How did you get your Oldsmobile?

[esisson]

I was wondering about how people on "Classic Oldsmobile" found and purchased there Oldsmobiles. On Ebay, In a Barn, Setting behind someone's house? Etc. I'd really like to hear the stories and please include some pictures if you have some!

I found my 442 on Ebay. I was chicken and didn't bid on it. The auction ended without reaching it's Reserve. I emailed the owner and asked to come by and look at it. It was about 200 miles from my house. I spent the whole day driving up to look at it, made an offer, paid him cash, rented a trailer and drove home with it the same day. Drove home in the worst rain storm with a huge smile on my face!

[rrielley]

When I was just a wee lad (about 5 years old), my Aunt had a black
'67 Chevelle SS396 convertible. I fell in love with convertibles at
that point. She traded that for a '71 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible.
I fell in love with that car and pestered her to sell it to me for 35
years. She never gave in--it is still in her garage.

Fast forward 35 years and my aunt referred me to her friend John
who had a '72 Cutlass convertible in immaculate condition. I paid John
a visit and found this copper colored model I have now. He is retiring
and was going to buy a Winnebago. I told him the story about my aunt's
'67 Chevelle. He told me a funny thing about that car: It used to be
his! He sold it to her in 1969.

He purchased the '72 Cutlass in 1975 from the original owner. The
engine has been rebuilt. The transmission has been rebuilt (and a shift
kit installed). The air conditioning is completely original and still
works (still runs on the old style "rip a hole in the ozone layer"
Freon). He did install a dual exhaust system. It came from the factory
with a single system. Engine runs strong--it is the 5.7 liter L34. No
smoke or leaks. The exhaust has a very nice and deep V8 rumble. It is
not loud--just deep and rumbly ! with a slightly lumpy idle. If you were
juvenile and silly en ough, a stomp on the gas from a stop will spin both
rear tires and put a big smile on your face. (I would NEVER do that, of
course). It runs fine on regular 87 octane unleaded petrol. The
transmission will leave an oily spot on the tarmac if parked long
enough. In two years, I have added about a pint of transmission fluid.

The body is indeed perfect--not a dent or speck of rust anywhere. The
paint is immaculate. It is about 4 years old (I think) and not a
scratch or chip anywhere. It is the original color. It is finished with
a modern "clear coat" finish, so it looks better than it would have in
1972. If it was being judged for factory originality, points would be
deducted for that.

The convertible top is original. 36 years ago it was white. It is now
a rather dingy, dirty tan and the seams around the back window are
coming apart. I have purchased a replacement top, well liner and pads
from YearOne and will have it installed as soon as soon as I
get back to the States.

The interior is in very good condition, but most of it is original.
There are no tears or seam separations anywhere. The front buckets have been recovered at some time. I suspect the carpet may have been
replaced--it is just too perfect to be original. I have just sent off the AM/FM stereo, the 8 track player and some big huge box the stereo is wired to be refurbished. I'll have it re-installed again when I get back to the States. Also, in a big box o' stuff that came with the car is a "Rallye Pak." This isthe set of "sport" dashboard gauges that were optional in 1972. Itincludes gauges to replace the "idiot lights" and the "TickTock Tach. I considered and dismissed the idea of my installing this in the car. I don't want to pull the dash apart and hope to find the correct wires to plug in. That would be a never-ending project for me. I need to find someone that is skilled in such things.

The car has a tilt steering wheel that was not original. It is from
another 1972 Oldsmobile and is the correct color. It has the optional
sport steering wheel. The car has the sport, body colored outside
mirrors that were optional, but installed by the previous owner. They
replaced the standard chrome outside mirrors. The suspension has been
rebuilt and a factory optional rear sway bar was (again) installed by
the previous owner. The appropriate BFGoodrich T/A Radials(14x7 wheels) are brand new--I had them put on last January.

The correct and documented mileage is around 111,000 miles. It has
always been garaged and babied (as proven by the original convertible
top).

What does i! t need? I have ordered a replacement switch for the
windshield wipers. They move back and forth just fine, but they won't
shut off. I pulled the fuse. I knew this when I bought the car, but I
never drove it in the rain so I pretty much forgot about it. I
mentioned the radio doesn't work, but I hope to get that fixed soon.
The clock in the dash does not work and I don't think the cigarette
lighter works.

[VWBeamer]

Well, my 77 Cutlass belonged to my Dad's next door neighbor. She owned the car since 1982. She was 80 years old and fell. She broke her hip and decided to move to Texas to live with her daughter.

