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Hi all, I'm sneaking around in this great forum since a while, now also want to start contributing a bit and ask my questions .
Being 54 years old, I fulfilled my dream of again owning a classic US-car. I had a '79 Blazer already ~30 years ago, our father infected us. While he used to first drive a '79 Caprice, later a Cadillac Sedan de Ville, my second brother owns a '77 Firebird TransAm which he turned into his dream car from Smokey and the bandit movie.
Now my 'new' car is a 1966 Olds Starfire. Actually, I saw it first time seven years ago when it was for sale in Germany on ebay small adverts. While I fell in love with it immediately, my family situation did not allow for it. And it happened that the car got sold and the advert disappeared again. However, back then I put a search agent for "1966 Oldsmobile Starfire" in the app. Rarely it showed new results, mostly brochures or other small parts, since Starfires are rare in US, but almost impossible to find in Germany. Nevertheless, two years ago, exactly the same car showed up again. I was amazed, but again let the chance pass since still my personal situation was not proper for it. But I thought, this was my last chance, and I will never see it again (of course, since it was/is such a cool car). And again, it was sold and the ad disappeared. I was sad, but lived my life...
Then, in October 2023, again exactly this car showed up again in my search agent results. This time, boundary conditions fitted. Also I thought man three times exactly the same vehicle is a clear sign that it is waiting for you! And I finally called the seller, went there and bought the car! Directly drove it home with my brother, it ran fine for ~450mls (but without heating, dash illumination and other stuff not working).
Now, during winter 2023/34, I am doing needed stuff, big service, fixing old rubber stuff, fixing a lot of non-functional items like:
Odometer (one gear was missing, I ordered an used odometer from an 1966 olds just to replace the gear
Radio (A later model radio was built into the dashboard, I ordered a 1966 one from US on ebay)
Replaced an ugly aftermarket wiper switch with the original one
Heater/air condition (was not working at all, the seller had unplugged the whole electrical and vacuum system)
Removed addon instruments (I consider the car super robust and believe at the moment that for my driving the idiot lights are good enough)
Completely restored the six-way bench seat electrical movement stuff
Ordered lots of body rubber parts and mounted them
And lots of smaller fixes and upgrades
I want to keep the car's outer state as it is today, since I like the shabby look. The inside shall be comfortable and clean without strange smell or nonfunctional/broken parts. And technically, I want to bring it to a super-reliable car where I can go for vacation road trips to Sweden, Italy or whatsoever.
I bought all the manuals which are available and downloaded the available stuff in this GREAT FORUM (like the illustration catalog, thanks so much for this super-useful document!).
My goal is to hit the road in April this year, have all technical issues fixed and check it out on an already planned ~2.000mls road trip to Italy...
So, guys, looking forward to enjoying the Starfire and some good discussions with you all. CU in the forums, or out there in Europe!
Regards, Steffen
Amazing side view with 18" Ridlers
What a shape of a car! Rear ridlers are 20"
Engine compartment, A/C stuff outside but I got the parts from the seller. Will reinstall some when..
Nice interior, not fully original like the missing aluminum style inserts on the door panels and the renewed upholstery.
Your Starfire is unusual in that it's a bench seat car with column shifter. Only the 1966 could be ordered that way, and the new for 1966 Strato-Bench seat was available only in higher-line GM cars. Good find.
Except for the Starfire specific parts, most of the parts you're missing (such as the air conditioning) can come from any 1966 or possibly 1965 full-size Oldsmobile. But I imagine those aren't common in Europe either.
Hi all, thanks much for the warm welcome! Proud to be part of the ClassicOldsmobile forum now :-)
@rocketraider , thanks for the info, didn't find much info so far about option take rates. Unfortunately the car did not have any history documentation with it. So I'm figuring out the options myself from the option list. But it's fun to understand what's inside and what not...
The wheels will be replaced over time with something more close to original, since the current ones are anyway completely illegal in Germany (at least if you want the car to be classified as historic vehicle).
Welcome, and you've done really well with this one, I bet it's a real standout in Germany.
I spent a weekend in Hamburg back in the fall of 1981 while on a semester in Denmark. I loved that city. It was right when that movie Das Boot came out. Signs were all over the city to go see it.
Last edited by BlueCalais79; Jan 27, 2024 at 05:17 AM.
I have a 1966 Starfire in CA. Great car. Look around under my username for posts about these cars.
The really great thing about these cars is they are basically a 1966 Olds 88 with special trim. That is very helpful when looking for mechanical, but not trim parts. Many parts from 1965 to 1970 Oldsmobile big cars will fit.
