https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/8137f049-9a82-4f95-8f66-17e99a7e924c Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com Produced in 1942, these rare films from Oldsmobile promote the B-44, the last cars made by Oldsmobile before the factory shut down car production and moved to making material for the war effort. They were shown in movie theaters. (We suspect they date to August, 1941, prior to Pearl Harbor but at a time when the War Production Board had already commanded a slowdown in automobile production.) Inspired by the fact that 1942 was the 44th anniversary of the company, the designation B-44 actually stood for an entire line of cars, and not a single model. In other words, very Oldsmobile that left the assembly line, whether it a Special 66, or Custom 8 Cruiser, carried the B-44 emblem. The cars featured a six or eight cylinder engine, "double protection" bumpers and streamlined "fuselage fenders". The film at 3:35 promotes the clutchless Hydramatic Transmission, shown being operated by a woman (that's how easy it is!) Interestingly, these advertisements have a military tact to them, with the one appearing at 4:25 even proclaiming "Defense Comes First with Oldsmobile" and showcasing how the company is contributing to America's defense build-up. Oldsmobile's factory ceased production of the B-44 in February of 1942, and did not resume until 1945. The Hydramatic was the first mass-produced fully-automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile use, developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions and introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3_LDlqb938 Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:26:58 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/8137f049-9a82-4f95-8f66-17e99a7e924c All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.