Posts Tagged: Rocket V8
This is the third of just twenty-five prototypes Oldsmobile built ahead of the officially revived 1972 Hurst/Olds, which would go on to pace the Indianapolis 500. The original Hurst/Olds partnership debuted in 1968 before going dormant for two full years, and 1971 also marked the last year Oldsmobile sold the 442 as its own standalone model. The Rocket 350 V8 under this car’s hood carried the same engineering that would define the production Hurst/Olds cars buyers could purchase in 1972.
A 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 shouldn’t sound like this. Built the same year Oldsmobile demoted the 442 back to an option package, this candy-plum, gold-wheeled build hides a modern supercharged engine under styling made to look understated. The result: a viral car-show regular with over a million views and an exhaust note that catches everyone off guard.
This 1951 Oldsmobile 98 still runs the original 303 cubic inch Rocket V8 that helped ignite Detroit’s horsepower war, and it still wears its factory interior after all these decades. Surviving this honest is rare for a car this old. Here’s why the Rocket name mattered, and why finding one still original is worth stopping for.
The 1949 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday paired a landmark body style, one of the first hardtop coupes GM ever built, with only 3,006 produced, with an engine that changed the industry outright: the 303-cubic-inch Rocket V-8, the first mass-produced overhead-valve V-8 in America. Together they cut 10-to-60 mph times by 4.6 seconds over the prior year’s car and helped kick off the horsepower race that would define American muscle cars for decades to come.
Every surface of this 1958 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight is buried in chrome, and that is not an accident of taste — 1958 is the year Oldsmobile earned the nickname ChromeMobile. Underneath it sits a 371 cubic-inch Rocket V8 that could be ordered three different ways, including a triple two-barrel J-2 setup Oldsmobile engineered before Pontiac’s more famous Tri-Power. Read on for why that option lasted only two seasons and never came back.
The Hurst/Olds returned in 1972 for an unlikely reason: a fatal Indy 500 pace car crash the year before left the race without a manufacturer sponsor, and a shifter company stepped in to fill the gap. This guide covers all three model years — 1972’s cameo white pace car, 1973’s Colonnade-body redesign, and 1974’s final, rarer run — along with the engine options, cowl tag codes, and details that separate genuine cars from tribute builds. Read on to find out what made this low-production special worth chasing.