Technical 1955 Olds smoking and over heating

Hello All,
I'm kinda new to the cl***ic car game but have been tinkering with cars most of my adult life. I have a 1955 Olds 88 2Dr Sedan 324 2bbl. She runs strong and shifts good but what has me puzzled is when she sits idling she starts to smoke or make steam. The smoke is white more so than any other color. She has recently started wanting to run a bit hotter then I'm comfortable with. I put a 160 degree thermostat in her but she wants run around 200. My fear is that she needs head gaskets but was wondering if any of you had had anything similar happen. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dean

 

Sounds like she's burning water? Is the coolant level falling? How's the oil look?

 

^^^^^ sounds like a good place to start. Loved my 55 olds super 88 2 door sedan. You

 

You should run a compression test on it. That will help determine if you have a bad head gasket.

 

Hope you can kick the habit

 

The coolant level drops very little. I rarely have to add coolant. That's the weird part.

 

Thanks. I'll try that and do a cooling system pressure test.

 

Yeah me too. Cool pic