Join the parade of dozens and dozens of ’59 Oldsmobiles in this original GM film staged in beautiful San Francisco.

The setting for this remarkable 1959 Oldsmobile film is the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco, which doesn’t exist anymore. Controversial from the time it was constructed, the double-deck, elevated freeway was severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and demolished rather than rebuilt. Even before the earthquake there was an energetic campaign to remove the freeway, as residents complained it disrupted the city’s neighborhoods and damaged its beautiful skyline. We can see their point in watching the film, which provides awesome views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Ferry Building. 

To be honest, we lost count of how many ’59 Oldsmobiles were used to create the parade for the filming—we think we saw more than three dozen. Olds used a similar gimmick in June of 1958, supplying 113 cars for the dedication of the giant Mackinac Bridge, linking Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas. GM’s Lansing division was big on event marketing in those days, as Oldsmobile was also the official pace car for the 1960 Indianapolis 500.

As we’ve noted before here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, all five GM car divisions went over the top in exterior styling for ’59. (See our features on the ’59 Cadillac here and ’59 Chevy here.) Olds was no exception, sporting elaborate fin-pods over the rear quarter panels, 80.8 inches in overall width, and a 10-inch longer body shell than in ’58. Olds called it the Linear Look. There were three trim levels that year: the volume-leader Dynamic 88, the Super 88, and the flagship Ninety-Eight. All are probably represented in the video below.