Hello, I just purchased a beautiful 1964 Dynamic 88 4-door hardtop with a 394 in it. Other than the fact that the car was rust free, it seemed rather ordinary, except for the interior. The back seat is a normal bench, but the front seat is bucket seats, with a center console and console tach. My first reaction was "WOW! BUCKETS AND CONSOLE!", immediately followed by, "Wait, In a 4-door?" The car was a special order according to the owner, ordered with the buckets and console from factory. Common sense makes this a rare option, but how rare is it really? Anybody know how many were ordered this way?

 

I don't know, but I do know you could order Cadillacs that way back in the early 60's. Do the seat patterns match front & rear?

 

Yes, the patterns match.

 

Someone would have had to pull some strings to get that built, but with Olds/GM I've learned to never say never. Buick Wildcat four door hardtops (same B-body) could be ordered with buckets/console, so again, never say never.

1964 Starfires, Jetstar I's and Ninety Eight Custom Sports Coupes all had buckets and console so not like Olds didn't have the hardware in place to put it in any B-body.


Look at the console top. If it has a four-pointed star between tach and shifter, it is a Starfire console and would tell me someone put the stuff in there. If it has the standard early-60s Olds "flat" Rocket emblem, that would have been in a J-I or 98 CSC- and that emblem was also used on Dynamics, so it could possibly be a factory install. If you can pull the carpet back from around the seat tracks, see how the seat brackets and studs are installed to the floor. Also look at the body data plate underhood and see if it's a Lansing build (something like this would almost have to have been built in Lansing), and if there's anything "unusual" on the plate- esp the TR (interior trim) code.

And pictures are always good!

 

The man has paperwork proving a factory install. I am not near the car, so i cannot guarantee any information. Someone told me it was probably special-ordered with Jetstar I interior.

 

Factory paperwork makes it real then. The J-I was a Dynamic 88 subseries and used same interior patterns and most exterior trim, so it would have been a pretty simple conversion coming down the assembly line.

 

I'm guessing very few were ordered this way?

 

If I were a betting man, my bet is you have one of one and that either a dealer with a lot of pull or an Oldsmobile executive ordered it after seeing what Buick was doing with Wildcats.

Just curious which engine it has. Most D-88 were 2-barrel or sometimes low-compression 2-barrel. If it has a Starfire engine that would reinforce someone having it built as a Jetstar I sedan.

 

Just a regular old 2-barrel 394.