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Hello all!
I just purchased a 1968 Delta and wanted to learn a few things about it, such as color code, assembly plant, engine code and any other important info. I plan on doing some sort of restoration because its a really solid car. What I know so far about it is that its a 455 auto and its spent most of its life down south for sure (I'm from Michigan so cars like this amaze me) Attached below is the few pictures I have. Looking forward to the help and Happy Halloween!
Edit: Last night after a look a few more pictures and some information I got from the seller, I've got some more information! The sellers dad purchased this off his grandmother who was the original owner and she lived in Texas. After dad bought it it spent 20 years in the garage as his project. When the son turned 16 dad gave it to his son, but the son just couldn't wrap his head around it and moved it to the back of the barn. It then sat there for 2 years till I got it for $800.
The car was repainted but he doesn't know when but he said as long as he has seen the car its been that color since he was born
will be posting cowl tag later
Last edited by VisbleBoatmobile; November 1st, 2022 at 05:56 AM.
Reason: New information
Thank you my dad used to have a cutlass and always reemed me for getting my dodge coronet so he will be quite surprised when he gets home in a few days
Nice. Looks like the RPO L30 455 2bbl motor with 310 HP. The A/C is an aftermarket add-on. Post a photo of the cowl tag for more info. The green interior suggests the car was not originally blue.
Looks like a base Delta 88 Town Sedan bodystyle 68-6469. 33,689 built. It has the 310hp 2-barrel 455 (which was standard equipment in this carline) and probably a Turbo 400 transmission.
Amazing how well the outside cleaned up! and I am digging that aftermarket hang-on airconditioner since that's what most cars had up until the early 1970s.
Look underhood on top of the firewall and you'll find the car's body data plate. We can tell where and when it was built, original paint and interior trim colors, and some of the accessories from what's on that plate.
The missing front end mouldings can come from any 1968 88 series or Ninety Eight. Depending how close you want to original SMS in Oregon should have the seat cloth. Hope you have all the door panels😬.
Last edited by rocketraider; October 31st, 2022 at 12:05 PM.
Nice. Looks like the RPO L30 455 2bbl motor with 310 HP. The A/C is an aftermarket add-on. Post a photo of the cowl tag for more info. The green interior suggests the car was not originally blue.
definitely not it was a dark green with a lighter green on top. I’ll be back tomorrow and I can get that tag
Good find! You can still get the original cloth seat material from SMS Auto Fabrics, not that much more to do it right
than using non-authentic material, it preserves the originality and improves value, and you can have your local upholstery shop
do the work, Worked well for me! That's a great 88! Keep 'em original... that's just imho! https://smsautofabrics.com/collectio...-88-town-sedan
Looks like a base Delta 88 Town Sedan bodystyle 68-6469. 33,689 built. It has the 310hp 2-barrel 455 (which was standard equipment in this carline) and probably a Turbo 400 transmission.
Amazing how well the outside cleaned up! and I am digging that aftermarket hang-on airconditioner since that's what most cars had up until the early 1970s.
Look underhood on top of the firewall and you'll find the car's body data plate. We can tell where and when it was built, original paint and interior trim colors, and some of the accessories from what's on that plate.
The missing front end mouldings can come from any 1968 88 series or Ninety Eight. Depending how close you want to original SMS in Oregon should have the seat cloth. Hope you have all the door panels😬.
Good thing is that I don't want it numbers matching all original, I'm 21 all I want is a car that will turn a few heads. However, I'm missing one of the front door cards There is a guy near me that does a lot of oldsmobiles so I'm going to shoot over there once I start on the interior. I'm also missing one of the DS interior door handles which kinda sucks. All in all I used restoration as a loose term more of a freshening up. I'll be back at my barn in about 5 hours so ill got that cowl tag.
Forget about SMS for seat covers, just find a local upholstery shop to re-do those seats when you have time/money. What part of the state will we soon see this moredoor bombing around in?
Forget about SMS for seat covers, just find a local upholstery shop to re-do those seats when you have time/money. What part of the state will we soon see this moredoor bombing around in?
Glad someone gets the reference even though the "Invisble Boat Mobile" is a 59 caddy. might be trash bags for a little bit. More focused on making it road ready than looking good right now. Ill be primarily in southeast Michigan but I never pass down on road trips!
I'm 21 all I want is a car that will turn a few heads....I'm also missing one of the DS interior door handles which kinda sucks.
Someone here will have the inside handles, or you can look at other 1968 GM cars for those. They shared a lot of interior details like that- "Fisher Body identity".
Which one are you in this pic? I'm guessing the boy with the big grin standing on the trailer with the car? Awful big grin there bud!
Someone here will have the inside handles, or you can look at other 1968 GM cars for those. They shared a lot of interior details like that- "Fisher Body identity".
Which one are you in this pic? I'm guessing the boy with the big grin standing on the trailer with the car? Awful big grin there bud!
The funniest part is that that's the kid I bought it off of. I'm behind the camera but my smile was about the same. He was glad we got it on the trailer because man that thing was not a blast to unearth. I'm the one in the maroon sweater in the washing pictures!
Hello all!
I just purchased a 1968 Delta and wanted to learn a few things about it, such as color code, assembly plant, engine code and any other important info. I plan on doing some sort of restoration because its a really solid car. What I know so far about it is that its a 455 auto and its spent most of its life down south for sure (I'm from Michigan so cars like this amaze me) Attached below is the few pictures I have. Looking forward to the help and Happy Halloween!
