rocketraider

Different gearing and transmissions would produce different results. The 66 Starfire I had would walk away from my 66 442 past 50 mph. Both were air/automatic/3.42 cars, but I'm sure the 442's Jetaway didn't help its performance. But you can't deny that a well tuned Starfire is a hell of a fast car. Maybe I had an advantage growing up in a small town that had an Olds dealer who was serious about high performance.

If there's a Carter AFB on it, the Edelbrock carb is a near bolt on replacement. You may have to fab a new fuel line and play with throttle linkage a bit, but it will probably work well for you.

Acetone is the only solvent I know of that will dissolve super glue. Acetone will also attack plastics , leaving a bigger mess than what you have . Now if you're lucky, the reflectors are those stick-on things you can buy at WalMart and can be persuaded off with a heat gun or some mineral spirits.

Multiply that by ten and you're in the ballpark. As noted in another post, cars are hot investments right now but will drop once the stock market recovers. I think around $18-20g is a reasonable price for the car but you should get an opinion from someone like Jim Stohlman who fools with these cars and knows what they go for, and the circles who are buying them. I have misplaced Jim's e-mail but do a web search for "Stohlman car dealerships" and you should find a webpage with a contact.

Don't believe them. Real world prices are always lower. Every spring I see outrageously priced cars at the Charlotte AutoFair and the owners won't dicker price at all. I see the same cars three weeks later in Carlisle for a couple thousand less and they're willing to deal. By summer they're in AutoTrader for considerably less money. In the last 6 months a friend and I have both bought desirable and very nice condition cars with interesting history for under $7000. Four years ago he bought a fully (and I do mean everything) optioned 64 GP for under $5g and turned out it was one of 860 tripowers made and originally invoiced to Atlanta BOP assembly. 'Twas the Pontiac Division head manager's company car. And all we've done is detail the engine, it was that nice. Of course, we didn't find them in a swap meet car corral either. Plus you've got to remember- the stock market is in a cyclic slump, and anytime that happens, old car prices skyrocket. Happened in 89, happened in 78. The highrollers get into it as "investments", then when the market recovers prices drop to normal and realistic.

One of 6552 made. There was a nocturne mist one here years ago that an old drunk had so you can imagine how it ended up. I know of one in a salvage yard that was probably an easy restoration when it went in there, but it's been pretty well gutted over the last five years. The J-I was a victim of Olds' own marketing strategy as much as anything. The car should have sold well but it had the Starfire, and by 1965 the 442, to contend with in its own house, and the Grand Prix over in the Pontiac camp. It actually outsold the Starfire coupe in 1964, by about 3000 units. Full-size high performance was on its way out by 1965 after the midsize musclecars appeared. But jayzus what a ride <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" /> ! 370 horsepower <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> at your disposal! What nobody realised was that both this and the Starfire were capable of blowing a 442's doors off, and giving a GTO a hard time.

www.smsautofabrics.com in Oregon. They have come thru for me many times on obsolete upholstery. Can't help you on the seat design, but being mid-50s GM I can promise they were flashy. SMS will send fabric samples on request and are knowledgeable about original materials and patterns. You should be able to tell what cloth was originally on the seats by looking at the doors. The cloth inserts usually matched the seat cloth on the higher line cars. I think about it sometimes- probably half the body cloth GM used was made 30 miles from here by Collins & Aikman in Roxboro NC. Neighbor worked there in the 60s and 70s and regularly worked 7 day weeks.

My experience with points is that they were usually close enough to get the car started, then you set the dwell after it was running and warmed up. The GM window distributor is a godsend. I don't even know which manufacturer to recommend. Delco-Remy Division quit making point ignition components starting about the mid 80s and contracted it out. Most were made by Wells, judging from the markings on the rotor. Blue Streak or Standard are probably your best bet right now unless you can find some old Delco-Remy or Sorenson NOS. I don't think Accel are really suitable for a street-driven car as they have very high spring tension and are known to wear distributor cam lobes. I can't remember the exact procedure for roughing in GM points without a dwell meter. I've had one so long that I am spoiled to setting them at 30 degrees and going about my business.

How long since this car has been driven regularly? You may have a fouled tank or carb, or a weak fuel pump. Old gas will do this too. I'm passing up a nice 76 Caddy right now because of those problems, though for $1500, I shouldn't grumble too much, eh? You might come out ahead to have the car rollbacked home, where you can tinker at your leisure. But yes- if the car's been sitting any time at all I'll say at the least it needs a tuneup and carb rebuilt. Check the air and fuel filters too, as well as the brakes. Non-use does them worse than anything.

Well- is it a Delta 88, or is it a Ninety Eight? They're very different cars from the cowl back.

Well, let's see- the 1970 service manuals list them by name and formula and I can list those here in a separate post if you want them. The Color & Fabric Album will have color chips so you can actually see the color, but that will be an expensive piece for a 70. Try digging thru a swap meet or literature vendor and see if you can get a 1970 GM or Oldsmobile Ditzler, PPG, Rinshed-Mason etc color chip sheet. They usually have all of them on it unless there was a late-year color introduction.

Hear! Hear! Very well put! I think you've hit on something about why people consider vintage cars unreliable. If they aren't driven regularly, things deteriorate. They were used daily in their time and got people where they wanted to go with little if any aggravation.

