Starfire61

In the Checkers Speech of 1952 Nixon stated that he owned a 1950 Oldsmobile. Furthermore, after his defeat in 1960, he said in several interviews that all he had to his name was somewhere around $40K & a 4-year-old Oldsmobile.

Sure, I'll email you some copies. I don't recall if he had the plastic covers in it as I was only 4 or 5 years old when he got rid of it. It was looking pretty tired by then. He traded in at Lawndale Oldsmobile in Chicago. I still remember riding past their used car lot with my dad & seeing the car in the back row. That particular dealer had a huge, rocket-shaped neon sign attached to the front of the building.... wow, to have something like that today. I also remember that the car was so dirty most of the time that I'd go out in the garage & write on it with my finger! Grandpa was thrilled about that. Would you believe I still have the hat he's wearing in the photos? If only I could find another Platinum Mist 2-door sedan... Someday I just may need to have my picture taken next to your car wearing Grandpa's hat! Chuck

What a neat project! I'm curious, Barry- is there any evidence who built the car? Is it a Lehmann-Peterson??? Looks like it's coming along nicely. Good Luck with it- Chuck

I have that emblem boxed-up for you. I just haven't had a chance to get over to the post office yet. Here's a view of the underside of the hood, right at the nose. The red arrows point to the two round cutouts that indicate where the mounting holes are drilled for the crest. The drill holes are approximately in the center of these cutouts. This car is a Ninety Eight, so the forward cutout has not had a hole drilled. The stud seen in the second cutout is for the mounting post on the hood spear. I've done a bit of checking on the proper color of that crest. The drawings in the catalog show it as being black over red, but if I look closely at the photo of my grandpa's '61 it's clearly white over red. I thought they may have had two different versions of it, as they did with the crest on the poverty caps, but after checking the parts manual it seems that there is only one part number- 580996. Chuck

I did some digging & found a few pics of my grandpa's 88 2-door sedan. These were taken when it was brand-new. It was a very plain & affordable car. Pat, you are probably the only one on this forum that owns one of these. Chuck

Hi all- I've been looking around at lifts for the last few months & have been pretty overwhelmed with the variety of products & number of makers out there. Does anybody have any suggestions/recommendations as far as features & manufacturers? Anything I should avoid? Any advice would be much appreciated- Thanks! Chuck

Jeez- it's worth 30 grand just for the b*tchin' Zenith logo stamped on the door panels..... I agree with zeffer 1940- couldn't have said it better myself!

Anybody see this rather tired '61 Dynamic 88 convertible on Ebay? http://cgi.ebay.com:80/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270189419777&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123 Texas-built, AC, codes correct for Garnet Mist. The green engine on a '61 should have ribbed valve covers & a 2-barrel manifold. The standard engine codes F###### The optional high-compression engine (also green with a 2-bbl) codes G######H I believe the 4-bbl Skyrocket was also optional on these cars & codes G###### Supposedly this engine's stamped D662895. Looks like a '59 or '60 to me (maybe even a 371?), but I don't have the resources to check. Anybody???? Chuck

Go to the "full reply" screen. Toward the bottom of the screen is a section marked "Post Options." Within that section is a heading for "File Manager." Click on "File Manager" & you will be taken to an area that allows you to browse & upload files. You may need to play around with the size a bit so it fits within one page. Chuck

I remember seeing him at the Lansing Centennial back in 1997. I think he rode in the Limited during the parade. GM could use far more people of his caliber today, though the PC police would likely have his head on a platter before he had a chance to make an impact. Truly a great man. RIP

I'd check with Fusick or the bigger parts places like Kanter or USA Parts on those shocks. I'm sure somebody has them. For that matter, just try going to NAPA- they'd probably be a little cheaper there. Anything you buy today will likely be gas-charged, but it shouldn't affect your ride as much as springs & tires. Are your shocks leaking, or are you bouncing all over the place? While you're under there, you may want to consider reinforcing the brackets where the upper rear shocks mount to the frame. It's common in 61's for this bracket to crack right off the frame & leave the shock flapping in the breeze. To access that area to do any welding you're looking at dropping the gas tank, so if you're going to be playing around with the sending unit anyway it may be a good time to get everything fixed at once & be done with it. I wouldn't be in a big hurry to take that dash out of there. It is a monumental undertaking. Get the car running well & have some fun with it (unless you're one of those guys who'd find working on the dash & chasing vacuum lines more fun than frustrating.) I couldn't tell from the pics that it needed painting, but if you decide to proceed with it make sure you remove the front seat first. You may want to remove the steering wheel, or even the entire column. Be prepared to face a spaghetti bowl of wires, vacuum lines, & nasty old insulation. Assume that nothing will work properly after you get the dash back in, then you won't be disappointed & you may actually be happy if something works the way it's supposed to. Buy a lot of Band Aids & antacids ahead of time, & you'll be good to go! Chuck

