Oldsmobil Rocket 88: the world’s first muscle car turns 70

Perhaps everyone who cares about cars knows what a muscle car is. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the car that started the era of powerful cars with eight-cylinder V-blocks under the hood. It’s a classy, spry and stylish 1949 Oldsmobile 88.

What was the first muscle car?

You’re right, everything is not so unambiguous, history is not black and white, and the history of the automobile industry even more so. For example, someone considered the first car that could be ranked alongside the Mustang, Charger and Camaro to be the 1964 Pontiac GTO. The GTO was a special version of the Pontiac LeMans, which for an extra fee ($295 at the time) made the model a funnier, faster, and noisier car.

The more interesting version was distinguished not only by the GTO logos. The customer got a 6.4-liter eight-cylinder engine with 324 horsepower, a three-speed manual transmission with floor-mounted Hurst gears, stiffer suspension and bigger wheels.

And there was another package with a more powerful engine (349 horsepower), a four-speed manual transmission, and a self-locking differential. A fully pumped GTO cost $4,500 and weighed about 1,600 kilograms.

Competition as an engine of progress

Here we have figured out what muscle cars are – they are more or less common models, equipped with a bigger and more powerful eight-cylinder engine and other tweaks for better handling, a different suspension.

But even though the Pontiac GTO apparently launched cars with ambition, it was not the first to come up with such a recipe. If we go back in time, we come across various “reactive” versions of cars, such as the Ford Galaxy (the R-version did the quarter-mile in 12 seconds, which is an amazing result), the Chevrolet Impala or the Dodge Dart.

There’s also the 1955 Chrysler C-300, which offered 300 horsepower and was at one time the most powerful American car (and so interesting that it deserves its own article). The famous Hudson Hornet dominated the first half of the 1950s.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, the rebel car

But if we look back to the ’40s, we suddenly find the Oldsmobile 88 Rocket. This model was built on the platform of a relatively quiet and compact car, by American standards, the Olds 98. The Olds 88 was available in sedan, coupe, convertible, and station wagon bodies over 5.1 meters long.

Under the hood was a five-liter big and productive V8 from the larger Oldsmobile 98. This was an unusual step, since the V8 was in demand mainly for the largest and most luxurious cars.

All this allowed the relatively small coupe to accelerate to a hundred in 12 seconds, which is not bad even for most modern cars. The Oldie swallowed a quarter-mile in 19.9 seconds. The lightweight bodywork, especially with the optional plastic removable top, coupled with a powerful engine and excellent aerodynamics did the trick, and the Oldsmobile 88 convertible worked as a pace-car at the Indy 500.

Yes, today those figures, five liters of volume and 135 horsepower at 384 N∙m, seem ridiculous. But in the ’40s, it was a magic that attracted the public. The more so because it didn’t cost too much. At least, Oldsmobile Rocket 88 in any body was cheaper than 98 series almost by half.

All this meant that Oldsmobile was suddenly, even to itself, selling a car that had no competition. And it was a hit. The 88 received a lot of attention and interest from the public, and for many it became a dream car. Olds was even the inspiration for the composition Rocket 88, which was recorded by Jackie Branston and his band Delta Cats (a group of musicians also known as Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm). Some experts consider this song to be the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll composition. Sorry, Bill Haley, but it’s true.

The Oldsmobile 88 was also an exceptionally successful car during the early NASCAR series. In the 1949 season, eight of nine races, ten of nineteen a year later, and twenty-one of forty-one in the 1952 season were won on it. Later the Hudson Hornet took over.

Oldsmobil’s racing success helped its sales. Therefore, the company convincingly confirmed the famous Ford sales scheme – “win on Sunday, sell on Monday”.

Obviously, the Oldsmobile Rocket 88’s popularity declined over time due to growing competition. The era of classic muscle cars (to which more compact cars, pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, were added) reached its peak in the 1960s and was significantly weakened by the oil crisis in the 1970s.

But fortunately, the muscle car is not gone forever, because in the 1990s, American sports cars with giant eight-cylinder engines came back into fashion. And for all this, we can thank Oldsmobile and its bold idea to put a big V8 in one of the common models.