61 98 Holiday Coupe parts needed!

[dantana]

I could use some help finding parts or parts cars for my 61 98 Holiday Coupe. I need a lot of the interior chrome as mine is pitted badly. I could also use a decent front bumper, rear aluminum panels, straight side moldings, good armrests and better hood, trunk and doors. This car is good and solid underneath but the items I have listed could be better. I appreciate any help with restoring this rare beauty!
You can email me at donsbodyshop@frontiernet.net
Thanks!
Dan

[Starfire61]

What are you specifically looking for on the inside? Dash assemblies were shared among all full-sized '61 Olds, so if you're searching for bezels & such you may find what you're looking for on Ebay if you're patient. Speedometer bezels are especially prone to pitting-if you're looking for one of these you may well have to bite the bullet & pay to have it repaired & replated.

Are your armrest bases cracked? Replacements turn up on Ebay fairly often. They invariably need to have the chrome redone, so if yours just need replating, you may as well keep what you have. I had a set replated here: http://www.vacuumplaters.com/ They did a fine job, it was fast, & relatively inexpensive- around $50-100 for 4 pieces.

Bumpers, hood, & trunk are also shared among all '61 Olds full size. Doors are identical between all '61 & '62 88-98 coupes & convertibles. Ames Pontiac carries inner lower door panels for these. Otherwise you're probably looking at hitting up some of those West coast metal places.

Non-mechanical aftermarket support for this car is almost non-existent.

The rear trim panel was used only by the Starfire & the Ninety Eight. These are very hard to find in any condition. On my Starfire, this panel ultimately wound up being painted argent silver, then the pot metal appliques were bonded on after replating.

Side trim is exclusive to the Ninety Eight Holiday Coupe & convertible. You're talking about a total run of 4445 coupes & 3804 convertibles. That's not a lot. There are six very long, thin stainless pieces on each side of the car, for a total of twelve. Very often the body between these pieces was painted a contrasting color- you could determine that by posting the paint code off the cowl tag. Anyway, these are super-scarce. It is very easily damaged if removed improperly. If you still have the trim, regardless of condition, you're probably looking at having it refurbished by one of those stainless places. I've been searching for a full set for over a year with no luck.

There was a slack-jawed fool on Ebay a few months ago who was dumping his aborted '61 Olds 98 coupe resto-rod disaster (I guess after he thoroughly f***ed-up the car he realized it was too hard to keep it running...) The trim had been shaved, so I contacted the guy to see if he still had it.... he had thrown it away. I at least enjoyed telling him that he could have named his price on that trim...

Please post a few pics of the car you're working on- I'd sure enjoy seeing it.

Chuck

[dantana]

All of the chrome is pitted badly as this car was in humid conditions a lot. Armrests are cracked. We have found some side moldings that are probably straightenable but the rocker moldings had holes drilled in them. We have already bought some things for it on Ebay. The car has had a resto years ago that is aged but it is still worth saving. I am also looking for air conditioning parts as this car has evidence of having dealer installed air conditioning. Thanks for your help.

[Starfire61]

I think I recognize that car! Was it on Ebay last summer? Somewhere in Florida? I still have pics of it on my hard drive. I almost bid on it, but I'd have wound up in divorce court. I thought it was sold to someone in Michigan... where are you located?

The Ninety Eight had a longer wheelbase than the Super 88 & Starfire, so you need to find another set of rockers from a Ninety Eight. The 1962 Ninety Eight rockers are the same length & profile, but the termination of the molding at the rear wheel has a different configuration, so they are not interchangable. Given the difficulty you will likely find in locating a decent set of '61 Ninety Eight rocker moldings, I suspect you may ultimately need the existing moldings repaired by one of those stainless resto places.

Is it your armrest bases that are cracked, or just the pads? Keep trolling Ebay for the bases. For pads, you can have them repaired by Just Dashes.

For my money, I wouldn't bother messing around with an old, dealer add-on AC system. Unless you have a complete, intact system that worked within the last 5-10 years, you're looking at quite an undertaking to resurrect it. If it were factory AC, or if the car were otherwise ready to go I'd feel a bit differently. There are plenty of other things on a car like this to suck up your cash in the meantime!

Good luck with it, & don't hesitate to post as often as possible. I really like these Ninety Eights- you hardly ever see them. They share the same greenhouse as the Cadillac & the Buick Electra from that year. After I passed on this one, I considered another one (also in Florida) last fall. It was a super-nice car. It had been given a mild street rod treatment, but nothing that couldn't have been un-done fairly easily. Unfortunately, it was a bit too expensive for the work I felt it needed, & I subsequently had some health issues that needed to be addressed- so I let that one go, too. Here are a few pics of it. I wonder if the guy still has it???

Chuck

[dantana]

Ya this is the car that was listed from Florida. It did get sold to Michigan and the that guy listed it in last fall because he found something he wanted more. He listed it on eBay with a BUY IT NOW so it wasn't on long when I bought it. I live in Minnesota. I am not going to install old A/C unit but I need pulleys. I am not looking to restore this car 100% as I want to drive it and enjoy it. I will basically get the car looking proper but some things will be changed to make it more functional. This car is not a good candidate for museum restoration and I like to drive cars not trailer them. Thanks for the pictures of that other 98. That is the 4th one that I have seen that is a driveable car. I have located 3 other ones in salvage yards.

[Starfire61]

FYI- the guy that owned your car when it was in Florida has been selling some extra parts on Ebay. Awhile back he was trying to sell a set of original beauty rings for the wheels, & he's currently listing the original generator & regulator.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ORIGI...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ORIGI...QQcmdZViewItem

Are the belts & pulleys on your car messed-up because of the old AC add-on? The cleanest thing would be to just convert it back to stock. Do you know what you need? If you post some pics of your existing pulleys & brackets we may be able to figure out what's right & what's not. Non-AC brackets, pulleys, etc. were shared among all full-sized 61 & 62 Olds, so you should have no trouble chasing down whatever's missing.

Here are some pics of my Ninety Eight.

Chuck