Then don't. Let me try to reduce this into terms you can understand, since you are obviously missing the point. A Revolutionary or WBTS battlefield that is encroached upon or actually bought up and developed as a subdivision, mall, amusement park, whatever, to satisfy modern tastes, mores and financial desires- is history that has been altered and can never be put back like it was. A good original or restored old car that gets chopped up and turned into a street rod with all modern automotive conveniences, to satisfy modern tastes, mores and financial desires- is history that has been altered and can never be put back like it was. Either way, something of historical significance has been altered from its original state by someone who viewed it solely from a business standpoint without respect to history. There is the comparison. No moral high ground. Simple facts. The same argument applies to the misguided people who want to rewrite history to make modern man more comfortable with its not-so-pleasant aspects or to modify others' viewpoints to conform with their own. I believe that happened in 1917 Russia, 1933 Germany and 1948 mainland China. Would this mountain bus project you wish to start be as significant historically if you were to build the body on a modern GM or Ford school bus chassis? If so, call Thomas or Bluebird bus manufacturers, they'll be happy to accommodate you. If not, build it right and use a vintage, unmolested chassis. I often think that old car owners who upgrade to every modern convenience in their old iron are missing the entire point of having an old car, which is to drive something that was made before the modern conveniences, learn to operate and repair it, live with its quirks, and preserve it. If you only want to travel in a modern car, then go to a new car dealer and buy one. And by the way- with a lineage that includes ancestors who died at the Elmira and Point Lookout POW camps and the battles of Gettysburg, New Market and Manassas, as well as several who were present at the Surrender, I think I have a very good grasp of what is and is not sacred ground.

I <span style="font-weight: bold">think</span> you're asking 68-69... Yes- 1968-1969 Rally Pack gauges and tachometer are identical.

Kanter has a pretty good reputation and has always sent me the correct stuff. Their downside is that sometimes they think their stuff is 24k goldplate, especially on parts that can be got elsewhere for 1/3 the cost. Their advantage is that by ordering their kits, you don't have to chase parts all over town and wait days for the local parts house to get it, if they can get it at all. It all comes at one time in one box, delivered to your door.

Are you talking about a rubber protector mat, or the full floor front & rear carpeting? The floor pans are very different between 1961-64 and 1965-70 GM cars, and sometimes even between different Divisions. I think it's safe to say that all the 1968 B-body cars (Impala, Bonneville, 88 and LeSabre) used the same floor carpeting, and repro is available. Check with a full-size Chevy vendor.

Brassbus- is it really? You've got two aspects of history that are being chopped up, desecrated, ruined, forgotten and <span style="font-weight: bold">REWRITTEN</span> to comply with what is currently fashionable. Hence, lost to future generations. I say the comparison is valid , otherwise I wouldn't have made it.

And like we keep telling you- Dave, they don't care! All the old car is to them is a piece to be exploited to their own satisfaction and/or profit. History and preservation are of no concern to them. In addition to my old car disease, I'm also a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust. That group expends much money and time trying to keep short-sighted developers from turning the battlefields into subdivisions. Right now, we're fighting hard to keep an ATV racetrack away from the literal edge of the Manassas Battlefield. The developer has skirted local zoning by listing his planned use as agricultural, but there's sure a lot of flyers advertising his new racetrack floating around. His reply to CWPT? "It's my land and I will do what I damn well please with it". Where have we heard that before?

It's a Noo Yawk car. For the most part they didn't need airconditioning there. My dad's cousins lived in Norwich NY, where it was not unusual to see people wearing sweaters in July. Summer of 67, they bought a new 1967 Caprice, Tropic Turquoise w/ black vinyl roof and no a/c. Shortly after they bought it, they drove it here for family reunion in the NC Sandhills, where it was close to 100 degrees . They were here a week, and about the second day, the new Caprice went to Sears for an airconditioner.

I'm guessing there couldn't be more than 5 gallons in it unless the old gentleman had an absolute brain fart and tried to fill it up. Actually probably closer to 1 or 2 gallons. I'd fill the tank with fresh premium to dilute it and burn it out. You'll see some smoke, and maybe a little oil residue on the plugs, but I don't think this will hurt the engine. Think of it this way- fuel stabilizers are little more than a highly refined light oil and other than an occasional bumper stain, they don't hurt a thing. Your other alternative is to drop and drain the fuel tank.

Yes- F85 is generic Olds-speak for 1961-77 A-body car. Anytime you see a reference to F85 in factory publications, Cutlass and all variations come under it.

Somebody's tried to hijack your e-mail. Even though you haven't sent anything yourself, if someone sends you an infected e-mail, these viruses will get into your e-mail address book and forward themselves to everyone in it. That's how these lowlife virus writers spread their nasty little product. If you do not have a strong anti-virus program installed, you need to do it like NOW. And when it detects a virus, don't fool with trying to repair the infected file. <span style="font-weight: bold">Delete it!</span> and hope it hasn't corrupted your system beyond repair. By the way- don't send me anything private! I just went thru a virus attack that originated on another forum, and I have no desire to repeat it.

E-mail me privately with a street mailing address and I'll xerox the 1977 emission vacuum diagrams for you. Will help if you narrow down which engine/transmission car has.

Are we talking names that just absolutely don't fit the car it was given to, or these damn computer-generated inoffensive soothing pabulum names the Asians are so fond of hanging on their cars? I can think of one that was very aptly named- the Daihatsu Charade, because it is truly a joke of a car. I've got it- Yugo! because more likely than not, you didn't.

The 1974 edition parts book says: 1970-72 F85 synchromesh trans w/ console, p/n 405534 lever, floor shift (Hurst- stamped "H") (less knob) 1970-72 F85 S.T. except console or 1971 4400 HD trans, p/n 406713 lever, floor shift (Hurst-stamped "H") (less knob) So it appears there is some difference. Differences also show up between console and non-console in 1964-69 and 1973 applications, and between F85/Cutlass and 442 1965-69, difference there being 442 shifters had "442" stamped into them.