(first posted 10/12/2011) So it’s 1955, and you aren’t necessarily a brand loyalist, yet still a General Motors loyalist. The all new for 1954 B-Body by Fisher cousins, the Oldsmobile 88/Super 88 and Buick Special/Century are pleasantly updated for 1955. While Buick actually ran away with the sales game in 1955 (all the way to #3), Oldsmobile held its own in the market (holding steady at #5). Which way would you fly in ’55?
Taillight to taillight, both cars alternate on being very similar, yet very different. Both represented a butching up of the Harley Earl school of curves design philosophy. They’re more boxy than everything that proceeded them for about 20 years. The Buick hardtop with the full radius wheel well openings at the rear plus the soon to be traditional Ventiports project more of a sporting flair.
The Olds is decidedly more of a lead sled. The rear wheels are (optionally) skirted in a fashion to mimic the flying color two toning frolicking on the side panels. And the 88 is a little less square shouldered (looking) compared to the Special/Century twins. A bit softer, more feminine and more international, right down to the Globe emblem front and rear. If you value brute masculinity, the Buick is your car in looks. If you like feminine refinement, there’s an Oldsmobile showroom for you.
The same can be said for the Olds face. A tad bit more glamorous, the name “staged” on a grille bar between two rocket intake dagmars.
The Buick is decidedly more forceful, from pointed dagmars to the mesh grille and squarer hood, the Buick means business. It also seems less overdone compared to Oldsmobile.
Then there’s the matter of the divisional V8s. The Special came out the door with the smaller displacement 264 cube Nailhead, rated at 188hp, 3 more than the base 324 in basic Eighty Eights. To up the ante, a Century could be had with a blazing 236 horsepower 322 V8, compared to the 202 horsepower 4 barrel 324 available in the Super 88.
However the base Olds 324 developed more torque than the Special V8, the 4 barrel slightly more torque than the 322 Nailhead in the Century. With the flexibility of the 4 speed fluid-coupling Hydra-matic, the Oldsmobile family was no slouch. The Century might have been the first car Motor Trend tested to break the 10 second 0-60 barrier, but in the 10.5 Second 0-60 range, a Super Eighty Eight wasn’t exactly slow for the times. And more economical too. While Buicks pissed away a lot of fuel economy through their variable pitch Dynaflow and could maybe crack 13mpg in a steady 60mph cruise, A judiciously driven Super Eighty Eight could tickle the high teens in the same setting.
There were other differences, the Oldsmobile rode on firmer rear leaf springs to the Buick soft coils. The Special was $6 cheaper (and barely out of the reach of people considering Dodge and Pontiac wares) than the Eighty Eight ($2291 to $2297 base for comparable 2 door sedans), which was the first major assault on the Sloan pricing ladder.
When you sat down in the interior, you were more dazzled (well, more likely blinded) by contours of chrome in hypnotic circular patterns in the Oldsmobile. This was the last year Oldsmobile actually gave you a whole host of gauges until the early 1980s too. The 1956 dash features a more ovoid speedo and a gas gauge, and I think the hilarious “cold” light.
The B-Body Buick dash is far more harmonious and easy to decipher, with a metal dash applique instead of the yards of blinding chrome in the Oldsmobile. Also Buick held onto more gauges for longer (at least through 1959). I don’t know how either of them compared on fabric appointments, but they couldn’t have been significantly different in quality. This was a time where you got more for your money for stepping into the middle of the market.
So the question really becomes what made people choose one over the other. Beyond the obvious brand loyalties, each car had enough individual qualities to feel unique. The Oldsmobile looks softer, but in a lot of ways was the “firmer” experience. All the while the Buick projected a tower of strength attitude, but remained one big softie in the tradition of yacht like Buicks since, well it seems forever. The erosion of these subtle differences in feel started in the mid 1960s and continued until you really couldn’t tell the difference between a 307 equipped LeSabre and a 307 equipped Delta Eighty Eight 30 years later if you were blindfolded.
I don’t know if I’d be able to choose one over the other. Both have their equal merits, and the extra power in the Century would be more intoxicating. But the 4 speed Hydra-matic would feel more modern. So I turn the dilemma over to you, Curbside Commenters.
Olds, Buick….
…or Chrysler Windsor
Nice comparo ~
Having driven both a fair bit , I like the Buick better visually but I’d prefer to keep my old ’54 Pontiac Coupe because Hydromatic .
I hate the Dynasquish tranny .
-Nate
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I need to throw my ’55 Chieftain into this comparison. It had to be a lot of work for GM Styling to come up with different front ends, rear styling and bright metal configurations to make all of these different GM division B bodies look unique.
