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My Dad had a car lot in the 80's and 90's and I remember he bought one of these, I think a 77, that was supposedly owned by a guy that worked at the Leed's Plant in KC and followed the car down the assembly line. It was black with a black padded half top, black cloth interior, 403 and a posi. I always thought it was a pretty neat car, even as a kid. Glad to see you giving this one a new lease on life.
Thanks. I have some work ahead of me.... These Holidays were 78-80... sounds ;like the 77 you mention was a Royale not a Holiday,,,wish I had a403 in this one....
Sometimes we do things that don’t make dollars or sense. I think my 1978 Holiday 88 Project is one of those things.
But a Delta 88 was my first car. (It was given to me by an uncle — dark green on pea soup green, radio delete …. I dubbed it “The Think Tank.”) So I’ve always had a soft spot for these B-Body cars.
What I really wanted back then was a 1977-1979 2 door. Fast forward about 30 years and for some non-sensical nostalgic reason I started looking for one.
I went down the rabbit hole and discovered the Holiday 88 — a base model Delta 88 with the Y98 option package - buckets, console, T-handle shifter, sport mirrors, a sport steering wheel, color matched hubcaps and Holiday 88 badges.
Well, heck yeah. I just needed to find one. Apparently they are rare-ish. Not sure of actual production numbers. What I am sure of is that there Ain’t any of ‘em where I live — the Peoples Republic of California.
Hello Facebook. I found a few on marketplace (Indianapolis aka “Naptown” is apparently a hotbed - go figure?) but I missed out on a couple of good stock ones and didn’t want to pay extra for 28 inch wheels and who knows what kind of suspension and modifications to accommodate said 28 inch wheels.
One guy kindly reached out to me and turned me on to something similar but different — a 1977 Delta 88 Indy Pace Car with 70,000 miles… Having struck out on my Holiday 88 search and wanting to scratch my 77-79 2 door Delta 88 itch, I jumped on it. Of course that’s when I found (what I thought was) a great Holiday 88 deal. Luckily, one of the members of this community had been searching for a 77 Indy Pace Car so I sold it to him for what I bought it for (less shipping costs which I ate)
So the Holiday 88. White with a full white vinyl top, dark Carmine red vinyl interior, red pinstripe, optional SS wheels with the starfish center caps, 350ci engine, tilt, cruise, a few other goodies. Lots of original documentation. Lots of photos from the seller. Clean. Dead straight. Mostly original paint. Mint mint mint interior with uncracked dash and unfaded wood trim. All the exterior trim and chrome shined bright like a diamond (thanks Rihanna…) Seller said it ran good, but trans was slipping. Midwest car so I asked for pictures underneath. He sent me pics and video. I knew the rockers were bad. The only other bad spot (I thought) was one of the rear body mounts….
You know where this is going. It gets off the trailer and I immediately notice a couple spots hiding under the fender wheelwell trim. Drove it straight to the shop a couple blocks from me and put it up on the rack. The undercoating hid a few things for sure. Loud crunch as the rear body mounts come apart and the bumper drops about a foot. Frame ain’t bad. Floor pans are ok. I start poking around some more. A spot by the opera windows, a spot in the door jamb, another spot under the quarter wheelwell trim. I get home and do a compression test. Dead even across all cylinders. Check the transmission fluid — doesn’t smell burnt but down a couple quarts. Everything else works.
If this was a Cutlass, Chevelle or GTO I wouldn’t blink. But it’s a B-Body and no one makes patch panels and I don’t know how to weld.
So what do I do?? Donor car!!
I find a sun-baked southern 1978 Holiday 88. Complete car. Interior is cooked. Paint is chalky as can be. But straight as an arrow, rust-free underneath and runs and drives…and almost identical build sheet as the one I have. So of course it’s on its way to me.
Plan is frame up and paint on the southern car and then swap over all the minty fresh parts (and likely the drivetrain) from the Midwest car.
Wish me luck. Pics to follow…
Looks like a nice car in your pictures ! Best of luck with your project!
Thanks. I have some work ahead of me.... These Holidays were 78-80... sounds ;like the 77 you mention was a Royale not a Holiday,,,wish I had a403 in this one....
I know certain options were not available on the Holiday 88 like the large brakes / Heavy duty brakes. The large brakes used a different rim, I think that's why it was not an option. I don't know if the 403 was option?
I know certain options were not available on the Holiday 88 like the large brakes / Heavy duty brakes. The large brakes used a different rim, I think that's why it was not an option. I don't know if the 403 was option?
Large brakes were an option on the 1978 Holiday 88 as was the 403 engine. A member here just sold a 1978 Holiday 88 with those two options. I don't know if these options were available on later years ...
Been busy with work and then got some damn cold / flu thing…. but I did manage to make progress…
Lots of new stuff under the hood now…
*Carb (rebuilt Quadrajet)
*Fuel pump (and Fuel tank)
*Distributor
*Plugs and wires
*Ignition coil
*Belts and hoses / valve cover gaskets
*Master cylinder and booster
*Radiator (tried to fix the original but it was too far gone…)
*Water pump
*Battery
I’ve also done
*Front and rear brakes
*Front and rear shocks
*Body bushings
*Front suspension
*A/C Compressor
If nothing else it’s starting to look OK when I pop the hood …
oh and I got the hood on - it lines up nice, gaps all even and looks pretty good. Also swapped out the wheels and tires for some Olds Rallys that I found for cheap on FB marketplace…
Stripped her down pretty good … lots of work to get it to this point. No big surprises so far… Need to order the rear bumper fillers and then I will be able to move to paint …
Also had to remove the trunk seal for when it’s in for paint… that was a PITA…. While I was in there I sanded and painted the trunk… I needed something that looks “new” to keep me motivated… I think it looks good for a rattle can job (forgive the blue painters tape I still need to clear coat everything).
