(first posted 6/11/2015) It’s hard for someone of my generation to imagine a time when full-size convertibles graced the lineup of nearly every domestic brand. With the advent of air conditioning as common equipment, the omnipresent threat of increased federal safety standards, and the general decline of both 2-door and full-size vehicles, by my time, this type of car was about as foreign to me as the 8-track.
But twenty-five years prior to my birth this wasn’t the case. Although still somewhat of the niche vehicle they are today, convertibles were to be found far and wide, from compact Valiants to full-size Continentals. And at least in my eyes, the most special type of all American cars produced during this era were these behemoth rag tops from upscale and luxury brands.
Granted, Oldsmobile always fell at the lower end of the “luxury” spectrum. Yet in the Sixties, the Olds brand had decidedly more aspirational appeal and general purpose than it would by the 1990s. This was no more evident than in its largest and most prestigious full-line of cars, the Ninety-Eight.
Although Olds wouldn’t brazenly extend its reach up into Cadillac territory until the 1972 Ninety-Eight Regency, the Ninety-Eight was always sort of a budget Cadillac DeVille in many ways. Naturally, there were features reserved exclusively for GM’s pinnacle division, but in most years, the Ninety-Eight offered many of the same luxuries, for lesser price and prestige.
Despite a length of 223.7 inches (for 1968), width of 80 inches, and a weight of over 4,200 pounds, the 1965-1970 Ninety-Eights were not the largest Oldsmobiles in history. While this honor would be reserved for the 1971-1976 Ninety-Eights, the ’65-’70 full-size Oldsmobiles would be that last in history to see such generous proportions met with positive reception.
For a number of reasons, the succeeding 1971-1976 generation jumped the shark, with no reason more glaring than its size. The energy crisis that hit in 1973 would only highlight the inefficiency of these elephantine cars, which could weigh as much as 4,900 pounds in some trims. Along with its noticeably downgraded interiors, the generation that followed our featured car symbolized a turning point in General Motors’ history when the king was no longer invincible.
By contrast, GM’s 1965-1970 full-size cars are generally looked upon with less outrage, as big cars from an era of conspicuous oil consumption. While in reality only marginally smaller than their successors, the ’65-’70s were dressed in slimmer-fitting sheet metal, giving them an still-big, but more athletic look.
Interior quality already had begun to slip a tad compared to the early-1960s, but these Olds still made use of a lot chrome, stainless steel, and reasonably attractive simulated walnut trim. Ninety-Eights could be equipped with a number of seating arrangements, with upholstery choices including leather, cloth, a morocceen-and-cloth combination, and the vinyl that this convertible displays. A lighter color would probably do it more justice.
How one views these cars is a matter of opinion, but if there is one indisputable fact, it’s that these were the last Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight convertibles. Never a large percentage of overall sales, the sun was rapidly setting on the full-size convertible. Oldsmobile’s Starfire convertible (1961 model pictured above) would last see the sun in 1965, with the Ninety-Eight following in 1970. The remaining Delta 88 convertible would cease production in 1975, making it the last full-size Oldsmobile convertible. Other luxury brands would follow suit, forever closing the top on this grand era of open-aired American boulevard cruisers.
Am I the only one who sees a lot of design similarities in this 98 and the later 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo?
Those big vertical taillights and the general shape are not that far off. Cadillac really popularized those vertical lights in the 60s, and quite a few other cars (including 67-68 Mercurys) did them. The Monte made them work quite nicely.
Also, don’t forget Oldsmobile’s own 1973 Cutlass Supreme. Lenses look a lot like the CS of 5 years later.
Well now I know where Chrysler got the taillamp/rear fascia design for the ’74 to ’78 Imperial/New Yorker Brougham.
While I really like the contemporary Buicks, Olds full-size styling in the late 60’s has never done anything for me. That big flat surface around the wheel arch reinforces the image of excess bulk, and the nose styling looks like a Cutlass at 125%. Can’t really say why, but it just doesn’t work.
