1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 – Project Profile

American cars from the 1950s are cool. Look, we don’t make the rules. That’s just how it is. The 1960s did of course give birth to the muscle car, making that decade pretty cool, too. But then everything got big and boaty and floppy in the ’70s, and then suddenly very, very small in response to the oil crisis. The 1950s were a period unencumbered with such concerns though, and American car designers were having a whale of a time. They were also in love with the space age, as evidenced by the fins, the chrome and in the case of this 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88, its ‘rocket’ branded engine.

Of course, owning an American car in the UK, especially one of this vintage, can be tricky. You don’t want to buy one so far gone that getting even the simple parts is difficult. No, you want something that runs and drives, and that you can either finish off or put your own mark on. This 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 is exactly that. It runs, it drives, it’s complete and it’s in decent condition overall. It just needs a little tickle and tlc.

What is it?

The car we have here is a 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88, and the Super bit is important. For the second-generation of the 88, the 324cui ‘Rocket’ V8 engine produced 185bhp in the 88, but in the case of the Super, that was upped to 202. The car here is a two-door coupe, as evidenced by the heavy B-pillars – the coupe lacking those was the Holiday version. It’s fitted with a four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, which was the first fully automatic transmission developed for passenger cars, having come to market first in the 1930s. You’ve also got the bench seats, the lashings of chrome, a deliciously green interior, Moon style hubcaps and the all important, thrusting rocket bonnet mascot. Brilliant.

Why is it a project?

This isn’t a project in the sense of it needing a full restoration or anything like that. The seller states that the Oldsmobile starts, runs, drives and stops. The electrics work and by and large, it’s pretty put together. It’s just one too many projects for the seller, and the car is also starting to show its age a little given the once green car was at some point painted black, which shows. It also had a front end knock at some point apparently, which has been fixed though one bonnet hinge can be a tad temperamental. Oh, and the gear selection display in the dash doesn’t work, which is almost certainly a dislodged or missing cable/spring. Nothing to panic about. The seller also states that the underside is solid, but would benefit from a bit of a clean up. All easy, home, DIY jobs, then.

Five things to look for:

1) Trim

You can’t pop into your local Oldsmobile dealer and buy trim for this. Mainly because you don’t have a local Oldsmobile dealer. So you’re going to need to make sure the bumpers, the lights, the chrome, the glass and the window surrounds etc are all in good, usable condition, as finding replacements is going to be a headache for this rare car.

2) Engine

The 342cui V8 ‘Rocket’ is a touch little unit, but it’s nowhere near as common as the offerings from Ford and Chevrolet, which boast off the shelf parts even here in the UK. For this Olds, you’re going to need to search online for engine parts, so check how it runs, temperatures, look for leaks, make sure it’s healthy.

3) Interior

Again, rarity is what’s going to put the sting on here. Happily, the interior of this Oldsmobile looks really good. It’s even had seatbelts fitted, which is a nice bonus. Just do the usual checks; look for anything missing or broken, look for damage, lift the carpets and have a look at the floors etc.

4) Chassis

The 88 is a body on chassis arrangement (B Body) so you need to really look at the condition of the chassis rather than the body, as the latter isn’t at all structural. Check for rust, repairs and weak spots on the mounting areas and the like. If it’s in a bad way, you could be looking at taking the body off to do a proper restoration.

5) Differential

Again, because of the rarity of it you need to make sure there are no whines, groans or clunks coming from the differential. You might find a replacement, but it’d cost a fortune to ship from the states, so you’d probably end up going down the route of a bespoke solution using another brand’s diff. Ford 9 inch anyone?

What should you do with it? 

If it were us putting £12,500 into this 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88, we’d keep it simple. Full mechanical service and freshen up, give the underside a clean, sort that bonnet hinge out and then we’d maybe hop it up a bit. Bigger carb, better intake, custom headers so we can really hear that V8 sing. That’s be about it though. There is a hard earned patina here, and it would be a shame to restore that out of the car. Plus, the patina makes this Oldsmobile the kind of classic you can use, not baby. And that’s what it’s all about – that V8 soundtrack and the open road.