Sitting in my garage currently, I have a 1966 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible. My brother imported it, then immediately lost interest when he realised how much work would be involved in it.. so he handballed it straight to me.
Thought I'd use this as a sort of a build log, and see how far I can get before I throw in the towel at the amount of body cancer, and decide to part it out. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, especially since Oldsmobile only made 5,540 of them, and this would have to be close to the only one in Australia at this time.
Images following.
Picking it up from my brother's warehouse.
Slotting it into my garage.. took a bit of moving things around to get it in there, since the car is 2 metres wide, and 5.5 metres long.
There's a serious amount of sheet metal in this thing.
Cancer in the front left chassis rail.. fixable, but never fun to find.
This one might take a bit more work, but still fixable.
Not a fan of the colour, but this gives you a rough impression of how damn big it is. And how pretty it could be.
Oh look.. what's under here?
That.. is.. big. 7 litres (425ci) of GM thumping power! They were supposed to produce about 370HP out of the factory, but I'm pretty sure this one lacks a few ponies by now.
The bonnet (hood) is shagged, rusted and bent in so many places.. not sure what to do with this. Finding a replacement is not going to be cheap, and fixing it is close to a no-go. We'll see.
Original left hand drive, and the interior is in fairly good condition overall.
Seats are great, no rips or tears in either fronts or rear.
Rear bumper is all but shagged, but there is a mob in Canberra who claim to be able to fix it.. but the cost is almost the same as finding one in the States and importing it in. Flipping coins on this at the moment.
The boot is a write-off, but I can import a new boot from the States for about $300, and just weld that in instead.
If you look closely at this, you will see.. pop-rivets. This is the left rear quarter as seen from inside the boot. Dude thought this was the best way to repair it obviously.. leave the rust there, smack a bit of sheet tin over the top, pop rivet that sucker on, then bog and paint. Excellent.
So.. there you have it. Something that will be costing me thousands of hours, and I dare not think of the overall dollar cost involved. However, being (most likely) the only one in Australia, I just have to at least try to bring it back.
Thoughts and comments welcome.
The new project car.
- EzyRider
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The new project car.
Middle Pack Racing Watch your mirrors!
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."
- SE1Z
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Re: The new project car.
Amazing!
That thing is a fucking boat...
Good luck mate, i'll be watching this thread with a LOT of interest.
That thing is a fucking boat...
Good luck mate, i'll be watching this thread with a LOT of interest.
Steve
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- Quincy
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Re: The new project car.
Does the motor run??
I rescued a 1970 kombi from a farm that hadn't been started in over 17 years.... bloody great feeling when I finally got her to kick over!! I would love to hear yours roar into life!
I rescued a 1970 kombi from a farm that hadn't been started in over 17 years.... bloody great feeling when I finally got her to kick over!! I would love to hear yours roar into life!
balls & boobs. . .
- Bauer
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Re: The new project car.
Brace yourself ezysauce, Hz will e-root you up the bum when he sees this.
Good luck with it. I think it is epic and awesome.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Good luck with it. I think it is epic and awesome.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
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Stu
Stu
- Exar Kun
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Re: The new project car.
Good luck mate. Looks like a lot of work but I'd love to see it finished. Pretty much the opposite of all I like in cars - big, heavy, convertible, soggy bread handling, low tech engine, auto gearbox, American... I could go on. Still, as you say it should be a pretty thing and no matter what sort of car it is, I can appreciate the work that goes into something like this.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
- dvestate
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Re: The new project car.
Hope you stick it out mate, would be awesome to bring that back to life
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Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
- wobblysauce
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Re: The new project car.
Good stuff.
Are you going to stay original or upgrade the components?
Are you going to stay original or upgrade the components?
Some play it safe on the merry-go-round, others go for the thrills of the roller-coaster.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
- EzyRider
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Re: The new project car.
The plan right now is to pull it right back to it's undies, see just how bad it really is, (and I'm not holding my breath on it), and make the call from there. However, that being said, I've found another car in better nick in Illinois, and the owner wants $2100 with a motor, or $1700 without. Transport at my cost, naturally.
If I take it, it'll extend the options greatly.
It is a little ratty looking, but definitely has less cancer in it than the one I have here.. decisions decisions.
I'm going to aim for back to original as best I can, but the availability of parts, both here and overseas, will limit that to a degree. There are many parts from the older GM products we have here already, such as old HQ parts etc.
The motor does run apparently, but it's a little rough at the moment. I'm yet to hear it,but my brother insists it does run. Doing an oil drain, plug and lead change, and probably a fuel drain, then try firing it up again, see how it sounds. If I can, I'll video it and slap a copy up on here.
The options are limited to a degree, but also fairly wide open, depending on so very many different things. All in all though, this is still a $45,000 vehicle over here in reasonable condition, so I'm very much against destroying it. Even if it does cost that to bring it back.
As time goes by, I'll add to this, pics, info, video, etc.. but I'm still going into it with eyes wide open. And probably wallet wide open too, for that matter.
More to come.
If I take it, it'll extend the options greatly.
It is a little ratty looking, but definitely has less cancer in it than the one I have here.. decisions decisions.
I'm going to aim for back to original as best I can, but the availability of parts, both here and overseas, will limit that to a degree. There are many parts from the older GM products we have here already, such as old HQ parts etc.
The motor does run apparently, but it's a little rough at the moment. I'm yet to hear it,but my brother insists it does run. Doing an oil drain, plug and lead change, and probably a fuel drain, then try firing it up again, see how it sounds. If I can, I'll video it and slap a copy up on here.
The options are limited to a degree, but also fairly wide open, depending on so very many different things. All in all though, this is still a $45,000 vehicle over here in reasonable condition, so I'm very much against destroying it. Even if it does cost that to bring it back.
As time goes by, I'll add to this, pics, info, video, etc.. but I'm still going into it with eyes wide open. And probably wallet wide open too, for that matter.
More to come.
Middle Pack Racing Watch your mirrors!
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."
- r8response
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Re: The new project car.
Stick with it Ezy. When you get it finished, it'll be a beast. There will be nothing else like it on the road.
- EzyRider
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Re: The new project car.
Quick walk-around video I just did.. rough as hessian undies, but it does give you a better idea of what I have to work with.
[youtube] [/youtube]
[youtube] [/youtube]
Middle Pack Racing Watch your mirrors!
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."
Norbs on Germaine Greer: "..that crusty old slag can tongue kiss my quivering sphincter muscle, fuck her and the pretentious boat she fucking sailed in on."