1966 Oldsmobile 98 Convertible

It was only last year that I discovered the meaning behind the numbered Oldsmobile models.

Way back in the Thirties, Olds made two basic series of cars, the F-Series and the L-Series. The former were smaller and had an inline six engine, while the latter were larger and had a straight eight. By the early Forties, these were replaced by three models: the 60 Series, 70 Series, and 90 Series. The first digit would be the series number while the second signified the number of cylinders, so a 76 would be the middle series car with a six cylinder, while a 98 was the king of Oldsmobile hill, packed with every luxo feature they had plus an eight cylinder engine.

The car in the picture is from the second model year of the eighth generation of the Olds 98, being a 1966 convertible in Nocturne Mist. Power would come from the 425 cubic inch version of Oldsmobile's famed Rocket V-8 producing either 360 or 375 SAE gross horsepower, depending on the compression ratio.

"Step Out Front in '66 in a Rocket Action Oldsmobile!" boasted the marque's full-line brochure, and this convertible was as snazzy and out front an Olds as you could want that year. Base price was over $4400, or close to forty-five grand in current dollars.

This one was snapped in December of 2023 using a Pentax Q10 and the 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 02 Standard Zoom lens.