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1973 Delta 88 convertible - newest member of the family
Just acquired this yesterday. I saw it about a month ago sitting on the lot of a repair shop that sells cars on the side. He had just acquired it from someone and was planning to fix it up and sell it, but I bought it as-is. It took him a few weeks to get the title, but he got it yesterday and was able to finally sell it to me.
It needs about 100 things, and I'll get to them all a little at a time. But it does start, run, and drive. The top supposedly goes down, but I haven't tried it yet.
The paint is likely original. The color is "cranberry red." It does have a major paint issue on the passenger door, and I plan to have that door repainted, but not the entire car. The top needs cleaning and is a bit worn, but it keeps the rain out. I will like try to have the few areas needing attention repaired rather than replace the top because I think it's the original top.
Mileage is shown as 61,600, but it could be 161,600 for all I know. It's a northern car, having been originally sold in Fulton, New York, north of Syracuse, which is the snow-belt capital of the world, and I'm guessing it spent most of its life in that area, so I have no illusions about rust. There is some, but the frame and such seem solid. Just dirty. Given the overall condition of the exterior, I do think the car was cared for as well as possible over its life. Convertibles usually are.
Some original paperwork was in the glovebox, so I have the name and address of the original purchaser as well as the name of the selling dealer, which was a Buick-Olds dealer and which is now apparently out of business.
The car gives new meaning to LOW option. About the only options of consequence I can find are remote control driver's side mirror and an AM radio, which was replaced with a period-correct, shalf-style AM/FM cassette player. The original radio was in the trunk, along with what appears to be the original spare tire and the convertible top cover. But the car has no A/C, no cruise control, no power windows, locks, or seat, no tilt wheel. Nothing. The wipers are the base unit with no pulse or delay or mist option. So, there is very little to go wrong!
The engine is the base 350 with 2-bbl carb.
Thought I've never owned any of them simultaneously, this is my third Delta 88 convertible. The first was a '75 that I owned from 1994 to 2001, the second a '67 that I owned from 2009 to 2020, and now this one, which I'll probably be buried in when the time comes.
The only real issue with the top is the stitching coming undone on the lower left and right edges of the window. I'm hoping I can get that stitched back together. Maybe my wife can do it!
The car has no license plate yet as its not registered. I drove it home on a dealer plate (the dealer followed me home---only 10 minutes from his shop---and then took the plate back with him). I'll register it as a historic vehicle, which costs only $30 for ten years here in Michigan, as soon as I get the title, which I should get in about 3-4 weeks. So it will be sitting home for a while. But like I say, lots to do.
The seats are generally OK. A little dried out, which is to be expected. But no tears or rips or anything. I need to give them a good cleaning.
Your basic, no-frills engine compartment. Engine runs OK. No smoke of any color from the exhaust pipe. I'll certainly give it a tune-up as there is it idles a bit too low at stop lights.
I've never seen a dual master cylinder with two hold-down clips. Is that original? The brakes are firm and stop the car well. There are no discernable fluid leaks, at least nothing that appears on the garage floor.
The battery has a date sticker of 3/23. so it's practically new.
The fuel gauge, not surprisingly, doesn't work. The dealer put in $30 worth of gas for me before I drove it home. At today's prices, that bought about half a gallon (actually, about 8 gallons).
61,000? 161,000? 261,000? Who knows? I'm guessing 61,000 only because of the very good condition of the exterior. At least, I'll comfort myself with that thought.
The speedometer works fine.
I love the blank-off plate for the A/C vent. It's that way on both ends of the dash, but the two middle ones appear to be real. But there is no "vent" setting on the heater control. Maybe air comes through there as well as the vents near your feet when you pull out those little air vent ***** down by your knees on each side? I'll have to check it out.
The seat belt buzzer works just fine with the light on the dash lighting up just fine. Annoying and takes me right back to 1973.
Harriet Walters wanted a convertible and JUST a convertible, dammit! No frills! Who needs A/C when it's a convertible, right? Especially when you live in the north! Power windows? Bah! That's just something that can break. All the windows roll down nicely.
