Farewell, old friend, the 1986 Olds Custom Cruiser is gone.

As the title says, I sold the first car I've ever really been attached too, can't say I'm happy with it, but if that 1985 Delta 88 I'm looking at tomorrow turns out well, it could just be moving on too another car I can have 20 years of memories with. If I'd had the money, I would've gone against reason and fixed the beast. But there is no reason to dwell on the things I could, should, or would have done. Still, it's a bit like losing a family pet, I did not want to sell the car. Circumstances pretty much prevented me from keeping it, however. We'll see how things go with the Delta 88, perhaps, as I said, it will be a new chapter.





Here's a video of my father trying to drive it up on the trailer, transmission just doesn't have any life left in it. I don't think it's hard to tell which one I am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rWc_Pcldo&feature=youtu.be

 

I'm sure you had mixed emotions but made a wise choice. If the 1985 Delta 88 does not turn out to be what you expect there are many more cars and station wagons out there someplace.
If I were a wagon man like you I'd hold out for a station wagon. I'd guess they sell cheaper than sedans anyway. After all who in their right mind wants an old station wagon?

 

I understand your pain.

I don't think I could part with my wagon after all of the history we have. Its destiny will be a lawn ornament once its eventually beyond repair.

 

Remember my sob story? Somewhere in th late 90's I traded our 55 Chevy wagon even for Pinky the Mary Kay 49 Ford. We'll skip the gory details.
It took me three painful years of seeing the wagon at cruise-ins, car shows, and the grocery stores before I was able to smooth talk the new owner into selling it back.
Ignore the facts it now had a sick 307 instead of the hot 350. A Powerglide without linkage hooked up in place of my rebuilt Borg Warner 4-speed, and more. It was still MY wagon! It's going to the grave with me now. Or at least carrying my ashes in a coffee can.

 

I tried your video but only got audio...is it just me and my weird connection issues?

Sorry for your lose.

 

That's one plus of having a wagon, your last bill doesn't have to be a black Cadillac taxi with curtains over the windows.

Anyway, in all honesty, if the Delta 88 runs smooth, shifts smooth, and I can't find any traces of fluids being where they shouldn't, IE, oil leak, coolant leak, gas smell in the oil, fowl transmission fluid, things like that, I'll probably buy the car. They don't really rust around here, though I will paw over the trunk and door jams, I'm not going to be extremely picky because I'm not paying very much for this car. I'll say how much if I come home with it tomorrow (most likely when).

I mean don't get me wrong, I will one day have another wagon. I have a very short list of cars that I will have one day, another Olds wagon, be it a box body 2nd gen Custom Cruiser, a bubble body 3rd gen Custom Cruiser, or a 1st gen Cutlass look-alike Vista Cruiser. I also want a 69-72 Cutlass, and a 81-86 Cutlass, it's a short list, and one that isn't at all impossible to achieve. None of these cars would ever be a garage queen, I hate garage queens. If a car has imperfections it means it's well used, and well used means the car is more than a trophy piece on a plinth in someones garage. I'm sure, knowing me, between here and that day I have the three cars I want, I'll pick up others along the way. This Delta 88 may wind up being a yard ornament, or stuck in a shed / garage / barn / building probably not meant to store a car. It all depends, and it depends on a lot of things, as I said, if it pans out, and the car is solid and stays together long enough for me to get some decent income, it will become my first project. If not? Oh well, onto another, unless I find said building to shove said car in.

Updates tomorrow, and for now, sleep. I haven't been sleeping much, I get wound up easily, I have insomnia, and I'm pretty excited to hopefully have a car which will fill the gap that Custom Cruiser left. As I said, do not by a LONG shot count me out as a wagon owner. I will own a wagon again in the near future, I am the kind of guy who does not drink, does not smoke, has no real social life, just enjoys tinkering with things. I can, when I am working a stable job, afford two or three cars. I want little else out of life other than a two or three bedroom house over in Roanoke County, at least one trip around the US sleeping out of the back of a wagon, sans a few states like Cali, who won't let you travel armed with a out of state conceal carry permit, I ain't traveling unarmed! And at least one Oldsmobile wagon sitting in the driveway of a house that belongs to me, and not the bank. Garage would be nice, but I'd rather the neighbors have to gaze upon the tank every time they pass by. Keep in mind, I am the sort of crazy who would put up a picket fence about 1.5-2ft back from the property line due to complaints of "Junk", and then paint each plank a different "Florescent" color on the outside, just normal white on the inside. Don't like the rust? How about a shiny R A I N B O W !? "Who exploded Binky the clown on my fence?". I mean, it sounds perfectly logical that if a clown exploded randomly, it would turn into rainbows, balloons, and a whole bunch of annoying noises, right?

