jaunty75

I spent parts of yesterday and today at the "Ohio Swap Meet" in Springfield. I think this was called the Cars and Parts swap meet, or at least it was sponsored by that magazine, for many years.

http://www.ohioswapmeet.com/

LOTS of stuff there, LOTS of it is not Oldsmobile, but there's still enough to see and look at to make it quite worthwhile. Couple that with two excellent days of weather, and it was a great weekend.

Besides the swap meet, they have a cars-for-sale area and a car show. I took some photos of the few Oldsmobiles (plus a few others) that were in the for-sale area. I didn't get to the car show area on Saturday, but on Sunday, at least until I had to leave around 10:30 a.m. (we got there around 7:30), no Oldsmobiles had shown up for the car show. There weren't that many cars overall, and I'm guessing the turnout for the Saturday show was much larger.

Anyway, here's a few photos.



The first one I saw was this 1990 Toronado. As you can see, he was asking just under $3,000 for it. I don't recall the mileage, but there's his phone number if you're interested.






Here's a nice-looking '69 Cutlass convertible. 90,000 miles, asking $10,500.






Here's a '65 442. Some pitting on the rear trim, but overall not bad. 58,000 miles, asking $14,900. I did get a chuckle out of the "Solid Kentucky Car" comment. Doesn't Kentucky get winter weather?







Here's an early '80s(?) Cutlass. I didn't get the mileage or price.






Changing gears by several decades now, here's a '46 Olds with a more modern engine and transmission it. He wants $6,000 or best offer or trade.







Here's a '55. Nice. I didn't get the price.






Here's the only other Oldsmobile I saw in the car corral. It and the '55 above were among the nicest of the cars for sale, Olds or not. It's a '66 Cutlass convertible. 67,000 miles, asking $17,000. The fellow seemed anxious to sell.








I took a few photos of some non-Olds's that I though were interesting.

First off is this late-70s(?) Chevy Monte Carlo in which was committed an egregious factory error. Apparently the factory, by accident, put in a Chevy engine. Fortunately, the error was caught and corrected. The Chevy engine was removed and replaced with an Olds 455.







Here's an early '60s Chevy Nova. I just thought it was pretty. Simple, clean, and unadulterated.







Here's something you rarely see anywhere. An AMC Pacer. These were made from 1976 through 1980, which are pretty much the same years as for the '70's era Starfire. It seems that history has dealt them similar fates. If you want to see one in action, rent the movie "Oh, God" with John Denver and George Burns. Mr. Denver is shown tooling around in a Pacer during his conversations with Mr. Burns ("God").






Now here's the first of a couple of old Oldsmobiles I saw in the parking lot as I was leaving on the first day. These were not in the car corral or on the show field or anything. They were just driven to the event like any other car. One is a mid-70s Cutlass, and the other looks to be about a 1989 Eighty-Eight. It didn't say "Delta" 88 on the side, and Olds first stopped using "Delta" with the 1989 model year.











I took a picture of this one because I was amused by the license plate, which seemed inconsistent with the vehicle upon which it was affixed.






Lastly, here's something you don't see every day. (Unless you drive by here on your commute!) I found this as I was driving home. It's on Ohio route 56 just south of the interchange with I-70 and about 5 miles north of London, Ohio, in case any of you want to go rushing over there to buy it.

It's a Ford Maverick, which was made from 1970 through 1977. My best friend's family had one of these, green in color, when I was in high school. I think theirs was a '73.

Anyway, this has been sitting out in this field for so long that the writing on the paper left under the windshield that had the price and contact info on it was almost completely faded. I did make out a big "3" with a comma after it, so it looks like they're asking something in the $3,000 range. That's a lot. A Maverick in this condition is worth maybe $1,000. It didn't look too bad overall, though. Some damage to the right rear fender by the taillight, as you can see. Note also the spotlights on each side just forward of the windshield.

cutlassgal

OMG My brother in law had one of these ! Red also. He put big wide tires on the back and air shocks so the rear was lifted up. Takes me back.....

mugzilla

The Mav stuff if 5 lug disc brake ete. will fit early mustangs and falcons and comets..

jaunty75

Did he also, by chance, paint pretty little curlycues on the rear between the taillights and at the front of the front fenders by the headlights like this one has? Maybe this is HIS car!!