The dealer's name is poorly stamped at the top of this folder, but I finally determined it to be Norm Rothschild Buick-Oldsmobile, RD #3 River Road South, Fulton, New York. No dealer by that name now. I thought that since it sold Buicks as well, it might still be in business. But I couldn't find any listing for it.
I did find an obituary for Mr. Rothschild. He died in 1988.
Body info plate. Build date of 06D is fourth week of June 1973, a very late model-year build and consistent with the very high VIN serial number and July 1973 delivery date to the buyer.
Paint code 74 is cranberry red, with A indicating a white top. Trim code 327 indicates white interior. I don't what the A65 indicates. Probably Fisher Body codespeak for "stripped."
A few more photos because I was at the maximum above.
Trunk compartment is dirty but otherwise OK. The original radio is there. The little plastic bag at the far left contains the radio's *****. The big plastic bag contains the top boot. I haven't removed it yet, so I don't know its condition.
The spare tire is most certainly original. I'm guessing that it and the jack have never been out of the car.
The registration sticker, from New York, is 2005. So presumably it was in New York at least until then.
That is very typical of how people ordered cars back in the day. Lot's of non-AC cars and really no options except, power steering, power brakes, rear defrost, automatic transmission.
I can remember that those 350 2bbl cars were very slow compared to the earlier 88 models with 425 and 455. They also had real highway gears (Both Olds reactions to the gas crisis).
Most of the cooling comes through the pull **** vents by your ankles. Perhaps the center vents are always blowing (flow through ventilation) so there would be no vent position on the controls. That may be explained in the owners manual if you have it.
I do have the owners manual, which was also in the glovebox. It says that the center vents have their own "center vent" lever just below the right instrument cluster. I had to go out to the car to look as I didn't notice it. But there it is.
Power steering and brakes were standard equipment on this car.
The spare is bias-ply, but the tires on the car are not. I haven't been able to find a date code on them. It might be on the inside-facing side. I'll be taking them off at some point and will take a look.
Those simulated wire wheelcovers were a $32 option, so I guess that's something else the original purchaser sprung for.
The spare is bias-ply, but the tires on the car are not. I haven't been able to find a date code on them. It might be on the inside-facing side. I'll be taking them off at some point and will take a look.
Those simulated wire wheelcovers were a $32 option, so I guess that's something else the original purchaser sprung for.
Older tires do not have any date code. If you can't find a date code you might want to replace them.
The simulated wire wheel covers could have been added by a recent owner. It's a common easily accomplished upgrade to older cars.
Car brings back memories, nightmares, hallucinations, whatever you want to call them. From 1984-1997 I had a Cranberry/white top 73 Royale 455 ragtop with matching cranberry interior and top boot. It had A/C and power windows and not much else. I did add a set of SSIV Polycast wheels.
If it's the original top save it as long as you can. Replacement tops, no matter the brand, didn't hold up from doodly. If the top material didn't delaminate, the glass window came loose from the rear curtain. Last one I put on three years before I sold it, I got one with plastic rear window. I never saw any other plastic window cloud over as quickly as that one did. It was almost opaque when I sold the car.
What are you doing in Michigan? Thought you'd found your place in the Southwest.
Take a picture of the brake pedal, Particularly the lower right corner. Looking at the wear on the pad and metal is a good way to tell if it's 61k miles or 161k miles. Especially if the pad was never replaced.
What are you doing in Michigan? Thought you'd found your place in the Southwest.
We relocated here at the beginning of the year. Family circumstances change, so here we are.
I'd change the "location" shown under my username on the left side, but the system won't let me. It won't let me change anything. Every time I change something and then hit "Save Changes," this useless message pops up. The thing is, there is no place to enter your country of residence, so I don't know how to fix it.
Originally Posted by Fun71
Is that perhaps a 4 wheel drum master cylinder?
No. The car has front disk brakes, which were standard equipment.
Originally Posted by sysmg
Take a picture of the brake pedal, Particularly the lower right corner. Looking at the wear on the pad and metal is a good way to tell if it's 61k miles or 161k miles. Especially if the pad was never replaced.
