Automotive History: 1949–1970 Oldsmobile Holiday Hardtop – A Holiday In Lansing (With Apologies To Irving Berlin)

 

Ten years before it became the name of a hotel chain, Holiday Inn was a hit Paramount picture starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, with a flimsy story about Bing starting a hotel that’s only open on holidays as an excuse to string together an array of new holiday-themed Irving Berlin songs (including the now-inescapable “White Christmas”). Seven years later, Oldsmobile applied the name “Holiday” to the first of its popular line of pillarless hardtops. Let’s take a look at how the Oldsmobile Holiday hardtops evolved over their 21-year lifespan.

Holiday Hardtops From Lansing

Unless you’re a longtime Olds fan, the name “Oldsmobile Holiday” may not ring a lot of bells. Although the Holiday name first appeared in 1949 on Oldsmobile’s first pillarless hardtop model, Olds never developed it as a separate model or series like the contemporary Cadillac de Ville or the slightly later Chevrolet Bel Air. From 1950 through 1970, it was simply an irregularly applied designation for pillarless hardtop body styles, typically but not always at or near the top of a particular trim series.

Like the vast library of songs written by Irving Berlin (1888–1989), some of the many cars to wear the Olds “Holiday Coupe” and “Holiday Sedan” monikers were inspired, while others were so banal you’ll forget them moments after seeing one. Nonetheless, like the movie Holiday Inn and the popular songs it spawned, the Holiday line was a profitable money-spinner for Oldsmobile for quite a long time.

The movie Holiday Inn, which was filmed in B&W, was colorized in 2008, and that version is, regrettably, now at least as common as the unmolested original (although both versions generally retain the appalling blackface sequence). When it comes to Oldsmobile Holidays, however, I figured that readers would appreciate some splashes of color, so I endeavored to find representative examples in more interesting hues, to help keep you all awake.

We’ll begin with the very first Olds Holiday:

 

Okay, okay, I know just said I was going to give you colorful pictures, and then I immediately show you a white car! In my defense, the original 1949 Oldsmobile Futuramic Series 98 Holiday Coupe — like its Buick Roadmaster Riviera and Cadillac Coupe de Ville cousins, it was a late introduction in 1949, first shown in January and not on sale until summer — is now very rare. Only 3,006 1950 Holidays were built, with a price tag starting at a rather ambitious $2,973, and there don’t seem to be many presentable survivors. If it’s any consolation, the somewhat rough white Holiday pictured above (which wasn’t running when it was auctioned in 2015) does have a cheerful red-and-white interior:

 

Unlike the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which remained a unique sub-model and then part of a separate series, Oldsmobile wasted little time extending the Holiday hardtop roof to the entire Olds line. In 1950, you could even get a plain Series 76 Holiday hardtop with a six-cylinder engine, although V-8 hardtops were much more common. (Only 538 Series 76 Holiday Coupes were built in 1950, against 12,682 Series 88 hardtops and 8,263 98 Holiday Coupes.) The cheapest 1950 Holiday model now started at $2,019, while the priciest 98 de Luxe Holiday Coupe listed for $2,404. This 1950 Olds 88 de Luxe Holiday Coupe was somewhere in the middle, starting at $2,288:

 

For 1951, Oldsmobile apparently thought better of this approach and dropped the six-cylinder Series 76 and the 88 hardtop, confining the Holiday Coupe to the pricier Super 88 and 98 lines, and then only in de Luxe trim. The cheapest ’51 Holiday you could order was now the Super 88 de Luxe Holiday Coupe, starting at $2,359, while the priciest Olds 98 de Luxe Holiday started at $2,664.

 

The 1952 Oldsmobile line was further consolidated, with the Holiday Coupes now offered only in one trim level with more equipment and higher prices. The cheapest 1952 Super 88 Holiday Coupe now started at $2,655, the priciest 98 Holiday Coupe at $3,001.

