Odd but true: Between 1951 and 1956, Oldsmobile did not offer a station wagon. GM’s Lansing division jumped back into the market with a lineup of stylish wagons for 1957.
All through the ’50s, the Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick divisions at General Motors offered station wagons in their lineups, but oddly enough, not Oldsmobile. The Lansing brand opted out from 1951 through 1956. It was never formally stated why Olds abandoned the wagon market, as far as we know, but a few educated guesses can be made.
Actually, wagon sales hadn’t amounted to much at Oldsmobile for some years—barely a few thousand annually. And at the time, bodies for the larger GM wagons (Buick for instance) were not produced in-house, but rather by an independent company, Ionia Body, which probably wasn’t the most profit-intensive arrangement for Olds. (See our feature on Ionia Body here.)
But by 1957, suburbia was booming and so were station wagon sales, so when Olds announced its ’57 product line on November 9, 1956, there were multiple wagons in the lineup—with bodies manufactured by Ionia, by the way. Wagons could be had in both the 88 and Super 88 trim levels, and there were both four-door post and four-door pillarless body styles. However, there was no wagon on the big 98 chassis with its longer 126-in wheelbase, following along with its platform-sharing GM corporate sibling, Buick.
The standard engine for the wagons was the same 371 cubic-inch, 277 hp Rocket V8 as the rest of the Olds car line, while the J-2 package with three two-barrel carbs and 300 hp was available as well. A three-speed synchromesh gearbox was also standard, but most Olds buyers opted for the improved Jetaway Hydra-matic for $215 more. Despite its 4,300 lb curb weight, Olds was no doubt offering one of the hotter-performing wagons on the market that year.
Prices ranged from $2,914 for an 88 four-door post to $3,220 for the Super 88 hardtop wagon—right between Pontiac and Buick in the GM pricing scheme, naturally. The pillarless Super 88 was the best seller of the bunch, propelling total wagon sales to nearly 20,000 units, a figure respectable enough to keep wagons in the product mix this time around. Full-size wagons would remain in the lineup until 1964, when the intermediate-plus sized Vista Cruiser took over the division’s wagon duties.
I’ll take “Things I Didn’t Know” for $200, Alex.
I believe these bodies were fabricated by Ionia or a related company or Bentley Mitchell not directly by GM Fisher because of the low volume.
That’s what the story says.
I would dispute your characterization that full size wagons were available “until 1964” as we had a 1964 Dynamic 88 wagon when I was a teenager. I would suggest either “through 1964” or “ended after the 1964 model year.” Thanks for the story!
I’m satisfied with the sentence as written.
Nice looking wagons, the hardtop ones especially.
Have only seen these wagons in hardtop form, never with a B-post.
Yes, more hardtops were produced by far.
That blue and white one above is beautiful. Have never ran across one in the wild. Like most old cars, they were probably used up and discarded for the next appliance.
GM basically didn’t have a new postwar B-body until 1951, so the Olds 76 and 88 were on the A-body (while the Buick Special was the last of the prewar holdovers). For ’51 the new “OB-body” which lacked a wagon from either Fisher or Ionia took over. In retrospect, they should’ve kept a regular A-body in the line to stay in the wagon market and as a 2-door post sedan or coupe for those who wanted a light, fast Rocket 88.