gsnorris

Hi all, I joined in June and am way overdue in posting my newbie intro.

Just brought this black '51 98 sedan - a California car all its life until the end of May. This is my first classic - unless you count tinkering with my dad's cars, including a '66 Cutlass. It should be a rewarding adventure.

Olds 1951 Black CA 00.jpgOlds 1951 Black CA 10.jpgOlds 1951 Black CA 22.jpgOlds 1951 Black CA 14.jpg

I searched for the right driver for 4 years and it finally paid off. The Olds was restored in 1984 and is still looking pretty nice. The 303 was rebuilt in 2003 and purrs (gurgles?) like it should. Everything is original except the 8V battery. The only problems are nuisance level - lots of electrical stuff to sort out - no gas gauge, wipers (still vacuum), dash light, clock, unreliable starting power. Good things for a newbie to start with.

You have a great forum here - glad to be a new member!

69442C

Welcome to CO and great looking car.

Intragration

Very cool car, welcome and good luck with it!

lshlsh2

Welcome, where are you in MD? I'm on the Eastern Shore near Easton. Good looking car hopefully I can see it in person someday.

Larry

gsnorris

Hi Larry, thanks! I'm in Bawlmer, but I hope later in the Summer to drive the Olds to visit my sister near OC. If I do, I'll be going right thru Easton of course. Maybe we can arrange a meet then. Scott

citcapp

Nice ride

rocketraider

I like.

Way back in 1956, my first car ride was in a black 1953 Ninety Eight sedan. Me dad drove, me Ma held me. No seat belts, child seats, nothing.

There's a pic of it somewhere with my cousins holding the dolls they got for Christmas around 1957.


Spoken like a true Bawlmer boy! You drink melk or wudder witcha pit beef? Or Gunther beer? (I had two sets of aunts/uncles who lived in Bawlmer for close to 30 years, and a cousin who, even though she now lives in Mooresville NC, still has her Bawlmer accent- calls me "Hon" 90% of the time! So I'm familiar with Bawlmerese.)

gsnorris

Yeah Raider, most outsiders never hear much hardcore Bawlmerese. If I had said yesterday I wanted to go "downey oshun," who but you and maybe Larry would know what I was talking about? Heh heh, Gunther, now there's a memory - but dad was a Natty Boh man. Any of 'em were fine with a pile of steamers, as long as they were cold.

Current moms and dads probably think our folks were barbarians - used to ride down the highway in our '55 Sunliner convertible, kneeling on the backseat, facing rear, elbows on the boot, watching the world go by backwards and whiffiing the exhaust.

Passed my driver test in 1970 using our '66 Cutlass 330 4bbl. Dad never knew it, but I edged out a friend's 302 Mustang after school one day, and that with 3 other kids in there. What a sleeper!

Thanks for the welcome posts, all youze guyz.

lshlsh2

Sounds like a plan

Larry

69442C

I moved to MD in '87 having originally been from PA above Philly. One of the first times I asked a guy for directions to his company he told me I needed to come down B'lair road and jump on the beltway. Not wanting to sound dumb, I thought I would just pull out the map and find this Blair road and see where this beltway was. After having no luck, I had to call the guy back and found out B'lair road is really Bel Air road and the beltway was just 695. Took a little while to understand the inner and outer loop thing too as I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with city limits or something else. Had another guy ask me one day where I lived and I told him up in the Bel Air area. He said..."yeah, but you're not from there". If I was I would have said B'lair.

rocketraider

Did the guy call you a hillbilly? Only one uncle was originally from Bawlmer, my aunts were both from here and the other uncle was from Oklahoma. It burned my aunts up that even though they had been in Bawlmer for over 30 years and had acquired the Bawlmer accent and lifestyle, they were called hillbillies because they weren't born there.

lshlsh2

Think that is bad. Here on the shore it's worse. When I was in high school a lady died at the age of 101. She was born in Baltimore and at the age of 2 days moved to the shore. She lived on the shore for the rest of her life. Her obit said "Baltimore Native dies on the Eastern Shore at 101"

Larry

rocketraider

gsnorris' comment about "downey oshun" made me think- IIRC when a Bawlmoran said that, it meant they were going to Ocean City.

Went on Google maps a while back and looked up Ev and Gene's old row house on Ready Avenue off York Road. 40 years later, that neighborhood is nothing like it was the last time I was there- which come to think of it was 1969, just before they both retired from SSA and moved back here.

gsnorris

Bing bing bing! We have a winner!

Tedd Thompson

Welcome aboard, really like your car

I don't know how much you know about 6v now 8v cars but when battery cables are replaced on these old rigs they are generally replaced with 12v cables which are to light of gauge. This will cause all kinds of electrical problems. also you probably need to install a stepdown so your gauges are still running on 6v.Just a thought ...Tedd

67Olds442X2

Welcome from Southern Maryland. Great looking car.

gsnorris

Thanks Tedd, I just scored a multimeter (where the heck is my 30-year old one?) - battery, gen and VR all seem fine. 9.3V running, 8.8V cold. I think the starter is hurting.

I can see a step-down in the radio wiring (it's working well) but I'm not sure about the gauges. The only one not working is the gas gauge. Some lights are out and new bulbs haven't helped - instruments, front parking, dome. I'll have to check them one at a time, but I hear bulbs are a common casualty in the 8V strategy. The fan is also out. At least I got the brake/tail/signals working safely.

A convertible? Nice!

joe_padavano

Welcome. Beautiful car. The Capitol City Rockets (DC area chapter of OCA) hosts an all-GM show in Rockville, MD every year at Montgomery College. This year it's Aug 11. We'd love to see the car there. Email me for more info.