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Are there any numbers or rather estimates available on how many Oldsmobile cars produced in the 60s have survived to the present day and are still on the road?
For example: 1966 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday Coupe 20,857 cars were produced my estimate is that less than 1-2% of the cars have survived to the present day, what is your estimate?
Last edited by LuckyLuke; Jan 4, 2026 at 03:27 AM.
The other day I was searching the roads for a carbureted car as I drove my family through the suburbs of Houston. Of course, I was driving at the time. After an hour or so I finally saw a mid 80s Chevy 1500. I suppose it could have had first generation TBI on it though.
Yesterday, I saw a 77 Cutlass. Only once did I see a 72 98 in OKC driving the opposite direction on the highway.
There are wild *** guesses and nothing more. Historical registration data says that for cars of the 1960s and 70s, after 20 years, an AVERAGE of 0.5% to 1% of original production survives. We're now over half a century from that point. Obviously these numbers are fleet average across all makes and models and body styles. Four doors and wagons stand a much lower chance of survival than do sportier models because they are less desirable to collect and preserve. And pony and muscle cars stand a better chance of survival than do economy and full size cars. Of course, self destructing cars like the Vega and Aspen/Volare also drag down the averages. Bottom line is there is no way to know how many survive and any claims of "one of X remaining" are total BS.
There are wild *** guesses and nothing more. Historical registration data says that for cars of the 1960s and 70s, after 20 years, an AVERAGE of 0.5% to 1% of original production survives. We're now over half a century from that point. Obviously these numbers are fleet average across all makes and models and body styles. Four doors and wagons stand a much lower chance of survival than do sportier models because they are less desirable to collect and preserve. And pony and muscle cars stand a better chance of survival than do economy and full size cars. Of course, self destructing cars like the Vega and Aspen/Volare also drag down the averages. Bottom line is there is no way to know how many survive and any claims of "one of X remaining" are total BS.
Thanks Joe, I am aware that it is impossible to find it, I am only interested in it in general, I think that most of the surviving cars are presented on the Internet today (clubs, meetings, forums, advertisements, etc.) with the information that more muscle models survive, I completely agree, family sedans or station wagons mostly went to the scrapyard at the turn of the 70s-80s.
UPDATE: Our country here in Central Europe is small, but still there are a total of 8 Oldsmobile 88 cars from 1966 (1x Jetstar, 3x Dynamic, 2x Delta and 2x Starfire) 😊
Last edited by LuckyLuke; Jan 4, 2026 at 09:18 AM.
It's next to nothing. People love to romanticize old cars and say new cars are just appliances. Turns out they always have been.. people use them and then get rid of them.
Thanks Joe, I am aware that it is impossible to find it, I am only interested in it in general, I think that most of the surviving cars are presented on the Internet today (clubs, meetings, forums, advertisements, etc.) with the information that more muscle models survive, I completely agree, family sedans or station wagons mostly went to the scrapyard at the turn of the 70s-80s.
Our country here in central Europe is small, but even so I have a total of 7 cars 1966 Oldsmobile 88 here ( 1x Jetstar, 3x Dynamic, 1x Delta and 2x Starfire )
More musclecars survive because today, at least 150% of all built are still on the road...
I currently have 18 19 (forgot one) Oldsmobiles on my property, but proportionally that pales in comparison to your accomplishment.
The registered vehicles in cluded 89,309,101 automo biles, up 2.8 per cent from 1969; 18,747,781 trucks, up 4.8 from 1969; and 379,021 buses, up 4 per cent. source NYT, June 13, 1971
Percentage of cars still on the road (some numbers rounded)
VIN Year Range % of Vehicles
2020-24 model years 12%
2015-19 model years 26%
2010-14 model years 19%
2005-09 model years 20%
2000-04 model years 14%
1995-99 model years 5%
1990-94 model years 2%
1985-89 model years 1%
Older than 1985 1% . source H&C
1% of 89,309,101 = 893,091.01
Hedges & Company estimates there are just over 5 million registered classic vehicles being driven, for model years 1919 through 1981. It’s difficult to say how many total older vehicles are left, because not all are registered and driven.
We estimate that about a third of these older classic vehicles are model years 1960 through 1969. About half are 1970 through 1981 vehicles. source H&C
So 1/3 of 5 million is 1.67 million not 893 thousand. Meaning that the percentage of just 1960s cars may be almost double 1%, which makes sense. Considering it marks the end of the golden era of cars.
Now consider the brands most sought after since, for example there are going to be more Chevrolets on the road from then than Oldsmobile...
It's still a guess but a more educated one. The same can be done to Joe Padavano's analysis. As Joe said to start post #3 a response is a wild *** guess. But if you breakdown and apply everything he says after that opening statement it becomes an educated guess. 0.5 to 1% of original production still on the road for our models makes sense. Call it 0.75% for arguments sake.
Who is Hedges & Company and what are their qualifications for developing these estimates? I was denied access to the link you provided above, apparently because I have a European IP address at the moment. In any case, you've then taken their 1/3 estimate and their 5 million estimate and multiplied them to get a number to three significant digits.
Sorry, but the error bars on these numbers are almost larger than the numbers themselves.
Who is Hedges & Company and what are their qualifications for developing these estimates? I was denied access to the link you provided above, apparently because I have a European IP address at the moment.
Joe - IP address restricted because you're in France? Oh, please. Try changing your roaming VPN server to a location outside of Belarus.
Hedges & Company is a leading automotive digital marketing agency serving the parts and accessories industry.
I believe 48 of the 51 Tuckers built survived. That would screw your stats up if there were more cars. Just my two cents. I don't think there is any accurate war to estimate the percent of cars left.
This is really not a valid comparison. The numbers are way too small, and the cars were the height of uniqueness, so it's no surprise they were kept. The real question is what happened to the other three?
I own a 1973 Delta 88, and this is like saying that 100% of the 1973 Delta 88s owned by me have survived. True, but meaningless.
Joe - IP address restricted because you're in France? Oh, please. Try changing your roaming VPN server to a location outside of Belarus.
Unfortunately my company has removed Norton from my laptop and installed some other system. I can't easily use a VPN to fake my location anymore. Don't get me started...
That's actually very interesting data, but it doesn't say what model years it covers. I would expect newer cars to survive longer than ones from the 1960s. Still, I see about 1.5% after 20 years.
Try changing your roaming VPN server to a location outside of Belarus.
