Im new here and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I'm looking at buying a 1968 delta 88 with the 455 with the automatic transmission. The one that I'm looking at has some basic rust as well as a huge rust hole in the front bumper. It showed evidence of a transmission leak and when I went to test drive it it wouldn't drive at all, it barely even backed out of the spot it was in. I'm just curious as to how much one would go for in this condition and about how much it might cost to replace or rebuild the transmission.

 

That's an oddly optioned car, with Tilt-Telescopic wheel, Guide-matic (automatic headlight dimmer) and little else. Good color too, these cars looked "right" in Willow Gold.

A Delta 88 Holiday Sedan was the quintessential middle-class car back then.

If you can get by with a reseal the transmission may not be expensive to fix. Depends where you are in the US, a full rebuild of a TurboHydraMatic 400 can get into mid 4 figures. But once it's fixed you can't hardly kill it.

Bumper can come from any 1968 88 or Ninety Eight.

With the transmission issues, interior needs and general soft market for four-doors, I wouldn't go over $2000 for it.

 

Make it reliable. It could simply need more trans fluid(and a filter service once you get it home)
It's a great daily driver...if you have a close commute.

If you decide to buy it check out my list of things that will need attention for safety & reliability.

 

Does the ac work, or at least turn free? If not, that may set you back another grand or so to get repaired. On the bright side, it looks like a 310 hp lower compression 2 barrel car, so it should get 18 mpg on the highway. Agree that 2 grand or less is fair price given the car’s issues.

BTW, check the driver and passenger side rear quarters to see if there is any hidden rust behind the wheel wells. There’s a set of drains back there that often plug up. You can look under the car, or look down in the cavity between the trunk floor and quarter panels. If it is showing rust elsewhere, it may have rust there as well, but be less visible.

Hope you are able to save her. They are great cars.

 

Be careful due to the vinyl roof. If there is any puckering around the edges or bottom of the vinyl roof, I would pass.

 

That's what I was thinking. Dump in fluid until the dipstick shows FULL, then drive it and see if it shifts OK, if there are any leaks, etc. It may just need a pan gasket, a dipstick o-ring, or something similar that is very easy to replace.

 

If the car has sat any length of time the fluid may have all drained back to the pan, overfilled it and the fluid seeped out thru the gasket. I've had a couple of 400s that would do that. Yah, the solution is drive 'em...

 

To me it’s a $500 car. To rebuild the transmission you’re probably looking at $1k.

 

Good point Eric.

 

Yeah, just a four door big car, good only for yanking its 455 to go in yet another 68-72 A-body and crush the rest of it.

🙄

If you can get that car for 5, great deal. I said 2g to keep the damn 455 vultures off it.

 

Sorry, but $500 is just not realistic. I paid $750 for this in 2018. It had been sitting untouched since 1985 on 4 flat tires with 4 locked up drums (sitting so long that the wheel rims had rusted through from sitting in the dirt that long). The only reason I was able to get it that cheap was that it was from one of those dealers who advertises on craigslist that they will buy anything. He had it sitting in the back of his car lot and could not be bothered to even try to open the hood let alone get it running (or even rolling). Honestly, he really did not even want to be bothered to talk on the phone about it, but when I told him my only condition was that it had still had a 455 in it and that was not locked up (told him I would check this myself when I got there so he did not have to), we set up a time. After I pulled the motor, trans, dash, wiring, power windows, and useable exterior chrome I still was able to sell what was left of the rolling shell to a demo derby driver for $300. The turbo 400 is not a difficult trans to work on and the long tail versions have almost no resale value, so you can probably find a good used one fairly cheap if it does need more work that you are comfortable with. I think I ended up giving the trans away from the 98. If this is a car you want, $2k should be a reasonable price. Running down the road If it is as nice as it looks I think $5K to possibly as high as $7K is possible. I would have an upholstery shop make original style clear plastic seat covers to go over the originals and leave the rest of the interior alone (other than maybe trying to restore the steering wheel yourself). Again, all of this assumes you are looking for a car to buy and cruise for yourself. If you are simply looking to make some money on it, a full size 4 door is probably not the car to buy.








Side note, this car had just over 20K origninal miles. Here is a shot of the original paper sticker still on one of the brake drums.

I also created a thread showing what the motor looked like inside when I tore it down. Pretty crazy. I did not know for sure it was actual milage until I saw the motor inside.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...inside-148380/