Does anyone know anything about the Rallye Olds at Celebrity Cars in Las Vegas. It looks very nice excepting for some overspray but seems way cheap at $19,900. Just thought someone may have checked it out already. I've always wanted one because I like the oddball cars of the muscle era. I don't know how to decode the VINs on Oldsmobiles. Is there a site that shows how to do this. The Rallye Olds is currently on E-bay. Thanks for any help. My first car was a 69 Olds Cutlass S and I have also had a 86 Custom Cruiser.

 

I'm not familiar with this particular car, although it does look pretty solid in the photos. I once owned a Cutlass S based Rallye 350 and a 70 W-31 F85, so I'm pretty familiar with what is supposed to be there.

I can't claim to know a great deal about current pricing, but I don't believe that Rallyes have ever brought big money like W-31s, H/Os, or some 442s can (even without W-30). They certainly are unique, and there are still a lot of people that either love 'em or hate 'em. In my view, one of the downsides of Rallyes and H/Os (of most years) are the single color scheme. They all look the same (at first glance and/or from a distance).

For what it is worth, the overview that they provided on ebay is pretty solid. As they mention, you can't definitively prove a car is a Rallye 350 (although you can rule it out) by the VIN and body tags.

While this looks to be a solid drivers car, are you looking for factory correctness? There are some issues there if you are (all of which can be addressed with time and money):

• Wrong grilles (looks like they are from a Supreme)
• Decals on top of scoops are too far forward and inside of scoops should be painted black.
• The recovered seats should be all vinyl, not cloth and headrests are missing.
• The dash and door pillar gauges are aftermarket (the included factory gauges they mentioned may or may not be the rally pac (with tach) as it was optional).
• Aftermarket stereo with speakers punched in package tray and kick panels.
• Exhaust has X-pipe design (better performance but not factory appearing).
• Spare tire is loose (where is jack assembly) and is on a Buick rim.
• Lack of spoiler is not incorrect, but might be a minus (personal preference).
• Verify it is a factory hood (or a very good repro with a metal liner). Looks very nice from the photos (washer lines to hood are missing).

Other points to consider:

• While correct and standard, manual drum brakes are not a lot of fun (can be upgraded if you are so inclined).
• Couple missing pieces for connecting the air cleaner to exhaust manifold and missing PCV .
• Looks to have HD cooling with a 4-core radiator (good thing).
• Gas line from fuel pump to carb is a mess.

I don't know exactly what you are looking for, or where the pricing would end up, but if I were in the market for one of these, this looks like a solid starting point...

Al