1968 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Custom Holiday Hardtop Coupe (455 V8): The Sexiest Oldsmobile?

Well, today we're gonna take a look at one of my favorite Oldsmobiles, and that is this 1968 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Custom Holiday Hardtop Coupe. Yes, that is the full name for this particular vehicle, and it is a mouthful. Now, 1968 was a few model years into the 1965 to 1970 full-size General Motors generation, and I think that the 1968 Olds Coupe is one of my favorite Oldsmobiles of all time. I think it's just a fantastic-looking car, so we're gonna talk more about it because it also set a styling trend for Oldsmobile that would be perpetuated for many, many years. And more specifically, you're looking at this styling trend right at the front of the car. That is the split or twin-port grille. Yes, BMW has the twin-port kidney grille these days and has for a long period of time, and Pontiac initiated the twin-port grille in 1959, and it would continue all the way through the end of Pontiac's run on most every Pontiac except a few. But Oldsmobile, for whatever reason, decided in 1968 that they liked that split grille theme and appropriated it and decided to make it their own. You can see here the big divider in between the two grille sections on the driver and passenger side, the quad headlamps that are flanked by the parking lamps. This was to represent the new face of Oldsmobile for a number of years to come. Now, aside from that, the 68 Oldsmobile is pretty different from the 1967 variant. The 67 variant has these more tornado-like forms up front and these huge bezels surrounding the headlamps. I also like the 67. I do own one. I have to say, it might even look like the 68 that you see here a little bit better than the 1967. A couple of other things I'll point out on the front end here. Notice the bumper is slotted up front and I suspect that that was to get more airflow through the radiator. Notice that big divider bar where air can't flow through. I suspect engineers determined that for cooling requirements, they needed a bit more airflow and so they slotted the bumper, flanking what would be the front license plate area. And on top of that, I will also mention that you notice this car has a prow on the hood, pretty dominant bulge in the midsection, but it's different than other vehicles of the era. Many of them, like Cadillacs, had a similar prow, but the shoulders of the prow would start closer to the A-pillar touchdown area and then become increasingly narrow. This one is almost constant width all the way across. Of course, it is narrowing slightly as it comes forward. The other thing I will point out is that while Oldsmobiles like the 1966 Tornado had a barbell theme, where the outer edges of the car were fatter than the midsection, here you have the inverse, where the midsection of the hood has the bulge and then the outer areas are thinner, except, of course, for the fender peak. So Oldsmobile designers are kind of playing with various forms and themes as the time goes on. Now, as we rotate to the front three-quarter view, you'll notice that the fender still has a bit of that bladed form that was a holdover from the Tornado. Of course, the wheel arches here are significantly different. This being a Delta 88 Custom, you do have the Brightwork molding, the rocker area that kind of hops over the wheel as well, and, of course, this is Delta Custom on the side. You also have hidden wipers, something that was very popular during this timeframe, and I will say it's a love-hate relationship with those. I love it now because it gives the car a really clean look and I wouldn't drive a car like this in the wintertime. But back in the day, particularly on the driver's side wiper area, you'd get snow kind of packed in there and, eh, I don't know if it worked so well or not. Some liked it, some hated it. You will notice also from this front three-quarter view that the wheel arches are very filleted and smoothly integrated into that fender form, unlike the Tornado where there was a sharp crease in it and they were very pronounced as well. So designers are starting to move away from that. In fact, they would move away from those type of wheel arches on the Tornado in the latter years of that first generation as the car would age and approach the 1970 model year. You can also see that there is a significant kickup in the belt line around the rear quarter glass. I think that that's one of the sexiest features of this vehicle. We'll see that more as we rotate around the car. And here in this view, we can really see that kickup around the rear quarter glass as well as a form that initiates underneath it that goes rearward and then kind of forms the top of the quarter panel and is flush with the deck lid. This car has a little bit of the Coke bottle element. It has that kickup in the window graphic. The body does flare outboard around the rear wheels. Not quite as Coke bodily as some other cars, but it has some elements of that. That was a very popular styling trend that would continue on into the early 1970s. And this was kind of the waning years of the fastback as well. Wouldn't be long before General Motors would not have any fastback full-size coupes like this particular vehicle. I think that's a shame because this was such a brief trend, really three, four model years, and that was it for GM. And I think they're some of the best looking full-size coupes ever, if not the best full-size looking coupes. But this Delta 88 hardtop, or I should say Delta 88 custom holiday hardtop coupe is one of the best. Now, as you rotate around to the rear three-quarter view, you really see that beautiful fastback design, so-called two-box design on this car, where the roof just kind of comes down, oh so elegantly down with the C-pillar, and then starts forming the top of the quarter panel. Just a fantastic looking design. This was 1968, so you have the side marker lights, which here, Ozilwheel decided to illuminate the rocket logo on the side, pretty innovative. And on the Delta 88s, you've got these kind of egg crate style tail lamps. Remember the Tornado had the egg crate style theme in the front and rear for 1967. And so I guess it kind of