It’s the second 1966 Olds I’ve built and I’ve had it since 1998. I hope some of my posts will help you.
Please feel free to direct questions my way about the car.
Again, many thanks to all of you guys for the warm welcome! It's a great & alive community here!!!
Originally Posted by BlueCalais79
Welcome, and you've done really well with this one, I bet it's a real standout in Germany.
I spent a weekend in Hamburg back in the fall of 1981 while on a semester in Denmark. I loved that city. It was right when that movie Das Boot came out. Signs were all over the city to go see it.
Hi, yes there were two 66 Starfires for sale recently, now both are gone. I keep monitoring the market since I have a search agent running since six years. Experience is that there is almost no such car around. While I live in southern Germany, Hamburg is at the northern end of the country, I was there just two times so far. But nice city, always worth a visit (like basically so many places in the world ;-).
Originally Posted by cfair
Welcome to Classic Olds.
I have a 1966 Starfire in CA. Great car. Look around under my username for posts about these cars.
The really great thing about these cars is they are basically a 1966 Olds 88 with special trim. That is very helpful when looking for mechanical, but not trim parts. Many parts from 1965 to 1970 Oldsmobile big cars will fit.
It’s the second 1966 Olds I’ve built and I’ve had it since 1998. I hope some of my posts will help you.
Please feel free to direct questions my way about the car.
Cheers
Chris
Thanks much for this offer, Chris! I will definitely come back to it, hope I don't overstretch. I totally like figuring out all the stuff with the manuals, but sometimes an image or an advise from an expert helps a lot (e.g. just removed the interior HVAC box, and there were two bolts from outside which was a bit of a search to identify them).
Originally Posted by exotec
Servus und liebe Grüße von der Donau!
Nice looking olds you have!
Servus, Ich lebe auch fast an der Donau (35km von Ulm). Vielleicht sehen wir uns mal auf einem Treffen. Das wäre super... Gibt es größer Treffen, zu denen du gehst?
Originally Posted by bobs72
Previous owners did a very good job, you are very fortunate. Curious to know what if any driving restrictions you will have as a historic vehicle?
Hi, yes I am very happy with the state of the car. However, there were also some downsides when I bought it, as I wrote in the list in my original post. But the fun part is to bring all that stuff back to life, a lot is already working again. In April this year I want to make the trip to Italy with it, and I am already confident it will do a great job.
Driving restrictions are not there with historic vehicles. Advantage is that you pay less tax and less insurance, but you need to own a primary "daily driver " car. The main limitation which comes with the historic vehicle is that you must keep the car in original state, or only add stuff to it which was available in the selling year + max. 10 years. This means for example that the 18"/20" rims are not allowed, I need to put something on the car which fits more to the 60's. (we need to have the cars checked every 2 years) Sometimes authorities even complain if you add a modern radio under the dash. But I will see and report, my first re-check will be next year in October.
Then by the restrictions you mentioned you will be limited to 15" wheels but there are a lot of nice SS1 wheels out there to be had even reproductions by some companies that are really nice looking.
Welcome!
What a great back story on you and this car, it was just meant to be. Very cool.
Agree, this one seems to be meant for me :-)
Originally Posted by Oldsguy
Then by the restrictions you mentioned you will be limited to 15" wheels but there are a lot of nice SS1 wheels out there to be had even reproductions by some companies that are really nice looking.
Yes, I'll check with the technical authorities which options I have. Found a super interesting page with screenshots about contemporary wheel catalog screenshots: https://vintagewheelcatalogs.com/. I will this one use as a reference. Once I was there I'll post what 'll be possible and what not..
I can’t comment on what is legal in Germany, but I can recommend upgrading to 15”x8” wheels. I’m running 245/60 R15 on them & they’re nice.
For safety I’d highly recommend a 2 circuit brake master cylinder over the 1 circuit hydraulic master cylinder Olds used in 1966. Much safer. With 2 circuit system, if a rubber brake hose fails, you always have half of your brakes. That is much better than none.
I can also recommend upgrading to the HEI distributor. The next big upgrade is to remove the external voltage regulator & switch to the internally regulated 10SI or 12SI alternator.
You can also upgrade to disk brakes, but this is a major effort, even more difficult in Europe than it would be in the US. There are posts here about that.
All of these upgrades were available and common to GM cars of approximately 1975, so if the German rule is upgrades within 10 years, you should be clear.
