With advanced styling and Rocket V8 horsepower, Oldsmobile recorded its best year to date, rising to fourth in the U.S. sales charts.
In a way, the ’55 Oldsmobile story really begins in the 1954 model year, when the General Motors division introduced an all-new car one year ahead of schedule. (Buick Special and Century, too, sharing the same B-body shell.) In its exterior styling, the ’55 Olds was essentially a facelift of the ’54 package, with revisions to the integrated front bumper/grille assembly and restyled side trim. Peaked front fenders accommodated a pair of especially handsome headlamp bezels, which soon became favorite pieces among the custom car crowd. Naturally, the ’54’s attention-getting wraparound windshield continued.
98 Holiday Sedan
Introduced on November 5, 1954, the ’55 Olds lineup included the usual models and body styles. Then 62 days later on January 6, Oldsmobile rolled out its first pillarless four-door hardtops, called Holiday Sedans, on all three trim levels: 88, Super 88, and 98. Technically, Oldsmobile wasn’t the first carmaker with a four-door hardtop, as Buick had unveiled its Special and Century Rivieras two days earlier. However, the two GM corporate siblings shared the same B-body shell, so in that regard it’s really a tie.
Rocket 202 V8 with Hydra-Matic transmission
Enlarged to 324 cubic inches in 1954, the original Olds Rocket V8 remained a powerful selling feature in ’55, with revisions to cam timing and carburetion to boost the output even further. Standard equipment in the base-model 88 was a two-barrel carb version rated at 185 hp, while the Super 88 and 98 received the four-barrel version with 202 hp at 4,000 rpm, marketed as the Rocket 202 (optional in the 88). More than 200 hp in a popular-price car was a minor sensation at the time. A three-speed manual transmission was standard, but more than 98 percent of Olds buyers in ’55 opted for Hydra-Matic, a $165 extra.
Super 88 Holiday Coupe
The combination of up-to-date styling, the latest body styles, and Rocket V8 power did the trick in ’55, as production and sales for the model year jumped 65 percent to 583,000 cars. Olds topped the half-million mark for the first time, rising to fourth place in U.S. sales. The Holiday models contributed well more than half the total, proving that hardtops—with two or four doors—were hot sellers. Of course, the booming economy, and with it the booming market for mid-priced cars in 1955, were also major factors. In a few years, that would change dramatically.
Oldsmobile Lansing plant final assembly, 1955
I had a childhood friend who was much older and a bad influence, but he had a ’55 Olds that we rearranged the letters in the grill to read “LIBOOMSLED”. It did wicked burnouts!
Clever!
Thanks! I’ve wondered where those headlamp doors came from. I could never quite place them. They look perfect on a ’51 Merc.
The 1954 Oldsmobile, though indeed a year ahead of its time, still looked a bit old-fashioned. The revisions to the fenders, grille and headlamp doors brought the styling up-to-date, and the addition of the Holiday Sedans (in all three series, no less!) helped Olds take fourth place “with flying colors” (the two-tones were indeed distinctiv)
My grandfather had a ’55 Holiday Sedan Super 88, have a picture of he and I with the car, but cannot post it. Great memories of it. A cream and burgundy two tone, white and black interior. It was the first car that I actually drove on the street… I was twelve… and I got caught!