A fire at GM's own Hydra-Matic plant forced some 1953 Oldsmobiles to ship with a Buick transmission instead.
Median 85 hp across 130 similar cars
Lead trim: 88 303 cu in Rocket V8 (135 hp, 1949) · up to 160 hp
Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight1949–1953
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactA fire at GM's own Hydra-Matic plant forced some 1953 Oldsmobiles to ship with a Buick transmission instead.
The Oldsmobile 88 (marketed from 1989 as the Eighty Eight) was a full-size car produced by the Oldsmobile Division of GM from 1949 until 1999, and from 1950 until 1974 the division's most popular line. Oldsmobile introduced the 88 badge for its new Rocket V8-powered mid-range in 1949, replacing the straight-8-engined 78 and complementing the Seventy-Six and luxury 98. The new car used the new A-body platform of the straight-six 76 but paired it with the company's new 303 cu in (5.0 L), 135 horsepower V8, a combination of a relatively small, light body and a large powerful engine that made it a sensation in performance circles (some regard it as the first muscle car): it won six of nine NASCAR late-Carrera Panamericana model division races in 1949, 10 of 19 in 1950 and 20 of 41 in 1952, and inspired the slogan "Make a Date with a Rocket 88" and a song. In 1951 the 88 moved to the B-body and became the entry-level Olds with the discontinuation of the six-cylinder 76, and the more upscale Super 88 debuted on a 120 in wheelbase (119.5 in for the 88 through 1951); in 1952 Super 88s got a new four-barrel carburetor upping output to 160 hp and the base 88 shared the Super's rear body panels and wheelbase; 1953 was the only year of the DeLuxe 88 name, and a fire at GM's Hydra-Matic plant led to some 1953 models being built with Buick's two-speed Dynaflow. Length 202 in, width 75.2 in.
Collectors Spotted in the Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
2 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 303 cu in Rocket V8 (135 hp, 1949) | 1949–1949 | 5.0 L V8 | 135 hp | 253 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Super 88 303 cu in Rocket V8 4-barrel (160 hp, 1952–1953) | 1952–1953 | 5.0 L V8 | 160 hp | 265 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
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Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Its Regency version had a self-dimming driver's door mirror as standard, something even Cadillac did not fit as standard.
This Eighty Eight could talk: an optional computer-synthesized male voice warned you out loud if the coolant was low, the engine overheated, or you'd left the headlights on.
In 1988 it became the first GM car offered with a driver's-side airbag, twelve years after GM had dropped its earlier ACRS airbag system.
The 1977 downsizing hit hard — this full-size Delta 88 ended up riding on the exact same 116-inch wheelbase as the mid-size Cutlass sedan, and nearly 900 lb lighter than the model it replaced.
In 1974 you could special-order a Delta 88 with driver and passenger airbags — a rarely-picked factory option that made it one of the first production cars ever offered with them.
Oldsmobile named this car after a Cold War fighter jet: having already borrowed the Starfire name from an Air Force plane, it named the Delta 88 after the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor.
Early-60s 88s read speed off a 'speed bar' — a rolling cylinder painted green, yellow and red that scrolled past a window as the car sped up.
This 88 had a speedometer that color-coded your speed for you — green under 35, amber up to 65, red beyond that, decades before dashboards did this digitally.
A Ford stylist bought a chrome-heavy 1958 Olds as a daily driver, then rearranged its hood lettering to spell "SLOBMODEL" as a jab at the era's design excess.
The 1956 Olds 88 quietly killed a chore drivers had lived with for 16 years: its new Jetaway Hydra-Matic was the first Oldsmobile automatic that never needed the periodic band adjustment its predecessors required.
A fire at GM's own Hydra-Matic plant forced some 1953 Oldsmobiles to ship with a Buick transmission instead.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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A Trabant 601 won its class at the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally, with a second 601 right behind it in second.
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The GS/E coupe earned the nickname "German Charger" for its long hood, short deck stance borrowed from Detroit muscle cars.
This DeVille/Fleetwood was the first production car anywhere to mount its V8 sideways, Cadillac's front-drive gamble on the new C-body.