Hey Everyone!

Just thought I would introduce myself. My name is Ben, i'm 25 years old and I am from San Jose, CA. I've been in love with 68-72 cutlass' for about a year now, ever since I saw a beautiful 442 at the good guys auto show.

Right now I only have a motorcycle which is sort of a pain in the *** when it comes to taking passengers and when the weather gets cold/rainy (thank god no snow where I live!). I really want a classic car as my first 'real' vehicle of my own. I'm hoping to get an early year cutlass, but to be fair I'm not oppose to a 1970 Buick GS, 72 Gran Torino, or even a Chevelle if I find a good deal (although I REALLY don't want a chevelle... everyone and there mom has one).

Onto the questions!:

1. I am curious if there are any Old's guys in my area that ever need an extra hand working on their car? I am trying to learn more in preparation for when I get my car, and I find it is always fun if someone is wrenching with you.

2. Where did most of you get your cars? The only place I really know of that sells cars privately is Craigslist.

3. Any Old's classic car clubs in my area?

Thanks everyone!

Ben

 

Welcome aboard

I'm sure we have some members who "Know the way to San Jose"

Hang in there and some we'll be in touch with you soon.

As to where to look for a car. Well there's always e-bay, 442.com, and our own "cars for sale" section.

Take your time and look around, there's a lot of useful information here.

Thanks for joining up.

 

Hi Ben welcome to the site. For a car for sale their are several listed on this site in the car's for sale just check out the forums page and scroll down.

 

Thanks Jamesbo and 70 Cutlass S! I am definitely looking forward to learning as much as I can on these forums. I'm not much of a mechanic (although I happen to be a bicycle mechanic for 8 hours a day hah!) but I am eager to learn.

Ben

 

There is the Northern California Chapter of the Oldmsobile Club of America.

http://www.norcalolds.com/



You'd have to join the national OCA to be allowed to join the chapter.

http://www.oldsclub.org/



Apparently the 2011 OCA Nationals are being hosted by this chapter, so you'll have all the Oldsmobiles you could want to look at in your area in a year and a half.

http://www.norcalolds.com/public/NCO...ls2/index.html


Of course, you probably don't want to wait that long to buy a car! I got mine through a craigslist ad. Check Hemmings Motor News (www.hemmings.com) as well.

 

Welcome Ben! The best way to start learning, is to get that car of your dreams, the chassis and body manuals, and get restoring!

Get a car that has issues in areas that you wish to learn. If you are like me and do not wish to attempt big rust repairs and painting projects, get one that is pretty clean & complete in those areas and concentrate on the rest - that is what I did.
This forum is a great place to learn also.
I got my car from craigs list, though it was 1500 miles away! It was in such good a shape, I drove it home.

 

He has the advantage of living outside the rust belt and soft parts like interior and weatherstrip are easy to get.

Ben, bud, if you can wrench on a bicycle, you can wrench on a car. These cars are mechanically and electrically simple and a decent set of tools and a factory shop manual will equip you to fix about anything on them.

70-72 are the easiest to find reproduction parts for but I'll admit to now finding them a bit ubiquitous.

If you aren't opposed to a nice 4-door, there's a gorgeous 48k mile 70 coming up at an auction near Roanoke VA Saturday (yah, I know, all the way across the country, typical). And yes, my Ford closet is starting to burn down around me- I'm going up there to bid on a 1967 Thunderbird coupe. Hey- a T-bird is the same class of car as me Starfires and Toronados and at least it ain't a Chevrolet!


Am I nutz?!

http://www.auctionzip.com/Full-Image/755437/fp616.cgi

http://www.auctionzip.com/Full-Image/755437/fp619.cgi



And here's the Cutlass for anyone close:

http://www.auctionzip.com/Full-Image/755437/fp621.cgi

http://www.auctionzip.com/Full-Image/755437/fp625.cgi

 

Welcome to our site, Ben! Nice to have another new member! My 72 was bought on e-bay. You'll learn a lot from these guys... they know their stuff!!!! Don't be afraid to ask questions. They'll help you out!! What ya eating in the picture?? We seem to talk a lot about food on this site too... right Jamesbo!!

 

Ben, Here you go. These are in the area.
Gene
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1532129377.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/1529908997.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ctd/1529891972.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/1529872044.html

These are a little farther out.
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1530574026.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1529896961.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1532483062.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/bar/1529308325.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1530004051.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1528544987.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1526503632.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1526148287.html

Just a few to ponder over.

One more, just a little farther away, but very doable.

http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/1525371290.html

http://stockton.craigslist.org/cto/1526607250.html

http://stockton.craigslist.org/cto/1526672648.html

http://stockton.craigslist.org/cto/1525446173.html

http://stockton.craigslist.org/cto/1517729732.html

 

G'day & Happy New Year Ben,
This is one of the sites I use when looking for cars in the States. It's like a car search engine that will find vehicles across a number of other sites. It's how I found my Olds which was listed with Hemmings.
Try this: http://www.vast.com/cars/used-for-sa...condition-Used
Just specify the type of Olds you're looking for to narrow the search.
Cheers

 

Welcome to you Ben. I'm in the area and looking to swap my rear end out sometime in the future and could use a hand if you're game for it. I'm always up for meeting new people.

