Rare 1918 Oakland Touring $1800

[Guest BJM]

http://siouxfalls.craigslist.org/cto/4245815985.html

Looks worse then it is for the price. A teens car, complete -look at the drivetrain.

Not mine, just posting for conversation and trying to get a new home for an interesting car.

[jeff_a]

Now there's a GM product you don't see too often. The original owner would have been shocked if he had been told his car would still be around in 95 years.

[George Smolinski]

This car has been posted on CL in the Twin Cities, MN for about the last 18 months - $100 for each month posted. You'd think since it's still for sale, the seller would take the hint & lower the price if he/she is serious about selling it.

[Guest BJM]

George

Or, glass half full thinking is, a potential buyer could put away $100 a month and buy this within 1 1/2 years. A lot of Craigs Listers and ebay parts pagers have their cars on those free sites for years waiting for the needle in the haystack buyer. These cars are fully "purchased" by the sellers, meaning no overhead, they can sit where they are at for years and it's no inconvenience to the seller. It's when cars or trucks take up valuable garage or storage space that they drop in price.

[Luv2Wrench]

If I lived in MN, I would have offered $1500 and it would probably be mine.

[Bleach]

The car reminds me of a scene from a Roadrunner cartoon.

[Guest BJM]

I don't know much about Oakland. I know Pontiac replaced them in the GM hierarchy.

[Guest orphancars]

After Durant got fired from GM the first time (he got fired twice) he purchased the Oakland car company. GM decided to buy this company. Durant took the proceeds of the sale and purchased controlling interest in GM stock and became CEO again. Don't know what this $1,800 car is but it's not a 1918. Oakland and Oldsmobile both used a Northway 6-cyl. overhead open valve. In the early 20's when sales started to fall Oakland division decided to offer a companion car for a lower price. They named this new car Pontiac. When Pontiac sales sored and out sold Oakland GM stopped building Oakland. This is the only time that the companion car has out lived the parent company.

Photo on left is a 1918 Oakland Touring

Photo on right is a 1918 Oldsmobile Roadster.

Both used the same engine and drive train. Northway offered 4,6, and 8cyl. engines but all were overhead open valve engines in this time period. These cars had a 3sp. and a cone clutch.

In answer to the PM's. Yes they are mine & no they are NOT for sale.

Edited January 17, 2014 by orphancars
Added note. (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

Well this car is now mine. I bought it for parts and it will arrive in the morning. I believe it is a 1916 model 38. It is not the six cylinder that both Oldsmobile and Oakland used, it is a flat head four. There are many parts that will interchange with my 1915 model 42 Olds. My Olds has an overhead valve engine but Northway seems to have used a lot of parts on a lot of different engines. I am especially interested in the water pump, fan blade and starter generator.

[Guest prs519]

Congratulations, Nickelroadster. I think you are wise to have a few spare parts, especially if you drive your 1915 much. That may allow you to drive it more often with less stress, think?

Perry

[Guest BJM]

I am glad it found a home where it can be of some use. I also appreciate orphancars explanation. I know little about this era of Oldsmobile, and Oakland. I figured that Oldsmobile would use an Oldsmobile engine, and Oakland Oakland. I have never heard of this "Northway" motor and find it odd that GM, even in it's infancy, would allow an outside engine manufacturer to be used for their cars. Buicks had Buick OHV motors, Cadillac had their flathead V8's etc.

[Guest orphancars]

Also glad this Oakland found a home even as a parts car. This flathead could also be a Northway before they went to OHV. Northway was later purchased by GM and they continued building engines For GMC trucks. The engine that Olds. came out with in the early 20's was probably a re-named Northway. Very few car builders in that time period used their own components and relied on out side suppliers. The body for Oakland was made by Seaman who also did Oldsmobile, Jeffery, Franklin, and many others. Fisher bodies came into play after Jeffery purchased part of Seaman. After Nash purchased Jeffery he purchased the rest of seaman and continued to build the Nash Rambler.

[nickelroadster]

Let me clear a few things up. Northway was a GM division from about 1910. They sold engines to other car manufacturers such as Wescott and Cole. The four cylinder model42-43 Olds engine from 1914-1916 was an overhead valve engine and the four in this Oakland model 38 is a flathead. The water pump and the fan which I am interested in were used on both and even on other engines. Northway seemed to have a number of design features and which ever way you wanted an engine, they would build it. Thus you ended up with a lot of very different engines that shared many parts. Now the cars that orphan cars showed are the model 37 Olds and model 34 Oakland actually use the same Northway six. These cars were actually cheaper than the four cylinder ones. Olds used a Northway built but partially Olds designed V-8 from 1915 through 1923. Olds also built this same engine. Oakland had a Northway built V-8 in 1916-1917 but it is a totally different engine than the Olds as is the Cole V-8 Later in 1921-1923 there was the Olds model 43A which used almost the same engine as a Chevy. In the twenties Northway started building trucks and just sort of morphed into GMC. I don't think you had people complaining that they bought so and so car and expected so and so engines in those days but they did some swapping. Also for informational purposes this Oakland is actually a 1916 rather than a 1918 as 1916 was the last year for a four cylinder Oakland.

Edited January 18, 2014 by nickelroadster (see edit history)

[Guest BJM]

Thanks again for the knowledge. Northway was then a manufacturer more or less, for GM's use. I am sure they had an engineering dept. but it sounds like each division that used them provided the specifications and both worked to make the engine work as designed and that way Northway could use parts in other makes engines.

The connection between Northway (GMC) and Oldsmobile seems to have remained strong as GMC used an Oldsmobile engine in their trucks in the late 30's.