Last edited by mapearso; Jul 28, 2024 at 08:21 PM.
Started in on the HVAC last night . I had voltage to the motor so I thought the motor was bad and went ahead and replaced it…. Unfortunately that didn’t solve the problem so I will try and chase down what it is … first time dealing with HVAC so it will be a learning process…
Took a break from the HVAC last night - sort of. I wanted to get the switch / assembly from the donor car - and figured I’d take apart the rest of the dash while I was at it…
On these cars taking the dash apart requires getting the headlight **** off FIRST… don’t let anyone tell you different (you can’t reach under and push the button the get the **** and the shaft like on earlier GM cars)
And so it continues. Thank goodness for long daylight hours so I can get stuff done after work.
Got the column out of the “donor” vehicle. I’ll get the dash off tonight.
I also got the column and dash out of the “recipient” vehicle so it’s ready for the transplant operation
Donor car has the clock option. Clock doesn’t work so I’ll find someone to sort that out. Donor car also has rear window defogger option .., because Midwest … unlike the clock I won’t get any use out of that.
Otherwise I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this is plug and play.
Thanks. I have some work ahead of me.... These Holidays were 78-80... sounds ;like the 77 you mention was a Royale not a Holiday,,,wish I had a403 in this one....
I was 11 or 12 at the time so it very well could have been a 1978 with who knows what trim. I just remember it was the same body style as yours in triple black with the 403 and a posi. Until it burnt up.
Got the dash and the column out of the donor and swapped into the recipient …Of course the steering wheel is 180 out… not sure why …otherwise everything is working so far… I need to put in a new A/C compressor and convert to R134… more to come
Steering wheel steel an issue. It was 120 out not 180. I think the problem is at the box.
The only solution I could come up with was to take out the correct 78 sport wheel with the wheel fixed in place on the hub and use an Olds 4 spoke wheel which allows for adjustment.
I found a red wheel with a hub for cheap but man was it filthy. Dental tool and some goo gone did the trick. Had to paint a black horn button to match. I think it cleaned up and came together pretty good. I know it’s not correct but it looks the business.
I’m going to have to modify the horn button attachment to get the horn to work.
Last edited by mapearso; Sep 29, 2024 at 08:24 AM.
Not gonna be doing any autocross or track days… but I wanted the car to handle a little better.
I did the basics (tie rods, center link, ball joints, shocks ) and based on a recommendation from a fellow 78 Delta 88 owner I tracked down the thicker front and rear sway bars and LCAs from a 94 Impala SS.
Only cost a couple hundred bucks and definitely improved the road feel.
Last edited by mapearso; Sep 29, 2024 at 09:46 AM.
So with most of the mechanicals sorted I got a timely text from my buddy that has a family owned paint and body shop.
He said things were a little slow so I hustled the car and parts out to him last weekend.
It was 80 miles one way and I was a little apprehensive because all I’ve done so far are short trips around town … but the car drove really well…
Thankfully I didn’t get pulled over which I was also worried about since I’m rolling without bumpers, grilles, rear windows, etc etc…
I drove out there yesterday to drop off a spare pair of doors and to my surprise they already got a lot of work done on it….
I’m thinking the doors are probably gonna require the most work. The set on the donor car have excellent glass, channels, trim and inner / outer handles, but have some Bondo and a little rust on the bottoms. I hoped they would work but my gut says no, better to use the rust free doors on the car and swap over the rubber channels, trim and inner / outer handles.
Either way it’s some extra labor. I did manage to track down some really nice NOS door rubber so hopefully that means less fussing to get the doors to shut right and tight.
Keeping my fingers crossed that there’s no ‘surprises’ and no paint jail for this car
Last edited by mapearso; Sep 29, 2024 at 09:45 AM.
With the car in for paint I’m now working on the interior.
As many of you know, the plastics on these cars will fall apart on you if the car has spent a lot of time in the sun.
Thankfully the interior on my rusty Minnesota donor car did NOT see a lot of sun and is in great shape… but there are some parts that won’t swap over.
For example, the pieces around the opera windows. From what I can surmise, Olds made two different size opera windows on the 78 and 79 Delta 88 coupes… it seems (tho I can’t verify this) that the cars with landau tops got narrower opera windows and the cars with full vinyl or no vinyl top got wider windows.
Whatever the case, my skinny window plastics were shot. So here’s my solution … Solarez. I figure if it works for my surfboard it should work on the trim. We shall see ..
Donor car went bye bye today … offered it up here and on Facebook for free (with a clean title and a good running 350 in it) but there were no takers so I sold it to a scrapper …
I take my hat off you have done a great job bringing this car back. I have a 79 royal that I'm working on but I'm not as bold as you are and not as mechanical inclined. Would love to see update pics. Did you say you were in California also?
I have a 79 Holiday, just needs minor interior trim work, wish I could find replacement b pillar lace pieces?
Are you painting any interior trim? If so, what color/brand are you using?
Also, did your car have the accessory junction block near the driver's kick plate? If so, could you post a picture?
Thanks
I didn't see that you got the blower motor working. Since there is power to it the problem can only be the motor (unlikely as it is new) or the ground wire. When you get it back from paint try running a jumper from a good ground such as the engine block directly to the ground tab on the motor, clean the paint away where the tab mounts. If the jumper makes it run but it still won't run when the factory ground wire alone is connected to the tab the problem is at the other end of the ground wire meaning opposite the tab or at the tab connection itself.
Looking great, nice project. I am with you on the white. My last Dodge Challenger was stone white, also had some beige, looked really nice. Delete the vinyl and tuck the bumpers will make it a gorgeous car.