I really didn't want the car, but it was in pretty good shape. She had problems selling it in such a short period of time, I told her I would buy it if she couldn't sell it by the time she left.

So, i got the car cheap, i figured i would sell it and make a few easy bucks. Several people wanted it, but no one had cash. mean time, I put carpet in it, detailed it a little, started driving every once in while to keep the battery charged, etc. Before long, it was a really nice looking car.

Soon i started liking it, so I decided to keep it. Now i got dual exhaust, and upgraded stereo. Every thing else is stock.



It's a common car, but still, I like it.

[Rallye469]

I found my Rallye 350 in Hemmings. It was about 150 miles away and I made 2 trips. It sat in
some guys backyard with out rear glass for 9 years. It had zero interior and holes in the driver
and passenger floor that you could bounce a basketball through.
The original 350 barely ran. Junk. Every panel but the rockers had holes.
8 years later...
It still looks like it sat in a field for 9 years...
But it turns mid 11's so I'm happy.

[VWBeamer]

What a sleeper!

[Gert3116]

I found my 69' Cutlass on dealsonwheels.com. The guy I bought it from was in Boise, Idaho, which is about 1300 miles away from where I lived. My dad and I drove 13 hours and spent the night in a hotel. Next morning we went and looked at it and it didn't look even close to as good as it did in the pictures we got. We dealed with the guy about that and got it for $3500. On the way home we were crossing the Teton Mountains to get back into Wyoming, and we hit a patch of ice and the trailer that my car was on almost went completely sideways and almost off the side of the mountain. Luckily, nothing happened, we got it home ok and I painted it and fixed the interior and now it looks like what I have.

[esisson]

Hello? Is anyone else here? I found a similar post on a Chevelle forum with almost 200 enthusiastic Chevrolet owners responding. I enjoyed reading the stories, experiences and checking out the pictures above but I though there would be a whole lot more.

I thought the fun in owning a classic car was the experience of finding it, loading it up, bringing it home, spending every spare minute to fix it up just the way you want it.

That way you've got something to drive and share with friends and enthusiastic people who remember and talk about what used to be.

I'm learning that maybe it's just about spending 15K on a car that's only worth 3. What a drag!!!

[Oldsprepp]

I was looking for a chevelle -70 with bigblock. for a long long time.. but dint find any in my price range they cost alot here in sweden if they are in fine condition..

about 20000$for cars that are a bit rough. and about 30000$+++ for cars that are in nice condition.

so i looked and looked for a cheap one forever :P And stubled on the 69 cutlass supreme.. that looked awsome in the pics of it in the add.. and the price was
11500$ (WICH IS VERY CHEAP HERE IN SWEDEN)

It has had the same owner from 1983-to 2007 when i bought it...the owner had had it for along time but for the last 10years it had just mostly been siting in her garage and collection dust...

It had some seriouse damage on the side of the car and the interior is all bad. rusty old slot mags... but it was right were a wanted to land in budget for my car...
(so i had some money left to spend on new wheels interior repainting and doing some bodywork...)
The engine didnt run well i died most all the time...


Well the car wasent so far away so i gave the lady a call and asked about the cars condition and so on... but she was pretty hard and just told me,...
COME AND LOOK AT IT AND U WILL SEE...

Well me and my brother drove the the villige she lived in... and i was pretty pleased with the car.....

so u could say i just stumbled across the oldsmobile and it was just a impulse buy
but iam so happy i bought it... and hope i can keep it for along time...


i have fixxed the damage to the side of the car and fixxed the engine so now it runs pretty good.. bought new nice looking wheels.
and i have started ripping out the interior so until the summer it will be like a new car.. next winter i think its time to get the olds some SPEED..

Name of my car is BIG BLUE...
Just becouse i have little blue to

well sorry for the bad english but iam from sweden...

here are a pic of big blue..


and a bonus pic of little blue.

[Oldsguy]

Aw come on. You know our site is still small compared to most. I just saw your thread this morning. I bet you will get more responses today. Don't loose heart my friend!

