The L34 used a 4-barrel carburetor and produced 160170hp (120130kW) and 275ftlbf (373Nm). The FirePower, Buick Nailhead, and Chevrolet V-8s didnt exist yet. The PYPF cookie normally expires in approximately four weeks, the 01A1 cookie in approximately one year. NASCAR held nine Grand National races in 1949, of which stock Rocket 88s won six. 6 (July 1962), pp. The Oldsmobile V8, also referred to as the Rocket, is series of engines that was produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1990. In an OHV engine, the valves are placed directly above the combustion chamber, which greatly improves breathing. Email or call Mark at 217/390-8500 with questions, or to inspect or test drive. 98. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. Although production of the 455 ended in 1976, a small number were produced through 1978 for power equipment use, such as motorhomes, boats and irrigation equipment.[15]. The Olds 403 was used by Buick and Pontiac in addition to Oldsmobile until its discontinuation after 1979. in. An 88 also won the first grueling Carrera Panamericana, the 2,176-mile (3,500-km) Mexican Road Race. edu/~wkovarik/ papers/fuel.html, accessed 30 May 2008, and Henry Ford, Charles Kettering, and the Fuel of the Future,' Automotive History Review #32 (Spring 1998), pp. Classifieds for Classic Oldsmobile Rocket 88. The 455 big block Olds V8 was replaced in 1977 with the 403cuin (6.6L) small block, which used a 4.351in (110.5mm) bore, the largest ever used in a small-block V8, with the Olds small-block standard deck and 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke. If the fluid reservoir was empty, a complex double-float and valve assembly in the Turbo-Rocket Fluid path would set a second butterfly (positioned between the throttle butterfly and the turbocharger) into the closed position, limiting the amount of boost pressure. ROCKET RACING & PERFORMANCE - Oldsmobile Performance, Olds Block Change Background Color (Note: This option sets cookies on your device to manage your color settings; see the Cookie Notice for details. It was the only GM engine to meet US emission standards using a carburetor all the way up to 1990. The cookieconsent_status cookie recorded whether or not you consented to analytics tracking and told the website to hide the notification banner; this cookie normally expires after about one year. Nice Article thank you for preserving our history. There will typically be several such cookies, each beginning with "gdpr" (e.g., gdpr[allowed_cookies], gdpr&5Bprivacy_bar&5D, and gdpr[consent_types]). For anyone interested the 1950 Mexican road race where 12 Olds 88s entered and 10 finished, eight of the 10 were beaten by a flathead Nash. In development, the high compression ratio combined with the charged load created problems with spark knock on hard throttle applications, which led Olds to develop and utilize a novel water-injection system that sprayed metered amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol (dubbed "Turbo-Rocket Fluid") into the intake manifold air-stream to cool the intake charge. Power was 81 hp at 3000 rpm. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. The second generation of Oldsmobile V8s was produced from 1964-1990. [citation needed]. (2,969 cc) six with a compression ratio of 12.5:1, where most contemporary engines had ratios of no more than 7.0:1. This was not an official assignment; he was simply exploring ideas for his own interest and amusement. [19] The 403 was never featured with a manual transmission and the crank was never manufactured for a pilot bearing. Off.).) The 76 lingered for one more model year and then was dropped entirely; the division wouldnt offer a six again until 1964. Submitting a comment signifies your acceptance of our. 1, 3-5; www.azoldsclub. As part of its marketing campaign for the Rocket V8, Oldsmobile arranged for an 88 convertible to handle the pace car duties at the Indy 500, with speedway president Wilbur Shaw at the wheel. It was rated at 215hp (160kW) at 4600rpm and 300lbft (410Nm) at 3200rpm. 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 The Oldsmobile 88 was introduced in 1949 as a replacement for the 70 series. Brand new box. Not all the listed cookies and/or data items are necessarily set in all instances, and there may sometimes be others not listed above, particularly if you are logged into a Google account. Some Oldsmobile employees detested that name, but it remained strongly associated with Oldsmobile well into the 1960s. This Is Why We Would Love To Own A 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 - HotCars 76. 