started trickling down the lineup, although the Starfire also had that kind of crosshatched egg crate, ice cube tray, back-end style for 1966. Beautiful bumper, the kind of above tail lamp, and the low tail lamp, the reflective tail lamps that you could get for 1967 on the custom holiday hardtop coupe were gone. Here you just got two tail lights. Although if you got the Delmont 88 in the rear, you actually got four smaller tail lights. So a little bit different in the rear than what was out for 1967. Now, as we switch to the inside, this car has pretty rare bucket seats. There is no center console. There is a column shift in this particular car, but most of these had a bench seat. Being the custom, it did have a little bit of an up-level interior, although that is fake wood. It is pretty convincing, and all the controls and switch gear on these Ozilwheels, at least the full-size Ozilwheels of this era, just feels so robust, and it looks pretty premium, despite the fact, like I said, that's Airsats wood trim on the dash. Now, the wheel was also different for 1968. I actually like the 1967 steering wheel better with the red center, but still elegant two-spoke design. You have these three round pods in front of you, similar to 1967. This is a factory AC car. You have the vents, one on either side for the driver and the passenger, and the one in the middle. Never was really my favorite, because that middle vent, that middle barrel vent, you can just rotate up and down. You can't direct the airflow left or right. The only vents that hit the driver and the passenger here, at least in the face, are the ones on the outermost edges of the IP. I always like to have a vent on each side hitting my face. I don't know about anybody else. Maybe that sounds weird, but you certainly can't do that with the middle vent on these. And as we look at the IP, like I said, that wood grain is pretty convincing. You have, for 68, these kind of twisty-type controls for the headlights, the wipers there on the left. You have the HVAC controls on the right. And the kind of twisty theme was a new one for the car. I'm not quite sure why Oldsmobile decided to do that, but it looks good. The HVAC controls are very substantial. The gauges in the IP and the IDIT lights are the same format as 1967. The IP overall is pretty similar. One of the things that I do like about the Oldsmobiles of this era is you got the supersized accelerator pedal. The Oldsmobile of all the General Motors divisions had the largest accelerator pedals during this particular era. Not quite sure why, but I guess somebody thought it was cool and it works well, very comfortable to drive. And here, by the way, is a picture of the bucket seats and some little doodaddery that's on them to dress it up, because after all, this is a custom Delta 88, not just the regular Delta 88. You can see in the back there in the center that there's some sort of embossed design in the vinyl. Oldsmobile was trying to jazz up its interiors during this timeframe, and I think overall did a pretty nice job. Now, under hood in your 1968 Oldsmobile Delta 88 came standard a 310 horsepower, 455 cubic inch V8. This was the first year for Oldsmobile's 455. It had been enlarged from 425 cubic inches, and it came with a two-barrel carburetor atop it. That's right, a two-barrel carburetor atop a 455 cubic inch engine. And this, by the way, was a premium fuel engine, making 310 horsepower if you got the manual transmission, 320 horsepower if you got the automatic. Now, if you got the Delmont 88, you got a lower compression 455 two-barrel, a 290 horsepower. One up from this was the engine that was standard in the 98, which was a 365 horsepower, 455 cubic inch four-barrel V8, and that one got the red air cleaner with the bigger snorkel because it was a four-barrel. Atop that was the standard Tornado V8, 375 horsepower, an optional Tornado V8 that made 400 horsepower, but the 375 and 400 horsepower variants of the 455 you could only get in the Tornados. You could not get them in the 88 or the 98. So, as I was mentioning, this one has the standard engine, the 455 two-barrel, 320 horsepower, and people are gonna say, a two-barrel atop a 455, how in the world can that work, and does it work well? I have to say, it actually works shockingly well. The GM Rochester 2GC carburetor was actually a pretty big two-barrel. I believe it's over 500 CFM, and it flows quite well. Now, two-barrel carburetors are rated differently on the CFM scale from four-barrels, but still, compared to Ford AutoLite 4100 carburetors, to me, when Ford engines have those atop them, they kind of wheeze at the upper rev range. The GM engines aren't as much of a wheezer with the two-barrel carburetor as, I think, the Fords and some of the Chryslers, et cetera, are. So, don't knock the two-barrel carburetor. It's very simple to operate, it's reliable, and it actually feels, I would say, peppier around town and at lower speeds than the four-barrel. So, I actually, whenever I get one of these cars with a big block and a two-barrel, and I have a number of them, I leave it. I think it's great. I'm not also looking for the ultimate in performance, but the two-barrel carburetors, in general, because they were simpler and they just had less components from the four-barrel, it tended to be more reliable. And that's the tour of that particular 1968 Oldsmobile Custom 88 Holiday Hardtop Coupe. By the way, the car also looked great as a four-door hardtop. You can see that it doesn't quite have the same dramatic flair to that kick-up in the rear, although it is still present on the four-door hardtops, and it's a very handsome four-door hardtop at that. I have to say, if you find one of these Oldsmobiles of this era, buy it. If I found an 88 coupe, I think I would probably have to spring for it. They're just so smooth and so quiet. The Olds V8 is absolutely fantastic. You will not regret buying one of these cars if you have the opportunity to own one. They're just a fabulous classic, can be great for everyday use as well, at least during the fair weather. Don't drive them in the snow. And just something that you can enjoy all the time. Thanks again for watching. Put a comment in the comment section. Till next time, take care.