The car I own now was acquired in the way I have gotten most my Oldsmobiles, with a small twist. I usually see an Oldsmobile on a street corner, in a lot, or on someone's driveway, fall in love with it immediately and simply have to have it so I buy it, whether it was for sale or not! The 1946 model 76 in my garage now was a little different. I sought this one out from the beginning.
I had decided that I wanted a hot rod pure and simple, pre 1960's running or not. I knew it would be a project car too. At that time my best friend was working on a 1940 Chevrolet coupe that had previously been started as a race car and then never finished by the previous owner. It had a roll cage, had been tubbed, had huge slicks on the back, a stripped interior, no motor or drivetrain. We had been working on it for about six months when he said "Dan, you need a project of your own". I decide he was right and started looking.
I had been down at Bob Hutchison's field before when I helped my son buy a bumper for his 1964 98 four door six window hardtop, and earlier when my brother-in-law had bought a 1965 Buick Wildcat. I had seen many interesting Oldsmobiles there and made a two hour trip down with a flat bed trailer to make a purchase. This 1946 Olds was originally identified as a 1948 by Bob and the title he held for the car. It was one of two in the yard and was a complete roller but would not run. Well, I say roller but that is wrong. When we loaded it onto the trailer the right front wheel was seized up and would not turn so it left a skid mark all the way up the planking. Anyway, I brought it home and have been working on it ever since, that was two years ago. It has had the straight six engine and transmission replaced by a 455 and TH400 combo, new breaks, new drive shaft, new tires, rebuilt fuel tank, on and on. It is a true hot-rod, just what I wanted. I guarantee you, when I finally fire up that 455 this spring that will be one great feeling.

[Olds64]

I bought my 64 Olds from a guy living in Kansas. Oldsguy saw the ad for it in a thrifty nickle. It had a small black and white photo. At first I was reluctant to look at it because it said 4 door. Oldsguy assured me I would like it because it was a hardtop.

We went to Kansas to look at the car and found that it had been sitting in a field and used to haul brush around this guy's property. We fired it up and found out it had a lurching and bad idle. We drove it on the highway anyways and the right rear tire blew out once I hit about 50 miles per hour. Even though I had a couple bad experiences with it when test driving I offered him $1200 cash and asked him to put two new tires on it and he accepted. Once I got it home I cleaned it up and found about 4 or 5 dead mice in it under the dash.

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by esisson

I was wondering about how people on "Classic Oldsmobile" found and purchased there Oldsmobiles. ...

Uh, which one?

Actually, the best story is my 68 W-30. I was living in SoCal in the 1980s and would scan the Recycler weekly for deals. I already had my 69 H/O, but I needed parts for it. One week there was an add for a "1969 442 body shell, Hurst front end. $400"

I figured it was worth a trip to Whittier.

I arrived at the seller's house and nearly turned around when I saw that the car was a 68, not the advertised 69. He had already removed the engine and trans and was planning to install them and the rear axle in the 56 Ford F100 he was building. I briefly walked around the car, then lifted the hood...

...whereupon I saw the red inner fenders.

NOW I started looking more closely. Both under bumper scoops were in place (but severely banged up). The car had PW, PS, tilt wheel, UHV ignition, and a 4.33:1 axle!!! It also had the correct manual drum front brakes. Upon checking, the engine he had pulled out of the car was the numbers-matching block with the correct D heads! The only things missing were the dual snorkle air cleaner and the original trans (the TH400 had been replaced by a T10 manual at some point in the past). The car had 27,000 original miles on it, apparently all applied a quarter mile at a time. A previous owner had also cut one of the floor supports to install a Hone overdrive unit (a predecessor to Gear Vendors), apparently due to the 4.33 gears. The car had been sitting in a field for several years and had bullet holed in the windshield and various woodland creatures living under the back seat. I spent the next hour talking the guy into selling me the engine and trans with the car. $800 later, the complete car was mine.

[Rallye469]

$800 later, the complete car was mine.

Thief!!! Thief!!!

[tarheeldoc]

I started looking for a project to play with since I had fond memories of restoring a 68 Firebird as a teenager with my father. I wanted a convertible and something large enough to put the wife and kids in to drive down to the beach or just around town. After looking at ALOT of different models, I just fell in love with the Cutlass. I searched online, ebay, traderonline.com and just about any other sites with old cars. I found a 70 convertible in Maryland, and took the wife to look at it. As the guy came out of the house to show it to me in his cutoff jeans, work boots and a mullet, he proceeded to climb in and onto the trunk to throw the top up to show me how it worked. Of course there was a boom box in the engine compartment and a massive wooden speaker box sitting in the rear seat. The car needed new panels all around, new door skins, and you could see the grass through the trunk. Then he told me that he bent one of the valves when he pegged it driving to work a few nights back. He wanted $6500, and was insulted when I didn't want to buy it. Then he made a remark about not wanting to sell to white people because they didn't want to work.

My wife reassured me to wait until I found some grandfather who was just cleaning out his garage, and the next week I saw an ad for my 69. The guy was 86 years old, and the original owner. He even gave me the window sticker. He was selling it because it needed ball joints, and wouldn't pass inspection, and he preferred to drive his 280ZX. I only has a few minor rust issues, and the repaint was shedding the clearcoat. I brought it home that day. Engine and drivetrain are all original with 114K miles. I am getting ready for the bodywork to bring it up to terrific. I can't wait to get it back on the road.