I would take the Olds and it wouldn’t even be close. My favorite uncle (father’s younger brother) had a ’55 Olds Super 88 that he bought used in late 1957 when he got out of the Air Force. That was the first “performance” car I can remember riding in. Before that all of my experience was in low priced three brands with six cylinder engines. In my mind I can still feel the sound and fury when my uncle kicked the Hydramatic down into “Super”, opened up the secondaries on the four barrel carb, and away we would go. I know that in measurable terms the Olds was slower than a four cylinder Camry, but it was a lot more fun.
I’ve always had a thing for ’55 – ’57 Buicks. They strike me design-wise as strong, elegant, and athletic.
The Olds to me is a much fussier design, more confused and erratic in its expression. The two-tone colour design on the side seems arbitrary – even incomprehensible – and the grille to me looks a little like the random contents of a custom-jewelry box. And those wimpy little taillights! 🙂
By comparison the Buick grille is clean and hungry, and the taillights look like they could form a significant part of the propulsion system. But it was the side treatment – with the three portholes and that chrome swoop over the huge rear wheel openings – that was the real masterstroke IMO. It was a clear statement of strength, power, and speed.
To me, the Buick is the clear winner from a side profile standpoint. I don’t mind the radiused openings, and that trim sweep is about perfect. However, I find the protruding grille a bit “catfish-y”. The Olds wins inside, and sounds like the better drive. So if forced to choose one, I think it would be the 88.
The 55 Olds Super 88 would take the 55 Buick Century from a dead stop til about 45 MPH at which point the Buick would overtake it. However if the same race was all out, the Olds would overtake the Buick just past the 1/4 mile mark and hold the lead from there up to top speed which was 5 mph higher in the Olds than the Buick.
My brother, in my Dad’s Super 88, raced a fraternity brother in his Dad’s 55 Buick Century on a city street on the near southside of Chicago. My brother claimed he won.
My best friends family had one of each of these, both of which I drove while in high school. My friend got his Olds 88 shortly after graduation. I drove it back from the mountains one time and just then realized the difference in how these cars felt on the road compared to my 57 chevy. On a clear, straight stretch of road, my friend said “lets see what she will do”. At over 100 mph it still felt stable and composed. I always remembered that as my family mostly drove chevys and fords. Again this was a straight road and the Olds was no sports car but it did impress me nevertheless. His parents car was a 55 Buick Roadmaster in beautiful condition and it also was a pleasure to drive although like others, I was not a fan of the dynaflow trans. It was very smooth and quiet. I was about 10 yrs. old when these models came out. Already a car nut, I thought then, and still do, that the styling of almost all models of the big 3 car makers in the years,1955 thru 1957 was exceptional. Chrysler in particular made great strides during these years with exciting trends that still look good today, in my opinion.
I can remember (just turned 70) that at the drag strip, The 55 Olds would beat the 55 Buick by a considerable margin. The Olds would always leap out first, the Buick would close but with both in high gear, the Olds would again pull away.
A stock 56 Olds with a 3 speed, 3.64 gears, would turn 16.1 – 16.3, 85 mph in the quarter. I remember that car was the fastest factory stock there. (Those were unheard of times back then). Of course racing tuned versions (Chev, Olds, Buick, Ford) with slicks/headers were often faster. There was no Pure Stock division then.
I have a feeling that the publications who listed the 55 Buick faster, were relying on a very inaccurate speedometer. Side by side was a different story, from what I seen anyway.
1957 up, the Olds were certainly faster than the Buicks, but by then Pontiac was starting to sow its oats.
Just about the best thread ever! I am 73 now and recall these cars when new or near new. My grandmother had a ’54 Special (black/blackwalls/poverty hubcaps) that I wound up driving a lot in the late ’50s to about ’64. Solid, reliable car. Not a bit of rust on salted Connecticut roads. My father had two company cars, one after the other- ’55 Olds 88s. These cars he had from about ’55 to ’59. Solid cars; I saw no rust. We also had a ’57 Dodge Coronet four door hardtop. You would think as a 14 year old kid I would be proud of this flashy new car, but it was a piece of excrement. You would sit in the thing and see daylight around the window frames; the headliner was ?cardboard? with little gold stars printed on it. I don’t recall what happened with this car, but I do recall that in the late ’50s and early ’60s we watched the fiftyseven/fiftyeight Chrysler and Ford products literally disintegrate before our eyes. I gotta laugh though: in 1970 I bought a new Volvo and that car wound up rusting pretty badly, so not only an American problem. I recall that ’49-’52 Chevrolets seemed to hold up well, but my ’54 BelAir convertible was pretty, make that very, rusty; the parking lights just fell apart. A friend’s mother had a ’55 New Yorker hardtop in about ’62. The car seemed to be in good shape, but bizarre looking with that trim and split grille (Imperials were rare and fascinating to me at the time-good looking cars) The New Yorker had power windows on the front windows but not the back windows. At the time we considered a car with 50,000 miles to be over the hill. Tires lasted maybe 12,000 miles.
I’ll take both please. Ha Ha!😉