With Oldsmobile’s most powerful Rocket V8 and luxurious appointments, the 1962 Starfire was a strong seller for the Olds division, but sales faded from there.
The Starfire name has traveled around a bit in the Oldsmobile product portfolio. Its first appearance was on a four-seat, fiberglass sports car for the 1953 GM Motorama, the name no doubt inspired by the Lockheed F-94 Starfire jet aircraft. From 1954 through 1956 the Starfire was a 98 convertible, and in 1957 all 98 models bore the Starfire name. Then midway through the ’61 season, the Starfire name was reborn, this time on a specially equipped Super 88 convertible. For 1962, the Starfire was expanded into a more complete lineup with both a convertible and a Holiday Coupe.
The Starfire has often been described as an Oldsmobile version of the Pontiac Grand Prix introduced in 1962. That’s fairly accurate in that the two General Motors products are similar in theme and appointments, but actually the Starfire came first. “An Oldsmobile original,” the brochure declared. The fabulous cockpit featured two-tone bucket seats in multiple color combinations and a long console decorated in bright metal, with a floor shifter for the automatic transmission and a 6,000 rpm electronic tachometer—attractive, but well out of the driver’s line of vision.
The Starfire’s standard and only available engine in ’62 was Oldsmobile’s best, rated at 345 hp at 4,600 rpm (so much for the 6,000 rpm tach) and 440 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. The 1949 Rocket V8 had now grown from 303 to 394 cubic inches on the original architecture, close to the practical limit. With a 10.5:1 compression ratio, a sportier camshaft, low-restriction dual exhausts, and a Rochester 4GC carburetor, the Starfire V8 achieved the highest power rating ever for the first-generation Rocket V8. However, the only transmission offered in the Starfire was the 4-S Roto-Hydramatic, also known as the “Slim Jim,” not the most well-regarded among GM automatic transmissions.
By offering both a convertible and a hardtop coupe in 1962, Oldsmobile greatly expanded the potential market for the Starfire. Of the nearly 42,000 produced in ’62, not quite 35,000 were hardtops. The Starfire continued in the lineup through 1966, though it sold in ever lower numbers every season. In the final year, when only a hardtop was offered, just 13,000 cars were produced. The Starfire name would appear one more time at Oldsmobile on a compact hatchback, a mildly facelifted Chevy Monza offered in 1975-80.
In 1962, the neighbor who lived across the street from me bought a brand-new Garnet Mist Starfire hardtop coupe. (Interestingly enough, he owned a gas station and also purchased a new Ford F-100 pickup that same year.) It was the most stunning car I had ever seen at this point, save the 1960 “Route 66” Corvette. It was the exact replica of the Starfire shown at the top of this post, too…
I don’t know if that was the most popular color, but it was the one I saw the most. mcg
I literally saw one roll by my house a shade darker than this fine example. Within the last 3 days. A classmate had a ugly yellow one he drove. Would ignite the rear tires.
Wrong…the Route 66 Corvette was a 1962 .
3 C1s and 2 C2s were provided for the show between 1960 and 1964.
Wrong, Mr. Conrad. Chevrolet, the sponsor, supplied the the latest model year Corvette during the show’s run:
• A 1960 Corvette was used in the show’s pilot episode.
• A 1961 model was used for the majority of the first season.
• A 1962 Corvette was then used through the middle of season 3.
• A 1963 coupe came along in the middle of season 3.
• And finally, a 1964 coupe was used for the final episodes.
Correction: Corvette convertibles were also used in the 1963 – 1964 years.
And this site did a nice piece on the Route 66 Corvettes, back in 2020: https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-corvettes-of-route-66/
Guess I need to go to Amazon Prime streaming and refresh my memory by binge watching Route 66!
I owned a 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire had a 394 cubic inch motor in it car would down the highway
… and after 60 years they still stand out…
I’ll never forget when my dad drove up to my school in his brand new 62 Starfire coupe. Black with the blue interior – a rare combination as it turned out. He had ordered it about 6 weeks earlier and could not wait to get it. He traded a 58 Caddy convertible for it. Kept it for about 6 years. By then, it had all manner of engine and transmission issues. His next car was a used 67 Imperial Lebaron. That 440 was even more of a beast than the Olds Rocket which is saying a lot.
My grandparents had a star fire oldsmobile in 1964. It was the 4 door. We used to go on trips in it. It had a green cold engine light that went out when the engine warmed up. 😃
My best friend in 3rd and 4th grades at Christ the King Grammar School in Denver CO, in 1962-63 was a kid named Chris Leahy. His father, Frank Leahy…..now a successful insurance industry executive, was also the former football coach at Notre Dame University in the mid 1940s through the mid/late 50’s, won one or more national NCAA championships and had many heralded players like Heisman Trophy winner Hall of Famer Paul Hornung among others play for him. His oldest daughter who was around 16 or 17 at the time …had the keys to Frank’s brand new Starfire convertible, and carted her little brother Chris and I around to run errands or head to Aylard’s s Drive-in in 1962 Denver CO, for an occasional ice cream cone or milk shake. Us 9 year old kids thought we were hot shit riding around in such a badass car for the day….a year later my Dad bought a ’63 Olds Dynamic 88 with the most mild 394)2-bbl that made 280hp….I learned how to drive in some years later….no slouch…but certainly not a Starfire!!
Back in1962, my cousin and her husband bought a new “Starfire Convertable” in Burgandy w/white top. It was a real knockout ! I always loved the Stainless side panel. A really beautiful Olds !
Probably one of the best car names ever (for the ’61-’66 models), certainly one of the most romantic and, forgive this pun, dynamic
My dad was always an Olds.guy. He owned a tranny shop in L.A. I was 5 years old in 62 n one Saturday morning he tool me to the Olds dealer in South Gate n he bought a black Starfire off the showroom floor with blue interior. I remember waiting with him at the dealer while they were prepping it. A week later he pulled the motor and installed a set of Jahns racing pistons 11.5 to 1 compression ratio. That car was a beast! Unfortunately the Slim Jim trans couldnt handle the power too long n he would rebuild it every 2 months lol. I can still remember all the good times we had in that car like it was yesterday. Great car!
I must declare.that I owned a 1976 Starfire (Chevy – Monza; Pontiac -Sunbird; Buick – Skyhawk cousins) with the Buick 231 c.i. V6 and a four speed transmission. The car was very fast and handling was superb. The only problem with these H-Body cars (Based on the Chevy Vega platform) was that the V6 and V8 engines were too heavy and cramped on the engine bay, the car would bottom out and rip the oil pan if you took the bump too fast. I had to replaced two oil pans and cracked the cross member of the chassis going through Manhattan NY on my way to work at 5 o’clock in the morning. NOT GOOD!
Will never forgive GM for dumping olds and Pontiac.
Would you say the same thing if you owned them and weren’t making any profits?