My neighbor walked over this afternoon to show me some old pics he had of his Rallye 350 from 1980. He picked the car up for $2,200 in Chicago. 4 speed, buckets, and console car. As you'll see the last picture, he flipped the car and totaled it. He has a few more pics of the car flipped that I'll scan and post when I get them.

 

Thats a totally restorable car in todays world.

 

Ouch, he's lucky to be able to walk over and show you pics.

 

Interesting that the stripes were removed - I wonder how many people did that?

 

and it had trim rings, which I heard was often added as they sat on the lot

 

He bought it when it was 10 years old. I bet it was repainted. It hurts to look at those pictures but the hood looks like it was hardly damaged.

 

It had been repainted and new stripes were not put back on.

 

Cars driven regularly in the snow and salt in Chicago Land, did not usually last (rust) very long. Cars could completely rust through in three or 4 years. Especially if they did not receive the extra cost dealer undercoating and rust proofing.

 

That's a great call out. When Olds built these cars, their finishes on the parts were just enough to provide a thin layer of paint / coating to get the car out the door and in to the dealership.

I'll scan the other pics of the flipped Rallye this evening.

 

The limited number of factory replacement stripe kits for the Rallye 350 were sold out by the mid-70's, so many Rallye's were seen without the stripes whenever repainted due to an accident or rust repair.

Back in the late 70's, two friends in New Jersey - who each had a Rallye 350 - wanted to repaint their cars after repairing minor rust and 'parking lot' damage. They discovered that the factory replacement stripe kits had already sold out, but were told by Oldsmobile representatives that the stripes were supplied by the 3M Company.

They contacted the 3M Company to find out if the company still had the striping molds. Luckily, after a search, the Rallye 350 stripe molds were located within one of the company's buildings. The company informed them that they could run another production of stripes, but they would need to be fully paid for up front. The two friends needed to pay the $5000 cost themselves, just to get the two sets they needed, and hopefully would be able to sell the remaining sets.

Fortunately, one of the owners was the president of the Rallye 350 club and over time was able to sell the majority of the stripe kits. He and his friend had their Rallye 350's repainted and re-striped to perfection, and helped others return their Rallye's back to the original appearance with proper stripes.

It should be noted that some body shops at the time were painting the stripes on Rallye's prior to the availability of the decals, with results that ranged from almost being indistinguishable from the decals to 'what the heck' results.

 

I thought the same thing, but if you look close, it looks like the front is snapped off, which would match the rest of the front end damage

 

4 speed car had that good 286 cam ..fast sum beeechh