I’m probably being the contrarian here…I like the late 60’s look of all the other GM dimensions. Olds just starts to lose me in ’67, and doesn’t get me back until ’71.
Compared to the Buick and Cadillac C-body cars, this generation of Olds 98 looked soft and overly slabby. At least the front end is better looking than the ’67 models, if not quite as distinctive.
“Better” is a matter of opinion…. I’ll take another ’67 please.
Although no one in my immediate family has ever owned an Oldsmobile, I’ve always liked the Oldsmobile of the mid to late 60s into the 70s.
It is incredible to me how few of these are seen anymore. They were favored by the elderly, they had first rate drivetrains, and so there should have been a good number that lived on as pampered old cars. But I cannot tell you the last time I saw one of these. A very nice find. Now, we just have to find this poor guy some fender skirts, because the car looks terrible without them.
Those wheelcovers look an awful lot like the 14 inchers on my stepmom’s 68 Cutlass. Oldsmobile liked to share those all up and down the line – our 64 Cutlass had an optional style that was normally found on 98s.
“It is incredible to me how few of these are seen anymore. They were favored by the elderly, they had first rate drivetrains, and so there should have been a good number that lived on as pampered old cars.”
Yeah, JP; every time I think that same thought, something SYKE said regarding what his father told him comes to mind: “Units to be sold.”
I think that unless the car was something desired by younger buyers by the time the original owners were ready to hand them off, they just went to other areas, were abused and driven into the ground and disposed of.
The large land yachts as a rule were not fondly looked upon by most of my generation, including me, unless it was a Chevy, generally.
“Units to be sold” indeed.
Seems also like every other generation has contradicting ideas of what is cool. As a child of the 80’s (think early millenials), by the time I was in high school in the late 90’s, old land yachts like these were considered “wicked” and “sick”. Not too many kids had them, but those that did drew a lot of positive attention. I can only think of one classmate who had a convertible, a 1973 El Dorado, and despite being from the decade of cheapened interiors and questionable workmanship, I still thought it was a beautiful car.
It has a fender skirt on the right side.
So it does, I missed that. C’mon, Brendan, get some more pictures of the poor thing’s good side. 🙂
Haha, it was just so big to get the whole side in one shot. Plus if I recall, I had a huge aircast on one of my feet at the time – not so easy to move around in.
I think those might be Cutlass covers. The correct or more typical covers that I recall look like the ones on the brochure page that Brendan posted.
Those covers were used on the 88’s as well as the Cutlasses, but they are not correct for a 98. I remember them well from my parents ’68 Vista Cruiser they bought in ’69 when I was a young teenager. I washed them many, many times.
They were the same wheelcovers. Olds still used 14 inch wheels on all models except Toronado in 1968. In 1969, the Delta 88 and Ninety-Eight went to 15s.
I always considered the 1965-70 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight’s to be the best looking one’s of the bunch and they’re some of my favorite automobiles of all time, they started looking a little bland for me starting with the 1971 models and would only get worse up until the 1977-79 downsized models.
Gotta love yellow cars!
I wonder what my 2012 Impala would look like in the proper color yellow (Goldwood perhaps)?
My friends and I ask this question all the time at old car shows about various colors that were popular in the past. One problem is that today’s cars don’t feature as much chrome – particularly chrome bumpers at each end of the car. There is nothing to “break up” the color of the car. That, in my opinion, is why some of these old colors wouldn’t work on new cars.
That makes me stop and think. In 1968, the Interstate system was still under construction. Here in Arizona, the I-10 connection between Tucson and Phoenix was newly completed. I-19, connecting Tucson with the border city of Nogales, was still under construction. I think I-17, connecting Phoenix with Flagstaff, was still under construction.
These cars thrived on the new interstates, but were also built for the more sedate speeds of two-lane highways and urban streets.