Ken

[boese1978]

I bought my first Old's, a '68 Cutlass Convertible, for $900.00 about 17 years ago. a total rust bucket, bought right out of a farmers field. It ran quite well after putting a new battery in it. Drove it home about 150 miles and watched the freeway passing beneath my feet...hot sweaty summer day but was I happy. I bought it to replace my '70 Z28 that needed too much. I drove it to work , year around I might add, after putting a new top on it. During that first winter the factory exhaust pretty much disentegrated from rust. Not having a garage at the time and having very little extra money ( raising 5 kids ) I laid in the snowy, slushy, cold street for many days installing headers. I had to take the headers ( drivers side ) on and off about 8 times. I had to beat clearance into one of the pipes to make clearance for the 4 speed linkage....I will never forget feeling so close to being done so many times only to hear that linkage hitting the headers and having to pull them again and hammer so more....ah to be a kid with boundless enthusiaism & "expertise". The following summer while driving home from work the rings came apart in one cyclinder and the smoked poured out while I made it home and parked it. We moved to a house with a garage and the project started. frame off, restored that by myself ( had kids help and the shop for some bushing presses etc). had over 3k into the frame alone. Split up with my ex, beautiful frame covered and waiting for the next chapter. Moved into an apt. The City came by the ex's house ( where the frame sat ) and said get rid of the "junk" in the driveway...she bothered not to tell me about the notice...frame was loaded and taken to the scrap yard, unretrieveable per the city.sold the body to a guy who only wanted the top frame to make some year Monte a convertible....fast forward another 10 years and I bought this ( pictured ) '68 to start anew, needless to say this is in much better condition, tired drivetrain and suspension but it looks good while I start the process again.

[Jon69]

When I was 16 the brother of a friend of mine was a small time car dealer in my home town. I drove my supped up 71 Chevelle over to my friends one day when the brother was home visiting. He had driven a cherry red 69 442 convertible that day. As much as I loved my Chevy, I immediately fell more in love with the lines on that 442. I studied them in my high schools library, looked at all the wheel deal mags, searching for the 442 that should be mine. But as a 16 year old high school student my resources were limited, and in those days.... well let’s just say the internet wasn't an option. I never really found anything that was just right, well I did, but they were all gems well beyond my meager after school grocery carrying paycheck.

Life went on, I went to college, accumulated debt with student loans, but I always had my eye out for the diamond in the rough 442. Years later I’d more or less given up on ever being able to own one. I was in at a friend’s house in Omaha NE (I live in Lincoln) and was looking at the classified ads over breakfast on a Sunday morning when I saw a listing for a 69 Cutlass Convertible for sale!

I called the guy, drove over and checked it out. The car was nice, gold with a new black top, bucket seats, clean two barrel 350 under the hood. But it wasn’t a 442! It wasn’t “perfect”! So I told him that I’d think about it, and went back to Lincoln.
I was older, more laid back. Did I need a 4 barrel carb? Did the 442 emblems on the side make that much difference? Sure there were other things that a 442 would have that this car didn’t. Certainly it was not as rare as a 442 would be.

But in the end I decided those things didn’t matter. I called him up and made him an offer, he took it. I picked up the car a few days later
I had a junker 78 Cutlass Supreme that I used for my daily driver and kept the Convertible in the garage. I drove it for years, fixing bits and pieces here and there, including rebuilding the Rocket 350 (still only 30K on that rebuild).

I’ve had the car for almost 20 years. It’s a little rough around the edges now. It went into storage for several years during my disastrous marriage. The marriage is gone, so the car is back out of storage and I’m anxious to get things fixed up and put it back on the road.

Jon
1969 Cutlass S Convertible
(sorry, no pics. Maybe after the new paint job I'll edit my post.)

[Pghstarsky]

Well, up until a few years ago I was really into the import tuner scene...and then one day I realized that I was just dreaming, there's no way I can afford to make a 4 banger run anything under 13 seconds. So, I started looking for a 68-72 muscle car. First I ended up getting close to buying a 1972 Dodge Charger...I really liked the style and the guy told me it was the 440. BS...it was a 400 once I checked the engine block #. So, screw that I thought...plus the parts are so expensive and hard to find for mopars. Here's a picture of it.
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Sam/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Random%20Pictures/Cars/Charger/DSCF0865.JPG[/IMG]So, I had to leave mopars in the back of my head. That is, until I could afford to own one.
From there I decided to get a GM, most of the parts are easy to find and much cheaper. I knew I didn't want a che*y...too many off them out there, and I had to be different. So, I was on craigslist one day and there she was, a 1972 olds cutlass S with the 350...Gorgeous car. 2000 OBO. I drove an hour to look at it. Liked what I saw, called him back the next day and offered him $1200. He said no...but called back in an hour to say he would take the deal. That's how I ended up with my cutty.

