Oldsmobile’s 88, or Eighty Eight (no hyphen) as it was called during its last decade of production, had a 50-year run. That’s more than a lot of vehicles can say. I mean, if vehicles could talk, which they can’t. Although I wouldn’t mind talking to this 1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight in our garage. The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Boxborough, Massachusetts and they’re asking $14,995. Here is the original message, and thanks to T.J. for the message!
We have many Oldsmobile fans among the Barn Finds family of readers and the first thing they’ll probably lament is that this car isn’t the famous LSS (Luxury Sports Sedan) model with up to 240 horsepower from the supercharged 3.8 V6. This appears to be a base model, which is still nice for 1999 standards. They also offered a 50th-anniversary Edition with leather seats plucked from the 98.
Arctic White is not the most exciting color, or tone, but they offered an interesting bright Evergreen Metallic, two shades of red, a Midnight Blue Metallic and Gold Metallic, along with black and also white, of course, as seen here. Oh yeah, there was Champagne Metallic, too, the color I see most often in these cars. There were probably special colors mixed in at some point for different special editions. Interestingly, there was no silver available. This car would not make it in today’s society without offering silver! The trunk looks like new and that isn’t surprising, and here’s a photo of the underside. Amazing!
The 88/Eighty Eight was made from 1949 until 1999 and this car looks like it just rolled out of the showroom. With just 23,806 miles, it’s barely broken in even though it’s 26 years old now. The velour seats are standard as is the “divided front bench seat”, as Oldsmobile called it. The back seat looks like it’s never welcomed a passenger. Just expect everything to look like new here.
Speaking of looking like new, the 3.8-liter OHV transverse V6 also looks new. It would have had 205 horsepower and 230 lb-ft of torque going through a four-speed Turbo-Hydramatic to the front wheels. The selling dealer lists a total of $1,874 as having been spent on service and extensive detailing, and please read their ad, it’s a long one. Have any of you owned a last-generation Olds Eighty Eight?
I owned a ’99 Intrigue, a sibling to this car, so perhaps a comparison is not pertinent other than to note that my Intrigue had decent build quality and handling although it was not an especially inspiring car in any respect. I owned a handful of Oldsmobiles over the years (starting with a 1948 model) and, even though the writing was on the wall, I didn’t realize when I bought my Intrigue that in a few short years America’s oldest surviving automobile brand would ceast to exist.
Stunning condition. Looks to be a base model, but look how well appointed Dr Olds made them…. Comfortable, enjoyable transportation .
Under 3500lbs, 2.86⚙️ final drive ratio.
Like Todd J. says, the General was about to close the good Dr’s laboratory permanently.
I’ve driven 2 cars with 3800 V-6s and they’ll keep running as everything else falls away. Like the commenter above, one of those was a 1999 Intrigue that was great except for the constant failure of (of all things) its power window regulators! It’d be intresting to know if the 8ty 8 from that moment had the same problem.
My family had a couple of 3800s back in the day, utterly reliable. At the time, GM was stuffing them into cars that were a bit too heavy for the engine to really shine, but they always started & ran. A very well made engine.
The headline says Olds 98, i guess it could just be a generic GM car from that era. Looks solid.
#$%!!! Sorry about that, Sequoia Matt and all! Man, what a day. Thanks for catching that, sir.
No worries. I thought it was me having a senior moment for a second. Awesome job as always, Scotty!
No way, Matt, that was a huge blunder. I have 98/Ninety Eight/Ninety-Eight on the brain because my dad had a nice 1970 98 in the same exact color as the one Russ just wrote about. I can not believe I had the wrong title, uuuf. Thanks again!
I had a 92 88 for about 150,000 miles. An excellent, excellent car. The one and only problem I had was that the trunk opening was too small. It was a very big trunk, but how’s that for a criticism… Eventually, there was something that broke in the driver’s seat, so the padding fell through it on the bottom, so I figured it was time for a new car – a 1993 88. I drove that for a few more years, until I was kind of tired of reliability, comfort, its decent pick up and fuel efficiency, and leased a 2000 Ford Explorer 4 door V8.
I think this car is a little pricey, but it is a GREAT car…
In 1987 my father bought a 1977 Olds 88.
It had around 23,000 miles on it. It had the Chevy 350 in it. It was one of the best cars we ever owned. I put a couple hundred thousand miles on it and the tranny finally went and I junked it. They were really nice cars and very reliable.
had the same car in black but a 1998 and it 36k miles 1 owner. this 1 had buckets w/ floor shift. nice car but not a real good ride as the pontiac. sold it a year ago for 8k. not sure if they will get the asking #. seems a bit on the steep end.
had 1998 LSS which was a non supercharged model…was a fantastic car.While not much of GM guy…it was comfortable and reliable…alas..the rusties got the frame…of which was shocking as rest of the car was in great condition..still.all in all..a nice car..and this would be another..but way to much $$ imo.
Before he passed, my uncle (99yrs!) in Yuma AZ had one of these. He loved that car. We’d take my mom/his sister to visit him twice a year, at which time I’d make sure it got serviced and a fresh coat of polish. Who knows where that car started it’s life, but prior to my uncle acquiring it, it was used as a loaner by a local mechanic. It had over 325,000 on it, and it ran like a rocket. Ice cold AC, most of the electric/mechanical stuff still worked…great car. We gave it to his care-giver when he passed…I’ll bet it’s still on the road.