For Fan Car Friday this week we bring you our Burt and Li and their survivor 1959 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Scenicoupe. Fan Car Friday is a segment where we want to share with the world the automobiles that our fans have. We have absolutely no affiliation/relationship with the cars, the build or the owners. This post was made with written consent from the owner.
“Attached are some photos of our 1959 Olsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Scenicoupe, purchased in upstate New York in 1988. The ’59 is in front of the Museum of Transportation in Brookline, MA, where it won a BEST OF SHOW during an all GM event. In it’s better days, it has won around 12 awards (plaques, statuettes, etc.). In August of 1997, Li (my Dear Wife) & I and our ’59 Oldsmobile were in Lansing, Michigan to participate in the Centennial of the venerable OLDSMOBILE marque. We were in a 38 mile motorcade, with a Lansing police escort, around the city and the surrounding highway, with an approximation of 3,000 Oldsmobiles, representing nearly every year of production. OLDSMOBILE HEAVEN! Sadly, our ’59 Olds hasn’t been operating since 2011, because we do not have the funds nor the expertise to have the work performed. We are 88 year old seniors, with our only source of income being a pittance of social security. As far as we know, it requires a battery and a fuel pump but, who knows what else may be required in order to have it functional once again. Worst of all, it needs some serious body resto.
Cordially and, as we Olds lovers say “OLDSMOBILE-ly”,”
The Oldsmobile 88 (marketed from 1989 on as the Eighty Eight) is a full-size car that was sold and produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1999. From 1950 to 1974 the 88 was the division’s top-selling line, particularly the entry-level models such as the 88 and Dynamic 88. The 88 series was also an image leader for Oldsmobile, particularly in the early years (1949–51) when it was one of the best performing automobiles thanks to its relatively small size, light weight and advanced overhead-valve high-compression V8 engine. This engine, originally designed for the larger C-bodied and more luxurious 98 series, also replaced the straight-8 on the smaller B-bodied 78. With the large, high performance V8, the Oldsmobile 88 is widely considered to be the first muscle car, although this title is disputed.
A large number of variations in nomenclature were seen over this long model run — Futuramic, Super, Golden Rocket, Dynamic, Jetstar, Delta, Delmont, Starfire, Holiday, L/S, LSS, Celebrity, and Royale were used at various times with the 88 badge, and Fiesta appeared on some station wagons in the 1950s and 1960s. The name was more commonly shown as numbers in the earlier years (“Delta 88”, for example) and was changed to spell out “Eighty Eight” starting in 1989.
All Oldsmobiles were completely restyled for 1959, with the 88 series given longer, lower and wider styling on a GM B-body chassis. The 88 shared its appearance with the top-model Oldsmobile 98. Styling highlights for the new models, promoted as the “Linear Look,” included six-window styling on four-door pillared sedans, glassy semi-fastback rooflines on Holiday coupes and flat-blade rooflines with thin windshield and C-pillars on Holiday sedans which created a large open greenhouse effect. Two-door hardtops were called “Holiday Scenicoupes,” whereas four-door hardtops were called “Holiday Sport Sedans.” While many 1959 model cars featured bigger and sharper fins, Olds flattened theirs horizontally and reduced chrome from 1958 for a much cleaner look. Wheelbases on 88 models increased by one inch to 123 inches (3,124 mm).
A larger, 394 cubic-inch Rocket V8 with four-barrel carburation rated at 315 hp (235 kW) was standard on the Super 88. The lower-priced Dynamic 88 retained the two-barrel 265 hp (198 kW) 371 cubic-inch ’57–58 Rocket V8, with a 300 hp (220 kW) four-barrel version optional.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_88
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That year Oldsmobile had a unique speedometer that was horizontal across the dash and changed color as your speed increased. On our Super 88 it would eventually change to solid silver when it reached the end of the roll. Long ago and far away…
I took my driver’s test in a white Super 88. Brings back fond memories especially the speedometer, it was good for about 17,000 miles and would ultimately quit – difficult and expensive to repair or replace. A unique feature that of a horizontal bar showing mph.
When the speedo went to silver that was more than 120 mph. I had trouble with the speedo in my 59 Super88 so I took it out and send it out for repair upon return the repair place sent me the old drum with it it’s kind of like a long empty roll of toilet paper with the colored wrap around it. The rap started below zero and came together past 120 so you were cooking if you saw the silver.
Those cars had terrific top speeds…I just could never know just how accurate those speedos were…long, long before GPS… Actually my first GPS would not register above 100mph…used it in a Cessna 172 and would, sometimes, have to slow down to determine location….trivia for the day…