Falling under Oldsmobile’s Eighty Eight family (there was no hyphen by this point), the Luxury Sports Sedan, or LSS, is often shown as being an Oldsmobile LSS without the Eighty Eight designation. Just in case you were wondering why that wasn’t included. This supercharged 1996 Oldsmobile LSS can be found here on craigslist in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and the seller is asking $4,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to supercharged Rocco B. for the tip!
Medium Gray Metallic is the paint color on this incredibly nice-looking survivor sedan, one of 10 colors available for the LSS, or actually, for the entire line of Eighty Eight, too. As with the Eighty Eight, the LSS only came in a four-door sedan body style, and as much as I like four-door sedans, I’ve often wondered what a two-door coupe version might have looked like… (insert wavy dream sequence here) (cough). It would have been a no-brainer for Oldsmobile’s top performance car of the era. Here’s an Olds LSS brochure to check out.
I can’t quite tell if the dark spot on the top right of the license plate recess is a nick or just a trick of the camera, and maybe a shadow. I also see the spots by the Oldsmobile badge, and I’m guessing those are reflections rather than little dings. We don’t get to see inside the trunk compartment, and even more importantly, there are no underside photos. The good thing is that while an Illinois car that’s three decades old may have some rust, they say this car is from Georgia and it’s only been in the Land of Lincoln for a short time. I know, Georgia is humid and vehicles can rust there, too.
The tenth-generation Eighty Eight/Eighty-Eight/88 would be the last for this model, which is a sad bit of trivia. I miss this car company. Oldsmobile offered the Eighty Eight and the LSS model from 1992 through 1999, and the ’96 cars got a nice refresh. The leather seating surfaces, both front and rear, were standard on the LSS models, and they look almost perfect, other than some usual light creases on the driver’s side. This car has 72,000 miles, so it hasn’t been stored away somewhere, but that’s only 2,400 miles a year.
The engine is a Buick-sourced 3.8-liter OHV V6 with a Roots-Eatan supercharger and 240 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent through a 4T60-E Turbo-Hydramatic transmission to the front wheels, and it gives a pretty sprightly 0-60 time of in the mid-seven-second range. The seller says it has new ” tires, valve cover gaskets, CV axles, battery and starter solenoid,” and the ABS light is on due to a wheel speed sensor. He’s including two new parts to fix that. If this car checks out in person, this is a steal for such a special model and what appears to be one in great overall condition. Have any of you owned or driven an Olds LSS?
I think the smudge around the license plate recess is just “overspray” from clumsily blacking-out the plate in a photo editor, but those ripples on the lower trunklid edge by the Oldsmobile badge can also be seen in another photo from a rear quarter view, so I don’t think those are just reflection artifacts.
You really can’t expect perfection for 4,500 bucks. Still very nice for a 30 year old car. Also, nice two door version Scotty G..
This looks really solid, and the price?? Not much out there for 4500 bucks. I doubt this will be for sale for long. Like the 2 door version too Scotty. Liked the dealer brochure as well. I always like it when they’re included in your write ups.