Welcome! That's a nice Starfire, sure to turn heads. I spent a week in Darmstadt back in Jan '19. Was able to take a day-trip up to Best, Netherlands via the autobahn to see some of my father's WWII artifacts in the Wings of Liberation museum. Weather was not the best in Jan, but from what I could see there is some beautiful countryside along the way. Man, I wish the US would invest in "proper" road construction methods like Germany used in the autobahn, beautiful (smooth) highway that is safe at high speeds.
Originally Posted by Blafau
EU regulations don't allow custom modifications of any kind, wow. That car will look great cruising down the Reeperbaum
Its not that modifications are not allowed, from what the OP has posted its that they are restricted to factory available parts within 10 years of production to allow classification as an "historic vehicle" and have reduced taxes / fees / etc.
Last edited by JohnnyBs68S; Feb 5, 2024 at 09:49 AM.
Reason: Corrected name of museum.
Thanks much for your recommendations! I wasn't in the forum for a while.
I somehow followed your advise, upgraded the ignition with a Pertronix Ignitor 2 LS module (P/N 91181LS). Works like a charm, I already made several small tours and two bigger trips to Austria/Switzerland and to Italy. More than 2.000mls more on the odo since April 1st (when I installed it), and runs like a charm. I am super-happy with the no-hassles installation of the module and its flawless operation. Just the price tag was not small, there must be some gold nuggets inside ;-).
Agree, the dual master cylinder is also on my list of todo's. Just not sure which P/N to select, there are some with 1" bore and some with >1"; and then also not sure if I need some proportioning valve. I also studied the disc brake threads already, but as you wrote this seems to be a really major thing, needs used parts from specific models which are completely uncommon in Europe unfortunately. So most probably I will keep the drums and just upgrade to a dual master in the coming winter..
Did you upgrade to discs meanwhile? If so, from which car model did you get the parts? And front - or even also rear?
And also the internally regulated alternator is on my list, just at the moment it's summer season and I am more focused on driving around ;-)
Fantastic to see your car running around Europe. Especially long hauls. Well done.
The pictures are a dream for me from the US West Coast. I’ve always thought it would be a lot of fun to run an enormous 60’s Olds around Europe. But for me it’s not even close to practical.
Long ago I brought my Norwegian/American Mom to the Ferrari Museum in Modena. We both thought it was a great story about a family company. In 2021 I drove across Slovakia in a good Audi station wagon and was impressed with European roads. I’ll go on a road trip there anytime!
I am pleased you enjoy the Progression Ignitions like me. We do not know yet about how long they will live, but they are a big improvement over the weights & springs from the Old GM distributors from the 1960’s. I played with the weights/springs for 40 years. With out 91 Octane gas here in California, with alcohol, I could never get the engine to run without knocking/pinging until Progression Ignition HEI.
For brakes, I am using 1969-1970 disks on my 1966 Starfire & 1966 Olds 98 as well. The Oldsmobile factory rotors cannot be found, even in the USA. If you look under my username and Joe P., you will find a long thread about upgrading 1966 drums to 1970 disk brakes. At this point I’m lucky to have factory rotors on my 66’ 98, but I am using 2003 Cadillac rotors with custom machining on my 1966 Starfire. See the thread, Joe and I will be happy to teach you what to do. This is not an easy path, but it can be done. I highly recommend disk front/drum rear brakes for these large cars, especially today, when every car on the road stops quicker than you.
Having said all of that, the 1966 drum brakes worked just fine, the major risk is a brake line failure which in the 1966 system (single hydraulic circuit) causes 100% brake loss. In 1967 the US government required 2 hydraulic circuits which forced an improvement. When working with the 1960’s drum system, just leave a lot of room between you and the car ahead of you. People will cut in, but let them. You are enjoying your great car, they are driving their less fun car.
Take Summer to enjoy the Starfire, you can get to the upgrades and fixing when Fall/Winter come.
Thanks for posting the pictures! I was on active duty in the US Navy in 1996 to 1998 stationed on a ship at LaMadallena at the north east tip of Sardinia. I had what we referred to as a "rock car" while there, a small vehicle already predented and scratched so as not to be too pretty, it was a small 4 door Peugeot with a 900 CC engine and 4 speed manual transmission. It was fine for driving the narrow and twisty roads of Sardinia. The wife and I had opportunity to take a couple weeks vacation while there and took the car on the ferry to the mainland docking at Genoa. The little car could touch 100 KPH but mostly kept it at around 80 KPH on the AutoStrada getting passed by the Ferraris and other more powerful cars. We enjoyed the Piedmont area immensely, great wine, and also visited Lake Como, Vicenza, Venice, Modena and other smaller towns before returning to Sardinia. We loved our time in Italy.
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, both the forum and the cars!
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