Hi all. My wife and I are looking into buying a '64 Dynamic 88. It's 59xxx on it and is pretty orginal. She was stored for 30 some odd years and within the last 13 or so she's been on the road and for a while was shown (ie garaged/ babied, new interior/ carpet). The current owner used her a bit more, but she's starting to show her age. She has a little bit of rust forming on the driver's fender (small pin holes rotted thru), drivers door rotted in the lower corner and some rust around the chrome. Overall the paint is 85%.

The motor is where the problem could be. The owner says it overheated, but did not figure out why. Its also running a bit rough. He thinks it might be a stuck lifter causing it to be rough.. **thinks** but hasnt torn into the motor. - I almost forgot; its the 2 barrel 394. He only ran it in his driveway, and it didnt sound too bad, although i did see a lot of steam coming out of the oil filler cap thats seen closest to the radiator when it was running.

Any thoughts? He's asking $2500 for it. Is it easy to get some mods for the motor? I have read the 4 barrel 394s made a bit more hp... 340 ish vs 285 - i think, please correct if Im wrong.

Thanks for any help. Olds.jpg
Olds5.jpg
Olds4.jpg
Olds7.jpg

Olds2.jpg
Olds6.jpg

 

My parents bought one of these new and they will have rust problems. The inside of the where the fender meets the hood if theres rust the fender will have to be replaced. The frames also like to rust behind the rear end. What state is the car in?

 

Here's my .02, and I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just giving some advice and things to consider.

I know $2500 does not sound like a lot of money, but when you consider an engine rebuild, possibly some trans work - expensive with this trans, body and paint work, front end work if it needs it, body bushings, brakes... it can get very expensive. So I would consider what your overall budget is.

The other thing is skill level, if you are going to restore this car through your wallet, then I would pursue a candidate that someone else already fixed up and personalize it.

 

Start picking at that rust and you will see it really is much worse. A 4dr will not ever bring back your expense to restore if you sell. Steam out of the oil fill cap may be blowby indicating bad rings. If it is steam that is another bad thing. My advice is to pass on this one sorry to say.

 

The 2bbl 394 is a low-compression motor. The 4bbl is a high compression motor.
There is no way to get the high-compression power level from a low-compression engine without rebuilding.

- Eric

 

Welcome, I like that car for sure. I agree with the others, the rust IS worse than it looks, when you can see it it's always worse than it appears. If the seller said it got hot I'll bet it's steam puffing out the oil fill, that would be at least head gasket(s) or worse(warped or cracked head(s). But on the other hand it could be fun to fix engine and make safe and enjoy it as is.

 

Consider your skills. If you have to pay someone to do the work this car needs, it will cost you some serious bucks. Maybe much more then you can ever get back.
If you have the bucks, don't care if you lose money, or have the skills, equipment and time to do 75, 80 percent yourself, go for it.

 

Maybe?

It is less certain that a dropped wrench will fall down rather than up than that a restoration of such a car will lose money.

It has to be for fun / love only.

- Eric

 

My money says the "steam" is actually ring or valve seal blowby since 394 are notorious for it. They also tend to plug the cylinder head drainbacks which aggravates the blowby. If it comes to that a 394 rebuild is not cheap.

I can honestly say I have never seen rust like is on that passenger door trailing edge. That misaligned trim tells me it's had some collision damage.

Bottom line is that although this is not a lost cause type of car, you can buy a nicer one for less than you'd have in all this one needs. But if you like the car and don't mind the challenges an early-60s Olds can offer, you could be riding in style easy enough. Lot of people look down on a four-door, but a four-door hardtop (Holiday Sedan in Olds-speak) is a stylish ride. It also tended to be right under the convertible and wagon in the sales hierarchy.

 

Thank you for all of the information guys, I appreciate it. I think the wife and I will wait for a better classic to come along- as I think about it, There will probably be more work and the problems might be a little more than my talent and checkbook level at this point. Our orignal thought was that it something affordable to get into, yet when I compare it to my '85 G body with 45k on it (it was my daily driver for 3years) that we sold for $1500 last year, to became clear that we should look for longer. Thanks again.