South Mountain Raceway – The world of hot rodding is full of unique cars with unique designs. There are many automotive works of art out there every weekend at the drag strip for us to feast our eyes on. And then there’s Kerm Shindledecker’s unique ‘55 Olds 88. It’s not often you see a ‘55 Olds 88 anywhere, let alone at a drag strip.

The car itself is an incredible piece of craftsmanship. Of its’ beginnings, Kerm remarked, “It looks like a convertible, but the entire body including the top is fiberglass. I built the entire body. The chassis is chrome moly tubing. John Little built the chassis, I did everything else.” One doesn’t have to look at this car very long or very hard to realize it didn’t come together overnight. It’s obvious this car is the result of a lot of time and effort, something Shindledecker confirmed. “I drug one out of the salvage yard that was really rusty and beat up just to mold the body off of. It took 10 years to build it. I built the fiberglass body and when it was in rough form, took it to John Little’s shop and he built the chassis to fit the body.”

Once you get over the amazement of the build, you grasp this isn’t just another pretty ride, it’s a serious race car. The engine is 455 Olds bored to 482 cubic inches backed by a Turbo 400 transmission coupled to a 9-inch Ford rear. The fastest the car has been down the ¼ mile was 8.90 seconds at 148 mph, but according to Kerm, he “Slowed the car down several years ago for different reasons.” Shindledecker says currently the car will run 6.40 seconds at 105-106 mph in the 1/8th mile and is a low 10-second car in the ¼ mile.

You might wonder how Kerm Shindledecker came to catch the love of Oldsmobiles, and the answer is really quite simple. According to Kerm, “My dad didn’t care what he drove, but my mother always had Oldsmobiles because she loved all the chrome on the dashboard.” A simple thing such as paying attention to style on a dashboard ultimately gave birth to this incredible hot rod. Car makers of today should take note.