 

For 1953, the Holiday’s position in the lineup was briefly overshadowed by the semi-custom Oldsmobile Fiesta convertible. The Olds cheapest hardtop you could order now started at $2,673, while the fancier 1953 98 Holiday Coupe started at $2,992. Continental kits mercifully weren’t standard.

 

For 1954, Oldsmobile again expanded Holiday hardtop availability. The Holiday Coupe returned to the cheaper 88 line, starting at $2,449, while the 98 Holiday was again split into regular and DeLuxe versions, starting at $2,826 and $3,042 respectively.

 

Starting in 1955, there was a new four-door Holiday Sedan as well as the two-door Holiday Coupe. Both styles were available in all three series, with prices ranging from $2,474 to $3,140, although there were no longer separate standard and DeLuxe versions in the 98 line. A 1955 Super 88 Holiday Sedan like the one below started at $2,788.

 

For 1956, Oldsmobile again applied the “DeLuxe” name to 98 Holiday hardtops (although there was no standard version) while raising list prices for both 98 Holiday Coupe and Sedan by more than $300, to $3,435 and $3,506. You could still have an 88 Holiday Coupe for as little as $2,555. A 1956 Super 88 Holiday Sedan like the one below started at $2,836.

 

For 1957, Oldsmobile renamed its lower series “Golden Rocket 88” and the senior series “Starfire 98”; only the Super 88 stood pat. There were again Holiday Coupes and Sedans available in all three series. The cheapest Golden Rocket hardtop now started at $2,778, while the a 98 Starfire Holiday Sedan listed for a formidable $3,993, $487 more than in 1956.

 

Starting in 1957, there were also hardtop station wagons in both the Golden Rocket 88 and Super 88 series. Some people describe this body style as a “Fiesta Holiday,” but the closest I’ve seen to Oldsmobile doing so is a textual reference in the 1958 brochure to the Fiesta having “all the carefree beauty of Holiday hardtop styling with the rugged utility of a station wagon.” So far as Oldsmobile was concerned, the wagon itself seems to have been identified only as “Fiesta.”

 

For 1958, the Golden Rocket 88 series was renamed “Dynamic 88,” while the Starfire 98 again became just “98.” The cheapest Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe started at $2,893, while the 98 Holiday Coupe now started at $4,020.

 

The 1959 Oldsmobile line had racy new styling, although it was less extreme than some 1959 GM cars. The two-door Holiday was now called “Holiday SceniCoupe,” while the four-door was now the “Holiday SportSedan.” It was difficult to get any new 1959 Oldsmobile for much less than $3,000, especially the hardtops. The cheapest 1959 Dynamic 88 Holiday SceniCoupe started at $2,958, while the priciest 98 Holiday SportSedan listed for $4,162. In the Super 88 line, the Holiday models started at $3,338 and $3,405 respectively. The debate about whether the Fiesta wagons were considered Holidays had ended: The 1959 wagons were no longer pillarless.

 

1960 saw the 1959 look dialed back a bit, trimming a few pounds in the process. A 1960 98 Holiday SceniCoupe was 36 lb lighter than the ’59, and $3 cheaper, starting at $4,083. You could still get the cheaper Dynamic 88 Holiday SceniCoupe for as little as $2,956.

 

The 1961 full-size Oldsmobile cars were a bit trimmer and lighter, shedding over 100 lb from 1960. (Alas, much of this reduction was due to the adoption of the unlovable three-speed Roto Hydra-Matic, which was lighter than the former four-speed unit.) The fussy “SceniCoupe” and “SportSedan” names were dropped, so the hardtops were again “Holiday Coupe” and “Holiday Sedan,” with list prices ranging from $2,956 for a Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe to $4,021 for a 1961 Olds 98 Holiday Sedan. The cheaper Y-body F-85/Cutlass line, new for ’61, didn’t yet offer any pillarless hardtop styles, and didn’t use the Holiday name.