Edit: Last night after a look a few more pictures and some information I got from the seller, I've got some more information! The sellers dad purchased this off his grandmother who was the original owner and she lived in Texas. After dad bought it it spent 20 years in the garage as his project. When the son turned 16 dad gave it to his son, but the son just couldn't wrap his head around it and moved it to the back of the barn. It then sat there for 2 years till I got it for $800.
The car was repainted but he doesn't know when but he said as long as he has seen the car its been that color since he was born
01C = built third week (C) of January (01) 1968
ST 68 = 1968 model year
36469 = Oldsmobile (3) Delta 88 (64) Town Sedan (69)
BK = Kansas City, KS assembly plant
06725 BODY = Fisher Body sequence number
TR 344 = Willow Gold cloth interior
SG PAINT = Jade Gold (S) lower body color, Willow Gold (G) upper body color
That last picture of the car after getting a cleaning looks like there is a one foot tall alien walking on the roof. Nice car, I had a '69 Delta that was the same color combination and the same engine, loved it! After re-building the engine and adding a few power adders like a four barrel carburetor, headers, mild cam, timing chain, etc it woke up real nice. Those Deltas are nice cars.
Never noticed that LOL! I was planning on just converting it to a stock 4 barrel sing there was a 4 barrel intake in the trunk and it would cost a lot less
Does the engine color or head code mean anything? Or is there some way to confirm that this engine came in this car? Im not too worried about it but it be good information to have!
Look at the left front side corner of the engine, just below the cylinder head. Starting 1968 you will find a machined pad there with a number stamped into it. The last 6 digits of that number should match the last 6 digits of the car's VIN that's visible thru the lower driver side corner of the windshield. If they do it's the car's original engine.
This car should have C cylinder heads but short of pulling them off no way to tell if they're big valve or small valve. Look at lower left corner of the head to find the head casting code.
If you go 4bbl, stick with an OE style QuadraJet. Makes things simpler in the long run. You'll need a 4bbl throttle cable and bracket and a 4bbl fuel pump to carb line.
Dang so this does have the C heads but the engine is gold so that’s not an amazing sign. I do have a 4 barrel intake but my quadrajet I have is from the 70s hopefully it will be ok. As far as the line I might just bend a hardline myself since I doubt I could get a pre made one
Fusick or any of the Oldsmobile or multi-GM parts vendors will have a pre-bent steel QuadraJet fuel inlet line that will work. Even if not listed as fitting 68 Delta 455-4bbl, you should be able to tweak it a little to get a good alignment but that's no problem. As an example the one on my 69 Toronado was listed as fitting 69-72 Cutlass w/455.
A pre-1975 front inlet QuadraJet should work ok. 75-later are calibrated more for emissions than performance but some of those were rated 800cfm. The magic of QuadraJet is that it supplies the airflow the engine requires, as compared to say a Holley which has to be tuned to the engine, otherwise it will run pig rich, stutter, bog and all kinds of other hateful things.
Trying to remember if 68 big car 455 used a hot air choke or what's called divorced choke with the thermostatic coil on the intake, but your 4bbl intake will ultimately determine which one you need. If a hot air choke, strongly recommend using an electric choke. Joe P has an excellent tutorial on installing one, complete with part numbers.
Dang so this does have the C heads but the engine is gold so that’s not an amazing sign.
My money says look close and there'll be gold paint overspray on brackets and other things.
BBO were never factory painted gold. They were: red 65-69 425 and 455, bronze 65-69 400, blue 70-74 455. The 64-67 330 and 68-74 350 were gold. All engines were either metallic turquoise blue or GM Corporate blue 1975-80, and 81-90 307 were black.
Young'un, you're in MI, the home turf of Oldsmobile, and it's up to us to help you learn about them and preserve the knowledge while you keep one on the road.😎
With that information, imho I think when the car was repainted so was the engine. Certainly looks cool but still not good to know that the engine was out of the car at some point
The only engine offered in the 1968 Delta was the 455. Every one of them left the factory in red paint. The VIN derivative stamp will tell you if this is the original engine or not.
Welcome! Looks like a solid car. These are well built, comfortable cars that you will enjoy. I have some usable hood moldings you can have…pm me if you want them. As Joe pointed out the where the engine vin derivative is located… you can see it (or snap a photo) from underneath the driver’s side. The PS bracket blocks it from almost every angle, but you can find it. Probably covered over in grime if anything like my 68s. Hope this helps,
Dave
With that information, imho I think when the car was repainted so was the engine. Certainly looks cool but still not good to know that the engine was out of the car at some point
May not have been. I've known plenty of people who spray bombed the engine in the car and actually got decent results. Done engine touch up in the car myself but you do have to take some things apart to get a good job. Look for gold paint on brackets etc and on the bottom side of the engine, that'll tell you if it was painted in the car.
If you change intakes, look close at the lifter valley to see how sludged up it is. That will tell you a lot about how the engine was maintained.
Do you have it running yet? Change oil, rebuild the carb and clean the fuel tank ought to get this beast ready to fire up. Maybe pull the valve covers and make sure no valves are stuck.
Well a lot has happened since yesterday. We found out there was a major mechanical failure on cylinder 3. I’m leaning toward a hydro locked cylinder. The engine is now at the machine shop. Thankfully the block can be saved and we should be running by the end of the year! I’ll try to upload a pic when I get home because it doesn’t want to load my images right now.
October 31st, 2022, 10:32 AM
Barn find 68 Delta
There is a guy near me that does a lot of oldsmobiles so I'm going to shoot over there once I start on the interior. I'm also missing one of the DS interior door handles which kinda sucks. All in all I used restoration as a loose term more of a freshening up. I'll be back at my barn in about 5 hours so ill got that cowl tag.
