New 1960 Oldsmobile web site

[toolbox]

Hey guys,
I've been working on getting my new 1960 Olds site up for a while, and I thought I would see if anyone has any thoughts/suggestions on it. It's at www.1960oldsmobile.com . I've had my '60 for 12 years now, and I've always found it difficult to find information on them, so I wanted to make this site kind of a one-stop shop for all things 1960 Olds. I'm only working on it in my spare time, so it's coming along kind of slowly. I am finally getting some content in it though. All the nav buttons now work, and have something there. I've got some cool brochures in the "factory literature" section, and a bunch of specs put together in the "tech section" (the only link that works there right now). The video gallery has some 1960 Olds commercials that are really something . Also added some links...this site was one of the first ones I added. The forum has 3 active users (including myself ), but they've got some neat cars. I'm updating the "featured member" on the front page in the next couple of days...the guy on the forum from France has 3 of these cars, and I'm putting them up on there.

Only problem I've had so far is an ongoing battle with spam on the forum...I've probably deleted 40 users for posting ads for Viagra and other things I'm not going to mention . It's really bad...I've started to just delete users that look like spammers even before they can post anything. I started banning their e-mail address, and next I'm going to start banning IPs. Not sure what else to do...I'm not even sure how they find my forum. I did see some weird referrers in my web stats (forums in other languages)...I wonder if spammers share this stuff with each other?. It's really irritating. Do you guys have a problem with spam here?

Anyway, if you guys have any ideas of anything else I should have in there, please let me know. And feel free to join in as well.

[Modern Motoring]

it looks GOOD !! (so does your car! ) There has to be a way for you to authorize any new members before they can post. That will cut 95 % of the spam crap . Keep up the good work !

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Originally Posted by Modern Motoring

it looks GOOD !! (so does your car! ) There has to be a way for you to authorize any new members before they can post. That will cut 95 % of the spam crap . Keep up the good work !

Hey thanks! I'm no professional web designer...I'm just a hack. The code behind everything is actually pretty basic (lots of tables and div tags), but I tried to use a lot of fun graphics to spice it up.

And there is an option to make all new members admin approved...but I'm trying to save that as a last resort. I'd really like people to be able to just join in, but if this gets much worse I may not have an option .

[Olds64]

That is an awsome website. Oldsmobiles had some really nice lines in 1960. Good luck figuring everything out.

[Oldsguy]

for an answer to your questions about spam and avoiding it, contact Paul (aka Omicron). This is one reason he is helping us here, he has a lot of knowledge about website use and forums like ours.

[toolbox]

Originally Posted by Olds64

That is an awsome website. Oldsmobiles had some really nice lines in 1960. Good luck figuring everything out.

Thanks! I really like the lines of the '60...a little bit of '50s fin, with the straight lines of early '60s GM. And I need as much luck as I can get . A little extra time wouldn't hurt either...I just don't have that much time to work on it. Pretty happy with how it's turned out so far though.

[toolbox]

Originally Posted by Oldsguy

for an answer to your questions about spam and avoiding it, contact Paul (aka Omicron). This is one reason he is helping us here, he has a lot of knowledge about website use and forums like ours.

Thanks for the tip! I sent him a PM...

[59-59-59]

Now this is bad timing - I recently deleted a picture of a '60 2 door coupe ( 98 ) in which the owner decieded to chop the top. But the really bad part is that he screwed it up so bad that he ended using plexiglass windows all around - including the back glass and windshield. How freakin retarded do you have to be to chop ANY '59 -'60 GM 2 door coupe is beyond me - it looks like it was chopped from the factory! Anyways you could of used this picture under a new thread - Things I shouldnt of done to a '60. Great site and I wish you success

[Oldsguy]

By the way, you site is very appealing visually, clean and non-cluttered and the choice of the lettering and pictures really reflect the early sixties. I hope it grows for you and does well.

[toolbox]

Originally Posted by 59-59-59

Now this is bad timing - I recently deleted a picture of a '60 2 door coupe ( 98 ) in which the owner decieded to chop the top. But the really bad part is that he screwed it up so bad that he ended using plexiglass windows all around - including the back glass and windshield. How freakin retarded do you have to be to chop ANY '59 -'60 GM 2 door coupe is beyond me - it looks like it was chopped from the factory! Anyways you could of used this picture under a new thread - Things I shouldnt of done to a '60. Great site and I wish you success

Thanks! That's too bad about the pic...I can always use more. Too bad about that 98...some of the things people do to these old rigs just makes me cringe . Agree on the windshield height...I wouldn't want it any lower than it already is. You'd think that with all that glass the visibility would be great, but it's not as good as you would expect. With my 2 door hardtop, the glass basically gives a nice 360* view, but the windshield does seem short.

[toolbox]

Originally Posted by Oldsguy

By the way, you site is very appealing visually, clean and non-cluttered and the choice of the lettering and pictures really reflect the early sixties. I hope it grows for you and does well.

Thanks, that means a lot to me. I was really shooting for that look. The colors of the banner are the same as the 1960 factory service manual (and lot of other literature). I've looked at a lot of the ads, promotional material, and dealer books for 1960, and I wanted the site to feel sort of like it was part of that theme. A lot of the graphics are actually pulled from bits and pieces of 1960 ads and things...the ones that aren't I tried to use vintage pictures to keep with the theme. Photoshop and Fireworks have gotten a real workout on this project .

I updated the index page last night with Fred and his 3 '60s as the "featured member". If you want to see the old one with my car featured, I archived it here.

Considering the limited amount of time I have to work on it, I think it's coming along pretty well. And hopefully given some time it will grow...
Cheers,
Scott

[marcar1993]

Nice site. I love the late 50's early 60's cars from ALL of the big 3. They all just flow so nicely.

[Oldsguy]

Scott, those wheels look real nice on your car. You have done a good job making it look nice because I am sure if you bought it for $350 it didn't look that nice then.

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Originally Posted by marcar1993

Nice site. I love the late 50's early 60's cars from ALL of the big 3. They all just flow so nicely.

Thanks! I do too...I also used to have a '63 Galaxie 500 that was my DD for a few years. It had a 352 with a 3 on the tree and overdrive. Same sort of long hood, long trunk look. Very solid car.

[toolbox]

Originally Posted by Oldsguy

Scott, those wheels look real nice on your car. You have done a good job making it look nice because I am sure if you bought it for $350 it didn't look that nice then.

The wheels are Torque Thrust IIs...the rest of the car is a stock restoration, but for wheels I wanted something a little more "hot rod". Thought about getting Torque Thrust Ds, but I'm glad I went with the polished version. At some point I would like to get a spare set of steel wheels and original wheel covers, but I'm not going to worry about that until I get the interior done . It would be nice to have the option to put a set of wide whites on there once in a while...

Here's what it looked like when I dragged it home from the junkyard:



Poor thing sat in a field for 12 years with mice living on the engine. I've replaced or restored virtually everything on it at this point...and I still need to get door panels for it. And a power seat track, and a few other small bits. Been looking for the drivers side upper stainless molding for 10 years now, and still haven't found one . It's a great car though, and pretty unique. I get asked "what is that?" a lot with it .

I also have a '55 Willys Jeep project I started on but haven't had time to do much with. I got it completely torn down, but that's about it. Restoring it will be the exact opposite of the Olds...tons of parts interchange with other years, there's great aftermarket support, and it's so simple it's basically 4 wheels and a seat .