JP’s A to Z Challenge – N is for Ninety-Eight
We are now on the downhill slope of this A to Z photo challenge, in which I peruse my car photos for models representing each letter of the alphabet. And, after last week’s Marmon Sixteen, today’s car is another way to go downhill. However, If you are too young to have ever seen a Marmon and grew up around Oldsmobiles like I did, this was IT. The One. The Big Dog. The Ultimate. It was the Ninety-Eight. Unless it was “98”, but we are not doing a 0-100 challenge. And on this 1963 model, Oldsmobile spelled it out for us.
Oldsmobile introduced the “98” in 1941. It was so named because it was the company’s 90-series car with an 8 cylinder engine. In the early 50’s they dropped the digits and began spelling out the name as “Ninety-Eight”. Wikipedia claims that Oldsmobile dropped the hyphen from Ninety-Eight in 1992, but there is certainly no hyphen in this 1963 nameplate. Hyphenated or not, the Ninety-Eight was dropped entirely in 1996, after a long, long run.
Where I grew up, there were lots of people of German background. These were people who saved ther money and could afford nice cars, but who were not interested in putting on a show for the neighbors. The Olds Ninety-Eight shared its basic body with Cadillac, so you got most of the size and luxury of a Cadillac but for significantly less money. The Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight was tailor-made for these kinds of people and the cars were quite common when I was young.
I always thought this 1963 version was an attractive car, and all the more so when it came as a convertible. By the numbers, Oldsmobile built 476,753 cars in 1963. 70,308 of those were Ninety-Eights, but only 4,267 of them were convertibles, making this the lowest production Ninety-Eight variety. Yes, I’m a geek. And don’t you just love those taillights?
Here – let’s get a better look.
In fact, it is hard to get a single view that gives the design’s entire effect. Here is another perspective.
I grew up an Oldsmobile family, but we were not fancy enough for Ninety-Eights. We were either 88 or Cutlass people, so the Ninety-Eight was always kind of spoken of with a little awe, if not reverence.
This 1963 edition was (in your scribe’s humble opinion) one of the best looking of the bunch. It is funny how cars imprint on you when you are young, and this was for many years what my idea of a modern car looked like. Of course, modern cars have not looked like this for a long time. And more’s the pity.
Photos by the author, taken in northeast Indianapolis on March 17, 2015.
J. P.'s Blog 
My mother had a late 60’s / early 70’s Ninety-Eight which I could only describe as a behemoth! It was in mint shape, and my younger sister holds the record of cracking it up twice within a few months of each other. She’s probably alive today because that was a lot of metal! It was painted mirror black with a black vinyl roof. She called it the “Godfather”. We never think about this stuff today, but my diminutive sister was probably not quite physically capable of dragging that thing in around, barely being able to see over the hood (which is probably why she got into at least one of the accidents). Some of the last of the “big, solid, metal” cars.
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Today it is petite people bombing around in Suburbans, Expeditions and pickups.
Your mother’s car sounds beautiful!
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Some good things you expect to diminish with age. What a surprise when they turn out even more magnificent!
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This is kind of magnificent, isn’t it.
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I don’t know that one, but I remember someone having a Delta 88? Are they cousins?
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Yes, although the Delta version of the 88 didn’t come along for another couple of years. The 98 usually figured out an ingenious way to adapt the front end of an 88 onto a larger, more expensive car.
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That’s a great car. And, yes, I love those taillights, too.
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Aren’t those great?
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I love the close up photo of the taillights!
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Me too! Many times, strong morning sun doesn’t make for very good car photos, but I hit pay dirt with that view.
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This car seems to go on forever in length and width as well. Since I am old enough to remember how the cars seemed to take up a city block, the cars today sure do pale in comparison. The tail lights are distinctive and you even captured the one tail light with some sun shining through it.
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If you learned to parallel park in one of these, you were set for life!
Yes, I loved the sunlight catching the taillight!
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Yes, you would be set for life as you were navigating a car that almost took up two spaces! Our driving instructor kind of glossed over parallel parking, so I never do it if I can help it. 🙂 The sun was in your favor that day JP!
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Like you, Ninety Eights were elusive in my world. While few were the Oldsmobiles in the extended family, if somebody bought one, it was invariable a Cutlass Supreme or, more commonly, a Delta 88. I can think of three Delta 88s in just one branch of the family – and all were diesel powered.
The only Ninety Eights belonged to Orville, a neighbor. They were ’69 and ’75 models, so not exactly new, even though I think that’s how he got them. Orville is the guy who built a house when in his early 80s.
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Yes, guys like Orville were perfect customers for that car. I remember being surprised when I saw my high school gym teacher driving a late model 98 in the mid 70s.
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Lots of talk of alternate Oldsmobile models like the Delta, 88’s, and Cutlass; but my college car was a 1966 Jetstar! It was a weird gray-blue color where the paint was peeling off and revealing the maroon undercoat. Everyone I’ve seen from the same era and color is peeling as well. It was NOT a dependable car, and might not start when it was raining or just damp; it would somehow crack distributor caps and create an intermittent starting and running problem, acerbated by the damp. Now when I think about it, could it have been an out-of-round rotor shaft? Who knows, the drive shaft finally fell off while I was driving up hill. This was the beginning of my thinking: “…there has to be something better…”. And my total devotion to the Japanese by 1975.
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Wow, that poor car sounds terrible! And everyone used to make fun of me for preferring Chrysler cars to those from GM, that they claimed never broke down! 😛
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My Dad swore by Mopar company cars, and always selected a slant 6 Plymouth all through the 60’s. When his company bought into the GM fiction, he immediately ended up with one of those weird GM’s with the oil drain holes not drilled properly; and ended up with a blown engine, as far as he was concerned, proof positive!
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Wow, you’ve made it to “N.” These old cars are interesting. Great job.
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Thanks! I’m having fun with it.
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A reminder of the time when GM claimed so much market share that it could offer THREE versions of the same basic car, and have all of them be successful.
My family drove Oldsmobile 88s…the Ninety-Eight was the car my parents aspired to buy. Even more so than a Cadillac. As my father always said, “Cadillacs are for people who just want to show off.” But a Ninety-Eight would have been acceptable to him.
The 1963 model year is the first time that Oldsmobile distinguished the Ninety-Eight from the 88s by giving it unique taillights and quarter panels. Buick took the same route with that year’s Electra.
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Your father would have fit right in where I grew up!
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