Oh boy- you're bringing back some bad memories. When I first got my Starfire on the road, it had a bad sending unit. Not only did it not work, but it leaked if I filled the tank above the point where the unit attached to the tank. I think I could put in about 10 gallons without it leaking. The final part of this triad of misery is that my odometer didn't work either, so on top of not knowing how much gas was in my less than half-full tank, I didn't know how far I'd driven. Ran the car out of gas within 2 weeks! I've seen NOS units occasionally on Ebay, but they're scarce & fairly expensive. Given the unpleasant effort involved with installing one of these, I'd have some reservations about whether or not a 40+ year old part is going to work properly, NOS or not. It's not a task you want to do twice if you can avoid it. My sending unit & gas gauge together were sent out for rebuilding & recalibration. They've worked fine since. If you check in Hemmings you'll see there are several places that do it. Unfortunately I don't recall who did mine anymore as it's been a few years, but you shouldn't have trouble finding someone. If you send out the tank unit, I definitely recommend having the gas gauge done too. The hardest part will be getting the unit & gauge out of the car! Chuck

These come up on Ebay once a month or so. There's a used set on right now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1961-Olds...sspagenameZWDVW The trouble with the used lenses is that they may not be any better that what you already have. The NOS stuff does appear occasionally, you just have to keep watching & be patient. Chuck

There are two pins that hold the crest onto the hood. Your holes were likely filled-in by somebody. I checked my '61 literature, & the 88 post coupe in the illustrations clearly had the hood crest. I believe there are some quarter-sized holes stamped in the hood backing plate that indicate where the mounting holes were drilled. I'll check on my cars the next time I'm where they're stored. I'll bet if you poked around in that area with something sharp you'd find evidence of the holes. If not, your hood may have been replaced. Though the sheet metal was exactly the same, 88 hoods had different hole patterns than 98's & Starfires, so I'd imagine that new replacement hoods came undrilled. I'll send you a regular email about mailing the crest. Chuck

Thanks for the good wishes- I really appreciate it. Everything has been going pretty well at home & I should be back & driving my Oldsmobiles in a few more days. I was very fortunate to have some great people taking care of me, & luckily I don't have anything serious going on with my health. Anybody that wants to get his hands on my cars is going to have to wait a little longer!!!!! Chuck

Sounds like you're making a lot of progress already. Do you know if your car is originally black? If you look at the tag on the firewall there should be a paint code. "A" is the code for Ebony Black. You'll find the tag on the driver's side just in front of the windshield. If it codes "D" for Platinum Mist then you may have my grandpa's car... I also noticed that you're missing the crest on the hood. I have an extra one- I'll give it to you if you want it, just send me a few bucks for shipping. I picked it up awhile back thinking it was the same as the fender crest on the Ninety Eight, but it's a different size. Mine's in nice shape. The chrome's not flawless, but the pitting on it is very minor & the pins are intact. I'm not sure what the correct colors are suppose to be- it's solid red now, but on the Ninety Eight fenders these logos were red & black, on the dashes they were red & white, on deluxe caps they were argent silver & on dog-dish caps I've seen both red & white AND red & black! I can do some checking around, or perhaps somebody else can chime in on this. Chuck

Spot on, Glenn. Some knuckle-dragging yokel would be up to his ankles in drool thinking about how to ruin that car. Any idea on the production numbers? I tried looking it up in Casteele's book, but there's no breakdown for the Regency. Perhaps in Helen Early's book? Laura, check your email. I'd enjoy seeing some more photos of the car. Reminds me a bit of the '72 Delta 88 I learned to drive on, except my dad would never have sprung for a Regency back in '72. Chuck

I took a look at that other '61 that's in storage & it does have Moraine brakes on it. I've attached a pic of the booster & master. This is identical to what's illustrated in the '61 service manual, down to the metal hex-head cap on the master. I still don't know if the brake units shown in those other posted photos are definitely '62 & thus incorrect for a '61 car, or if there was a transition period between the two styles midway thru the '61 production year. Chuck

You're very welcome- FYI the threaded rod has a hook in the bottom end that hooks into a hole on the battery tray from the outside. I was looking at some pics of your car recently (I downloaded all the pics from the Ebay listing.) Does it have a 4-core radiator? The fan ring & small-sized upper air deflector is consistent with the 4-core setup that came on the AC-equipped cars. I'm not sure if a heavy duty cooling system was optional, or if somebody borrowed the bigger cooling system off an AC car & installed it on yours. AC cars had a different water pump, & also had a clutch fan, while non-AC cars had a direct-drive fan. The AC compressor back then was driven by 2 belts- I noticed also that your generator has a 2-groove pulley, which suggests to me that somebody also added the higher-output AC car charging system to your car, too. Overall not a bad set of upgrades, & very subtle. Chuck

I sure hope they didn't start with a convertible...Somebody shoot it & put it out of its misery....

