Synthetic engine completely dominated the American auto industry in the mid-1960s, with Chevrolet alone selling more than 1.6 million VND big car only in 1965. Oldsmobile also did well that year, moving well over half a million cars out of showrooms. At the top of the Oldsmobile pyramid in 1965 stands The mighty ninety-eight, despise older model plus all the proletariat Pontiacs and Chevrolets. This is one of those cars, residing in a self-service patio in the Denver area at the age of 56.
The most prestigious 1965 Chevrolets and Pontiacs (eg: Impala and Bonneville) ride up GM’s platform B is quite large, but the more advanced the Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac each part that has built the car above really big OLD platform. This is consistent with Alfred Sloan’s “Ladder of Success”, where your first car is Chevy, then you move up through the parts until you buy a Cadillac at its peak. Ninety-Eight is Oldsmobile’s flagship C-Body, starting in 1941.
This vehicle may seem huge, but its curb weight (4,201 pounds) is lower than today’s midsize SUVs. Eg, 2021 Buick Enclave weighs in at about 4,500 pounds.
Under the hood, we see the Rocket V8 425-inch (7.0 liter) engine, which produces 360 horsepower (total horsepower, that is; this will come like more than 290 net horses if measured by current methods). These engines did immense torque right out of the box, whatever system you care to measure it with, and the ’65 Ninety-Eight moved very well by the standards of the time.
Inside, there’s air conditioning (optional $441—now about $3,910—and, yes, A/C was an extra on all but the most expensive cars of 1965), clock, and AM radio. I was thinking about buying a watch for My collection, but 1960s Detroit watches almost never worked and were difficult to maintain fix.
The interior was toasted like cookies too soon by the Colorado sun, but it was very luxury when new.
It doesn’t rust, but few people seem interested in fixing a Detroit hardtop sedan of this era. When Littleton Police Department red-tagged it, the owner couldn’t or didn’t move it, and no one felt like rescuing it between drag yard and scrapyard.
In the trunk, there is a reasonably modern sound system on a homemade wooden shelf. It seems the driver will insert a CD or turn on the radio, close the trunk lid then listen to whatever has been set up for the next drive.
In the trunk there is also an aluminum tank, although it did not spill anything. Is the factory fuel tank leaking and/or clogged with nasty stuff, with this being a work-in-progress solution?
Body tags show that this vehicle was built in Lansing Automobile Assembly Plant in Michigan. Eighty Eights were also built there.
It was formed of steel, and the promise was fulfilled. Ninety-Eight’s polished intensity says that all the songs of the open road were written for it.
They don’t write car ads like that anymore!
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