‘Up to 88’ is an expression used for things that have suddenly disappeared. It’s a reference to the Back to the Future movies, where the Delorian disappears and goes back into the past when it gets up to 88 mph.

So if something has “gotten up to 88” that means that it has disappeared, gone out of style or otherwise died out.

This video might explain it better

But why would a time machine have to get up to 88 miles per hour to go back in time? It must have something to do with the flux capacitor or the space-time continuum, I’m not sure. Maybe Bif is involved. In any case you should watch this:

Brokeback to the future