found this photo online of the long since defunct Olds Dealer that sold my car... Taken in 1969. Pretty cool

OverlakeOldsCenter-Belleuve1969.jpg

The original owner told me where he bought it from- but they closed down in the 70's (merged with the caddillac dealership across town). Had been half heartedly looking for period advertisements from them, and came across the pic online.

Wish i could find a vintage license plate holder from them... At least now i have the correct name.

 

How cool is that! I wish I could find out where "the prettiest one" was sold new, out in Missouri. Is there a way to find out who Olds dealers were in a city? That would be a starting place I guess.

 

Sweet my came from the Tacoma Dealership ,got the plate frames lookin for a 63 washington plate?

 

And I'm looking for Pohlman Motors in Wenatchee, WA, and Murphy Motors in Coos Bay, OR. I'd like to have a license plate frame and any history or documentation from each of those dealers! Both were Olds dealers in the 60s and 70s but have since long gone. My '68 was originally delivered to Pohlman Motors but my dad bought the car when it was 10 months old from Murphy Motors. The picture to the left is me waxing my dad's "new" car on my 18th birthday. The car has been in the family since that time.

 

That is way cool!! Great pic. What is the dealer name, Rambow?

Unfortunately, there is no database of Oldsmobile dealers. I am trying to start one (to include dealer and zone numbers), but it is a monumental task.
You can try Googling and you may get lucky.

 

That's nice of you! I'm sure it will be a huge job!! I will try google and see what I can find. Thanks!

 

Rambow,

What is the name of that dealer in your picture?

My 70 442 was sold at Ruddell Olds Chevrolet in Port Angeles Washington.

They are still in business.

 

Was called Overlake Olds Center, Bellevue, WA

The only reason I was able to fine it was the original owner had told me he bought it at "Overlake Olds"

There is a toyota dealership there now- buildings are all long gone, but i may take it by there and do a pass through the parking lot, for old times sake.

Hey 62 Repo- I happen to have a "Wash 63" plate I'd let ya have for $20 (what i paid for it) I bought it when i got my car, cause thats what the DMV said was correct for 1966 cars- However I got the cars original Plates from the 2nd owner- so now the 63 plate is hanging on my garage wall...

 

cutlassgal,Not sure whats available to you in the US. but here in Canada I was able to give the GM Vintage Vehicle Services my serial # and they sent me a package that told the car was built in California,shipped to Vancouver,BC. Canada. The dealers name and address.As luck would have it they are still in business and sent me an original dealer emblem that would have been attached at the time of sale.Unfortunitly they don't keep records that far back so no information was available from them.

 

That service (very good stuff!) is only available for Oldsmobiles that were built or sold new in Canada.

 

http://content.lib.washington.edu/cd...ISOBOX=1&REC=9

 

Without some lead or documentation it would be pretty hard to find, you may be able to narrow it down to the local dealers if you know the city. Sometimes they stamped the owner's manual, warranty sheet that was with the manual had the dealer name hand printed on the front, protecto-plate.
Old city directories and phone books are a good place to look. The library has them, usually on microfiche so it takes some searching and Missouri is a little far. Most larger and a lot of small libraries have a research service and they'll find the info for you if you contact them, usually a printing fee and mailing costs. With the internet things may be different, been a while since my historical research days, houses and people, not cars. My poncho had the dealer number on the Pontiac Historical Services info so that was no problem, Olds doesn't have anything like it for US sold cars and the info was destroyed from what I hear. The Vista has all the original paperwork so no problem either, Bill Burch Oldsmobile in Alhambra CA, both dealers are long gone.

Here's a pic of Mr. Burch with a couple of high school students from a local yearbook from 1964?, only pic I could find.
What he's pointing at I have no idea, the girl looks a little concerned.
It would make good photo caption contest pic, how about "Pull my finger, come on, pull my finger".

burch olds 002s.jpg

 

sad face

 

Another thing that makes me feel old. That's in Bellevue. Did electrical work on the place way back when

 

I grew up near Alhambra; my mom bought both her Oldsmobiles from Burch Olds ('64 F-85 & '79 Cutlass Supreme)! I remember going there a few times and driving by it many more - it was near my aunt's house (she bought a '74 Cutlass Supreme there too). That dealership faded away many moons ago, don't remember what's there now.

 

That Olds Rocket sign is wicked cool!!

 

Hey Kurt,
I have a hand written form that came in one of my Service Guild books that I think has the name or partial names of some of the eastern zone dealers from 68 or 69 (either that or the actual contact persons). It was written to or by a zone service guy, I think. I'll try to dig it out and get more info.

 

Hey 62 Repo- I happen to have a "Wash 63" plate I'd let ya have for $20 (what i paid for it) I bought it when i got my car, cause thats what the DMV said was correct for 1966 cars- However I got the cars original Plates from the 2nd owner- so now the 63 plate is hanging on my garage wall...[/quote]


i do appreciate the offer im lookin for a matched pair but if i hit a dead end i will look you up .

 

co-signed

 

WMachine, do you have the dealer zone number for University Olds that use to be in Lansing? If not, I believe it is on my window sticker (1969) if you need it.

 

that red f-85 with dog dishes up front is neat

 

Thanks guys, I'll take all I can get. 3 parts in order of importance:
1. dealer name, as accurate and complete as possible.
2. 3 digit dealer code
3. zone code (1 though 25)
On window stickers they are usually at the top with the zone number then the dealer number shown. They are also on build sheets.

There is a start of one on Olds Wiki. My plan is to populate a spread sheet then post it on Olds Wiki where it can continue to be updated.
I'm under the impression there were about 3500 dealers in the '60s.

