One random writing reference I encountered in my research about the 1950s . . . this slang dictionary website: https://www.alphadictionary.com/slang/
You can search for keywords and set the end/beginning years of when terms were used. Some fun results show up.
For example, if I type in ‘car’ I learn that in the 1920s “struggle buggy” was a term for the backseat of a car and “ragtop” was a term for a convertible in the ’50s.
Some other results in the ‘car’ search results:
I don’t think it’s comprehensive but it tickles me. I have to remind myself not to fill my writing with period-specific slang just because it’s fun. It gets kitschy quickly. But maybe that’s something to fix in the next draft.
With Love,
Natalie