I think air conditioning had a much greater adoption rate here in the desert, so even quite a few convertibles had it. I suspect one factor that helped kill off convertibles the first time was that it was so much quieter inside the car with all the windows rolled up and the A/C running. It’s vastly easier on the ears, especially at freeway speeds.
As for the deterioration in material quality during the 1970s, I think Paul has written about the awful, cheap-looking molded plastic door panels that afflicted GM cars from Chevrolet all the way up to Cadillac.
I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff was mostly completed, however, most of the mileage from Cordes Junction northward was only two lanes as 17 was originally Arizona 79 when it opened in 1961 and there were a number of 2-lane interstates in the western states that would go to 4 lanes when traffic justified and money was available. Across Northern Arizona, I-40 was a largely a hodgepodge of completed expressway and old U.S. 66 with the only bypass completed that year at Flagstaff – traffic still was diverted down the main streets of all other towns. And I-10 west of Phoenix was mostly uncompleted with traffic heading west to Los Angeles still following 60-70-89 up near Wickenburg and then veering southwest toward the Hidden Valley and joining a completed section of I-10 on toward the California border east of Blythe.
Phoenix was also home to one of the very best Oldsmobile dealers in the nation – Money Oldsmobile at 530 E. McDowell Boulevard and a branch in Scottsdale. They were the largest sellers of Olds in the Los Angeles zone for many years of existence from 1955 to 1971. Money was advertised as “Arizona’s Nationally Famous Olds Dealer.”
I have a soft spot for late 1960s full-size Oldsmobiles, as my parents had a 1967 Delmont 88 Holiday sedan that gave many years of faithful, reliable service. The Ninety-Eight was the ultimate destination for the Oldsmobile faithful (at least, those Oldsmobile fans who found a Toronado to be too radical).
People like my parents would never have dreamed of buying a Cadillac – my dad always said that Cadillacs were for people who liked to “show off.” A Ninety-Eight, however, was the car people like him bought when the kids were out of the house and the budget allowed a move up from a Delta 88.
A convertible, however, was out of the question. My parents did not want the wind in their hair while driving down the interstate highway. They had a friend who drove a 1966 Plymouth Satellite convertible, and when they took a ride in it one day, their experience was exactly like Paul’s in the 1963 Oldsmobile convertible. My parents certainly weren’t paying extra for that type of experience.
The 1965-68 Oldsmobiles are attractive cars, but they seem to be searching for an identity. The 1967 models obviously took their styling cues from the Toronado with their heavily bladed front fenders, but, with this car, Oldsmobile was already backing away from that theme.
The division really found its groove in 1969, when the Delta 88 dropped any sporting pretensions, and both the Delta 88 and Ninety-Eight were cast as a “solid, luxurious but not stuffy” cars for the middle-class. Oldsmobile let the Cutlass series handle the sporting/performance crowd, and began the rapid climb to success that would see the division claim third place in 1972.
I think I agree with you on the 1968 model – one of the few times that the 4 year old design was the best of the bunch. An aunt and uncle bought a new Delta 88 4 door hardtop in 1968, their first new car since the early 50s. It was a beautiful car, painted a metallic grayish-blue (a 1968-only color, I believe) with a black vinyl roof and blue cloth interior. They were people who took meticulous care of things, and that Oldsmobile was beautiful it’s whole life. They finally gave it to an adult child in the late 70s, as the northern Ohio road salt was getting to it.
No 98s or convertibles in my family either.
Oldsmobile was really searching for a direction during these years. The 1965-66 models are handsome cars, but don’t really make a strong statement (although I love the 1965 Starfire).
The 1967 models tried to apply Toronado styling cues to the full-size cars. It was okay on the Delmont and Delta 88s, but not on the Ninety-Eights. Those aggressive, heavily bladed front fenders didn’t mesh well with the more formal tail end and greenhouse.
Oldsmobile quickly backpedaled with the 1968 models, and it works much better, particularly on the Ninety-Eight. The 1968 cars are the best of the bunch from that generation.
