Travlr

Well, here we are... I had another weak moment, or maybe a moment of clarity, and I bought another Olds. I've owned several over the years including my first real driver, a '54, and my second, a '57 that would outrun anything on the freeway except a law enforcement radio. Before I owned those I learned to drive in a '65 442, which I ended up owning about thirty years later. I even bought a brand new Cutlass in '95. But now... I am working on that new acquisition, a 1950 Olds 98.

I bought the car out of Idaho, and it is as solid as a rock... except. Yeah, floors... I discovered early in this journey that Olds had such a problem with leaks in 1950 that they published a special repair pamphlet to deal with sealing leaks. But it looks like this car was never repaired. The floors are GONE in the front and badly damaged in the rear, all low lying areas. So I'll be learning about patching floor panels.

The plan is to build a car to drive. I want to cruise hiway 50 to Washington DC from the west coast with my girlfriend, and be able to tour the back roads in comfort and style.

The car has no drive train, and of course the suspension and brakes and lights and basically everything but the sheet metal and interior are dated or difficult to find parts for. If the car was complete I would just restore it, but it isn't. So I'm gonna do a chassis swap that will give the car ABS disc brakes, air conditioning, and cruise control. And the donor car was rated at 25mpg, so that's a little better than the original too.

I want the car to look completely original. There are some issues with that, mainly in the wheel department. But the original glass will remain, the interior will be redone using the original patterns, and I'm hoping to convert everything under the dash using the original *****, etc.

Oh... and the paint stays "as is".

Well, enough already. I'll be asking some questions and will consider all suggestions carefully. Thanks ahead of time to anyone interested in the Ozone Project.

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, sounds like a very cool project.

Travlr

OLDSter Ralph

Good luck and share pics. I have those "moments of clarity" about a '50 Olds coupe and a 455.
RALPH

BackInTheGame

You will be cruising in STYLE!

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard. I love your plan

redoldsman

You have a lot of work ahead of you but you will wind up with a classic car you can cruise anywhere in. Do you know yet what the donor car will be?

Travlr

I guess I'm still getting the hang of this forum. Thought I had posted a reply about the donor car, but it looks like it got lost in the Ozone...lol

The donor is a '95 Caprice which will have to be stretched 6 3/4 inches. I might have used a Fleetwood if I could have found one as it was only a half inch short. But there are reasons the Caprice is better anyway.

Travlr

oldcutlass

A lot of people are using an S10 frame for these longer wheel bases. A friend of mine did a late 40's Suburban with one.

Travlr

Yeah, I took some time and researched a lot of options. Of course the track front and rear was the most critical part. Wheelbase less worrisome because it is easy to change. I also wanted all the amenities, automatic, ac, cruise, and a V-8. This particular choice is a similar horsepower to the original engine. And very important to the entire project... I wanted to use something that would involve only one donor vehicle. If I need parts I won't have to keep a notebook to remember what rear end is being used, or what u-joints, or rotors, or tie rods, or...

I will be able to go into any parts store and know what I have. If I'm on the road any mechanic will have no trouble making repairs because everything mechanical is stock.

I don't want a trailer queen. I intend to drive this baby.

So far the issues I expect to run into are:
1. Converting the steering column. Do I use the old one and rewire for the Caprice turn signal stalk? That would also give me the cruise control and wiper switch from the Caprice. I would also have to shorten the original column and put a joint in it to couple to the Caprice steering box. Or do I use the Caprice column and just modify the Olds steering wheel to fit?
2. The drive shaft should be easy. I can probably use one out of a Fleetwood. I need to check and see if the Caprice and Fleetwood use the same u-joints. Otherwise I can get the Caprice shaft lengthened.
3. Finding materials to renew the Olds body. The rear fenders use some kind of rubberized gasket between them and the body. Also the door panels are made of layered tar paper underneath the upholstery, and surely there are better options. I'm thinking of FRP (fiberglass resin panel), but the newest version of that is plastic instead of fiberglass. It's pretty hard to find the Fiberglass FRP locally. And some of the nuts and bolts are difficult to find. Particularly the door hinge bolts, phillips with a recessed conical head.
4. Wheels... You can see in the pics that I have the original hub caps and beauty rings on the original wheels. I'd really like to retain that look. Caprice had steel wheels as an option but I have yet to find any I can inspect to see if the beauty rings will fit properly. If they do, then I believe I may be able to machine the wheels to accept the hub cap clips from the original wheels.

OLDSter Ralph

You have a massive project on your hands. I would think about using the donor steering column and adapting the steering wheel. Steering wheel location and angle might be different for the donor.
Are the donor wheels 15 inch ? Are the original wheels 14" ?
Good luck and post your progress.
Ralph

Travlr

Both cars use 15 inch wheels, 5 on 5, but the original wheels hit the calipers as most early, pre-disc wheels do.

As to "massive project"... 1. I have the time. and 2. I can't see it is any more a project than restoring the car properly to original or creating a customized vehicle that would be too pretty to drive.

But that's just me.

Gerald Nickels

Try a 68-72 Olds wagon or Vista. real close

Travlr

For wheels to fit over the calipers? 15 inch, 5X5?

Tedd Thompson

For the floors try Chevy's of the forties, at one time they had floors for the fronts and maybe the rears but I don't know about 4 doors. Chevey's and Old's in those years are very close and I have heard of people swapping one for the other. It would be worth a call and save a bunch of work if they still have them.... Tedd.

https://www.chevsofthe40s.com

Travlr

Thanks Tedd. I have a line on replacements from a source that lists 1950 Olds 98 pans... http://www.classicfabrication.com/ I haven't called them yet, and am presently looking at making my own, but if neither of those options works out I'll be glad for your information.

Cutlass Fan

Chevies and Oldsmobile 88 of the late forties and early 50s were both C bodies I think but 98s were B bodies so I think the floor pans would be different??

Travlr

Yes, they are different. Hard to find 98 pans, but I've found a source. Planning on ordering them tomorrow so I'll post how they turn out.

Travlr

Well, ordering the pans for my '50 Olds 98 was a bust. Between the guy jacking the price up 30% from what was listed on his website, to him not being able to take the order with a credit card, I'll be making my own pans. That's what I'd planned on anyway, so no big deal. It'll just take a little more time and several more swear words.

Kind of disappointing too in that the guy seems to want to specialize in hard to find sheet metal. I was going to ask him to consider supplying early Cutlass repair panels, but we never got that far.