My long-time friend Mel Satok is currently vacationing in Palm Springs CA and doesn't keep up to date with this site as he's not a car guy. Too bad, as he would absolutely love the Oldsmobile featured here. Mel and I met as neighbours living on opposite sides of the street when he knocked on my door to explain that he'd just backed into the side of my gorgeous 1966 Corvair convertible. Not a good way to begin a friendship but as Mel's a gentle soul and an architect and as I was interested in design of all kinds, we made peace.

Mel had a wife (now his ex-), two daughters, and twin sons. For him, a station wagon was a suitable choice, the minivan having not yet been invented (except by Volkswagen, who neglected to tell anyone). An Oldsmobile F-85 Vista Cruiser, with its stylish raised roof and glass inserts, would be ideal for Mel Satok. My memory may be suspect but Mel's Olds probably wasn't a Vista Cruiser, just a base wagon, he being a practical-minded non-car guy. Still, whenever we chat about those times, Mel fondly remembers that Olds wagon. It was black. Or maybe blue. I'm not certain.

What I find enchanting about the Olds Vista catalog shown here and available from McLellans Automobile.com is the railway train in the background. It was best-known as the Santa Fe Super Chief and its overhead window design was copied by Oldsmobile. Both the train and the automobiles are reminders of a time when travel was a romantic affair and the machines we traveled in were works of art.