Here it is. It does look a bit worn, especially the upper left and right corners. But it doesn't look unevenly worn.
Pedal looks original. Wear at the edges indicates a left foot braker at some point. Regardless, 61K seems plausible.
MC is a pre-1970 type dual chamber. Actually looks like it might have been for the '67-8 4-piston system. Regardless, I believe it functions the same as the 2-pot squared-off one that would be correct for your car, so probably a service replacement from back in the day.
Nice car, I have a 72 rag top, check your gas tank edges, mine were rotted out, GM bent up the flanges of the gas tank sides, they hold dirt/moisture then rust through, bottom of my tank is perfect! Tanks are impossible to get.
Nice car, I have a 72 rag top, check your gas tank edges, mine were rotted out, GM bent up the flanges of the gas tank sides, they hold dirt/moisture then rust through, bottom of my tank is perfect! Tanks are impossible to get.
So far, the tank does not leak, and I'm hoping it stays that way.
Interesting what you say about availability of new tanks. Rockauto shows availability, and I just ordered one to play it safe in case I should need one down the road.
Note the third entry in this list. $205 for the tank, which isn't bad at all, but a whopping $132 to ship it, but what are you going to do? It looks just like the tank in the car.
The fuel gauge does not work, so the tank might have to come down to fix that, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well put in a new tank.
Any luck with fuel tank sending units? Rockauto shows a unit, Spectra Premium FG110A, but it says for four-door sedan. Would the sending units actually be different based on body style?
We'll see what shows up.
Last edited by jaunty75; June 14th, 2023 at 06:23 AM.
What a find. No goodies = less to fix / worry about. Way back when I first bought my 64 (1998), I had friends that were finding these boats on the cheap. One particular fun one was a $500 73 Delta, top was full of holes as were the tops of the front fenders. He bought it for Parade Sunday in Frankenmuth, sold it shortly thereafter for $1500.
Thanks. Discount Body Parts is now, apparently, CarParts.com. That site does have your sending unit, but it apparently is not correct for my car. Buy they do show two units that do fit. The cheaper is for cars with A/C, and it has three lines. The more expensive one appears to have only two lines, which I think is what I need for my car since it does not have A/C. I probably wouldn't order anything until I actually remove the old one and see exactly what it looks like.
Originally Posted by Weezer
Where did you wind up in MI?
We're very close to Marine City about 20 miles or so south of Port Huron.
I'll be at the Homecoming in Lansing Saturday with my '78 Toro. The weather for tomorrow and Saturday is supposed to be perfect.
Last edited by jaunty75; June 15th, 2023 at 06:59 AM.
On another topic, what are the thoughts on these spark plugs? I pulled them out yesterday to put new ones in as well as new plug wires and coil, and the difference in how the car starts and runs is dramatic. It started and ran before, of course, and I drove it home. It always amazes me how resilient these engines are and how much they can still run even with these kinds of issues.
The plug tips, where the combustion occurs, look pretty good, but the external parts are quite rusty. I'm guessing these have been in the car at least since Bill Clinton was president.
One thing I noticed is that these old plugs were not very tightly screwed in. All could be loosened with a barely a touch to the wrench while two of them were barely more than finger tight.
On another topic, what are the thoughts on these spark plugs? I pulled them out yesterday to put new ones in as well as new plug wires and coil, and the difference in how the car starts and runs is dramatic. It started and ran before, of course, and I drove it home. It always amazes me how resilient these engines are and how much they can still run even with these kinds of issues.
The plug tips, where the combustion occurs, look pretty good, but the external parts are quite rusty. I'm guessing these have been in the car at least since Bill Clinton was president.
One thing I noticed is that these old plugs were not very tightly screwed in. All could be loosened with a barely a touch to the wrench while two of them were barely more than finger tight.
Perhaps the plugs were never tightened properly to begin with.
If the car is running much better now, I would think the issues were more likely moisture in/on the cap and rotor causing corrosion and carbon tracking, corrosion on the points, a weak condenser, or very likely dried out spark plug wires which leak voltage. Spark plugs are pretty resilient unless they are significantly worn or fouled. Yours appear fine. I would keep the plugs, clean them and file the center and side electrode and keep them as spares.
