Monday, May 7, 2012

Driven, Worked on, Owned, and of course, no longer being made

The Oldsmobile 88 (a.k.a. Eighty-Eight) is a full-size car sold by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors and produced from 1949 until 1999. From 1950 to 1974 the 88 was the division's top-selling line, particularly the entry-level models such as the 88 and Dynamic 88. The 88 series was also an image leader for Oldsmobile, particularly in the early years (1949–51) when it was one of the best performing automobiles thanks to its relatively small size, light weight and advanced overhead-valve high-compression V8 engine originally designed for the larger C-bodied and more luxurious 98 series but it also replaced the straight-8 on the smaller B-bodied 78, creating what was considered the predecessor of musclecars of the 1960s.



A large number of variations in nomenclature were seen over this long model run—Futuramic, Delmont, Delta, Dynamic, Jetstar, Starfire, Super, Holiday, L/S, LSS, Celebrity, and Royale were used at various times with the 88 badge, and Fiesta appeared on some station wagons in the 1950s and 1960s. The name was more commonly shown as numbers in the earlier years ("Delta 88", for example) and was changed to spell-out "Eighty Eight" starting in 1989.
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