Dad bought several cars from Rudman Olds in Highland Park, Ill and got me started as an Olds fan. I remember walking through the lot in the Chicago winter of 1970, Dad looking for a new Cutlass wagon, me trying to convince him that one of the several brand new 442 convertibles or one of the three Rally 350’s there too on the lot at time would be a better choice. A no go then, but have had the blessing to own the below for the last 20 years, with a full frame off and a recent interior refresh, with power windows and locks added, plus a seat belts restoration, adding the rare shoulder belt option.

Question: anybody come across a Rudman Olds emblem or other related dealer materials? Kindly advise, as sure would finish the car.

 

Gorgeous car. I grew up in Deerfield, but was born August of 69 and don't remember Rudman. My Dad bought his 75 Cutlass Supreme at Weil in Libertyville and my Mom bought a used 72 Monte Carlo at Sunny Day Chevrolet in Highland Park. Thanks for the memories .

 

Rudman was on the corner of Skokie Valley and Clavey Road. Dad bought there: a ‘66 98 LS sedan, a ‘70 Cutlass flat top wagon and a ‘71 Cutlass S sedan. Previous, he bought new a ‘63 98 convertible from Montgomery Olds in Niles, at the corner of Waukegan and Dempster. When Don Krause of Krause Olds in Milwaukee married into the family, he ordered a new ‘77 Cutlass Supreme sedan from him - special order, silver with a camel interior. That was the last Olds, as after he moved to Pontiac’s, followed by others. Great car guy memories!

 

What became Gregory Dodge. I used to ride my Schwinn to the Honda dealer next door. I would spend hours there drooling over the new ATC's. Remember Peacock Palace?

 

Beautiful car

 

Close, Gregory though a bit farther north on Skokie. Their Honda dealer though was Highland Park Pontiac. When Dad shifted away from Olds products he went there and ordered a new ‘79 LeMans wagon. As he and the salesman were dickering, I went strolling in the lot and there fixed on a group new Trans Ams, including several new Bandit cars. Thus, on the list one of those became and last year added the below to the stable, a ‘79 Y84 W72 4-speed car, black with camel interior. Restoration currently underway!

Peacock Palace - was that the ice cream place?

 

Peacock Palace was the video game arcade by the bowling alley, across the street from Steve Foley Cadillac.

 

My 1st car was a 1967 442, purchased used in 1969. I was born in Chicago, moved to and raised in Elgin. I bought parts from Rudman. I went to school with the McGrath’s. My friend Gary owned McGrath Buick.

Very nice car, Sir.

 

Good Luck on your information Quest for Rudman Oldsmobile, My 56 Olds came from Dicke Motor Sales Warren Av. Downers Grove Il.
I have tried several times to get information on that dealer (opening/ closing ) I even sent E-mails to the Downers Historical Society and the chamber of commerce no response. I found 1 lone picture of the tiny dealership circa 1964 but that's it, its like a government conspiracy and they wiped it from history !! I did find a guy selling a Oldsmobile Match book and post card from there on E-bay but that's it.
Hope you have better luck than I did. a dealer emblem would be very cool !!!

 

Now that’s a blast from the past! Remember that bowling alley, though not the arcade. Great memories!

 

Remember it clearly. Great dealership and the sales and service staff were always very attentive to Mom and Dad when they brought the cars in. Something though happened and before the shift to Pontiac, they began to get the cars serviced at Ray Olds in Park Ridge.

Would be great to find a Rudman badge, though I seem to remember on the ‘74 Cutlass wagon (forgot to mention that one on the list), that the badge was a simple black plastic sticker with a large R and then smaller letters for the rest of the name. Do not recall any badge on the ‘70 or ‘71, though each may have had one. Would be great to find!

 

Beautiful 442. Love the white interior with the black. Cool stories and memories.

 

Had the thought that Rudman Olds must have published their logo with their dealership ads they placed in the newspaper and so checked some records and sure enough, found the below. Fairly sure this is what was on the back of Dad's new cutlasses in '70, '71 and '74 and in black applied sticker form, as those cars were Bamboo, Viking Blue and a medium brown color (do not know exact color title), respectively.

As my '70 442 is Ebony Black, I suspect that sticker would have been done in white, as would have been applied by Rudman to all their new cars with darker colors. Not sure it said "Highland Park, Ill." beneath the logo, but to do recall some pics of these cars somewhere that may have captured it. Will update you all with what I find amidst all the stacks of family pics.

 

Found this pic from 1974 of Dad’s ‘71 Cutlass S sedan - it is a bit fuzzy, but notice the Rudman sticker on the left rear of the trunk lid. Hard to tell, but does not appear that the sticker includes, “Highland Park, Ill” below the “Rudman.”

 

Next question: does anyone know how to digitize the Rudman logo and then change it from black to white, so can be made into a sticker? Any expertise great appreciated!

 

You would have to clean that artwork up a lot to print it cleanly. Maybe someone here could help.

 

There's no cleaning to be done. It's toast. Someone would have to redraw it using the logo as a template. Any competent graphics designer could do it in an hour. I could do it in days banging away in AutoCAD.

 

Exactly. I thought the same thing.

Would they really have used only a sticker back then? Just curious.

 

OK, thanks. Will look around to find someone. In looking at the photo of Dad’s ‘71, fuzzy as it is, it appears as if the layout of the letters following the “R” in “Rudman” are a bit higher on the “R” than the newspaper version of the logo. Wonder if that was to allow for the text, “Highland Park, Ill” underneath? Very difficult to tell, but in the redraw of the logo, will ask that be inserted.

As to just a sticker, yes it was or perhaps a more heavy duty decal. Certainly less expensive and easier to install than a metal dealer badge, though they had to be among the first dealers to use this approach. According to the materials I found, they were the number 1 Olds dealer in Illinois for a time, so they were going through a lot of cars (which I recall as their new car storage lot was absolutely packed each year), so a decal or sticker would have made things much faster for prep for delivery.

 

Hello, You have a car so beautiful brings tears to my eyes. my email address is lorra3@icloud.com. I may be able to dig something up to enhance your prize.

 

WOW! Beautiful car.

 

Kool W-Machine, with Chicago land history.

I was raised in Highland Park. The name of the Oldsmobile dealership was changed when I was there.

I am familiar with Gregory Dodge, they received one of the very first Vipers and had it on display. Cordoned off with stanchions. You had to wait in line just to look at it.

The Honda Dealer was also a Yamaha dealer. I spent a lot of time and money ( for a kid) there.

I don’t recall Steve Foley Cadillac being in HLP. They were in the next town South, Northbrook, when I was there.