Seeing as it has been years since I browsed the auction nearby that is open to the public I went with my friend as a good way to spend a Saturday. I had perused the list of cars for sale and had been interested in an '86 Caprice coupe. It turned out to be not as nice as what I was hoping for so I passed on that. Next on my list was a '79 Delta 88 sedan. This was a true little old lady car, 81k on the clock. White w/ flawless blue cloth interior, powered by a 301. Has some exterior rust, needs a rear bumper, which I'm not too surprised about. Wasn't too enthused about the 301 as I knew the week before I missed a Rocket 350 powered '78 Delta 88 sedan, but I still thought I'd bid on it. While walking around, I saw a dark cherry Alero that looked like it had been beat up a bit. Newer cars do nothing for me, but as I just happened to be staring at it, I noticed badging a little different than the standard Rocket. It turned out to be one of the final 500 Olds built, and it had badging everywhere to that effect. (Not me in the pics) Sorry they aren't straight, they were when I previewed them. I was quite shocked to even see it there, as an important part of automotive history, jumbled in with rusty junk, and even my gear head friend missed the importance of it. It needed a steering rack, some minor body work and some upholstery/interior work which was a real shame considering the embroidered upholstery. Ended up having 60K miles on it and was snapped up by a greasy looking used car dealer for $1000. I don't know if he knew what he was looking at, but he was determined to get it. What happened with the Delta? My friend and I watched it drive thru, listened to how smooth and quiet it ran and started bidding. I looked it over and gave him a max to work with and he started bidding. Ended up getting it for $550, not including fees- bid against one other person. I didn't have a chance to take a single picture of it for you all to enjoy- it was near impossible to examine before the auction, and afterwards it was whisked out to a storage lot to be picked up on Monday. I always get anxiety after I buy a new car, and this one was no different- I always doubt that I made the right choice. Never have owned an Olds or a Pontiac, now I own both! Got an email from my friend this AM who is envious of my purchase and wants to buy it from me! I think I'll have to mull that over first.
I am also an Oldsmobile guy.I have a 1998 Olds Aurora from the origional owner. WOW-A final 500 Alero and at a great price. Each car that Olds was making their last year had a Final 500 series.They all came the same color,special emblems and a specific paperwork package from Oldsmobile. The problem with owning a newer Oldsmobile as you put it-getting the Oldsmobile specific parts are getting to be really hard to get if not impossible. Enjoy your new purchase.
Didn't know about the special paperwork part, don't know if it was present or not. Thanks- I'm still waiting for the auction to process the paperwork so I can pick it up. Waiting always is the hardest part. Already found an NOS bumper for it, so that is one thing off the list.
Here are a couple more. The '66 Starfire is the rarest. Too bad, they ceased production. However, the '67 Delta 88 Custom Holiday Coupe is the next best thing. The Starfire engine has also been carried over into the 1967 product line and was an option on the Deltas and in the 98s. Even the totaled outs could serve as organ donors for any fullsized wagons. For example, the Starfire's thick anti-sway bar, interior and higher output engine. If you find something like this and want to verify the engine's authenticity, try to let the seller allow you to pull a valve cover. Each 425 engine option had color-coded valvesprings. If I remember correctly, the Toronado had blue, the Starfire red and all others green. The engine numbers alone don't exclude the possibility of a rebuild using non-standard parts: http://www.classiccarcatalogue.com/OLDSMOBILE 1967.html http://www.oldtownautomobile.com/files/Olds Starfire 1966_568_8.jpg
Here's one for sale, in Dallas. Didn't want to start a new thread. Feel free to post this car in one of your for sale threads, if you like. The more views, the better. The finish looks neglected beyond the point of no return. Premature dulling is normal, for this shade of red (The seller says gray. Well, it is now). But, a wax job might work wonders. It certainly wouldn't hurt. The interior backs up the seller's Starfire (had 10 h.p. less than the 427 Chevy of that year. But 10 foot pounds more peak torque) engine claim. However, without an engine identification number backtrack, it can't be certified. 70,000 miles (give or take 1 or 2 hundred thousand?). If the rest of its as clean as the trunk, I'd say the price is fair for today's market. Replacing the interior with either white or red would make this a pretty car. Especially, if the woodgrain sticker surrounding the instruments were to be replaced with a brushed aluminum plate: http://www.2040-cars.com/Oldsmobile/Eighty-Eight/1967-oldsmobile-delta-88-custom-429121/
So you resurrected one that was five years old? Hmmm. The seller will own that car forever if he thinks he can get nearly $7,000 for it with that ad and the condition it's in. He says "much restoration has been done," but he doesn't say what, so that's not at all helpful. Four very poor photos. The car is worth $3000 to $4000 tops.
He may end up getting only that much, despite how rare that car is. On that same Google page I found it on, there were two '66 Starfires on Youtube for sale by custom outfits. One in Detroit looked clean and supposedly had only 53,000 miles (then, why the engine replacement?). When he had it up on the hoist, a modern exhaust system was installed without resonators. It didn't have the original Olds sound that you would even get, by replacing the mufflers with straight-throughs while keeping the resonators. The rear suspension didn't look right, either. The track bar was missing, as well as the rear anti-sway bar. The rear end wasn't the original posi of which the first guy was claiming, according to his partner showing the undercarriage (he and his positraction-claiming partner forgot to rehearse their story together?). The original engine was "replaced with a '68-'72 Moter"(which one of the four is it, then?) 455. I take it, he made a profit selling the original Starfire bits to some one restoring one and decided to throw in anything which'll move the car. The second video featured a 455 Starfire on sale in Chicago. It didn't even have the Starfire door panels. Both new-school hack videos were quite depressing to watch. Both of those numb nuts know nothing about classic cars:
