Looking at my 55 last night and noticed it has no side view mirrors, there are no holes in doors and never has been, did it not come with mirrors? I see at Fusics they are available

 

They were not standard on the base 88's but were optional and also often dealer-installed. This was common then which is why there was such an array of aftermarket side view mirrors available - many people spruced up their cars with mirrors...


Heat and an oil filter was also optional on that car, so if you have both of those I'd say your car is "well-equipped"

 

Heat? you mean heater? yes it has one, guess I dont need side mirrors legally then, not sure I would like driving with out them tho haha

 

Here are some universal style, should fit nice

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-LONG-ARM-P...b685bf&vxp=mtr

Gene

 

You will be pretty much be blind on the passenger side if you choose not to install them. My convertible was dangerous with the top up till I added one on the passenger side even though it came with one on the drivers side it still had bad blind spots.Those puppies aren't very large so any help you can get is a plus.... Tedd

 

As late as the early 1960s, outside mirrors were not required . My 1962 did not come with one standard; it was an option. There was no passenger side mirror available at all.

 

I can remember back in the late 50's and 60's people mounting mirrors out on the front fenders. Man it looked aweful and you probably couldn't see anything in them since they were so far away.

 

Page 35 of the 1955 Oldsmobile owner manual shows the outside mirror installed on the driver's door. It is shown with other accessories. Other images of the car in the manual show no outside mirror. Page 493 of the 1955 Oldsmobile chassis parts book under "accessory reference list" shows "MIRROR, Outside rear view (L.H. or R.H.) All 1954 & 1955. The group number was 10.185, and the part number was 983184.

 

I've got a 1955 4 door parts car. It had mirrors on both sides, round on a thin stalk if I remember right. I believe one had the glass cracked in it, but if you'd like I could try to dig them up with the mounting brackets.

John

 

I have a 55 holiday 4 door plain 88 hardtop parts car that had a mirrow mounted about 2 feet forward of the windshield on the left fender. No holes appeared to be drilled in either door.

 

Fusick has the repro mirrors.

 

And they are of good quality.......Tedd

 

Be sure you mount the right side mirror so you can see out of it. I mounted my drivers side first and then mounted the right side to match. It turned out to be too far forward and I can't really see anything in it.

 

X2 what redoldsman just said. I made the exact same mistake on my 56 Super 88.

 

Good to know somebody else did that. It looked like it was where it should be and it looks nice on the car. Otherwise it is totally useless.

 

That was standard practice in the UK and much of Europe at the time.
We called them "wing mirrors" btw.
Set up correctly you got better rear vision than you might think. On the other hand some cars of the time had such appalling wiper patterns you couldn't see them if it was raining.

External mirrors on passenger cars weren't a legal requirement until the early '70s over here.


Roger.