Wasn't looking for a new ride but this car belonged to my buddies wife's grandparents and my buddy has had it for about 20 years. He seldom drove it and wanted some garage space so he offered it to me cheap. I asked him how cheap,... and he said "Really Cheap!!!"
So I bought it..............


It's a '66 Olds Delta 88 it has 70,560 original miles on it. It is very well optioned, it has the 425 310hp engine with th400 tranny, power steering, power brakes, power windows and power vent windows, buckets with console and factory tach, interior lighting group, radio with rear reverb speaker, deluxe package tray, heavy duty rear suspension.... and a few other things I can't remember right now. It still has bias-ply tires which are in good shape but of course I'll need to pick up some better rubber for it.
We used this ride for graduations and weddings, I've been around this car for about 35 years or so. Here's a few pictures:

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The car was painted in the mid-80's, Granny tagged a car with the front driver's fender ( I think she was about 86 then). The repair shop searched around for good parts which my buddy saw and told me way back then he was happy with the repair.
The car needs window and trunk seals, has a cracked driver's side exhaust manifold, it has a crack in the windsheild, and the heater core leaks so it has been bypassed for some time. The car runs great but if you floor the pedal from a standstill the car stumbles before kicking in and laying some rubber. The accellerator pump seems to be working so I'll be checking out the linkage and butterflys on the carb among other things (like a tune up).


All in all a pretty sound car though, and well worth the $1200 I paid for it! I guess it pays to have friends for over 45 years!
Thanks for looking,
Dan

 

I wrote an article about this car and it was published in Canadian Cars magazine under the title "Grandpa"s Olds" (august 2000 issue). Here's the article:

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I always enjoyed riding in this car, I owe my buddy big time for giving me the opportunity to enjoy taking care of this ride for years to come!
Dan

 

That is a gorgeous car! I love the buckets and console, haven't seen many like that.

Power disc brakes on a 65? Was it converted?

 

Hi Vern,

The car is a '66 Delta 88. I haven't actually removed a tire to see the brakes but my buddy knows what disc brakes look like so I'll take his word for it until I see for myself!
But for what I paid for the car, the brakes weren't a deal breaker.....

I'm in Canada so I can contact GM Canada's Vintage dept. and get the option codes and engine numbers etc. for the car that it left the factory with. I imagine the power vent windows are quite rare, I've only seen one other car with them and it was so long ago I can't remember what make the other car was!
Thanks for the post, I hope to get new tires on the weekend so I'll know for sure what the front brakes are and will update this post.
Dan
BTW, the car looks greenish/blue in the pictures but it's actually Artesian Turquoise.

 

I don't know where I got 1965 when your post and the article clearly state 1966. I was asking about the brakes as I thought discs weren't available till 1967 when they switched to the dual chamber master cylinder. I could be wrong though, I clearly was about the year of your beautiful car. Regardless of the brake stuff, I think you got a killer deal and I hope you enjoy driving it.

 

I am so envious! Congrats on a beautiful car!

 

NICE!!! You may want to consider replacing the exhaust manifold with a repro S or Starfire manifold for dual exhaust and put duals on it. You will feel the increase in power.

 

Beautiful car!!

$1200.00 bucks???

Canso Dan is out....I'm callin you "Lucky" from now on!!

Congrats, enjoy it!

 

A little update.............

I sent away to GM Canada for the documentation and was a little disappointed with what it revealed. The car has the original engine but it was the 425/310hp 2 barrel version. The car does have a '66 Olds 4 barrel manifold but from what I can gather it's for the 455. The carb is also for the 455 but the '69 year. There was talk from my buddies wife who said her granny told her the engine was replaced on warranty, I bet it was the carb and they put a 4 barrel version on when they did the job.......... GM said there were 1,985 2drht's made in '66.

Now for the options, it doesn't have power disc brakes as my buddy told me (put on new rubber and saw that right away.......).
The documentation made no mention of the tach or lighting options, it also didn't mention the power vent windows. Code A38 is mentioned on both the cowl tag and the build sheet I found in one of the bucket seat backs, anyone know what that option is? My build sheet also doesn't have the power window options listed or the auto tranny......
Here's the list:
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A01 Tinted glass, all windows
A31 Window electric control
A39 Deluxe seat belts front and rear
A51 Front buckets
C50 Rear window defogger (blower type)
D55 Floor console
G51 Heavy duty springs
J50 Vacuum power brakes
L74 425 CID 2bbl carb V8
N40 Power steering
P85 Tires: 8.55-14-4 hwy W/Wall
U35 Clock
U63 AM push button radio
U84 Rear seat reverberation unit (it's cool but at present I can't get it to work)

I've also installed radial T/A tires, a new tinted windsheild, put in a Pertronix ignition, tune up, ordered shocks but they aren't in yet, and I located a set of exhaust manifolds (mine are cracked). I also installed a new accellerator pump and although the car runs great, the idle isn't near smooth enough.
Anyways, enjoying cruising around in the ride, I'll take a few more pictures with the new rubber and post them soon.
Dan

 

Still a very nice car and rare with the buckets and console. The paper pictured is the broadcast sheet and not the build sheet. The build sheet is bigger and has more detail and often found atop the gas tank. Perhaps the tach was part of the console and not identified alone. That air cleaner is an obvious Canadian piece as the US used a different design. Most came with the 310 HP 2bbl.

 

Code A39 was actually a package: 2SPD Wipers & Washers w/glare reduced wiper arms, back-up lights, outside rearview mirror as well as the DLX seatbelts. I can't find a listing for A38. G51 was heavy duty REAR springs only.

 

Correct. From what I found in the SPECS book, the tach was included with the console and automatic trans. If you ordered the console with a floor shift manual trans, you got a "performance gauge", which we all know as a vacuum gauge.
Wierd. Seems backward to me, but there must have been some logic to it