There’s chrome, and then there’s 1958 Buick chrome—the sort that turns sunlight into confetti. Lou Costabile’s camera found a Roadmaster 75 in Chicago, and it didn’t just pose. It performed. The star?

1958 was the last year for the Roadmaster, as Buick abandoned the nameplate until 1991, when the resurrected model smiled in front of the public as a 4-door sedan and a 5-door station wagon. The ...