96. For 1957 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 Battery Cable SMP 68152PP 6.1L V8 Oldsmobiles first OHV V8, dubbed the Rocket engine, had a 3.75-inch (95.3mm) bore and a 3.44-inch (87.3mm) stroke, compared to 3.25 inches (82.6mm) and 3.88 inches (98.4mm) respectively for the straight eight the Rocket replaced. It was rated at 350 horsepower (261kW) and 440lbft (597Nm) of torque with a Rochester 4-barrel, and 360hp (268kW) with the L69 tri 2-barrel option in 1966. Most 425s were painted red, though the 1966 and 1967 Toronado units were light blue. I have an interest in the history of Camshaft design tildentechnologies.com. With a 4-barrel carburetor and 10.75:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 195hp (145kW) at 4800rpm and 235lbft (319Nm) at 3200rpm with an automatic. Skinner and Wolfram tried again in March 1947, having decided that alternative engine configurations were impractical, and this time managed to secure production approval from GM president Charles E. Wilson. But I can block the blow by coming off the back of the block and it runs great. Unless youre building a rod, its often worth it to spend more upfront for a car thats in better condition. Maybe. As part of this I ran across a very interesting 1934 paper by a GM engineer Chris H. Bouvy and would like to know more about him and whether his design method was used within GM. If the payment button is visible, it may set the third-party cookies PYPF (via paypalobjects.com, which is owned by PayPal, Inc.), which appears to check whether or not you are a logged-in PayPal user, possibly to facilitate the PayPal user login process, and/or 01A1 (via abmr.net, which is owned by Akamai Technologies), which stores certain technical information about your device and browser (or other user agent), possibly to facilitate the login and shopping cart functions. Depending on carburetion or use of turbocharger. This very open and flat chamber was fuel efficient and had lower than average emissions output. The payment button in the "Support Ate Up With Motor" box (and similar payment or donation buttons that may appear on portions of the administrative dashboard, which is not normally accessible except to logged-in administrative users) contains embedded content served by PayPal services. All generation-2 small-block Olds V8s used a stroke of 3.385in (86.0mm). Millionaires would drive the few Cadillacs. Power increased the final Rocket was rated at 345 gross horsepower (257 kW) but fuel economy eroded. 1985), pp. 16, No. Internal combustion engines are essentially air pumps, so their power depends greatly on how much air-fuel mixture can flow into the cylinders to burn. History of Oldsmobile and Its 10 Best Cars - Top Speed The Story of the Oldsmobile "Rocket" 88, America's First Muscle Car Big-block and Diesel versions also increased the 2.5in (64mm) main bearing journal to 3.0in (76mm) for increased strength. Lets briefly examine each of them. The 307 "Y" produced 148hp (110kW) and 250lbft (340Nm) in 1980-1984 models and 140hp (100kW) and 250lbft (340Nm) in 1985-1990s. Unfortunately, it also creates more friction and means that the average piston speeds are very high, particularly at high RPM, which is detrimental to engine longevity. (The basic Eighty-Eight was rarer, accounting for only about 35,000.) [citation needed] Production of the 260 V8 ended in 1982 when the 307 became the only gasoline V8 in Oldsmobile's line. Generally, getting up to 1819 mpg on the highway was not unusual for early 50s Oldsmobiles even with Hydra-Matic, although that required a lot of steady-speed cruising at reasonable legal speeds. Biggest mistake I still think about that automobile. Some auction action surrounding 1956 Oldsmobiles tells a similar story: We are known for our high quality,attention to detail and meeting our customers goals. The overhead valve engine concept offered both power and efficiency, with an improvement in fuel economy (estimated at about 10 percent better than prior engine designs). Owned that vehicle till 1970 and traded in due to a bad dual chamber fuel pump for $350. Ketterings team demonstrated that the higher compression ratio boosted power and gas mileage by nearly 30%. The overhead valve engine concept offered both power and efficiency, with an improvement in fuel economy (estimated at about 10 percent better than prior engine designs). 1956 Oldsmobile Classic Cars for Sale - Classics on Autotrader R.M. Have a 47 98 custom cruiser. You could say the same thing about the original Century, if you were so inclined, which I am. It used a very oversquare 4.057in (103.0mm) bore and Oldsmobile small-block standard 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke for 350cuin (5.7L). For more information about how Akamai may collect, process, and/or use personal data, visit the Akamai "Privacy and Policies" page and Privacy Trust Center. Rockets, Vikings and Your Old Man. The following are turn key engines available . If you change certain aspects of the site's appearance using the accessibility sidebar, it may set these cookies to manage and remember your settings. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. (4,705 cc) displacement of the original prototypes once higher-octane fuels became widely available, raising compression ratios to maintain the same output with lower fuel consumption. Cant wait to get my Wool Fedora and get it back on the road. Each of those engines had its own peculiarities, but they were all in the mold of the Oldsmobile Rocket engine. Accessing the login page sets the wordpress_test_cookie, a session cookie that tests whether the user's browser (or other user agent) will allow the cookies needed to log in to the administrative dashboard; this cookie normally expires when the user closes their browser (or other user agent). Just didnt have any power. Im currently writing a book on Yankee iron of the 1955-1973 period (the true golden age of the American Car in the modern era.) Compression ratios of 9.0:1 at 310hp (230kW) or 10.25:1 at 360hp (270kW) were available in the U.S. A special 1965-1967 425cuin (7.0L) V8 was the Starfire engine. In addition, all page headers, custom graphics, button icons, and scripts related to the PayPal services are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of PayPal. Oldsmobile V8s can be grouped into five "generations.". A BRILLIANTLY written article! Sunday - Closed. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Futuramic Rocket Engine Magazine Print Ad W31 at the best online prices at eBay! To learn more about what information the YouTube platform and other Google services may collect through and/or in connection with embedded video players and how Google may use that information, see their "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" page and the Google Privacy Policy. Road tests were conducted later that year and the new V8 went into production a few days before Christmas 1948. Im wondering how many weeks of informative evening reading I can enjoy from your articles. The difference is that many of the things earlier generations feared (such as heavy dependence on foreign oil and its associated political ramifications) are now familiar reality rather than speculation. The optional heater-defroster cost $85 that year, the optional base radio $96. Many were shared among other divisions, but each design was unique: GM later standardized on the later generations of the Chevrolet design: Northway sourced Oldsmobile Flathead V8 (1916-1923). Raising an engines compression ratio allows the engine to extract more energy from the fuel it burns, improving both power and fuel economy. (. The 303-cubic-inch (5.0L) engine had hydraulic lifters, an oversquare bore:stroke ratio, a counterweighted forged crankshaft, aluminum pistons, floating wristpins, and a dual-plane intake manifold. 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88. Skinner liked the idea, but it had to be approved by corporate management, which brought a new round of objection from Cadillac the 98 was already a close match for Cadillac in performance and a V8-powered B-body Oldsmobile would undoubtedly be faster. Oldsmobile charged $83 for the J-2 option with the three-speed manual (or in the 98),[7] $314 dollars with the automatic.[8]. Trim Rocket 88 1951 Oldsmobile 88 Futuramic 88 Rocket 303 V8 Hydramatic custom $16,900 The main qualities that make an engine attractive to hot-rodders are how much it costs, how easily it can be hopped up, and how much power you can get out of it without blowing it up. When it comes to Oldsmobiles from 1957, the hardtop was the second-most-popular body style, with 49,187 units produced. The 4 barrel versions had a larger diameter harmonic damper, the 2 barrel only a balancer hub without the rubberized outer ring. In 1949, your main alternative new car choices were the bug-ridden 49 Ford and Mercury, whose engines would need a lot of hopping up to get anywhere near the level of the 88. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. About six weeks after he started work, Burrell showed his designs to Oldsmobiles chief engineer Jack Wolfram and Oldsmobile general manager Sherrod Skinner. A diagram of where the hydraulic or solid lifter fits in a flathead might be helpful to readers. Earlier 50s and(I believe)all 49s had the split windshield. However, my research has of necessity stretched back somewhat further than that and not just to the late 40s but, in tracing company histories, at least as far back as 1903 and the curved dash Oldsmobile. Your email address will not be published. It didnt have an actual Park position until the advent of the controlled-coupling Hydra-Matic in MY1956. Monday - Saturday: 9-5. Thanks, I have enjoyed reading your many excellent articles. Most contemporary road tests at least mentioned fuel consumption. 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067. It was released one year earlier than the tall deck 425, and debuted the standard 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke; bore was 3.938in (100.0mm). The starting gun of that race was sounded by Oldsmobile, with its advanced new overhead-valve V8 and the new mid-size model that shared its name: the 1949-1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Home / Cars for Sale / Oldsmobile / . [[[Chevrolet Corvair#First generation (19601964)#{{{section}}}|contradictory]]]. Complete Engines for Oldsmobile 88 for sale | eBay Oldsmobile Engines For Sale | Used, Rebuilt, & Remanufactured Particularly enjoyed your succinct descriptions of the engineering factors behind certain design choices. Richard A. Lentinello (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2002), pp. Get the best deals on Complete Engines for Oldsmobile 88 when you shop the largest online selection at eBay.com. The Olds 88 was also one of the fastest automobiles in America at the dawn of the 1950s, and it was the car to beat in NASCAR racing, winning 10 out of 19 races in the 1950 season. 1952 88 and Super 88 V8s used a 4-barrel carburetor for 160hp (120kW) and 265lbft (359Nm), while 4-barrel 1953 versions raised compression from 7.5:1 to 8.0:1 for 165hp (123kW) and 275lbft (373Nm). 