 

Oldsmobile made the 1962 Holiday lineup significantly more complicated than before, with the latest big Olds hardtops now offering no less than four hardtop rooflines. Cheaper Dynamic 88 and Super 88 Holiday Coupes had a roof shaped to suggest the bows of a convertible top, shared with the new Starfire Coupe (although Oldsmobile didn’t apply the “Holiday” name to either the Starfire hardtop or the new Y-body F-85 Jetfire hardtop). As before, there was also a Holiday Sedan in both the Dynamic 88 and Super 88 series, with the same four-door hardtop roofline as the ’61. Hardtops in the cheaper lines now ranged in price from $3,054 to $3,499.

In the 98 line, there was a new Holiday Sports Coupe, starting at $4,180, whose roof had no simulated convertible bows and featured wider, more angular sail panels. The four-door 98 Holiday Sedan now had a new six-window roof, but there was also a new 98 Holiday Sports sedan, with a four-window roofline and wider sail panels like those of the Holiday Sports Coupe. Prices for the 98 hardtops ranged from $4,118 for the six-window Holiday Sedan to $4,256 for the Holiday Sports Sedan.

 

The facelifted 1963 big Oldsmobiles had the same basic lineup, with hardtop prices starting at $3,052 for a Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe. In the 98 line, the six-window four-door hardtop was renamed 98 Luxury Sedan, gaining additional equipment, plusher trim, and a $4,332 base price. There was also a new 98 Custom Sports Coupe, which, like the Luxury Sedan, was no longer called “Holiday”; it had standard bucket seats, center console, and leather upholstery. Base prices for a 1963 Olds 98 hardtop ranged from $4,178 for the bench-seat Holiday Sports Coupe to $4,381 for the Custom Sports Coupe.

 

For 1964, the new A-body intermediate line got its first Holiday: the two-door Cutlass hardtop, starting at $2,784. In the full-size line, there was a new low-end Jetstar 88 series, priced below the Dynamic 88. Holiday Coupe and Sedan body styles were available in both those lines, starting at $2,992, but the Super 88 series now had offered only four-doors: pillared Celebrity Sedan and pillarless Holiday Sedan, the latter starting at $3,483. (The Super 88 Holiday Coupe’s place in the line was taken by the new Jetstar I hardtop, essentially a de-contented Starfire; like the Starfire, it was no longer called a Holiday.) The 98 series again offered Holiday Sports Coupe and Holiday Sports Sedan, priced at $4,188 and $4,265 respectively, along with the non-Holiday Luxury Sedan and Custom Sports Coupe.

 

The Cutlass Holiday Coupe returned for 1965 with a facelift. In the redesigned full-size line, the Super 88 was renamed Delta 88 and regained its own Holiday Coupe, separate from the slow-selling Jetstar I. The 98 Custom Sports Coupe was dropped. You could now order a Jetstar 88 Holiday Coupe for as little as $2,995, while the priciest 98 Holiday Sports Sedan started at $4,273.

 

For 1966, the A-body line gained F-85 Deluxe Holiday Coupe and Holiday Sedan models, starting at $2,513 and $2,629 — the first six-cylinder Oldsmobile hardtops since 1950 — in addition to the V-8-only Cutlass Holiday Coupe. The inaugural Cutlass Supreme also added a four-door hardtop to the Cutlass series, but it was not yet called Holiday. In the full-size line, the 98 Holiday Coupe and Holiday Sedan dropped the “Sports” prefix and cut prices slightly, to $4,158 and $4,233 respectively.

 

In the 1967 A-body line, Oldsmobile replaced the F-85 Deluxe series with new base Cutlass models in six and V-8 form. This meant that the Holiday Coupe and Sedan were now available only in the Cutlass series, although you could still order a six-cylinder A-body Olds hardtop for as little as $2,574. The Cutlass Supreme was expanded to a full series with both two- and four-door hardtops, now belatedly called Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe and Holiday Sedan, priced at $2,831 or $2,900. In the full-size line, the Jetstar 88 and Dynamic 88 series were replaced with a new Delmont 88 series and a hardtop-only Delta 88 Custom series was added between the Delta 88 and 98. Full-size Olds Holiday hardtops now ranged in price from $3,063 to $4,276.

