Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight History

The 98 — styled 'Ninety-Eight' for most of its life — was Oldsmobile's full-size flagship. The name (a Series 90 body with an eight-cylinder engine) first appeared for 1941; production paused for World War II and resumed from 1946, running through 1996.

In production for roughly 55 years across a dozen generations, it was one of the oldest passenger-car nameplates in the United States and Oldsmobile's longest-running model. The 1995 arrival of the Aurora effectively replaced it as the division's flagship, and the Ninety-Eight was retired after 1996.