1949 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Specifications - Conceptcarz.com The Rocket would only get bigger, not smaller. Note the stylized rocket chrome trim on the front fender. 1988), pp. (Those pages do not currently discuss the storage of data in your browser (or other user agent) using technologies other than cookies, e.g., in web storage.) And just where is this crazy car heaven where Rocket 88 Oldsmobiles and Avantis are parallel parked on the street side by side? I have a 62 olds super 88. "Affordable Aluminum V8's [sic]", in, Turbo Hydramatic 425 FWD 3-speed automatic, "1975-79 Cadillac Electronic Fuel Injection", "Oldsmobile 403 Engine - Car Craft Magazine", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oldsmobile_V8_engine&oldid=1138357918, 1968 and 1969 400s shared the Olds big-block standard 4.25in (108mm) stroke with the 455 but used a, 19681970 Oldsmobile Toronado GT (W34), 400hp (300kW), This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 06:46. It is arguably the best engine Olds made in the muscle car era, although it never made it into a "muscle car". Even modest restorations can quickly get out of control, cost-wise, so be careful that a $2,000 bargain doesnt become a money pit. FOLLOW MARKET. This Is How Much A 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Costs Today - HotCars Offenhauser 3200 49-53 Olds Rocket Dual Quad Intake, Small Port $889.99 Ships Free . $300.00. The package was expensive to produce, and Oldsmobile discontinued it after 1958. Oh, and lets not forget the Bonneville speed merchants. Incidentally, the Rocket engine was not Oldsmobiles first V8. Oldsmobile Rocket 88 For Sale | Hemmings Oldsmobile like mine are real popular in australia. Like the test mules, the Rocket 88 was, in the parlance of a somewhat later era, a real bomb. 1956 - OLDSMOBILE 88 - 455 ROCKET ENGINE ! - cars & trucks - by dealer It was optional on 1964 98s and Super 88s. These a11y cookies normally expire after about seven days, but are removed immediately if you restore the applicable settings to their default values. About . Its a true barn find. Anyway, thanks for making my visit here an enjoyable one. 1956 Oldsmobile 88 Rocket | Classic Auto Mall $22,000 (OBO) You see, this 1957 Golden Rocket 88 Holiday two-door hardtop, with the J-2 setup and only a few more than 30,000 actual miles, is owned by his daughter and son-in-law, Jan and Tom Hummer. We'll start with Olds and return to Caddy in another article. If anyone at GM had had doubts about offering the big engine in the smaller body, the sales alone would have been enough to convince them. The 1967 and later versions of the Repco engine had proprietary engine blocks. The standard 1965-1967 425cuin (7.0L) was called the Super Rocket, and was the most powerful engine option for the Oldsmobile 88 and 98 of 1965-1967. Although Oldsmobile (as well as Buick and Pontiac) had used eight-cylinder engines for more than a decade, Cadillac was not happy about the idea of Oldsmobile offering an OHV V8 and convinced corporate management to deny Oldsmobiles request for development funds. If not, it may be a little more difficult, short of pulling the heads. I think current brand-management logic would probably consider Oldsmobile rather hopeless. It was the first mass-produced OHV V8, in 1949. The Super Eighty-Eight wasnt particularly rare when it was new Olds sold about 150,000 of them in 1951. The Cadillac engine and the Chrysler FirePower had more power out of the box and as much or more potential. The present mindset (with which I dont necessarily agree, mind you) is that all brands must either be Youthful or Aspirational or if possible both, so a brand whose name begins with Old and which is best known for decades of middle-of-the-road respectability isnt off to a good start on either front. Power for the base engine was up to 315hp (235kW), even though compression was down a quarter point, to 9.75:1.[9]. From 1950 until 1974, the 88 was the division's most profitable line, particularly the entry level models such as the 88 and Dynamic 88. One or more wp-saving-post cookies may be set while creating and/or editing posts or pages, to help manage version control and the autosave feature; these cookies normally expire after about 24 hours. Brand new 1/87 (HO) scale diecast car model of 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Coupe #22 "Overseas Motors Atlanta" Red die cast model car by Oxford Diecast. Google, AdSense, Google AdSense, Google Analytics, and other related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. The Oldsmobile 88 (marketed from 1989 on as the Eighty Eight) is a full-size car that was sold and produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1999. The icing on the cake was that fuel consumption was reduced by about 10% compared to the old L-head engine. (4,705 cc) and were designed to take advantage of research that had been done by GM Research VP Charles Kettering on high-compression engines (of which well have more to say below). Cadillacs OHV V8, released around the same time as the new Oldsmobiles, was itself an important and influential engine that earned Motor Trends first Car of the Year Award, but it was