
It had entered the 1930s with mechanically sound but unexciting cars that looked much as they had in the 1920s. But the decade saw a flurry of innovation and Olds was in the forefront, offering such things as an 87-hp, straight-eight-cylinder, 240-cubic-inch, L-head engine, independent "knee-action" front suspension, the automatic choke, all-steel (no wooden framework) "turret-top" bodywork and features like radios and pivoting "No-Draft" side windows.
Toward the end of the 1930s, a semiautomatic transmission was available and that was soon followed by the fully automatic Hydra-Matic transmission of 1940. By this time the Olds brand was becoming known for launching new GM technologies, a reputation it held well into the 1960s.
Jewell's convertible has a wheelbase of 115 inches (2,921 mm), the independent front suspension backed up by a solid rear axle and its drum brakes are hydraulically operated. His car, which weighs in at a hefty 3,155 lbs (1,431 kg) - and would have been purchased for about $800 (U.S.) - is powered by the 213-cubic-inch (3.5-litre) L-head or "flathead" six that makes about 75 hp and is fitted with a three-speed manual gearbox. He says it cruises comfortably at about 80 km/h.
Styling began the transformation from 1920s boxy to 1930s sort of art deco aero in 1933, moved through its (to my eye) most elegant phase in 1935-36, when Jewell's jewel was produced and to increasingly "modern" forms from there on.
Sports coupes and convertibles both featured bench seating for two up front and a rear deck "rumble" seat. If it rained, the couple up front were snug, protected by the folding top and wind-up windows, but the pair out back had to just grin and bear it, which was made even more difficult by the increase in cruising speeds that came with improving 1930s technology.
The rumble seat was already falling into disfavor for this reason - plus some might have considered it just a little dangerous - by the mid-30s and by the end of the decade it was history.
Jewell grew up in that recessionary era and the war years that followed, eventually taking over the family farm, which his father had acquired from Ray McLaughlin, a nephew of Canadian automotive pioneer and founder of GM Canada Colonel Sam McLaughlin. McLaughlin had earlier purchased a farm from Jewell's grandfather, which was later owned by Toronto tycoon E.P. Taylor and used as a summer residence.
But that was about as close a link to the car business as the family had. "I grew up with horses and buggies and cutters," says Jewell.
His father didn't own a car until 1936 when he purchased a 1928 Whippet, with 22,000 miles on its odometer, for which he paid $80. Jewell later learned to drive in it, but relied on a school bus during his school years.
For much of his working life Jewell drove a series of "family" cars but was eased into the hobby 33 years ago by his son, also named Bill, who spotted a 1935 Olds Coupe "in rough shape" at the Barrie Flea market. Jewell subsequently purchased and restored it.
He says son Bill has been a keen car enthusiast since he was 12 when he acquired a 1935 Oldsmobile sedan his grandfather had converted into a grain hauler. He restored it to its original condition and it still resides in Jewell's farm shed. He also has a '65 Corvette and in an odd twist is replicating his grandfather's conversion efforts by turning yet another 1935 Olds into a truck; this one to haul his son's racing go-karts.
The 1935 convertible was found seven years ago, also in very poor condition, and Jewell, as he had with his first one, renovated the mechanicals himself but jobbed out the body and interior restoration to local experts.
It was finished three years ago and today looks superb, one of only four known to be in restored condition in Canada, and is used regularly by a still enthusiastic Jewell to attend car shows "within about an hour-and-a-half's drive."