1952 Oldsmobile DeLuxe 88 and Super 88: A Four-Barrel Widens the Gap

For 1952 Oldsmobile widened the gap between its two 88 series: the Super 88 gained a four-barrel carburetor and rose to 160 horsepower at 3,600 rpm and 283 lb-ft at 1,800, while the plainer DeLuxe 88, as the old 88 was now called, kept a two-barrel carburetor at 145 horsepower and 280 lb-ft on the same 303-cubic-inch Rocket V8 displacement and compression ratio, differing only in carburetion and the horsepower that carburetion unlocked. Over-Drive's production table shows just how far the two series had diverged in popularity as well as power: 118,558 Super 88s built against only 18,617 DeLuxe 88s, better than six Super 88s for every DeLuxe 88 that left the factory, a gap that shows how firmly Oldsmobile buyers had shifted toward the upmarket four-barrel car by 1952.^1,2

The DeLuxe 88's 18,617 cars split 6,402 two-door sedans and 12,215 four-door sedans, a narrow two-body lineup. The Super 88, by contrast, spread its 118,558 units across five bodies: 24,963 two-door sedans, 2,050 club coupes, 15,777 Holiday hardtop coupes, 5,162 convertibles, and 70,606 four-door sedans, the last figure alone accounting for well over half the entire Super 88 series and dwarfing the DeLuxe 88's entire production run on its own, even before counting the other four Super 88 body styles alongside it.¹

Power steering appeared as a genuinely new option for 1952, priced at $185, alongside the returning $165 Hydra-Matic automatic; both sat above the standard three-speed manual, a Buick-sourced gearbox per Over-Drive, running 2.3933, 1.5259, and 1.000 with a 2.534 reverse. A small disagreement runs through the car's own dimensions: the AMA specification sheet's Super 88 column lists a 58-inch front track, while Over-Drive's separate compilation gives 59.0 inches for the same measurement, a one-inch gap the record shows rather than resolves, with the factory AMA submission treated as leading over the later secondary compilation.^1,2

The AMA sheet describes a car measuring 203.73 inches long, 75.66 inches wide, and 63.66 inches tall, with a 21.3:1 overall steering ratio and a 41.5-foot curb-to-curb turning diameter, riding on standard 7.60x15 tires with an 8.00x15 size optional. Shipping weight came to 3,646 pounds on the four-door sedan basis the AMA questionnaire uses for its specifications, a single reference figure rather than a body-by-body breakdown, since the AMA questionnaire's own note states its specifications apply to the four-door sedan or its equivalent across the whole line.^2,1

The two series' interiors carried the same hierarchy their engines did: the DeLuxe 88 offered a single upholstery choice, gray basket-weave corded cloth, while the Super 88 buyer could pick from broadcloth, nylon sharkskin, nylon Bedford cord, or leather, four materials against the DeLuxe's one. Both series shared the same sixteen-color exterior palette, from Black and Chariot Red through Arctic Blue and Royal Turquoise, and Over-Drive notes that directional signals, a $24 option on the line generally, actually came standard on the Super 88, one more small way the costlier series justified the price gap over the plainer car it shared the same basic 303 Rocket V8 with.¹