My 61's have Bendix brakes. These appear to be Moraine. The Bendix boosters are painted black & held together with screws, while the Moraine boosters should be anodized & fit together with a series of interlocking tabs. The master cylinder on the Bendix system is more square & has a small fill cap like the one Paul describes. It attaches to the booster with four nuts rather than the two that are illustrated here. I'm not familiar with the Moraine system on a '61. However, the illustrations in the '61 manual show the Moraine master cylinder attaching with four nuts, too. Now that I think about it, I have a '61 project car that's in storage that may have Moraine brakes, so next time I have a chance, I'll take a look at it & report back. I have Moraine brakes on my '62 Starfire, which look about identical to what's shown in these illustrations. Bottom line is I don't know if these cars both have '62 Moraine brake sytems, or if there was just some production line variability & perhaps some discrepancies with what's illustrated in the '61 service manual. Chuck

I'm not aware of anything you can use to flush it out. My big concern there would be your ability to fully remove whatever agent you used for flushing, especially from the cylinders. I suppose it would be fairly easy to flush out just the hoses with something once you disconnected them from the cylinders. However, the cylinders are buried so deep in the car that it becomes a big project just to reach them & get the hoses off. Then all the oil remaining in the cylinders leaks all over the place...for all that trouble, you're probably still better off just replacing everything. I've gotten a few sets of cylinders & hoses from Hydro-E-Lectric & had very good results with them. http://www.hydroe.com/ Again, if you go through the effort of replacing the hoses & cylinders, be sure to go through the pump. There are some very fine channels in there that can easily clog. You can buy a new one, but they're pretty expensive & there's really no reason to- over 40+ years how much wear could be on a convertible top pump...perhaps an hour or two of total running time? Your service manual should have a series of diagrams that show how the pump is put together. Anybody with a minimal amout of mechanical aptitude should be able to do it. Just make sure you disassemble it in a clean, uncluttered area. You'll need to replace some O-rings, too. The only other pitfall are the reservoir seals- I think I re-used my old ones & added some permatex to them- they're still leak free years later. You can assemble the pump, new hoses, & new cylinders outside the car as a unit, fill it, hook it to a battery & run it in & out for bleeding & leak testing, and THEN install the whole thing back into the car at once. You'll minimize the likelihood of spilling fluid all over your car, you'll save yourself a lot of aggravation, & you'll be fairly certain that the top is going to work fine before you install everything back on the car.

I assume this is the same setup that I have on my '61 Olds. That's a big top to raise by hand. How low is the fluid? Is the reservoir empty or just a little low? Proper fluid level should be just to the bottom edge of the fill plug hole when the pump is horizontal. If the reservoir looks empty, then you've probably sucked air into the system, which would explain why it's stopped working. However, that fluid doesn't just disappear- it has to have gone somewhere. Is there any evidence of a leak around the pump or the top cylinders? If you want to add fluid, use transmission fluid & fill to the level of the plug. I've never done this with the pump in the car, but I've found that the easiest way to bleed it is to stand the pump on end with the fill hole pointing straight up. If you're not able to do this in the car it probably won't matter, since the level in the reservoir shouldn't change much during operation- all the pump does is move the fluid from one side of the cylinders to the other. It's probably best to disconnect the cylinders from the top- leave it in whatever position gives you the most clearance. Then run the cylinders in & out a few times to get all the air out. Recheck the fluid level & add more if necessary. If there's still some fluid in the reservoir, & you don't see any leaks, I'd suspect that your problem may be something else. I've had a couple GM convertibles of this vintage. I don't think anybody anticipated those hydraulic top systems would last 40+ years with no service. Invariably, the cylinders go bad & the lines & pump get clogged with congealed oil & other crud. My guess is that your system is near the end of its useful life. Your best bet is to replace the lines & cylinders with new ones & rebuild the pump. Anything short of a new, clean system means that you could have old fluid & debris floating around to mess up any new components. The pumps are fairly straightforward to service yourself- there are some little ball bearing check valves that you have to try not to lose, & the brushes are a bear to reinstall, but that's about it. Don't even bother messing with the cylinders & hoses- just replace them. Good luck!

Apparently she played Maria in the national touring production after the musical debuted on Broadway in 1959. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music

I don't know if I've ever seen a Willow Mist '62 Olds, let alone a Starfire. Somewhere I have the VIN for my dad's '62 also: a Garnet Mist Dynamic 88 coupe with the optional interior bright moldings & all-Morroceen seats. One of my earliest memories is going with my dad & hauling a Christmas tree home in the trunk of that car. That's another story, too. Regarding the antenna on this Starfire- the two swept-back units currently on the car are almost certainly aftermarket items. I see a lot of cars with pairs of those at cruises- it must have been a big thing back then??? At least nobody hacked-up the dash & interior for some super-duper-mega-stereo system.... did they? Anyway, the correct power antenna is on the passenger's rear fender. There is one mounting bracket that runs from the base of the unit to the trunk pan. When removing the antenna, this bracket usually comes out with the whole assembly, which is probably why there's not much there to see. At the top, the unit mounts to the fender with a fancy collar nut & a rubber washer. It all comes off when the assembly is removed. If you look at the trunk pan adjacent to where the antenna would mount, you should see two small holes where the bracket attached. You may also see the wiring harness & the antenna lead tucked into the well between the trunk floor & rear quarter. If your cardboard & liner is intact, much of this will be hidden from view. I've posted a couple pics. The red trunk is on a '61 & shows the finished installation. The blue trunk is on a '62- notice it's a little different in the position of the attaching bracket, but the '62 pic still gives a good illustration of how the assembly connects to the trunk floor. Chuck