Somebody had fun with this car once, and it still looks to be in pretty good shape. It seems a shame to let it sit out by the side of the road for months or years just rotting away.

nukesec1

I've considered snapping up a Maverick and other odd ball cars you don't see everyday that I've ran across (what am I talking about? I own a '73 Olds CS!), mostly due to the fact that you just don't see them anymore. Theres a guy down the street from me that has a Maverick GT and a Torino Cobra. I only see them when he has the garage door open. Who knows what's going to be rare and desirable in the future.

jaunty75

Interesting point, but many people make the mistake of assuming that "rare" automatically equals "desirable" and/or "valuable." I think the '75 to '80 era Olds Starfire is a perfect example. You almost never see these, suggesting they're rare. But they have very little value, and they are not high on anyone's desirability list. Things might be different 50 years from now when ANYTHING from that long ago would have some value because of its age, but it might take that long, and those cars might still not have much value.

There are probably more, for example, '66 Cutlass convertibles in existence today than there are '66 Cutlass 4-door sedans, even though there were likely more 4-door sedans made originally. The sedan is thus more rare today, and so you might think it would be more valuable. But it's not because the convertible version is more desirable.

For most anything to have value as a collectible later, it has to have some recognized, intrinsic value when new. It has to have been well designed, be well made, and be physically attractive. (Few ugly things are collectible.) In the case of the '66 Cutlasses, both are equally well designed and made, but the convertible is more physically attractive.

mugzilla

Take for example w-machines ...

There are more 1970 w-30s than regular 442s ...

The trouble with Olds my man is documentation ...

That's why Pontiac Historical Society is so awesome ...

jaunty75

Yes, but you're talking more about establishing authenticity and originality than about rarity or desirability. Yes, certainly, everything else being equal, a well-documented car will have more value than one that is not. But a well-document '66 Cutlass 4-door sedan will still be less valuable than a well-documented '66 Cutlass convertible, and it will be less valuable than a poorly-documented convertible because the convertible is more desirable.


Yes, I've heard about the Pontiac Historical Society, and I wish that there was as much documentation about Oldsmobiles, but there isn't. Nobody thinks 30, 40, or 50 years into the future. They think only about the here and now. It takes a lot of foresight on the part of someone with access to the information to take steps to make sure it is available to people in the not so near future.

I still remember back in the mid-1990s, when I wrote to the Olds History Center in Lansing, giving them the VINs on my '64 Jetstar 88 and '75 Delta 88 and asking for any information they might have. Helen Earley wrote me right back providing what little information she could. She said that, starting in 1977, Olds kept selling dealer and original invoice information so you could just give them the VIN and get that info, but for years prior to '77, no.

Is anyone NOW accumulating and setting aside the documentation on the final era Oldsmobiles so that people in 2050 and 2060, when most of us on these boards now are dead, can look up the build dates, selling dealers, original configurations, and so forth on, for example, their 1998 Auroras so they don't have to rely on finding the might-be-there, might-not-be-there build sheet, which they might have to remove the gas tank to find?

In 2050, a 1998 Aurora will be 52 years old. That's how old a '57 Olds is right now, and there is certainly a lot of interest in those cars today. Wouldn't it be nice if someone at Oldsmobile in 1957 had started accumulating and setting aside production information so that people 52 years later could have it readily available and make use of it?

72 cutlass455

The information that was stored at the Oldsmobile heritage museum is now at the GM heritage museum. At least that is what I have heard. If they haven,t sold it on EBAY.

jaunty75

Does this mean that you can still write to them and get whatever info they have like you used to be able to? It would be nice if it was all online, but that would certainly take some effort and a fair amount of money.

The Stickman

I would love that 46 Olds. Body looks great on it.

RLF440

Common confusion on this one...that pretty red/white 56 is actually a 55. Differences include grill, dash, side trim, taillights, hood and trunk emblems, and hood rocket. Both years are beautiful cars! But this one is indeed a 55 Super 88 Holiday....Saw it and the price on it was $21,500 obo.....You are correct that it was one of the best looking rides out there! ....and you take some really nice photos!!

jaunty75

Thanks for the year correction. I can always tell better what year these mid-50s Olds's are by seeing the taillights.

RLF440

I agree the taillights are a dead give away. The thing to keep in mind in the nose is the 55 had that dual snout floating grill bar and the 56 went to the big mouth wraparound with a vertical split bar....did away with the dual snout floater. Again, it's a very common confusion. One of those things where if you've had one it jumps right out at you. Personally I like the 55 better.

OLD SKL 69

Thanks for passing those pictures along. Man, I'd like either the 69 or 66 Convertible cutlass's there. Too bad I'm in the middle of my 69 coupe or I would go for them. Oh well, now I'm jealous.