One of the reasons. I dislike chevy and GM management. This was better than the 54 Corvette.

 

Love it. Thanks for sharing.

 

Yeah, current GM is just the natural progression from that time and why nothing temps me from GM today to be in my garage. Extremely cool car, with it produced, the Corvette probably would have died.

 

The F88 is bad@$$!

Thanks for sharing. 👍

 

Stories like this are a reminder of how many important vehicles nearly disappeared forever. It's amazing that the car survived and can still be appreciated today. While looking through classic automotive history, I spent some time on SweetBonanza Official UK before returning to read more about the restoration.

 

Cooler than a Vette? Looks like a Vette to me. Is it not built on a Corvette chassis, etc?

 

This was Harley Earl's daily driver for several years. He then had it disassembled, crated and gave it to AL Cord. It is now in a museum in Colorado. There were originally two of these cars but the other one burned. Yes, this car would have killed the Corvette. GM was not going to let that happen.

 

These cars were styling exercises. The Bonneville, the LaSalle II, etc were never intended for production. GM had one two seat sports car that nobody wanted already in production. They weren’t going to add another. It’s an Olds fan boy myth that Chevy killed this car. GM was in the business of making money. If they thought three more Corvette versions would’ve sold we would had got three more versions.

 

I agree the 54 Corvette did not sell. But it was one of the ugliest cars I ever seem! And slow with the inline 6. Two speed. No wonder it did not sell. You have more fun with a 54 European two seater. And that what drivers did.

Oldsmobile treatment of the front and rear end is just f.... beautiful!! With a V8 and and four speed transmission. You can call me a fan-boy all you want. GM kissed Chevy *** all the time over it other division. Forcing them to uses backdoors to get something better than Chevy. GNX, Hurst/Olds, GTO. GS. I had the luck that my parent had a new 70 Buick GS 350. Even if it was not a 455. It was a torque monster. At 16 - 18 years old I blew the doors off most muscle cars.

 

Many people consider the 53-55 Corvette the best looking Vette of all time. Myself included. Timeless design without the unnecessary chrome of later 50s versions. With the pull that Harley Earl had at GM you really think he couldn’t get that car produced because GM kissed Chevys butt? What “back doors” are you talking about? The GNX didn’t just show up in showrooms without nobody at GMs headquarters knowing about it. There’s approval processes. Budgets. Advertising. Warranties.

 

Someone had to negotiate with ASC to build those cars. Allocate money for the GNX program. Thats not back door stuff. Chevy didn’t have power over that.

 

If it costs more money to build the car than it will sell for then that car will not get approved. Halo cars are an exception. The Corvette was a Halo car. The F body wasn’t. But Olds wanted a F body cousin. They were denied because the profits were not there for three versions. So Olds was given permission to build the Hurst Olds. This right here is proof of why the other three Corvette versions were never intended for production.

 

You think GM was ok and happy GNX was faster than the Corvette? From what I read there was a lot of dealings between divisions.

 

let’s not forget Buick, Olds, and Cadillac all had V8s BEFORE Chevy.

 

The 77 Trans Am had a bigger motor and with exhaust was faster than the 77 Corvette. In 1983 Olds built the HO that was faster than the non existent 83 Corvette.

I think you are confusing GM being unhappy with Chevy being unhappy. Buick knew exactly what they were doing and GM green lighted it. Just like they green lighted the Syclone truck. Profits and sales makes GM happy.

 

again this is proof if a car is going to make money GM will build it. Didn’t matter if another division got mad. The F88 wasn’t ever going to get built. There was no plans on GMs part to do that.

 

Bad news for that from this fanboy. Start at 5:20

 

Take a look at the 1938 Buick Y-job. Harley Earl had the clout at GM to build himself a one-off sports car. He drove the Y-Job for several years.

Buick Y-Job - Wikipedia

 

He is saying the same myths that have been perpetuated for years about that car. GM knew the Corvette sucked. They knew that Ford was building the 55 T bird with a v8. They knew Earl had built a car to compete with it. And they knew Olds was winning NASCAR races with that V8. But they said screw Olds and kill the F88 so we can keep building a 6 cylinder car nobody is buying. Yeah that never freaking happened.

 

And GM was RIGHT. The market place couldn’t handle two sports cars. Ford went 4 seater in 58 and sales exploded.

 

Anybody saying anything about what went on is pure speculation. Maybe somebody here had a parent or relative that worked at GM back in the day and they might know. Otherwise it is all speculation.

 

If this was a "styling exercise" why did Oldsmobile take orders and deposits for the F88 when the Oldsmobile was presented at auto shows?

 

Better then a Vette. Which would you have, a 150 HP No Flame 6 cyl or a 270 HP Rocket V8? Tack on upgraded brakes and handling over the Vette, made it better than the Vette and Thunderbird. Same thing 10 years later with the Pontiac Banshee. GM can keep their ugly modern garbage with their seizing LT V8's.

 

"Banshee" wailing cry heralds an imminent death in a family. Great car name!

 

Leave it to a shreaking Irish woman, pretty sure she was a red head too😀.

 

I like Redheads!

 

I agree. I believe GM did play favorites.

 

Chevy sold 1.6 million cars in 1954. Olds sold 354,000. The engine that drove GM was Chevrolet. Not Oldsmobile. I think the F88 is the second best looking GM car ever, behind the 59 Sting Ray.

It’s hard to keep secrets in the auto industry. I’ve worked in it for 27 years. Ford built the T Bird to compete with the Vette. It destroyed it in sales. Ford also knew this market was very small. So they went 4 seater in 58. Production planning starts years out before a car sees the showroom. GM could not have brought that car to market in 1954. Because there was no market. The Vette was dead and they were already thinking about using the name as a trim level.

the only thing more mythical is the W43 engine that everybody thinks is a HEMI and got killed by Chevy.

 

The first picture is the 1957 version of the F88. The red one is the 1959 version. That car had a 394 with fuel injection. And later had a supercharger. It also had a rear transaxle. All these F88 cars were styling and engineering exercises done by Harley Earl. At no time were they ever considered for production.

 

The F88 III had the transaxle converted to a regular trans later in life.

 

The 59 stayed in GM possession until 1976. Once Earl died it was ordered to be returned and it eventually was scrapped. Hard to imagine being the guy that had to do that,

 

My Grandmother was a little 5'2" 100 pound red head from Northern Ireland, she lived up to the reputation. I have two red headed Daughter's, both also live up to the fiery reputation. Our Brunette Daughter, always the easiest to deal with of the three. Yes, I'm a red head😃. GM slowly but surely drove me away as a customer over decades of incompetence and favoring brand "C".

 

Sorry, but to be sure. Its female redheads!!

 

I wouldn't be too sure of that. I have heard it still lives in Warren.

 

The third one or the one you posted the picture of. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s hidden in a garage by the tech center.