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I just stumbled across this forum and it's a very timely thing indeed. I'll soon be the new owner of a 1964 Dynamic 88 convertible. I actually have a long history with this car although I've never driven or ridden in it. My dad bought it almost 40 years ago when I was 14 with the idea of fixing it up for me to drive when I got my license a couple of years later. For better or worse, that never happened. Gas went up to--gasp!--a dollar a gallon (yeah, this was the late '70s) and I ended up with a '72 VW Beetle instead. The car was garaged at my childhood home until a couple of years ago when Dad sold the house and a friend of his who is a mechanic has had it at his place ever since. He's in the process of getting it running and will bring it to me when it's road worthy again. The biggest needs right now are to get the gunked-up gas tank cleaned out and to get a new set of tires. There's also some rust on the bottoms of the doors and the top apparently isn't in the greatest shape, either. I haven't seen the car since 2004.
I've got a close connection to the Oldsmobile brand as my dad was a district sales manager for the company from 1959-1991. Over the years, I've owned seven Oldsmobiles--an '86 Calais Supreme, a '91 Cutlass Supreme, '94 LSS, two '97 LSS's, and two Auroras, a '98 and a '95 that I presently own.
Welcome to CO and glad to have another D88 vert owner on board. You'll have to post photos of your car and all the pertinent information on it (we live through photos if you haven't figured that out).
Be interested to see another of 10042 '64 88 convertibles still running the roads. Good story on your dad too. There is alot of great history there in your family.
Love your '64. Mine is white with a dark green interior. The top that's on it now is black but it originally had a white one. Like I said, I haven't seen the car in a little over 12 years but I'll definitely post some pix.
I started doing some online research today and found by far the best deal on a set of tires for the car was a set of 215-75-R14 98S Hankook Optimo H724 all season radials for $57 each with free shipping on Amazon. The site says they won't fit the car but every cross reference chart I've looked at suggests they will, which leads me to suspect Amazon's database just doesn't include 52-year-old cars. I'm thinking I'll order a set and have them shipped to my dad's friend who has the car so he can put them on. Just seems like an easy, cost-effective solution all the way around.
Factory-available tires sizes for your car were 8.00 x 14 standard and 8.50 x 14 and 7.60 x 15 as options. The 8.00 x 14 tires were about 27.6" in diameter. Those 215/75-14s are only about 26.7". If you can find them, 225/75-14s would be a better choice at 27.3". Unfortunately, the only ones I can find are expensive ones from Coker.
I've got 215/70/14 Hankook Optimo on my D88 but I sure didn't get the price deal you found. My car is finished in Cashmere Beige with a Saddle interior. The top isn't correct to the car's body plate (A) but I plan on fixing that this winter. Mice and father time had taken its toll before I got my hands on it.
I also see you're in the Triad. There is an owner's club being revamped in the area you should check out - Mid Atlantic Olds. They have a fb presence as well.
Yeah, I was pretty amazed at that deal. It was about a third the price of anything else I'd seen that would fit the car, so I decided to jump on them before they changed their mind. Are you pleased with the tires?
Thanks for the heads-up about the Mid Atlantic Olds club. I'll have to check that out. My dad is in Charlotte and is a long-time member of the Hornets Nest Region of AACA.
Originally Posted by btw
I've got 215/70/14 Hankook Optimo on my D88 but I sure didn't get the price deal you found. My car is finished in Cashmere Beige with a Saddle interior. The top isn't correct to the car's body plate (A) but I plan on fixing that this winter. Mice and father time had taken its toll before I got my hands on it.
I also see you're in the Triad. There is an owner's club being revamped in the area you should check out - Mid Atlantic Olds. They have a fb presence as well.
Welcome. That is going to be a nice car with an interesting history. In 1964 I had just graduated from high school. I got to chauffeur one of the contestants in the Miss Louisiana Pageant in a red 1964 Olds 88 convertible. I thought I was pretty cool. Unfortunately I have no pictures. The girl did not win but I did get to go to the pageant.
Yeah, I was pretty amazed at that deal. It was about a third the price of anything else I'd seen that would fit the car, so I decided to jump on them before they changed their mind. Are you pleased with the tires?
Thanks for the heads-up about the Mid Atlantic Olds club. I'll have to check that out. My dad is in Charlotte and is a long-time member of the Hornets Nest Region of AACA.
I'm very pleased with the tire performance. When I fished my car out I needed 4 new tires to replace the dual ww bias ply Firestones that were old and cracked. Granted, I want to drive my car home and Discount Tire had a weekend deal on the Hankooks so I bought them.
We don't drive tremendous huge long distances (trips on the BRP, backroads to our favorite bbq & ice cream spots, Sunday trips to church and a host of local car shows) and I'm no speed demon anymore. I've got a Corvette in the garage for that and it's for sale.
Granted I would love to get a set of Cokers or Diamond Backs but that money is going toward the top replacement this winter. Firm believer however that these big Olds need to ride on whitewalls.
My car was sold new in Dover, DE, spent only a couple of years on the eastern shore and then went to Southern Ohio and eventually made it's way to NC. Same ownership since new. 31130 miles. Built April 1964.
Welcome. That is going to be a nice car with an interesting history. In 1964 I had just graduated from high school. I got to chauffeur one of the contestants in the Miss Louisiana Pageant in a red 1964 Olds 88 convertible. I thought I was pretty cool. Unfortunately I have no pictures. The girl did not win but I did get to go to the pageant.
Another great Oldsmobile story with additional bonus points: red convertible and beauty queens!
That's great to have such low mileage on a car that age. Mine had just turned 100,000 when Dad brought it home in 1978. I doubt it's been driven 1,000 miles since then. Dad got it painted and put a new top on it in the fall of 1986 and then it was stashed in the garage at our old house until 2014. My dad got it from a friend of his who had bought it new from Thompson Cadillac Olds in Raleigh, NC in the fall of 1963, which made it a very early '64 model. The story goes that the dealership had provided the car to the Shriners for a parade and my dad's friend, the first owner, had been appointed to drive it. He liked the car so well that he ended up going back and buying it a week or so later.
Wow, a Carolinas based car. That will make for some great memories. Can't wait to see the pictures!
Interesting that you're in the Triad. Every one of the classic and antique cars I've ever purchased (save one Cadillac Eldorado from Chicago) have come out of an area between Mount Airy, Clemmons, Stokesdale and Danville, VA - including every one of my Oldsmobiles. Seems to be a pocket of restorers/builders who know their craft well in that area.
A good reason for that phenomenon may be that one of the consistently strongest Oldsmobile dealers in the Charlotte Zone, which encompassed mainly the Carolinas, was Black Cadillac Olds (now Bill Black Chevrolet Cadillac) in Greensboro. I can't speak for Danville as that was in the D.C. Zone, but then again, it's maybe an hour from Greensboro.
Originally Posted by btw
Wow, a Carolinas based car. That will make for some great memories. Can't wait to see the pictures!
Interesting that you're in the Triad. Every one of the classic and antique cars I've ever purchased (save one Cadillac Eldorado from Chicago) have come out of an area between Mount Airy, Clemmons, Stokesdale and Danville, VA - including every one of my Oldsmobiles. Seems to be a pocket of restorers/builders who know their craft well in that area.
