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The Oldsmobile division of General Motors became the the company’s hottest unit of the 1950s after the new V8 engine was introduced in 1949. In the GM lineup, Oldsmobile was right in the middle. In ascending “status” order it was Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, but Oldsmobile was the most innovative division. One could say Oldsmobile took off like a Rocket when the Rocket 88 was introduced.
In the early 1950s, auto sales had slowed from the frantic sales right after World War II. The independent automakers, Packard, Nash, Kaiser-Frasier, Hudson and Studebaker, all had difficult times. But GM’s new success with Oldsmobile started in 1949 with the Rocket V8 engine that was originally planned to be used with the bigger, heavier and more expensive Olds 98, known as the “C” body car.
The smallest Olds used GM’s “A” body, and was called model 76. It came standard with a straight-six, 105-horsepower engine. Oldsmobile’s general manager, Sherrod Skinner, thought it would be a great idea to put the 135-horsepower Rocket 88 engine as an option in the smaller, lighter Olds 76 models and call that model the 88.
This was a pretty good idea, as it turned out — Oldsmobile sales increased by 64 percent in 1949. The new Rocket 88 outsold the cheaper 76 model even though the 88 models sold for $300 to $400 more, or about $3,000 to $4,000 more in today’s dollars. After 1950, the only engines offered for Oldsmobile were V8.
Not only were sales good and getting better each model year, the performance of the Olds 88 on the NASCAR tracks, (back when stock car racing was really stock car racing) was dominant, winning six of nine races with the 1949 Olds 88. Is it any wonder that a young sailor about to be discharged from the Navy had his eyes on Oldsmobile? Andy Mitchell, a Pittsburg native, was 22 years old.
“About 1954,” he said, “I was in San Diego, still in the Navy. We were downtown on the Broadway Plaza by the Seven Seas Locker Club, just milling around. I saw an Olds drive by. I knew it was an Olds because I knew what Olds looked like from ’49 and ‘50s. I found out for sure it was a ’53, and I told myself I would buy one when I got out. I went in July 1951 and got out July 1955 — four long years.”
Mitchell got transferred to Treasure Island and began looking for a car. There was no doubt what kind of car he wanted.
“In March of 1955, I got my Olds, a two-door hardtop. Boy, did I get some looks, especially when my wife (to be) was cruising around with me. I paid $2,200 (about $20,300 in today’s dollars) for the car. I had cash when I got out because I was sending my dad a war bond a month for almost four years.”
Mitchell has now owned this Oldsmobile for 64 years and used it as his daily driver for many of those years. He married Armida in 1957, had four kids, all of whom had their first ride home from the hospital in this issue’s 1953 Olds. Some of his youthful days show today, as the car has been lowered 2 inches and the somewhat loud mufflers are a long way from what GM installed.
In the 1950s, the Olds 88 was considered a midsize car, weighing about 3,600 pounds and sitting on 120-inch wheelbase. For comparison, today a full-size Buick LaCrosse (there are no more Oldsmobiles being built) weighs 3,800 pounds and sits on 114-inch wheelbase. In 1953, power steering was a $185 option ($1,700 today), power brakes were $33 ($305 today) and factory air conditioning was a whopping $550 ($5,075 today), but Mitchell’s car has none of those (I think if everyone had to parallel-park this car to get a driver’s license, the freeways would have half as much traffic).
This beautiful Oldsmobile has been well used and cared for. It has been restored in the period-correct fashion and won some local car show awards. The car has been professionally repainted twice and is now the original factory color scheme of a medium-blue top over a white bottom. The reupholstered interior mirrors the factory original. Mitchell is unsure how many miles are on the car, as he has changed the speedometer twice — but he estimates the figure at well more than 200,000.
It has had a couple different Rocket 88 engines. The 303-cubic-inch engine was replaced in 1962 with a 324-cubic-inch motor from a local “bone yard,” and that engine has been rebuilt a couple of times by Mitchell and his son, Tom. This car has been part of the Mitchell family longer than any other member, and there is no plan to change that.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, search for “David Krumboltz” at www.mercurynews.com.
