Hey, gang. Nice community you have here. Thought I'd make a quick introduction.

I'm 41 with a young family (Nora, 4; Spencer, 5; the ever fetching Samantha) and live in central PA. I've owned a couple classic GM trucks through the years (Plus a '79 Cherokee Sport stashed in AK...) and currently daily drive a '78 K10 Suburban to the tune of 20,000 miles/year. My son is autistic and currently crazy about all things cars. Every time the hood goes up on the Suburban he drags over his little ladder so he can help dad. Nora's big project was cleaning and painting the drive shaft when it was out for new u-joints. I'm a pretty lucky guy.

I've been thinking it would be nice to add a car to the lineup eventually and have been 'browsing' drivers. Anything classic I own - from old Browning Superposed o/u shotguns, the '78 Suburban, the '71 Suburban I owned before, some pretty valuable classic fly rods - gets used. I won't be any different if a new old car comes home to the farm. While not necessarily daily driven, I'll take it to work a few times a week and run errands around our small town in it. And family drives, of course.

I've always had an interest in BOP cars (and Mercurys...) from the early '60s. '63 Wildcat, '62 Meteor, '64 Catalina, '64 Comet, '63 Starfire, etc. But the cars I've always had an eye for are the 1963 F-85s and Cutlasses. My family owned a bunch of later Oldsmobiles when I was growing up, so I always thought I'd eventually own an Olds. I do know the challenges that the 'compact' BOP cars pose, but I'm smitten and enjoy a challenge. We're blessed with miles and miles of two-lane black top and well maintained dirt roads with spectacular scenery here, and I think a small '63 Olds could be set up to be a fun and enjoyable way to scoot through the countryside. It would be fun to eventually build a hot little 215 and tweak the suspension to zip along through the dairy farms and state forests with the kids beaming in the back, Samantha with her feet out the window. Stuff we already do at a much, much more leisurely pace in the Suburban.

So I'll be lurking and learning, making a plan, and keeping an eye out for the 'right' 4-speed '63 F85 driver to come home to Pennsylvania. Hopefully the right one will come along before it's time to teach Spencer and Nora how to drive.

Cheers,
Ryan in PA

 

Central PA, like Central Virginia, covers a lot of territory. Contact Blue-Gray Chapter Oldsmobile Club of America, they cover your area. National Antique Olds Club mail HQ is in Myerstown. And of course there's AACA headquartered in Hershey, so plenty of resources close by.

My best advice on a 63? Find a 4-speed car. Those baby RotoHydramatics are their weak link now, due to lack of people who can service them. Would also find a normally aspirated one for same reason, unless you're prepared to live with an early turbo's quirks.

 

Welcome to the site.

 

Thanks for the welcome, fellas. I plan to reach out to clubs and organizations in the area soon. Hoping to find a good group locally.

I hear ya on the 4-speed. Even before I read up on the RH transmission I wanted a 4-speed car. "Requirements" for a '63 F85 or Cutlass to come live with us is: 1. 4-speed (either factory or a well done swap...); 2. 2-door; 3. Not a convertible; 4. Driver. That's about it. Doesn't seem like a difficult list until you mention 1963 Oldsmobile F-85. Ha!

To make things slightly easier, it could be any color except red. ("Daddy, your truck is red. We need something else from the rainbow...") Spencer likes the baby blue with white top. Nora... for some reason... likes the 'grandpa gold'. (Her words!) I think this car looks handsome in just about any of the stock '63 colors.

So a 4-speed coupe. If a Jetfire comes along, it had better be working perfectly.... which probably puts it out of our budget. The turbo is probably not as practical for semi-daily-driver duty as a carb'd 215 would be. But they're super cool.

Lots of great info here for this somewhat obscure year/model. Gives me confidence that it won't be a lost battle if I find one to tinker with.

As long as it starts with a 4-speed.

 

Ya know what... if the right 4-door came along, that'd be ok. Not sure what 'right' means.... guess I'd know it when I saw it.

Still want a stick though!

 

Welcome! Good luck on your search.

 

Welcome to the group... There are a few early 60's F85 enthusiasts here on the site... Good luck in your search...

 

Thanks, man. The good representation of this era Olds on this forum is why I signed up. I’m absorbing what I can and have a pretty good idea of the challenges a ‘63 F-85 will present. But I think the results will be pretty satisfying.

I always wanted to build a mid-60s style performance car starting with an early 60s car. Sorta like a guy saves pennies and bought a ‘63... and then the ‘super car’ era arrived. What would he do to be satisfied with his F-85 or Special or Tempest in the face of the GTOs and 442s and SS Chevys?

The other thing that draws me to this era of BOP compact is the local history. There weren’t many stop light drags here in rural PA because of a supreme shortage of stop lights. That and few 1/4 sections of straightaway county road. There were quite a few sanctioned dragways and dirt tracks around, but no real boulevards to drag.

From what I can gather, the local boys ran “out and back” races out in the sticks. Less emphasis on straightaway acceleration contests and more about all-around road cars and drivers. I’m only ‘41, but I dig on the history. Stories and details are tough to come by, but I keep listening and looking.

Anyway... I like what a ‘63 Olds can offer. I think it would be a fun car to set up for some spirited driving. And yeah... I’ll need luck to find the right one. (A member here had a great, dry Arizona car set up with a T-5 for sale a few years ago that would have been perfect!)

Beat,
Ryan

 

To be clear... if I end up with a really clean all-stock car, I'll restore to stock. If I find a driver that's been fiddled with a bit so that I wouldn't feel badly about modifying it, the general plan would be:

1. Buy a clean 4-speed car. Drive it. Have fun.

In the meantime, get organized and ...

2. Buy a Rover block and hop it up a bit. Use traditional parts. Make it appear "Olds-school".
3. Higher rate coil springs.
4. Good shocks.
5. Sway bars, front and rear.
6. Upgrade Brakes.
7. Upgrade Rear End.
8. Transplant everything.
9. Go!!

That's the thought anyway!

 

Welcome to the site Ryan. Post some pics of your other vehicles when you get a chance. We love classics of all makes and models. Yes, even Chevy trucks.

 

Here's 'Smokey' the '78 K10 Suburban. Kids love this truck.








And here is 'Earl'. Miss this guy. '71 C10 Suburban.

 

Welcome! A 4 speed car is really hard to find for the 62 and 63 model years. They are out there but you have to dig really deep and stay on top of it to find one. It is actually easier to collect all the parts and then convert an automatic than it is to locate one. You may find one that someone else has converted in the past. Just look nearly every day all over the net. Google and every site that sells old cars. I have lots of 61-63 parts but nothing 4 speed I am willing to sell.

For a front sway bar, if you can find a 63 convertible or Jetfire front stock bar, it is the largest you can get for the 63. The rear will have to be aftermarket. There is a kit available for it but would have to find who has them again.

 

Hey, thanks for the welcome! I really appreciate the feed back and tips. I understand the challenge in finding an original 4-speed car, but while I’m handy mechanically, I’m not a fabricator. I don’t think I trust myself to slice and dice to do the tunnel mods. Or figure out everything that goes into swapping in a manual. I’d totally be open to a car that someone has done a quality conversion on. I’d feel better about my other mods on a car that’s been changed, rather than a bone stock survivor.

There was a car sold a few years back here that looked perfect with a 5-speed swapped in. That’d be a car for me.

R

 

OHHH YEAHHH!

I love those Suburbans. Too bad Ford didn't get the idea for a 4 door Bronco until 2021 (despite the Centurion).

 

Started a 'search and build' thread over in the Other Olds forum:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...=8#post1276355