Hello guys and gals, My name is Adam. I am a newbie to the whole hot rod scene as well as message boards. I just bought my first resto-rod project car and was told to stop on by to acquire knowledge and wisdom from the seasoned veterans here. On my plate is a 1938 Oldsmobile F38 2 door Touring Sedan equipped with an in-line 6 flathead engine and a 3 speed on the floor. I have uploaded a few pictures of the car from when I first laid eyes on her up to the most recent amount of beginning preservation work that I have done. Its going to be a long and winding road for me and the auto and Im sure ill be posting a bunch of questions. So if anybody out there has gone through similar situations than please chime in and shed some light. Now like i said i am mainly here for assistance if i need any and to show the world what I am going through to bring this beauty back to life. Thanks for taking the time to read my novel. If you have questions or comments, Open fire.

 

Welcome to the site! I love the body style of the 1930's but have no experience with your vintage. Hopefully there will be some on this site who have and can help with whatever questions come as you work on your car.



John

 

Welcome to the site...someone here will have info for you. Merry Christmas. We finally received a small alotment of snow here yesterday, so it finally looks like Christmas!!

 

Welcome. I'm sure that will be a cool project. Keep us posted.

 

Welcome, sounds like a great project. What are your plans for a powertrain?

 

Im most likely going to leave the inline 6 and the 3 speed in the car. Shell be slower than molasses with the 14x7 ansens on her. But it will be fun to drive. I hope. Maybe later on down the road ill put a small block olds rocket motor with an auto trans. But for now im sticking with the original equipment.

 

The grill on that car is really cool. She'll be great restored or rodded. Keep posting pictures as you work on the car

 

Whew. When that question was asked, and you had said resto-rod, I was sure I was gonna hear GM crate 350/700R4.

Good choice sticking with an Oldsmobile powertrain. I still don't get the mentality that says any rod no matter the make MUST have modern GM power to be reliable. Reliable, maybe, but interesting? Nah. More boring than watching paint dry.

That old flattie six will, as you say, be slower than molasses, but will also be reliable to a fault. Any Olds V8 from 303 thru 455 will be interesting and more to point will have a cool factor you just can't get with a GM/Chevy crate 350 engine. You wanna go high-tech, find an Aurora Northstar engine. There are ways to adapt it to a RWD transmission and chassis application.

 

I had my hands on an all original 1970 455 Olds that i was trying to resurrect out of an old speed boat but Sandy washed that plan out to sea.

 

Either way it would make an awesome car.

 

Welcome aboard. Those pics you uploaded were great to look at. Surprisingly solid car for the age. Looks like you'll eventually have a date with the chrome shop, but good to see the original bumpers and grills still with the car. That interior is HUGE! I'm sure you'll be able to find some good resto parts for it.

Finding 1938 parts may be tough. If there's any interchangeable ones from 1941 upwards, check out USA Parts Supply http://www.usapartssupply.com/upload...75_catalog.pdf

 

The bumpers that you see there are not actually for the car. Well, one came with the car but Im not sure its original. It looks like it will fit on the car however i may not use it. The 2 other slabs o steel that one can call bumpers came out of an abandoned scrap yard by my house. I pulled one off of the front of a similar year 1 ton chevy truck and the other came off the rear of a late 40's to early 50's Chevy panel truck. Both vehicles are not much more that razor blade material now which is a shame in their own right. My father in law had said to try to get my hands on a set of DeSoto bumpers from that same year but i want to keep it in the family, pardon the pun.