On that note.. I believe my need of sleep is a bit TOO apparent, so, good night folks, I'll write back when I go look at the car tomorrow. I'll get some pics and a walk around video of the car if I buy it, until then, may you dream of clowns exploding into rainbows... Man I'm glad I don't usually dream, let's hope tonight is one of those nights.

 

Congrats on the sale!

 

One door shuts, another one opens. Here's to a happy association with the '85 Delta 88! Look at it this way, it'll be like driving 3/4 of a Custom Cruiser! In the event I have to part company with my toy, I'd like to have nothing less than a rwd Cutlass Cruiser. Is the 88 a two or four door? At any rate, I believe it is the last full sized rwd non wagon Olds made. Best of luck, and we're waiting for the details!

 

1985 Delta 88 was a bust, blowing smoke out the dipstick. Bad PCV, or bad rings, or both. Oil looked like the blood of the creature from the black lagoon, and smelled like exhaust and gasoline.

Going to look at a '77 Delta 88 4dr with 112k on the 350, new tires, starter, distributor, all kinds of things. Going to look at it tomorrow. It's kind of a bronze color with a creme vinyl top and a matching interior, oh, it has the same hubcaps my '86 had, so I've got spares if one goes missing. You do NOT want to be around when a steel hubcap decides to eject from the car. My father had one come off that '78 Country Squire he had when I was a kid, thing chased someone up the sidewalk. They heard something bouncing down the sidewalk behind them, then saw this shiny steel disc coming after them, they ducked out of the way and it kept going. Was hilarious watching my brother chase it down. Somehow the hubcap wasn't damaged more than a scuff where it slammed into a dumpster at the bottom of the hill.

So, in other news, I landed a job as a janitor I put in for over a month ago, changes in management meant hiring me got put on the back burner, oh well, $8.50/hr, 5 days a week, 32hrs a week, little over half what I made contracted to drive that truck four days a week. My job will involve cleaning up lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of packing peanuts.

Wish me luck with the job and the second Delta 88 I'm looking at. I know, I know, you're all thinking, save your money, get something better. Well, my father got lucky and got that '92 Camaro of his for $800, had to put a HEI coil on it, do a few other piddling things, been great for two years. I'm hoping I can get lucky and find something nice too.

 

Good luck with the car hunt and the job. Any job is better than none for a start.

 

Thanks, trying to figure out how I'd go from having a rather large station wagon, to an outright huge sedan if this Delta 88 works out. Isn't as far from here as the '85, so it won't be a ton of gas lost in the process if this one turns out to be smelling like a lemon like the '85 was.

Same color as this boat I found on google, same color top too:

http://www.carpictures.com/pics/ful...ta-88-Royale-bronze-1977-01B58552838660A.jpeg

 

Well, sorry that was a bust. The '77 sounds like a neat car already, if it's still complete and fairly solid. I don't think the sedan is really any bigger than the wagon. Congrats on the job too.

 

If all else fails, you have your pilot reel for your new reality show. Thanks for posting. Get Aamco to sponsor it.

 

Thanks, and yeah you're right, the 77 is actually 1" shorter than my wagon, sure don't look it! They honestly look more like a Lincoln in the rear than anything GM. Hey, since this has the same B body chassis I want, who would suspect a '77 Delta 88 to have the suspension tuned for better handling?

Big ole copper / bronze colored tank, looks fairly stock, might be lower because of bad suspension, who would suspect a thing? Aren't all old cars loud and uncivilized to most end (L)users anyway? Oh, and the only option I'm hoping for is a split bench seat, if not, I'll be scouring the junkyard anyway because it has a tear on the seat that may warrant a replacement if it starts spitting foam on me. Long hair doesn't agree with foam, wind up looking like I got in a fight with a futon.

And encase you didn't guess, the young guy with the long hair is me, and the man with the silver long hair is my father. Some children think he is Santa because of the beard he keeps in the winter. Had one kid tugging on his mothers sleeve from the buggy at Kroger declaring Santa was passing by. She just ignored him, might've been my fathers red jacket too. Either way, it's pretty amusing when that happens.

Gonna try to schedule it early tomorrow morning, DMV closes at 12PM, so I need to get my temp tags (Don't have money for actual tags now) and get the tank home. So yeah, let's hope this one isn't zesty lemon fresh either!

 

Congrats on the new job and good luck with the new car.