After World War Two ended, GM’s designers and engineers must have been anxious to get back to designing and building cars. This 1950 Oldsmobile 88’s bold styling and powerful engine exemplify this enthusiasm. The 1950 Eighty-Eight is often described as the first muscle car due to its lightweight and powerful engine. You can find this example here on eBay in Hebron, MD, with bidding currently at $5,000 and a buy-it-now price of $15,000.
The lengths to which designers went back in the 50’s to make cars stylish rather than just functional never ceases to amaze me. The curvy sheetmetal, the hood ornament that looks like it could put out a careless eye and the generous use of chrome all come together to create a styling masterpiece. Who cared how much weight they added or how hard it was to push through the air? To help with that task, though, Oldsmobile’s engineers designed and installed the 303ci Rocket V8.
The seller doesn’t provide too many details about the car, but it’s said to have been in the family since 1973 and is described as fully operational. He also says it needs shocks and some cooling system repairs, that is was repainted in 1995 and received a fresh interior in 2003. Although the car is pretty dusty in the photos, it does appear to have good paint and a near-perfect interior.
Under the hood, things look mostly as they would have when this car left the factory, albeit slightly more soiled. At the Buy-It-Now price, I’d want to give this car a thorough once-over before handing over any funds, but it looks like it could be a nice driver and casual show car with just a bit of cleaning and mechanical refreshing.
Excellent garage find!
Bob
Nice! While I’ve had a life-long preference for the fastback model (where the expletive were they when I was looking for one, around 50 years ago?), this one is a very appealing example.
Add a triple carb manifold and dual exhausts and just cruise…
Cue the music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0
Ike was The Man! Thats Jackie Brenstons sax….this of course was Ike’s song and band. Saw Ike many times before he died…lived down in San Diego County…….still rocking to the end. Love me some Rocket 88
Two many doors
4 doors rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Knew someone 30+ years ago who buried one with a 48 Plymouth on top of it using it like fill to build up some land. Weird seeing the front end sticking out of the ground.
Is that a fuel injection unit on top of the engine?
Fuel injection, while I believe was invented, didn’t show up until the late 50’s. This is an odd Rochester “AA’ down (side?) draft 2 barrel carb. I think ’50 was the last year for these.
Your father called. He wants his Oldsmobile back!!
Very nice. Has a sensible number of doors.
The 2 door 88 was the 1st muscle car. Well documented. The 4 door, not so much. However, many an old man’s 4 door Olds showed up ( with wheel covers off) at “Airport Rd” late at night. ( and usually won) Nice car, but really, just your old man’s ( or widowed aunt’s) Oldsmobile.
Lovely looking car. I’ve always loved cars that are original, unmolested, properly maintained. The only thing I’d do is have a sunvisor above the windscreen. I understand that on some cars built between 1949 and 1954 you could have a sunvisor installed, either by the dealer, or you could do it yourself if you know how. That sounds like a better thing than the sunvisors inside the windscreen.
4 door unmolested cars rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am of the school that two doors are generally more sporty and therefore more desirable. But, and it is a big one, I am also older, my family that would be traveling with me are older, my friends are older and therefore I have moved into the camp of more doors are more fun. Ingress and egress have become important enough to warrant more doors.
I like this old car because I’m a ’51 model.
I don’t now how two extra doors would disqualify it as being a muscle car *rolls eyes* The roof line/ side view looks much more fluid and streamlined than a two door would. Now if you’re talking about a two door hardtop model, that’s a different story. But if you wanna talk go faster, I’ll put my 52 Super 88 up against any stock domestic of the same year. A 6 cyl Chevy or a flathead Ford would sound like the pistons are swapping holes at 70 mph and I drive my Olds at 85 mph and still have pedal left.
I wonder how one of these would run out in a match-up with my old Bentley of the same year? I once got stopped by a cop who was astonished when he clocked me at 104 mph and asked “Wow, just how fast will this old car go?” to which I smiled wide and replied, Gee, I don’t know, when I saw your flashing lights, I slowed down! (six-cylinder four-speed, RHD).
What I know about cars from across the pond could be written in inch high letters on the back of a postage stamp, but from the sounds of them when they take off, they’re geared very high for economy. My Olds is in 2nd gear and often 3rd before I get around a corner, I imagine it would pull stumps if you could get enough traction with the narrow bias ply tires lol But Olds was the darling of the NASCAR circuit in the early 50s. I’ve tromped on Ethyl and squaled the tires when she downshifted to 2nd lol
Well Howard, trust me – nothing, NOTHING on a Bentley was done with economy in mind! I loved it when people would pull up next to me at a red light expecting to blast away, only to find themselves blown into the weeds by the big vertical and very antique looking British sedan – it was the BMW or high-end Audi sports sedan of it’s time but quite rare when you figure the average annual production throughout the 1950s was never more than 850! That’s per YEAR!!