I just bought a 63 Dynamic 88 Holiday and don't know much about the model. I have a few questions to start:

1. How many were made?
2. Is this a rare car?
3. How much do they weigh?
4. What about the 394? Is it known for reliability or what kind of quirks should I be aware of?
5. For that matter, are there any things I should be on the lookout for on this model (i.e. wheel bearings go bad, electrical issues, etc)?

 

In order
#1 Dynamic 88 2 door coupe - 39,071
#2 No
#3 4,115 pounds
#4 Pretty reliable with basic tune up items
#5 Look out for the Slim Jim transmission - weak transmission for the amount of weight your pulling around

 

Thanks 59!! That was some quick answers! Any advice on what I should do with the tranny? I'm not real familiar with automatics, I've always had manuals. I'm hoping to get it up on a rack tomorrow afternoon so I can get a closer look at things. Just curious, is it just a slim jim thing with reverse being all the way down on the column or an Olds thing? I am thinking about putting an aluminum radiator in it, do you think this would be a smart move to help increase it's life? I'm babying this car as it will be my daily driver, so really it is just a cruiser for me.

 

Assuming you are able to locate one, I would buy and install a new transmission filter.

 

If you are in need of parts (ie. filters,damper plates, overhaul sets including Seals) go to www.fatsco.com

 

Thanks for the info guys!! I will take a look into it!

 

All HydraMatics from 1940-64 had this shift pattern with minor variations. So did Chevrolet PowerGlides, Buick DynaFlows, Packard UltraMatics and the Borg Warner transmissions some of the independents used. Ford was the only one who started automatic production with PRNDL. Chrysler was off in the stratosphere with pushbutton electrically controlled automatics.

To meet 1965 Federal fleet standards (in other words to be able to bid on supplying vehicles to government motor pools), they all had to change to the PRND sequence with a hand control lever. In Chrysler's case, this meant re-engineering their whole automatic transmission package.

Just an early version of government meddling in car design and production.

The story is told of the 1964 Oldsmobile factory motor pool when some cars had PRNDL and others retained the PNDSLR. Everybody was used to HydraMatics and instinctively pulled the shift lever all the way down to back up.

Worked fine until they got into a Jetstar 88 or Cutlass motor pool car that had Jetaway with PRNDL, and did that.

They apparently replaced a lot of parking lot fence that year.


If you're concerned about the radiator, I would just get the original recored unless you can find an AL radiator that has all the necks and trans cooler fittings in the correct places. Pretty sure it would have to be a custom job, and the only advantage I see would be a little bit of weight reduction. A stock radiator with a fan shroud and clutch fan will cool this car fine, or there's always the possibility of electric fans.

Wouldn't hurt you to get a 1963 Olds factory shop manual for it. Lot of info in there, because I can guarantee you most mechanics won't have a clue how to work on it.

 

Thanks for the great hostory lesson Rocket!! I can only imagine what was going thrpugh people's heads when they thought they were going in R and stuck it in L! I was trying to figure out why the guy I bought it from kept telling me to remember that R was all the way down. I've had so few autos that it didn't really confuse me.

 

So here are a couple more questions: i think the triangular glass bottle is for washer fluid, but how does it work? Mine has a normal cap on it or is it just for "extra"? And if that is the case is that what the plastic reservoir is for behind it. I looked real quick where hose lead to, and it is routed somewhere back toward the firewall. Rocket you had mentioned in my newbie thread that it looks like someone upgraded me to dual master cylinder - did they not come this way??

 

The bottle is only for ëxtra," as you say. The plastic resevoir holds the water/washer fluid and the hose should run up to a tee on the firewall below the the windshield.

 

1967 was first year for dual master cylinder. Before that it was a single chamber unit feeding all four wheels. Olds/GM offered a dual m/c retrofit kit for 62-66 cars, this may be one of those, but my guess is you have a 67-70 master cylinder in place.

The glass bottle as Dave says was "extra" in case you ran out and needed some washer fluid- "Optikleen" in GM-speak. The cap and Optikleen bottle label are reproduced.

What gets me are the number of "restored" 60s GM cars I see on showfields that the owner has put radiator antifreeze in the Optikleen bottle. Just goes to show that ignorance can spread rapidly- one person who does not know and won't research it does something, another sees it and does the same thing, and then it becomes "da troot". Then when you point it out for correction, they'll argue.

After a while I just started taking an automatic five point deduction on their judging sheets when I found green stuff in the Optikleen bottle.

 

Shawn, I have the same exact color combo as yours but mine is the Super 88 model with the standard wheel covers. Sorry I dont have any pictures yet. I'm thinking about selling it next spring just cause I cant drive it enough. If I keep it, I might put some aftermarket mag wheels on it. Mark