1936 Oldsmobile six cylinder 3 window sport coupe - $16,000 - Wolfeboro Falls, CT

[kar3516]

Not mine...really great looking exterior on Craigslist pictures.  Interior upholstery incorrect in every way possible.  Dash needs work as well but runs / drives / stops according to seller...

 

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/d/wolfeboro-falls-1936-oldsmobile-3window/7482001504.html

 

Per Seller:

“All original 36 olds 3window coupe flat head 6cyl standard transmission never modified 6volt system runs drives stops true time capsule one repaint and interior refurbished fine specimen all steel body great shape remarkably solid all glass is clean no cracks and operates properly purrs like a kitten 6032731963 call Steve for appointment I travel a lot so its imperative you call to make arrangements to view.”

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by kar3516 (see edit history)

[deac]

When I saw the first few photo WOW what a great car.  Then I saw interior..... It speaks for itself!!!

[wayne sheldon]

"Time capsule". Tough pill to swallow.

[George Smolinski]

I love when they start out “all original” then start listing the changes made especially the major ones like repaint and interior.

PS. The subject title says 1938 and the ad says 1936. I think the 1936 is correct.

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by George Smolinski (see edit history)

[supercub]

Like the style. That red though, "ouch". Not sure what the last photo is, from a different car or does it have a rumble seat and it was shot before repainting?

Edited May 23, 2022 by supercub (see edit history)

[Gearheadengineer]

Another seller who thinks CL charges for punctuation?

 

Poor photos. Might be a good car, but you can’t tell. That velour would be gone an hour after it came into my driveway. 
 

BTW, the location looks like NH, not CT. 

[bryankazmer]

This is an example of a type of car which I think is a hard sell.  It sits between two chairs.  The outside is very nice.  The lines are attractive.

The owner thinks the inside is nicely "refurbished" and prices accordingly.  To me, a torn original interior (good for patterns) would be more valuable than this glimpse of the 1970's.  So a restorer sees a car needing an interior.  A rodder sees a car needing a driveline.  Neither sees the turn-key car the owner sees.

[Fossil]

All I can say about the interior is "what a shame". Must have gotten it reupholstered for free. 

 

 

[Pont 46]

Well beautiful car, love the lines and shape of car. For some strange reason I look at the interior and think of pepto bismal, and get queezie.

 

If I had space and price was right would buy it

[suchan]

The interior definitely makes me think of something, but it ain't Pepto-Bismol.....

[John_S_in_Penna]

23 hours ago, Gearheadengineer said:

Another seller who thinks CL charges for punctuation?

Well said!  It's hard to believe that such sellers

don't know English--their own language!

[Hudsy Wudsy]

I have to say that I feel a little skeptical about the "all steel body" claim. So many of these '36 GM coupes that I've seen have terrible wood issues. I know that Fisher transitioned to metal bodies towards the end of '36 in the sedan bodies, is that also true of coupes?

Edited May 25, 2022 by Hudsy Wudsy (see edit history)

[Bloo]

I don't think any 1936 GM/Fisher body is all steel. GM/Fisher pushed the steel "Turret Top", and people may have thought they were getting all steel, but what they were getting was a one-piece steel top skin on a wooden body. It is true that there is less wood than in say... 1930, but it is a far cry from "all steel".

 

The "end of 1936" bit, to the best of my knowledge, is the use of all-steel doors on Chevrolet Standard sedans near the end of the year. It's still a wooden body. I am not sure if this door update made it to Chevrolet Standard coupes. Maybe. Another thing that exists is documentation in Chevrolet service news publications of a floor assembly for 1936 that contained a lot less wood than previous bodies. I am unsure this even exists in real life, never mind what model Chevrolets it may have been used in. Does anyone in here know about that? In any case, while it is a step toward wood elimination, it does not make the body all steel. None of this is likely to appear in an Oldsmobile.

 

My late-in-the-year 1936 Pontiac has every mid-year change I am aware of, and there were a lot of changes. It has a wooden body. 1936 was not the last year for wood either. SOME GM/Fisher models got new all-steel bodies in 1937, and some did not. Some years ago took a bunch of pictures inside the doors of @37_Roadmaster_C's 1937 Buick Roadmaster Phaeton, in the interest of reverse-engineering the rotten and missing wood in my 1936 Pontiac sedan back doors. His 1937 Rodmaster has a wooden body. I'm not sure where those pictures are, but I'll dig them out if anyone doesn't believe me. I believe 1938 was the first year there was no structural wood in GM/Fisher cars. Station wagons of course were still wood, but probably not Fisher built.