 

University Oldsmobile Inc. Lansing, Mich. Dealer code: 928. Zone code: 07. Also there is this # located to the far right of my window sticker, at the top (to the right of the dealer code) D49911, I have no idea what that is for.

 

I am fortunate to have the original invoice for my 72 Cutlass. It was sold new at Griffin Oldsmobile in Kansas City on 12/29/1971. The girl traded in a 1967 Cougar. I am actuall the third owner. I have the original owners manual and a stack of repair bills over the years. Google does not show anything on this dealership.

 

Kurt,
I probably have the info for the delaership my 69 442 came from - Crisconi Oldsmobile in Philadelphia, PA - I can send to you offline.

Now if anybody has any info, especially pictures like the one that started the thread, I would be interested! I have done internet searches, but have come up empty

 

I think the dealer code is stamped on the back of my new vehicle warranty with the address and on the upper left of the Protect-O-Plate, it's 24-088? I know zone 24 is the California area so the 088 is the dealer code?
Any idea what the number on the lower left of the POP is?, mine is 00005.


Here's the info,

Bill Burch Oldsmobile 24-088
1147 W. Main Street
Alahambra, CA 91801

A pic taken in 1967 at Mace Olds-Buick in Plainview, TX.

olds dealers 002s.jpg

 

That is a cool picture, interesting look it the Olds past. My father bought my 70 CS at a dealership in Linn Missouri. Knollmeyer Motors, now its called Carrol-Rhema Motors. I have the original info for the car I will check it out and post it later.

 

Thanks, Blue. Is the 00005 code on a '71 POP? I don't see such a code on the '69 I just looked at, and I would have believed the '71 would be the same as the '69.
'68 and prior had those 5 digit codes and each one of the digits is a single or combination of options, primarily on Lansing cars. These options were spelled out in the Product Information Manual (assembly manual).

Where did the pic come from? The pic is especially cool because the car is sporting a Rally Stripe. Not a factory option, but a '65-'66 Dealer accessory. Butt-ugly because it was a crude decal. Would look cool nicely painted on, though.

 

Yes, the code is on the POP for my Vista Cruiser, I searched the '71 assembly manual and I couldn't find anything.
I found that pic online a while ago, can't say where at the moment but I'll look for it again.
That stripe is pretty bad.

 

In the '65 - 68 PIMs, it was spelled out on the page on the POP.

 

Kurt, am I reading these zone codes right? I'm thinking I've got zone codes from two different POPs with the number 27.

Confused,
Bob

 

Me too! Can you send scans? I've only seen 25, I'd have to check to see if 27 is possible.

 

Thanks Kurt. Mine is from Black Hills Olds/Cad, and the other belongs to a friend's car sold in Colorado, IIRC. I'll try to send some pictures when I get in touch with him.

Bob

 

I had a goat from Colorado and the dealer was zone 27 too, did all the GM divisions use the same zones more or less? There's a list of the Poncho Zones on this Go To Olds site and they seem to correspond. There is also a huge dealer list, sometimes the "Motors" sell Olds too.

http://ultimategto.com/art18.htm

 

Just to clarify, I'm looking for scans of the POPs with the "27" on them.

 

Thanks for the link, Blue. That makes sense from the few I've seen from MT, WY and SD.

Bob

 

Thanks, guys. I have that Pontiac map along with the listing of Pontiac Dealers and Codes along with a listing of Buick Dealers and Codes.
Just another indication of how us Olds guys have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to data bases.
I've just been gathering at this point, and have spent no time analyzing the data. All GM zones may be the same, but I haven't confirmed it. And quite a number of dealers can be gleaned from the Pontiac and Buick list, as some were Olds dealers too. Same will apply to Cadillac if I can find such a list too.

 

Someone from the Pontiac board told me the stamped number on the Fremont data tags represents the dealer ZONE number. Going by the Ultimate GTO map, that cant be right. OR Olds had different Zones. Because all my car and my buddies have 11 on their tags, and thats Wisconsin on the GTO map.
My car had a De Roque Buick dealer frame on it when I got it. A simple google search turned up the Buick dealer database with every dealer number and zone.

Olds is really in the hole when it comes to databases.

 

As far as I know the zone codes were the same for all the divisions?
You can find a lot of the multi-division dealers with Olds but Olds exclusive are hard to find.
Olds does seem to have an all indians and no chiefs problem.
If anything is going to change somebody has to start and maintain a database like Chebby, Poncho and Buhog sites do, it looks like it may be the same one in the Chebby cases and a lot is shared or used between them all. A lot of the dealers that also carried Oldsmobile can be found by looking at their listings. The info from Olds guys with original paperwork with the dealer number and location would also be a good place to start.
The map on the GTO site may have been compiled from newer zones and be wrong?
There is a notation by a former dealer in his dealer listing on the Chevelle site that around 1985 they shut down the parts distribution center in Kentucky and zone 11 dealers in that area became zone 9 so the zone 11 map would be down into those states pre 1985? The dealer codes also changed to reflect it.
Zone 11 pre-1985 included Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and some fringe areas going by multi-division dealers in a search of that zone.

http://www.chevelles.com/zones/

 

Yes, Oldsmobile is lagging far behind most other marques with data bases. If you read this whole thread, you'd see that I'm trying to get this information together for Oldsmobile, so it has already been started. Right now I'm compiling info, and haven't done much with it yet. Yes, I've pulled in info from other GM divisions to take advantage of the redundancies.

All I can say to everyone is "get involved". Things don't happen by themselves. Contribute to sites like "Wild About Cars".
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ance-club.html

Chiefs aren't appointed or elected, they are volunteers.