[don71]

Age tends to fog up the memory.......My buddies and I are cruising the strip and I see this car parked for sale at the car wash. Its a cutlass just like the one I had. (another story). Turns out to the owner of the car wash bought it new, was his wifes'.

I drove it around the block and said I had to have it. They were nice enough to wait a month for me to come up with the money and to convince them I was'nt a kid, but I was. We were complete strangers, and very kind of them.

That was in 1986. It cost me $1200.

The next day the water pump failed. The next day, the alternator was history.

Thats ok, I was hooked.....and still am. Its an on going project thats a little from stock now. Been making it mine for a long time. Can't wait to get this new posi rear installed..................

[markowyo]

I got my '64 Cutlass Sport Coupe for my 16th birthday, 32 years ago next week. It served me well in high school, took a break during college, got 5 years of post college use, then sat for over 15 years til I got enough money, and support from my wife, to do a total restoration, totally original (even the deluxe the seat materials I found in a refrigerated warehouse in Ohio).

I just drove her for the first time in 22 years last Sunday. It was a sweet ride, with my 9 year old daughter groovin' in the passenger seat. It now has 30.2 miles on it, and is ready for another long life.

It's a full featured Cutlass, a real beauty. I'll send in pictures when I've got it completed.

[markowyo]

I got my '64 Cutlass Sport Coupe for my 16th birthday, 32 years ago next week. It served me well in high school, took a break during college, got 5 years of post college use, then sat for over 15 years til I got enough money, and support from my wife, to do a total restoration, totally original (even the deluxe the seat materials I found in a refrigerated warehouse in Ohio).

I just drove her for the first time in 22 years last Sunday. It was a sweet ride, with my 9 year old daughter groovin' in the passenger seat. It now has 30.2 miles on it, and is ready for another long life.

It's a full featured Cutlass, a real beauty. I'll send in pictures when I've got it completed.

[Oldsfan]

I bought my Starfire on eBay.

I had a '62 Starfire convertible. I sold it, because I would never have been able to make a nice car out of. Then I had a couple of '67 Toronados. Sold them because I got offers I couldn't refuse. Then I looked for a '54 98 coupe. Couldn't find one that suited me at a decent price.

One day I started thinking about another Starfire. I thought that convertibles were getting way too expensive, so I could settle for a coupe, if it was blue, and if it had air conditioning. The next day one appeared on eBay. And, it was in Michigan, and this was about a week before I was heading there for the 105th in Lansing in 2002. I waited until the last few seconds and sniped it. Mine was the only bid. The seller agreed to wait a week until I would in Michigan.

And now it sits in my garage.

But it wasn't without it's problems, and I don't know if I would purchase a car that way again. I would have left the car there, but my brother-in-law was impressed with it, so I went through with the deal. I don't think he was as impressed when it puked transmission fluid out the vent all over the exhaust manifold and caused a huge cloud of white smoke - not to mention spewing fluid all over the windshield of the chase car he was driving. The next day we sucked 3 quarts out just to drop the level to the full mark. It ran poorly and I was glad to get it home (drove it home to PA from Michigan).

One of those '67 Toronados was found on eBay, but it didn't sell, and I was able to inspect it in person before making the decision to buy it.

Paul

[Oldsmaniac]

My first Olds was a 66 Delta 88 conv. I was 18 and had no real job. This was 1974. A neighbor lady owned the car and she had a stroke and couldnt drive anymore. The car sat on the street for sometime and some punk kids set fire to the back seat. There were a lot of papers back there and when the firemen came they used a chemical extinguisher to put out the fire. Shortly thereafter the car disappeared. My pop inquired about the car and was told that the car was sitting in the back lot of the local Olds dealer and 35 dollars would purchase it as is, condition unknown. My dad bought the car for me and had it towed to our mechanic. The 88 only needed a tuneup and new battery. With the hole in the back seat, discolored dash chrome, and waffled quarter it was a thing of beauty to me and all mine. The 425 had power to spare and the turbo 400 shifted without notice. Believe it or not I still have the car but it soon will be parted out due to a very rotted frame.