 

You'll find what you looking for, just take the time to make sure you buy a restorable car that will not overwelm you with the amount of work to be done so you don't get discouraged. There are guys in your area who I am sure would go look at a few cars with you and give you some advice. Just ask. Good luck in your search.

 

welcome to CO Ben. Looks like we will have you in an Oldsmobile soon!

 

Lady72nRob71 - Thanks for the advice. I am like you, I don't really want to learn how to do bodywork or rust repair, I find the inner workings of a car much more fascinating. I'll keep that in mind when I finally bite the bullet and make the purchase.

rocketraider - That 4 door is actually pretty nice although in general I don't like em too much. I am VERY happy I don't live in a place prone to rust! I am actually thinking about going down to texas once I get enough money for a little vacation where I can do some car shopping. I figure it's pretty dry down there and my friend from texas says there are a lot of old muscle cars for cheap.

cutlassgal - Lol, that picture is of me eating my first Tamale. My friend sergio brought it in to work because I've never had one before (i'm very... VERY white it seems hah!). He was kind enough to tell me not to eat the corn husk which I was about to chomp down on. :P

64Rocket - Thanks! Craigslist is my friend I bought all of my motorcycles off of there and I've also met 3 girlfriends off there too haha, so I am well acquainted.

Col Wickham - Thanks for the link Col., I will add it to my search bar.

svnt442 - Hey I would love to help out! I normally have weekends off, but my day job gets off at 2pm most days so I have the majority of my days free. Let me know when you were thinking about doing that and I can definitely lend a hand. PM me if you want my e-mail address.

citcapp - Yeah that is one thing I am a little worried about, too much work to be done with my little knowledge. I also don't have a whole lot of tools, and the tools I do have are all metric since they are for wrenching on my japanese motorcycle. I'm hoping I will meet a few nice guys on here that could go with me when I finally save up enough money and go to buy my car (Hopefully this summer *fingers crossed!*)

Oldsguy - Haha, that is the plan. Oldsmobile for life!


So I have some questions for you guys. What type of MPG are you getting out of your rocket 350's? I'm pretty sure it's a V8 so it's going to eat gas, I just hope I can wrangle 12+ mpg out of it. I drove a '89 chevy suburban for a long time and that thing got 8-10mpg which killed me since it had a 40 gallon fuel tank.

Thanks!

Ben

 

This is a bit of an unusual question because most hobbyists don't use their old car as a daily driver, and so the mileage it gets is not an issue, and I bet half the people on here (including me!) haven't a clue as to what kind of mileage they get. Are you planning to use whatever old Olds you get as a daily driver?

 

I couldn't tell ya! I just fill her up when she needs it! lol!

 

That 70 4-door was VERY nice. I should have gone ahead and bid to win it today but it's not a car I really crave, and I'm at a point I'm gonna be choosy about the next old car that comes home. It would have made a nice Nationals travel car though. It was pretty bare bones overall, typical of its era- didn't even have power brakes though it did have air. And the back of me head started tingling as soon as I popped its hood to check out the engine... you who own 70s know where I'm going with that.

Meh, I didn't bring the T-Bird home either. Guy had a ridiculous unadvertised reserve on it that far exceeded its condition. It wasn't totally hateful, but I know enough about them to know their weak areas and this one had a couple of those.

 

Yep, I am planning on using whatever car I get as my 'daily driver' in the sense that it will be the only car I own. I still plan on having my motorcycle being my primary source of transportation, but during the winter season (and some hot days in the summer) I will be driving the olds. I will probably end up driving it 30-50% of the time, so although cash isn't a deal breaker, it is definitely somewhat of an issue.

Ben

 

Interesting situation. Well, I'm sure we don't have to tell you that these cars were built back in the day of 35 cent a gallon gasoline, and mileage just wasn't the issue it is today. Those cars were built for comfort and power, not economy. If you wanted an American-made economy car in 1971, you bought a Ford Pinto or a Chevy Vega. I don't think Chrysler made anything comparable at that time. There was also, of course, the original VW Beetle, too. The EPA didn't begin issuing those mileage ratings you now see on the window sticker of every new car until 1974 or 1975, I believe.

Just a wild-assed guess, and based on the mileage I get with my '67 Delta 88 which I did actually check once (and which turned out to be about 13 mpg), I would expect something on the order of 12 to 16 mpg? I remember my father's '73 Custom Cruiser, admittedly a larger car with a larger engine, but from that same era, got about 10 mpg. He always commented that the gas gauge seemed to move down at about the same rate as the speedometer needle moved up as you pulled away from a stoplight.

 

Welcome Ben to the forum! It looks like you already have a lot of good leads to find a new ride. The only other advice I could add would be to look for the obvious sites of rust on the 68-72 Cutlasses. They are the windshield cowl area, lower front fenders, rear wheel wells, trunk floor and around the base of the rear window. Hope that helps.

Also, don't rule out ebay either. I found mine there.