The one exception is the hardtop coupe in the Delmont and Delta 88 series, with its fastback roofline. Those cars were too big to be remotely sporty, while the script nameplates and somewhat heavy use of exterior chrome suggest Oldsmobile was going for the Brougham effect. Those hardtop coupes are confused cars, in my opinion.
They got it right for 1969. The full-size cars are comfortable, substantial and stylish cars for people seeking an upscale, but not pretentious, look. Oldsmobile sent people looking for sport or performance over to the Cutlass series, which was the right move.
In college a young lady I worked with and was fond of had a Delmont 88 convertible the same year as this car. Not as nicely trimmed as a 98, but still a fun cruising car in summer. Sadly my feelings were not reciprocated, so she and the car disappeared into the sunset…
The 98 I remember was driven by an elderly surgeon’s wife. It was grey, and she was an impeccably dressed yet not snooty elderly woman. Sort of Barbara Bush except more flare…Jackie Kennedy if she’d lived to her late 70s. I suspect she would have found a Cadillac “vulgar”. She would invite my mother over for coffee and sometimes would even come and pick us up. We had a Chevette at the time so the a/c was a treat.
I would dispute the charge that the ’71-’76 jumped the shark. They sold well and I don’t think the interiors were so terrible. Certainly the seats were comfortable. Outside there was some flare as well, I’ve always liked the sculpted fender skirts and the fins on the ’72.
I do like this generation a lot though. It’s a very straightforward yet attractive design. I think the doctor’s wife would have liked it a lot.
Thank you. A whole lot of self-proclaimed experts love to jump on the ’71-’76 hate-wagon…experts who have likely never rested a cheek inside of one, much less driven one.
The ’71 Oldsmobiles (along with similar Pontiacs, Buicks and Chevrolets) did jump the shark mechanically in 1971 as powerful “Ultra High Compression” engines gave way to smogger engines detuned to run on unleaded gas with less acceleration and poorer fuel economy. Plus the ’70 models were the last to be backed by a 5-year/50,000-mile drivetrain warranty (the rest of the car was guaranteed for 2-years/24,000 miles) as ’71s warranty dropped to 1-year/12,000 for the entire car.
Funny how at one time people of means were interested in showing “restraint” in their automotive purchases. Oldsmobiles,Buicks,Mercurys and Chrysler New Yorkers enjoyed popularity with these buyers. I’ve always been a Cadillac fan because I loved the marque, but I can now see the appeal of these other senior models.
It is, at least to some extent, a Protestant cultural thing. Or was.
Gotta love a full size GM yellow convertible.
This is where I will be this weekend
We had a 1966 Bonneville convertible, white with a black top and black leather interior. I was very little when we had that car, but I can remember some things about it – the dash had a lot of chrome and the steering wheel rim was “clear”. My sister used to call it a boat – Mom ended up getting her 1972 Toronado to replace it.
Nice find. Four door and convertible of this year are good looking in an indistinct sort of way. Definitely needs those fender skirts.
These were indeed luxury cars and a good value as well. A friends mother had a ‘66 98 Luxury Sedan that was every bit as luxurious as a deVille. The 425 V8 moved it quite nicely. The demographic these seemed to attract were engineers, CPA’s, mid level managers and others who had a bit of money to spend on a new car. For these a Cadillac was far too flashy, a Buick a bit too stodgy and a Pontiac not as prestigious. Olds hit the sweet spot.
Now 98 Convertibles were quite rare, as were full size convertibles of all makes by this time. The usual demographic for these were not convertible types.
If Ted Kennedy had sprung for the convertible model, history might be different.
What becomes of Bernard Saur lately? I enjoyed reading his contributions in the past and haven’t seen any new contributions in a while.
He’s retired from CC. Along with some other contributors over the years. Some go; others come. it’s the flow of life on a blog.
Thanks!