Back in the day as poor students, we would clean, file and regap plugs a few times before replacing them to save money. They work just as good as new plugs.
Last edited by sysmg; June 15th, 2023 at 08:48 AM.
I'm in Battle Creek, car has been in Mi its whole life, built in Lansing of course, PO owned the car since 87, I got it in 20, car used to do the Mint festival parade in St. Johns, given its green and all!
I never changed the plugs in my Starfire, it was one of those "I'll get to it" items for me along with a carb rebuild that likely would've been done this spring. But, car sold in January. I'm sure the plugs in my old car were similar condition to those old AC's!
I agree with sysmg, those plugs are keepers. Perhaps the person that installed them used anti-sieze on the threads and that is why they were so easy to get out.
I have already put new ones in, and I don't plan to reuse these.
But I agree that they are probably quite fine to continue using if I needed or wanted to. I would clean them up first. I read once that a mixture of Coca-Cola and salt (maybe a tablespoon of salt per 12 oz can of cola) is a great thing to soak them in. I've done this several times now over the years, and it really does clean them up. It also says something about what Coke is made of. I've always thought of it as the universal substance. I can use it to drink and to clean the garage floor with.
Originally Posted by Oldsguy
Perhaps the person that installed them used anti-sieze on the threads and that is why they were so easy to get out.
I think they were a little too loose for comfort. I mean, the anti-seize should make it easier to get them out, but I should still need a wrench, right?
No,no,no. They are probably original to the vehicle and you could sell them on shmeebay for oh I don't know, lots of dollars to someone who want original equipment for their restored vehicle!
No,no,no. They are probably original to the vehicle and you could sell them on shmeebay for oh I don't know, lots of dollars to someone who want original equipment for their restored vehicle!
Interesting point. But it can't be proven that they're original, can it? There's no date code stamped on a spark plug, is there?
...snip... It also says something about what Coke is made of. I've always thought of it as the universal substance. I can use it to drink and to clean the garage floor with. ...snip...
I knew a really skilled auto body guy from the Islands. He said back home they used to use Coke to etch raw metal body panels. It's got the same acid in it as the acid paint prep from 3M. Even smells the same.
As for keeping the old plugs, one day you may not be able to buy replacement plugs and may want to have them around.
I found a second broadcast card taped to the inside of the lower door panel on the passenger side. I was removing the door panel to get at the courtesy light to repair it, and there it was.
I had found one earlier attached to to the springs under the front seat, but that one was seriously deteriorated around the area where it was stapled. This new one is in much better shape, and the entire thing can be read.
Comparing it to the cowl tag, things match up well. ("Numbers matching," right?)
The body number 592257 is the same on both the card and the tag. Trim combination 327 (white interior) and paint codes 74 (cranberry red poly) and A (white convertible top) match up. Don't know what the "2" in the "PP" column at the far upper right means.
A65 is the split bench front seat with center armrest.
C90 is courtesy lamps
Y60 is "convenience group", including visor mirror.
Not many options on this car, as I've said before. It does have a remote trunk release with the button in the glovebox. Since the cowl tag is supposed to show options added by Fisher Body (right?), and since the trunk release is tucked up in the trunk lid, which is part of the body, why wouldn't a code for that be on the cowl tag? Just wondering.
Here's the way the second card was situated when I found it. (I take pictures of everything!) Tape still held after 50 years, but it was easily peeled off. To maintain originality, I should tape the card back where it was before reinstalling the panel, right? Probably not going to do that!
Hi nice save! Very few 73 Delta 88s over here in Australia, I have perhaps the only 73 Hardtop 88 here and I only know of 2 convertibles.
Yours and mine came off the Lansing line not too far apart.
Hi nice save! Very few 73 Delta 88s over here in Australia, I have perhaps the only 73 Hardtop 88 here and I only know of 2 convertibles.
Yours and mine came off the Lansing line not too far apart.
Thank you, and very cool! They're practically brothers!
June 8th, 2023, 08:05 AM
