Oldsmobile 98

The Oldsmobile 98 is the full-size flagship model of Oldsmobile that was produced from 1940 until 1942, and then from 1946 to 1996. The name, referring to a Series 90 fitted with an eight-cylinder engine, first appeared in 1941 and was used again after American consumer automobile production resumed post-World War II. It was, as it would remain, the division's top-of-the-line model, with lesser Oldsmobiles having lower numbers such as the A-body 66 and 68, and the B-body 76 and 78. The Series 60 was retired in 1949, the same year the Oldsmobile 78 was replaced by the 88. The Oldsmobile 76 was retired after 1950. This left the two remaining number-names to carry on into the 1990s as the bread and butter of the full-size Oldsmobile lineup. In 1995, the Oldsmobile Aurora went on sale, and replaced the Ninety Eight as Oldsmobile's flagship model. The Ninety Eight would be discontinued after 1996, with its styling living on as the Eighty Eight derived Regency.