 

In my opinion if the body is all steel, someone did it with a welder. It is easy enough to tell. Open a door and lift the edge of the front floor mat. You should be looking at the wooden "sill", one of the wooden rails that holds the whole body together.

 

Hey @Dandy Dave and @pont35cpe, are you reading this thread?

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[pont35cpe]

Yep, right here Bloo. I really like this Oldsmobile(except interior), my slowly moving project is a 36 Buick 40 series coupe. 1936 Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile used the same coupe body. Exterior, only difference i`ve found is the belt line, and the Buick has the divider in the rear window, and of course they have a different dash layout. Doors are all wood frame. I`ve made and replaced about 90% of the wood in my coupe. Floorboard of my coupe is steel, from the trunk, to just in front of the seat. Left and right front floorboards, and toe boards, are wood with a steel piece over the transmission. I have a friend with a `36 Chevy Standard that has all steel doors, only ones i`ve ever seen, other than that body has wood. Here is a tidbit that not too many people are aware of, ez way to tell if a `36 Standard has steel doors is look at the cowl tag, if the Style number is followed by a "z" the car has steel doors.

Edited May 24, 2022 by pont35cpe (see edit history)

[Jim Skelly]

I thought GM's all-steel body started with the 1937 model year.  Exceptions were the Fleetwood Sixty Special and phaetons (convertible sedans).  Is this a true statement?

[Hudsy Wudsy]

It's been a while, but I recall some lengthy conversation about this issue a few years ago. Several guys repeated the claim that part way through '36 Fisher switched over to metal only bodies. I pursued the subject pretty relentlessly. Those who insisted that it was true couldn't provide any serial numbers to identify a changeover point. Those who insisted that a changeover had occurred said that it was impossible to say with any determination because so many bodies were built in so many locations. It was then that I concluded that maybe some change occurred (likely in the doors), but it wasn't likely one across the whole line up. I think that the whole issue of changing the doors to all metal has probably gotten exaggerated to the point where it became whole bodies. Granted, getting rid of wood in the doors was a big improvement and I guess that we should be grateful for that, at least.

[Bloo]

I have yet to see any evidence any wood-free FIsher bodies existed in 1936, and for now, I don't believe it. Fisher may have been blowing a bit of smoke and laying some mirrors around, so to speak. They had been bragging for quite a while that wood sheathed in steel was better "like an arrow". Meanwhile, Plymouth had an honest to god all-steel body and they were driving one around with a WW1 tank tied to the roof for advertising. I am not sure if the Plymouth still had a cloth insert in the roof. Maybe a metal insert? It might have, either way the body itself was all steel. Fisher concentrated on the "turret top" an "all steel top", and I think people may have read more into that and assumed the whole thing was steel.

 

@Jim Skelly, the Buick Roadmaster Phaetons are wood for sure in 37, and I think the 80-90 series closed cars are wooden too, but I am less sure of myself on that. The 40 and 60 are all steel, also Pontiacs, Chevrolets, and probably Oldsmobiles(?).

 

 

[58L-Y8]

The transition to all-steel body construction of necessity took place on the highest volume models first.  The volume was needed to amortize the major costs of tools, dies and stamping presses capable of forming the complex shapes to meet their functions.   Conversely, lower-volume models such as the convertible phaeton didn't warrant the tooling cost investments to build with all-steel construction. 

 

Promotion of the "Solid Steel Turret-Top" was pretty much only a ruse to imply that because the fabric insert had been replaced with steel, the whole body was now somehow stronger and safer.  The public inferred that idea but failed to ask whether the entire lower body structure was also now all-steel construction. 

[Fossil]

6 hours ago, 58L-Y8 said:

The public inferred that idea but failed to ask whether the entire lower body structure was also now all-steel construction. 

Probably what Chevrolet was hoping for. 

[Hudsy Wudsy]

As many of you know, '36 was a transition year for Chrysler products. The closed-car bodies still had the same roof openings as earlier, but came with metal inserts, rather than the fabric stretched over wooden frames that was the norm prior. The exception to that was the Plymouth line which still retained the fabric insert. By '37, the need for any inserts had been eliminated.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Hudsy Wudsy (see edit history)