Hi!

My girlfriend has inherited an Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday from 1960. There is a sticker on the front bumper that says "Department of Defence" and probably the registration number that the car had in California. We guess that the car has been in the military in Sacramento, in some way.
Does someone know a good website or an authority that we can contact to get more information of the history of the car when it was registered in US? The car has been in Sweden since the middle of the '90s.

We have never worked with a such old car before, but we are trying to preparing the car for inspection and will have a lots of questions, for sure. The most of the equipment seems to work, but we are missing the instruction manual. So our first question is how to activate the washerfluid ?
The car is missing its interior light (the lens and the frame). Does someone have a picture how a complete interior light look like?

 

Cool Oldsmobile!

I imagine that the car was owned by a service member years ago. That is a sticker that allows you to get onto a military base. I'm surprised it's on the front bumper instead of the windshield.

 

I know at least back in the 70's and 80's those stickers were on the front bumper of service member owned cars.

 

"Does someone know a good website or an authority that we can contact to get more information of the history of the car when it was registered in US?"

I am aware of no such public database that is available today. There are private databases with this information. The issue is they limit access to law enforcement entities.

Before this information was removed from the public domain, there were companies that gleaned historical motor vehicle registration information from state agencies and sold it to the public on CDs. Once access to this information was denied to the general public across the nation, these private companies remained active for only a short time before they closed. One of these CDs may have the information that you seek, but I do not know anyone with access to one.

 

You can get an owner's manual on ebay. Here's one I found after a 2-second search. There are many more.

This seller says he ships worldwide.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25283566570...3ABFBMqK-LnK5m

 

1960 Oldsmobile Owners Manual Original | eBay (Cheaper)

 

While you're at it.
A 1960 Oldsmobile Service Manual is good to have for any repairs you have to make.
Original, printed copies are best.
1960 Oldsmobile Service Manual for sale | eBay

 

The windshield washer is activated by pressing a small chrome button in the center of the windshield wiper control ****.

The dome lamp looks like these parts.
1949-64 GM; Chrome Bezel/Rim; For Dome Lamp; Various Models | eBay
1949-64 GM; Lens; For Dome Lamp; Various Models | eBay

 

My wiper **** look like this picture. Nothing to press in the middle, and I can't press the whole **** in or pull it out. Maybe this isn’t the right **** to this car? 🤔

Thanks for the links! 😎

 

I'm betting that sticker is just a base pass for the service member who owned the car. The 1969 Cutlass wagon I purchased last year had a sticker from NAS Fallon in western Nevada, where the first owner was stationed.

 

It looks as if you don't have a windshield washer on this car.
Windshield washers ( and also two speed wipers )_ were optional, extra cost, accessories on a Dynamic 88.
Show me a pic of the windshield wiper motor, and I can tell you what you have.

 

At the moment I only have this picture of the wiper motor. But you can see that it has the connections for the washer pipes, and it also has two electrical connections on the other side (one connection to the wiper motor and two cables to the washer pump).
I also found a picture of the cap to the washer reservoir which is located next to the radiator on the passenger side, and the car also have the washer nozzles

 

I would suspect that someone, in the last 66 years, has replaced the wiper switch with one meant for a non-washer system.

 

I think so too.
I guess the switch should look like this?

 

exactly