| What's New?
Evolutionary but complete styling
change. Biggest engine in the GM family. Station wagons for
first time since 1948, two of them hardtop. Strut-mounted
instrument panel with printed electrical circuits. Remarkable
heater with vacuumoperated controls. All-new chassis with
ball-joint front suspension.
Your Choice
Oldsmobiles are made three ways.
The cheapest one is the newly named Golden Rocket 88, a car
priced with Buick Specials and top-line Pontiacs within the
GM roster, Mercury Montereys, luxury Dodges, and DeSoto Firesweeps,
without. Body choice is most complete including hardtop and
pillared wagons.
Sharing the same 122-inch wheelbase
chassis is the Super 88, somewhat of a misnomer with its extra
power connotation, for all Oldsmobiles use the same 277-horsepower
engine. Again, body choice is complete except that only one
wagon, the' hardtop, is offered. Drop Dodge and Pontiac from
the above list, move the others up one model in luxury, and
you will find cars to compare.
The elongated (126-inch wheelbase)
Starfire 98s can cost a pretty penny if you specify one loaded
with accessories, but generally should be considered as a
member of the upper-medium price range. The 8.5 inches added
overall length is all in the trunk area; interior dimensions
are same as in smaller Oldsmobiles. No twodoor sedans or station
wagons are offered in this series, but there are a convertible,
two- and four-door hardtops, and a fourdoor sedan.
Oldsmobile Power
Oldsmobile has reamed out its
longlived V8 to the point where it' is now bigger (371 cubic
inches) than the engines of both Buick and Cadillac. The 277
horsepower claimed is modest, and the rated 400 pounds-feet
torque at 2800 rpm is well up in the big leagues.
To be offered soon after the
new year is an optional three two-barrel carb setup, which
ups horsepower to 300 at 4600 rpm. During normal driving the
engine operates on one two-barrel; push the throttle past
the 3/1 mark and the other two carbs cut in. In terms of economy,
it should be better than a single four-barrel, but only if
you use the one carb. In terms of acceleration, the '57 Super
83 can go from 0 to 60 mph in 9.5 seconds, compared to 8.5
seconds for the three-barrel job.
I Corning in the future will
be a fuel injection system, the prototype of which we saw
at GM's Arizona Proving Ground. It's a GM system similar to
that used on the Chevy (see page 24), but is enclosed and
fed cool air from behind the grille. Oldsmobile's General
Manager, Jack Wolfram, says that for the present "they
will be satisfied with three carbs." When the f.i. car
can get to 60 mph much faster than it now does (only 0.2 second
better than the three-carb job) you can bet you'll see fuel
injection on the Olds.
Three-speed synchromesh is standard
on both 88's. Hydra-Matic is extra cost option except on the
98. Most of the changes in the unit involve adapting it to
the new two-piece driveshaft. Introduced last- -,ear, the
transmission soon made a mark for smoothness and instant response.
It uses sprag clutches and fluid couplings instead of bands
as in the older design H-M.
Oldsmobile on the Road
The company calls its new chassis
"widestance" which perhaps is a more polite phrase
for what engineers commonly call "cow-belly" construction.
The side rails spread out between front and rear wheels, allowing
the body floor to be between the structural members. The resulting
car can be made lower with the same interior room (Olds is
two inches lower than last year); weight is spread out over
a wider area; and the center of gravity is lower. These things
all combine to give much better stability on the road.
Oldsmobile has always been the
firmest riding of GM-built cars, and this year is no exception.
Relocating the upper control arms of the new ball-joint front
suspension helps greatly in reducing dive during severe braking.
The suspension design in itself, along with outboard mounting
of the rear shock absorbers, makes Oldsmobile a much flatter
cornering car than it has been in the past. New brakes incorporate
a flange to suck in cooling air.
Inside Your Oldsmobile
Even after thinking it over for
a month, we must repeat that Oldsmobile's strutmounted instrument
panel is an oddity. It is not the mounting method so much
as the unprotected gap left between the rear of the panel
and the body cowl. Items left on the panel can fall through
and get tangled in the works behind. Instruments themselves
are attractively turned out and easy to read. Only true gauge
left besides the speedometer is the gas supply indicator.
The rest are warning lights.
The new heater is the neatest
package yet offered by anyone. Pushbutton controls actuate
vacuum valves in the twin heaters to regulate shutters, increase
blower speed, etc., and the provision of the complete extra
unit on the driver's side greatly increases defrosting rate.
When cowlmounted air-conditioning is specified, controls are
integrated with the heater.
Why Buy?
Top-notch performance, especially
in lower speed ranges. High resale value. Attractive, relatively
conservative styling. Outstanding new hardtop station wagon.
Surefooted road car.
|
