Car Talk I & II

[finlover]

Thank you, sir!  It's like a living room on wheels.  I love big cars!  The color is called "Burgundy Mist", which doesn't describe it very well.  There's a '65 Chevy color called "Evening Orchid"--that sounds more like it.

[finlover]

What year is the Olds.  Looks roughly '59-ish.  My parents had a 59 Pontiac when I was a kid, and it resembles it greatly.

Whatever the year, it, too, looks absolutely great.

You guessed it--1959!  All the GM makes that year shared doors and rooflines so they had a similar look.  People always think my car is a Cadillac, which is fine with me!

[JorgeAmely]

finlover:

What about some under the hood pictures? Is it all original?

[finlover]

finlover:

What about some under the hood pictures? Is it all original?

Here you go.  It has been restored to original specs (just like my phones!).  I did the underhood cosmetics and some of the mechanical work, but I left the paint and interior to the pros.  If you ever saw the movie Secondhand Lions, my car was driven by the traveling salesman who sells the brothers the skeet shooting machine (see the last photo).  If you haven't seen it, that didn't make any darn sense!  They filmed that movie around Austin.

[bingster]

Your Olds is just as beautiful! Love the color! Must give a real smooooooth ride..... the body is absolutely gorgeous. Jiggerman

I had a '59 Buick Electra when I was in high school, and I have to say that of all the cars I've owned, I've never had one ride as nice as that one, not even my Packard.  1959 was a brilliant year for GM.

Finlover, I used to get the "Cadillac" reference to my '59, too, but I always got irked by it.  I was always polite when people said it, but inside I couldn't believe people didn't know the difference between a Buick and a Cadillac.  But I was a teenager at the time, hence the silliness.

[bwanna]

gorgeous ride

[JorgeAmely]

Very nice pictures, finlover.

The original Olds engines were always painted in gold. The owner of the shop I worked when I was a teenager said that high end Olds engines had a gold plated stud or stamp on the upper section of the engine; I really don't know if that was true or not.

Your car also seems to be equipped with a TurboHydramatic 350 or 400 model transmission. Those will last forever and are so easy to service compared to modern transmissions with exotic fluids.

[Dennis Markham]

Great car Greg!  I see the copper line in front of the radiator.  Is the car equipped with factory air conditioning?  If so, that must have been in the very early years of AC.  I remember a '63 Ford we had with AC but it was a post-factory add-on.

[finlover]

Very nice pictures, finlover.

The original Olds engines were always painted in gold. The owner of the shop I worked when I was a teenager said that high end Olds engines had a gold plated stud or stamp on the upper section of the engine; I really don't know if that was true or not.

Your car also seems to be equipped with a TurboHydramatic 350 or 400 model transmission. Those will last forever and are so easy to service compared to modern transmissions with exotic fluids.

Gracias, Jorge!  Starting in '57, the Oldsmobile Rocket engine became the Golden Rocket (I think to commemorate some GM anniversary) and was painted gold.  In '59, only the 371 in the Dynamic 88 was gold.  The 394 in the Super 88 and 98 was teal. The transmission is called the Jetaway Hydramatic, which predated the TurboHydramatic, and is supposed to be fairly bulletproof. 

[finlover]

Great car Greg!  I see the copper line in front of the radiator.  Is the car equipped with factory air conditioning?  If so, that must have been in the very early years of AC.  I remember a '63 Ford we had with AC but it was a post-factory add-on.

Yessir, it has factory A/C.  Those lines aren't really supposed to be polished but I couldn't resist!

[JorgeAmely]

The beauty of these old cars is that they don't need to be smogged. Is it like that in Texas also?

[finlover]

That's right, they're grandfathered in.  Old cars aren't even required to have seatbelts in Texas!  If you're in an accident, they just hose off the dash and sell it to the next guy.

[bingster]

And if your car is old enough, you get one of those fancy solid steel dashboards.  No worries when your head hits it...  It's dent resistant!

[AET]

Love your car, Greg.  I'm in the midst of acquiring a metal-dashed monster myself.  My dad has a 1963 Impala, and I am going to hopefully be buying it from him come spring.

[benhutcherson]

Beautiful Olds-I'd be proud to drive it myself.

My Dad and I are in the process acquiring this beauty, or possibly one similar(if we can locate it). Where he sees a rust bucket, I see a lot of potential