How rare?? is my 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire

[1964OldsmobileF-85V84Door]

Hi just got my 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire, alot of options to list, ok, it has the ultra high compression 394/345h.p engine, a/c,pb,ps,power windows, power rear deck antenna,power bucket seats, in the console tach probably super ultra rare, 3 speed auto trans, um and the paint is the a light blue i think its original its the H-H which is PPG 12713 Cirrus Blue and the interior looks like that color too.I think it has 3:42 gears, on the emergency brake it has a red indicator light.By the way this is for sale so let me know if your interested but i want to know if this is a very rare car thanks

[oldsmobile1915]

This is an excerpt from AACA's forum "Rare cars... What is rare?"


I get a kick out of this... Some people say "My Camaro is rare because only 742 were this color orange" (and I wonder, how many Camaros were made?)

or

"Only 12,212 Dynamic 88 Convertible were made. That amounts to all of 2.7% of Olds' total 1962 output." I ask myself, “if 2.7% of the 88's were convertibles and there were that many, then a total production of 88's must be huge?!?!” I think these car owners can find parts to keep it running!

Don't get me wrong, these are truly wonderful cars, and great people too. I love what they are doing with the cars and should keep up the great work. I just want to know how is rare defined???

How about a 1915 Oldsmobile Model 42? Only 1,319 Model 42s were ever produced of a total vehicle production of 7,696 for Oldsmobile that year. After 2 world wars, time, rust / rot / neglect... not many survive.

To the best of my knowledge, I believe AACA has 7 known Oldsmobile model 42s registered with the organization. In my research, I know of 10 total left.... Assuming that there are a couple unknown model 42s left in a barn somewhere... that leaves us with a grand total of 12 or so?? It's difficult to find parts to restore them, or books to even describe how to drive them.

So what makes a car rare? or how would you define a rare car??? Please share your views, because I would like to know what you think!


(and from a later post in the same thread, when a guy mentions options as was mentioned here)

I still believe that if there were a bunch made... color or options shouldn't count. the option may be rare, but the vehicle is not.

And just because you have a hard time finding parts for the vehicle doesn't make it rare... many times, if people just pull their head out of their tailpipe, they can find one. It may be expensive - but it's out there.

If you need to have parts machined, panels hand made, and everything custom fabricated, parts cast, or special ordered... then it might be rare.

That's what I think...

_________________________


a link to the thread can be found at:
http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.ph...443931/fpart/1

or search AACA's forum for "Rare cars... What is rare?"

What is your take on this????




Joe Ferrero
Geneseo, NY

(3) 1915 Oldsmobiles
1947 Oldsmobiles 76
1948 Oldsmobiles 66

[Starfire61]

I concur that the '63 Starfire is not a particularly rare car- Olds built 21148 Starfire coupes in '63. All of them had 3.42 gears, the Starfire engine, & a console tach as standard equipment. Given that the Starfire was marketed as a personal luxury car, most of them were very well-optioned with comfort & power accessories. If anything, it would be more unusual (rare?) to find one with few such options.

Remember that rarity & collectibility do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. You could have the nicest Rambler Sedan Delivery in the world & still find yourself waiting for the phone to ring when you try to sell it for what YOU may think it's worth. On the flip side, Chevy built something like 40000 Bel Air convertibles in '57, & folks today pay insane money for those cars.

While not a particularly rare car, the '63 Starfire is quite collectible, & fine examples are becoming pricey. Condition is everything with these cars, as restoration costs will quickly exceed the value of the finished car- especially for a coupe as opposed to a convertible. Very few reproduction parts are available, & the premium materials used on the interiors are brutally expensive to replace. If your Starfire is rough, it's likely collectible only for parts! Please post a few pics when you get a chance.

[J-(Chicago)]

Well...
It seems I am going to have to shake things up a little bit here.
Big money rare is much different than "regular" rare.

There were a total of 299,506 2 door Delta 88s made from 1980-1985 Which seems like an insane amount.

Now take that 300,000 deltas and divide it by the number of the world population.

Only so many people have the privilage (or curse) of driving one.
The rest of the world just has to watch and wonder what it is like

[59-59-59]

Originally Posted by 1964OldsmobileF-85V84Door

alot of options to list, ok, it has the ultra high compression 394/345h.p engine, a/c,pb,ps,power windows, power rear deck antenna,power bucket seats, in the console tach probably super ultra rare, 3 speed auto trans, um and the paint is the a light blue i think its original its the H-H which is PPG 12713 Cirrus Blue and the interior looks like that color too.I think it has 3:42 gears, on the emergency brake it has a red indicator light.

This made me laugh...half of the 'options' you list were STANDARD on the Starfire. high compression engine pb, ps, bucket seats and your ultra rare console are standard items. Sorry, but this car is far from rare.

[ROCKET JO]

Originally Posted by 1964OldsmobileF-85V84Door

Hi just got my 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire, alot of options to list, ok, it has the ultra high compression 394/345h.p engine, a/c,pb,ps,power windows, power rear deck antenna,power bucket seats, in the console tach probably super ultra rare, 3 speed auto trans, um and the paint is the a light blue i think its original its the H-H which is PPG 12713 Cirrus Blue and the interior looks like that color too.I think it has 3:42 gears, on the emergency brake it has a red indicator light.By the way this is for sale so let me know if your interested but i want to know if this is a very rare car thanks

[KQQLCAT]

Rare does not always mean more money. Desireability does. I have a 1961 Olds Dynamic 88 2 dr sedan. Rare-yes but not much desire out there.
Pat