1949 was a big year for Oldsmobile. The company introduced the 88, which combined the slightly shorter body of the 76 with the V8 engine of the flagship 98. The 88 became the company's fastest vehicle ...

In the years immediately following World War II, the American automotive landscape was a bit of a snooze fest. Manufacturers were still dusting off pre-war designs, and performance was reserved for ...

Introduced in 1949 as a slightly smaller and more affordable alternative to the 98, the Oldsmobile 88 remained in showrooms for a whopping 50 years. But the long production run isn't the only feat the ...

The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 hit showrooms in 1949, and might have been a fairly unremarkable car had Oldsmobile’s engineers not decided to shoehorn a powerful V8 motor, originally destined for its bigger ...

Many of the cars released in the years immediately following the conclusion of WWII were lightly massaged prewar models. But not the '49 Oldsmobile 88. It's styling was clean, simple, futuristic -- ...

Oh no, an asterisk! All right, there are other possible firsts. How about the 1932 Ford V8? It ticks the boxes and Clyde Barrow of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame allegedly wrote a letter bragging about its ...

The Rocket 88 ruled the road and the race track, becoming the launching pad for the musclecar era. It was more by accident than design that General Motors’ now-vanquished Oldsmobile brand gave birth ...

Remember the kid in American Graffiti with the black 49 Olds coupe? Thats right, there wasnt a guy like that or a car like thatnot in the movie, anyway. But if youd been in that place at that time, ...

Q: Greg, I enjoyed your recent Plymouth “Gone but never forgotten” feature that appeared in our newspaper and its website. I’m wondering if you could do a similar story on the Oldsmobile, another top ...

Debuting with the 1949 model year, the Oldsmobile 88 soon became the brand’s image leader and most profitable line in the rapidly expanding post-World War II economy. The sleek new lines of the 88 ...