the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 that started an avalanche. Popular price guides put Lansing's mid-1950s cars at an average of $16,500 for a four-door all the way up to $72,900 for a two-door convertible. However, former Cadillac engineer Harry Barr, who led the development of Cadillacs first OHV V8, later asserted that Charles L. McCuen, then GMs vice president of engineering (and the former general manager of Oldsmobile) had ordered Cadillac chief engineer Jack Gordon to show Cadillacs OHV design to Oldsmobile carburetor engineer Tony Wauters. The image file itself contains no personally identifiable information, but the loading of that file may be used to help identify and/or track you. Our sources for this article included the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, Encyclopedia of American Cars: Over 65 Years of Automotive History (Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 1996); John R. Bond, Car of the Year: The 1949 Cadillac, Motor Trend November 1949, reprinted in Cadillac Automobiles 1949-1959, ed. (WordPress and the WordPress logos are registered trademarks of the WordPress Foundation in the United States and other countries. Im not sure about the early Hydramatics but later ones, 54-56 you put in reverse to park. [citation needed] Compared to the V6, the 260 was also smoother-running, and far more durable. The commonest type was the Super 88 4-door sedan, Hydramatic equipped. I have a pretty good handle on Ford Design evolution, but not so much on GM, especially OHV. wider bore provides a greater surface area on which the forces of combustion can act, improving power He saw the potential in an engine design offering increased compression. To learn more about what information the Vimeo platform collects and how that information may be used, see the Vimeo Privacy Policy. Free shipping for many products! The 10:1 compression 1961 model produced 325hp (242kW) and 435lbft (590Nm), while the 10.25:1 1962-1964 version upped power to 330hp (250kW) and 440lbft (600Nm). Around the end of that year, the project nearly ground to a halt due to objections from Cadillac. With a 4-barrel carburetor and 10.25:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 185hp (138kW) at 4800rpm and 230lbft (310Nm) at 3200rpm with a manual transmission. 7-27; Michael Lamm, Two Very Important Cars! The top brass equivocated, but Skinner finally got the green light. (Google, Google Analytics, and other related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. Classic Car Deals (844) 676-0714. in. 1955 Oldsmobile 88 Classic Cars for Sale - Autotrader Classics The 1949-53 Oldsmobile 88 was a breakthrough design, so why doesn't From 1949 until 1951, the 2-barrel carburetor 303 produced 135hp (101kW) and 253lbft (343Nm). It was offered in the Hurst/Olds version of the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais and in the 4-4-2 version of the Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. Because the high-octane fuels necessary to take advantage of really high compression ratios were not yet available, Burrell ordered the displacement of the production engine (known internally as 8-90) increased to 303.7 cu. The placement of the valves also means that the combustion chamber has a smaller surface area and thus greater thermal efficiency some 20% better than a comparable flathead. Olds were very popular in Brazil but I can t give you any numbers. Moreover, correct tuning was a continual headache. The 394 replaced the 371 in Super 88 and 98 cars for 1959 and 1960 and a detuned version was used in the 88 for 1961 and the Dynamic 88 for 1962-1964. In a 1972 interview with Michael Lamm, then editor of Special Interest Autos, former Cadillac chief engineer Jack Gordon lamented the trend to ever bigger and thirstier engines, noting that he had tried unsuccessfully to convince oil companies to develop ultra-high-octane fuels so that Cadillac could adopt more fuel-efficient high-compression, small-displacement engines. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches Then in 1955 Chevrolet introduced their ohv V8 (as did Packard, Plymouth and Pontiac) and changed the game again. It has been noted to go up to $100,000 at some auctions. On that level, the Oldsmobile Rocket engine didnt make it, but thats with the benefit of hindsight. The wp-donottrack_feed cookie, which controls a blog feed, was set by accessing the dashboard menu for the WP DoNotTrack plugin (which we do not currently use on this website); this cookie normally expires in about one year. That never happened; by the fifties, the industry was far more interested in advertised horsepower than gas mileage. The 1961 through 1963 Sky Rocket (and 1964 Rocket) was a high-compression, four-barrel 394cuin (6.5L) engine. For engines built during the first part of 1955, the 324 skirted pistons had a reputation for failing due to the cast aluminum skirt separating from its steel interior brace. Hoo, boy, you better run away right now). Most of these engines were very similar, using the same bore centers and a 9.33in (237mm) deck height, raised on "big-block" versions to 10.625in (269.9mm). The new, mid-sized Oldsmobile Rocket 88 went on sale February 6, exactly seven weeks after the 98.