 

In 1968, the full-size Oldsmobile lineup remained the same, with Holiday prices ranging from $3,179 to $4,396. The completely redesigned A-body intermediate line had about the same model selection as before, but non-Supreme two-door Cutlass models gained an “S” suffix, so a two-door Cutlass hardtop was now called Cutlass S Holiday Coupe.

 

This practice continued for 1969, except that the sporty A-body 442 belatedly became a separate series rather than a Cutlass option package. (Previously, you could order the 442 package on a Cutlass or Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe, but 1969 was the first time there was an actual 442 Holiday Coupe.) In the full-size line, the Delmont 88 line was dropped entirely, and the Delta 88 Custom series was joined by a plusher Delta 88 Royale Holiday Coupe, starting at $3,819, $311 more than a Delta Custom Hardtop Coupe. The Olds 98 continued to offer Holiday Coupe and Holiday Sedan models, but the posh Luxury Sedan was now available in both pillared and four-door hardtop form; the latter was not called Holiday, but “Luxury Sedan Hardtop,” starting at $4,675.

 

In 1970, Oldsmobile applied the Holiday moniker one last time to the pillarless Cutlass, Cutlass S, Cutlass Supreme, 442, Delta 88, Delta 88 Custom, and Delta 98 Royale, along with the cheaper 98 Holiday Coupe and Holiday Sedan. Prices now ranged from $2,796 for a six-cylinder Cutlass S Holiday Coupe to $4,656 for a 98 Holiday Coupe.

 

After that, the Holiday was over. The Standard Catalog series alleges that the designation hung around through 1972 on A-bodies and through 1973 on the bigger cars, but I found no evidence of that in contemporary Oldsmobile brochures, the “SPECS” sales guides, or the 1997 official Oldsmobile history (Setting the Pace: Oldsmobile’s First 100 Years). The “Holiday” name might have lingered for a while longer in the fine print of the registration paperwork, but Oldsmobile no longer promoted it. Oldsmobile subsequently revived the “Holiday Coupe” name in 1979 for a bucket-seat version of the two-door Delta 88 Royale — probably as much to hold onto the trademark as anything else — but it wasn’t a hardtop and it didn’t sell well. It disappeared after 1982, but Oldsmobile gave it another shot with a Holiday Coupe appearance package for the 1984–1985 A-body Cutlass Ciera Brougham.

 

As this little revue makes clear, Oldsmobile never really established a coherent identity for its Holiday models. Part of the reason the “Coupe de Ville” name still has a certain zing is that Cadillac was fairly consistent about what the Coupe de Ville was and how it was supposed to fit into the lineup. Oldsmobile never really did that, using the “Holiday” name as a general term for pillarless body styles; by the ’60s, they were no longer even doing that with any consistency. When word first began to spread about the FWD personal luxury model that became the Olds Toronado, there were rumors that it might be called Oldsmobile Holiday, but of course that didn’t happen.

 

Maybe part of the problem was that “Holiday” was a bit too generic, lacking the implied glamour of “Riviera” or “Bel Air.” After all, there are some holidays so dull that even Irving Berlin would have had trouble writing a catchy song about them.

Related Reading

Curbside Classic: 1949 Oldsmobile 88 – Ghost Of The Future, Legend of the Past (by Bellinghamster)
Automotive History: 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe de Ville – From Image Leader To Standard-Bearer For The U.S. Industry (by me)
Vintage Snapshots: 1954 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday – One Joyful Oldsmobile Family (by Rich Baron)
Curbside Classic: 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 – The Sedan Goes on Holiday (by J P Cavanaugh)
Curbside Classic: 1957 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 Holiday Sedan – Silence is Golden (by Jerome Solberg)
Parking Lot Classic: 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Hardtop – Happy Haunting (by Laurence Jones)
Auction Classic: 1969 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Coupe – Long Green In Artificial Light (by me)