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.
Median 83 hp across 153 similar cars
Lead trim: Dynamic 88 371 cu in Rocket V8 (240 hp, 1960) · up to 315 hp
Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight1959–1960
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
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.
FactThis 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.
All Oldsmobiles were completely restyled for 1959 with the 88 given longer, lower and wider "Linear Look" styling on a GM B-body chassis shared with the top-model 98 (wheelbase up an inch to 123 in, length 217.6 in, width 80.6 in): six-window styling on four-door pillared sedans, semi-fastback rooflines on the two-door hardtops ("Holiday Scenicoupes") and flat-blade rooflines on four-door hardtops ("Holiday Sport Sedans"), with flatter horizontal fins. A larger 394 cubic-inch Rocket V8 with a four-barrel carburetor rated at 315 hp was standard on the Super 88, while the lower-priced Dynamic 88 retained the two-barrel 265 hp 371 V8 with a 300 hp four-barrel version optional. The 1960 makeover brought a bolder simpler grille, flatter tailfins and new taillights; Super 88 power remained the same while Dynamic 88s had their 371 V8 detuned to 240 hp to accommodate regular gasoline.
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
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamic 88 371 cu in Rocket V8 (240 hp, 1960) | 1960–1960 | 6.1 L V8 | 240 hp | 375 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Dynamic 88 371 cu in Rocket V8 2-barrel (265 hp, 1959) | 1959–1959 | 6.1 L V8 | 265 hp | 390 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Super 88 394 cu in Rocket V8 4-barrel (315 hp) | 1959–1960 | 6.5 L V8 | 315 hp | 435 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
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.
It briefly served as senior sibling to Marquette, a GM companion brand cancelled after just one year.
Nissan hired former BMW engineers to help develop the 510's suspension, which is why period reviewers frequently compared its handling to the BMW 1600/2002.
A Trabant 601 won its class at the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally, with a second 601 right behind it in second.
The 600 was a stopgap: the P50's body over the 601's mechanicals, and for a while its estate was built alongside the new 601 saloon.
The G80 Sport brought a 370 PS twin-turbo 3.3 V6, a mesh grille and copper-tinted chrome with copper stitching to match.
The Vigor was sold only with a five-cylinder engine, an unusual configuration Honda used to fit a longer engine transversely under a short hood.
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.