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F-85
Feb 9, 2017 19:35:18 GMT -5
Post by jims442 on Feb 9, 2017 19:35:18 GMT -5
Sitting hear board in the rain on the west coast & was wondering does F-85 stand for anything
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F-85
Feb 9, 2017 22:55:19 GMT -5
Post by wailinwayne on Feb 9, 2017 22:55:19 GMT -5
Did some research on your question and this is what I found out. In 1961 naming the new,shorter wheel-based Olds apparently was somewhat problematic. Initially, the first name choice was " Starfire " but this seemed to denote a bigger and more luxurious car , hence the name was attached to the 88 series producing the 1961 Starfire, an appropriate fit! The name " Rockette " was also rejected as it conjured up the image of the Radio City Music Hall dancers. The final name choice looked to the Corvette-like F88 Olds show car of 1954 with a lesser number 85 chosen as to avoid confusion with the big 88's. You can find pictures of this 1954 F88 prototype car in magazines or the internet. Hope this answers your question!
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F-85
Feb 10, 2017 11:47:44 GMT -5
Post by joepadavano on Feb 10, 2017 11:47:44 GMT -5
The idea of a small Oldsmobile was conceived shortly after the end of the Korean war. The F-86 Saber Jet was the highly-publicized top fighter in that conflict, and most in the US knew of it. It was probably the best-known military plane of it's time. "F-85" was an easy way to capitalize on that familiarity and promote the "jet age" newness of the car without copying the exact name of the airplane. Note that "Cutlass" was a Navy fighter jet of similar vintage.
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F-85
Feb 10, 2017 19:24:11 GMT -5
Post by jims442 on Feb 10, 2017 19:24:11 GMT -5
thanks for both answers, they both make very good sense
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F-85
Mar 27, 2017 15:47:21 GMT -5
Post by wailinwayne on Mar 27, 2017 15:47:21 GMT -5
Interestingly enough, a very recent publication has revealed another perspective by an Oldsmobile historian by the name of Rheal Larose concerning the origin of automotive names. ( see p.36A of " OLD AUTOS " - Monday, March 6, 2017.) He states that 1942 was a milestone year for Oldsmobile in that, prior to Jan. 1, the company was known as the Olds Motor Works as far back as 1904. In 1909 Oldsmobile became part of General Motors but it wasn't until 1942 that it would be known as the Oldsmobile Division of GM.
That same year, says Larose, all Oldsmobiles were called B-44 models. Some might think that this was because of the wartime era what with B-52 bombers, etc. Actually, Oldsmobile considered this their 44th year of production, the oldest US auto manufacturer at the time. This was in error, however, because the first Oldsmobiles built and sold were in 1897 which would have meant their 45th year. The B supposedly stood for Better looking, Better lasting and Better built.
The Olds 60 became the Special while the 70 series was better known as the Dynamic Cruiser ( the first time the name Dynamic was tagged to an Olds ) and the 90 series was the Custom Cruiser. ( remember the Delta Custom? )The two lesser series came with a six or eight cylinder engine hence 66 or 68 and 76 or 78 models. The Custom Cruiser now only came in an eight, thus the 98 series began.
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F-85
Mar 27, 2017 16:10:22 GMT -5
Post by wailinwayne on Mar 27, 2017 16:10:22 GMT -5
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F-85
May 25, 2017 18:34:10 GMT -5
Post by wailinwayne on May 25, 2017 18:34:10 GMT -5
I'd like to add a bit of information that I came across recently authored by " OLD AUTOS " writer Perry Zavitz. His article was entitled " By the numbers... " which highlighted various automakers incorporating numbers into the cars' badges. One example was the first Chrysler 300 which indicated that this particular model had 300 horsepower. When referencing Oldsmobile he not surprisingly explained the meaning of the 4-4-2 numbers on the original 1964's but he also had this to say about the older Oldsmobile numbers. As mentioned in my previous post, from 1942 until 1948, Oldsmobile designated its cars as 60's, 70's, and 90,s models. Those numbers seemed to be nothing more than arbitrary designations with the higher numbers indicating a more upscale line of cars. But in 1949 Olds developed a modern, high-compression, over-square v-8 engine. The engineers then placed this sensational new engine in the smaller 70 series model to create the first " 80 " series with the second 8 of the " 88 " name showing the number of cylinders. The term " 88 " was appropriate and stuck well. In fact, the 88 title was used up to and including the 1999 model year. By the way, from 1988 on, the 88 model cars used a v-6 engine so the term had outlived its literal usefulness.
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F-85
May 26, 2017 11:40:47 GMT -5
Post by joepadavano on May 26, 2017 11:40:47 GMT -5
That same year, says Larose, all Oldsmobiles were called B-44 models. Some might think that this was because of the wartime era what with B-52 bombers, etc. Considering that the B-52 didn't exist in 1942... For that matter, the B-17 had only recently gone into production by then.
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F-85
May 26, 2017 13:19:14 GMT -5
Post by 442rocketeer on May 26, 2017 13:19:14 GMT -5
With all this B-44 talk I had to get out my copy of this ad. Check out the license plate. They could of used that plate 22 years later. An omen of things to come. Little did they know.
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F-85
May 26, 2017 14:46:49 GMT -5
Post by wailinwayne on May 26, 2017 14:46:49 GMT -5
This ad must have been the source of Larose's info since it fully supports what he's saying in his article re: the B44 number.Pretty long odds to choose a plate number like that back in 1942 ... an omen indeed! ( LOL )
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F-85
May 27, 2017 9:26:44 GMT -5
Post by joepadavano on May 27, 2017 9:26:44 GMT -5
This ad must have been the source of Larose's info since it fully supports what he's saying in his article re: the B44 number.Pretty long odds to choose a plate number like that back in 1942 ... an omen indeed! ( LOL ) More like a coincidence... 4U-4-42 "For You for (19)42" I think it's more telling that Olds was into texting in 1942.
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