I picked this up on one of the Chevy sites I go to. Very unusual. When I was copying it from the site I noticed it apparently came from Cuba. Somebody might verify that from the license plate. It has a one piece tailgate. I wonder if it was an ambulance at some point. Man it would be cool to have this thing. I wonder if it has one of those Russian diesel engines in it. I hope not.

 

Congrats. Nice purchase. What are you going to do with it?

 

I guess my posting was a little confusing. I did not buy this wagon. I wish it was mine. I just found it on a thread on the Chevy site and thought it would be interesting to post here to get some comments.

 

Ah, sorry about that. I'd like to have one too.

 

Many of the cars that I saw or rented in Havana do have paper thin sheet metal and transplanted diesels. There is a Mercedes plant on the island.

 

That’s either a good photoshop, or it looks like they transplanted a roof from a ‘55-‘56 Ford/Mercury station wagon

 

I kind of doubt either of those. If it was built as an ambulance it could have had a higher roof. Maybe they used a FoMoCo roof originally. This is one I am guessing we may never get verification on.

 

about a year ago my niece and nephew made a trip to Cuba, I thought his description of Cuban cars was spot on he said "they are both criminal and genius"
meaning what they do to some of those cars is criminal, things we would never do to a classic car and it would actually border on criminal as far as safety, and that how they keep them running with limited resources is amazing and genius !! he said he saw a 56 Ford fitted with a 2 cycle 4 cyl outboard marine eng he said the adaptation to the 3 speed trans was amazing !! that Olds wagon is pretty awsome !!

 

Looks neat!!

 

 

There is no way that you could open the tailgate without bumper interference, regardless of how its hinged.

 

Would you say that this Cuban wagon roof has received some modification? I took this pic on the streets of Havana. It is a private passenger vehicle and not a taxi.

 

I have looked way to hard to find another '56 Olds 88 wagon. The only one that pops up is the one the OP posted. Then, finally, this morning I read a blurb that there weren't any...for the most part. I reckon most of you already knew that.

What I did find for '56 is ambulance / hearse / flower cars that seem to match the tail light configuration. Maybe a "Comet" coach model. Which were made in Memphis. Information is pretty hard to find.

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/comet/comet.htm

 

Having a hard time with pics so I may one and two it to death....

 

There is the modified modification....

 

Of course we do have the member on here who is building a 56 Olds Nomad which is going to be awesome.

 

Is there a thread on this?

 

The search feature is our friend. Here it is.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...-build-133765/

 

OMG Glenn. Just look what you started!!

 

I did good didn't I Frank. And to think I picked this up off a TriFive Chevy site. Wouldn't you love to have this thing. If the owner could get this car from Cuba to the US he could do very well with it. I would want to do this thing 100 restored with maybe a few mods for safety and comfort. It would be a popular car in the Olds community.

 

By the looks of the rear wheel hubs , the rear axle is from a 3/4 ton pickup .
It looks to me like a mid fifties Ford wagon roof and windows were grafted on an Olds 4 door .
I think a lot of these cars were assembled out of whatever was lying around .

 

More Cuban Olds pictures...

Just hit the < > buttons and you will see all that are out there.

 

Charlie if that is the case it was done by one of the better body shops in Cuba. Now the 57 Buick is definitely the case. The Olds looks pretty well done. Only the Shadow knows.