There are a couple of significant firsts attributable to the Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Some consider it to be the first muscle car (although the term wasn’t widely used until the mid-‘60s), thanks to the combination of a (relatively) small and light body with a powerful – the 135bhp, 5-litre “Rocket” V8 engine from the bigger Oldsmobile 98 – an example followed by just about every car maker on the planet in future decades. The Rocket 88 was very successfully campaigned in NASCAR competition in the early 1950’s, and a Rocket 88 also won the 1950 Carrera Panamericana race.
It also had what is considered by many – although not all – to be the first rock ‘n’ roll song named after it, “Rocket 88”, recorded in 1951 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (actually Ike Turner’s band). The song is a hymn of praise to the Oldsmobile – sample lyric;
Let me introduce you to my Rocket ’88
Yes, it’s great, just won’t wait
Everybody likes my Rocket ’88
You can listen to it here – Rocket 88 (Original Version) – Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston – YouTube.
Incidentally, a piano has 88 keys – coincidence? Almost certainly…
Anyway, the Rocket 88 was not only a success on the racetrack and music charts, but also in the showroom – doubtless helped by those first two factors. The advertising for the Rocket 88 made heavy use of space rocket imagery – unsurprisingly – and slogans such as “Make a date with an 88!” or “Make a date with an 8!”.
Like many US cars of the time, the Rocket 88 received annual metal and specification changes even within the same generation and on through ten generations in total from 1949 until 1999.
Body styles available were four-door saloon, estate, two-door coupé and “Holiday” coupé, although the estate was dropped in 1951.Transmission was via the so-called Whirlaway Hydra-Matic Drive – you have to love the brand names!
Despite being smaller than the flagship 98 model from which the Rocket V8 came, these were still big cars, almost 17 feet long and over six feet wide, so performance was in reality still relatively modest – the Rocket 88 could reach a top speed of 97mph and covered the 0-60mph sprint in 13 seconds – not particularly quick by later muscle car standards, but reasonably impressive in 1949.
In 1952 a more powerful, four-barrel carburettor 160bhp engine was made standard for the more luxurious Super 88 (the base 88 kept the 135bhp engine), and two years later, the second generation 88 was introduced.
Our Prime Find is an early Rocket 88, from 1949, and is offered for sale at the same auction as last week’s VW Beetle, the H and H sale at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford on October 19th.
A brief history of the car since new – including a lengthy period in storage – is outlined in the auctioneers’ lot entry. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of paperwork to support it, though – what documentation there is includes an original owner’s manual, instructions and information about the Whirlaway Hydramatic transmission, and some copies of pages featuring the car in the book “Oldsmobile 1948-1963.
The current owner and vendor acquired the car from a collector in 2018. According to the auctioneers, the vendor “rates the condition of the bodywork, engine, paintwork, transmission and interior trim as ‘Very Good’, with the electrical equipment ‘Good’. We only have the photographs – which look like they were taken after it had rained – that we’ve borrowed from the auctioneers’ website to go on, but quite a few of them are fairly close up, and the vendor’s assessment looks reasonable.
The car is still in its original colour of Garnet Maroon that suits it’s sleek, fastback shape very well. It’s not stated if the car has been resprayed or not, but I would be surprised if it hasn’t. It sits on a set of recently renewed whitewall tyres and I have to say, it looks really smart.
The grey cloth interior looks really good, no worn-out patches showing, no holes or tears, though perhaps a proper clean to lift out what dirt there is, and the same is true of the door-cards. Carpets look in good general condition, including those in the boot. Under the big bonnet, the five-litre engine – complete with “Oldsmobile Rocket” rocker covers – looks impressively clean.
There’s quite a lot of chrome on this Oldsmobile – it’s a late ‘40s American car, after all – and again, looking at the photos, it looks to be in good order, as does the underside of the car.
Mileage is not stated, but zooming in on the instrument binnacle, it looks as if the reading is about 41,100, which if correct would surely be mentioned, so more likely to be 141,000. Having said that, the car was in storage for almost thirty of its 73 years, so who knows – perhaps there is more information in whatever history file comes with the car.
There are 90 photographs in the full lot entry – you can see them all here – and the car carries an estimate range of £18,000 to £22,000 which if it’s as good as it looks, seems very reasonable. I can find another example for sale in Lithuania with an asking price of EUR 19,900, but that one doesn’t look as good as our Prime Find.
I really like the look of this Rocket 88, and whoever makes a successful bid for it will be buying a piece of genuine American motoring history. They won’t run into many others, either, at least not in the UK – I don’t remember seeing one here before. It looks really cool, and will make an impression wherever it goes.
As usual, should you be tempted to bid on this fine American classic, we recommend arranging an inspection ahead of making your offer, if possible.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk