Olds Favorite

Wes Rydell’s ’40 Oldsmobile Wins TCR Best Street Rod

- Tim Bernsau

The Best Street Rod award at the STREET RODDER Triple Crown of Rodding, presented by Painless Performance Products, went to this ’40 Olds mobile 90 Series sedan. The Olds is one of the latest in a long line of extraordinary street rods owned by Wes Rydell of Grand Forks, North Dakota. And the award is the latest in an equally long line of prestigious prizes won by him.

He’d already won many awards when his ’35 Chevy, built by Chip Foose, won the Ridler Award at the 2002 Detroit Autorama. In 2014, Rydell won America’s Most Beautiful Roadster at the Grand National Roadster Show with another ’35 Chevy, a phaeton built by Troy Trepanier at Rad Rides by Troy.

Wes’ three newest cars grabbed the hot rod world’s attention in 2016. The ’39 Cadillac, “Madam X,” was another collaboration with Foose. “Madam V” is a ’48 Cadillac built by Ring brothers. Both were revealed at the 2016 SEMA Show. The third car, Wes’ ’40 Olds, was introduced earlier in 2016.

Like his other rides, Wes’ Olds has a name. “The car was purchased from a person in Northern Michigan,” he explains. “It originally came from North Dakota. As it turns out, the car was owned for many years by a lady from Buxton, which is a town only 20 miles south of my hometown of Grand Forks. The car came with an extensive written history describing how Agness, the owner of the car, cherished it. My wife, Vivian, and I drove down to Buxton and found Agness’ grave in the cemetery. We decided then that we just had to name the car ‘Agness.’”