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Hello Everyone,
I am a civil engineer from North Dakota who recently inherited half of this 1956 Olds 88.
My father was working on restoring the car at the time of his death so it is probably about 75-80% complete. The car had sat in my father's shot in pink and blue primer for as long as I can remember and he always said that one day he was going to "Fix her up". I don't know a lot about what he put into the car as we lived in different areas.
This was not a frame off restoration. The engine and trans was gone through, new interior, a lot of the chrome was re surfaced and everything that was paintable was painted. The car has sat in storage since the fall of 2020 and just recently moved to my shop so that is why it looks dirty. The roads were a little sloppy when I towed it home.
I will need to make a decision as to whether I will buy out my sister's half of the car and complete the resto or sell it as is. It needs some additional tranny linkage (I think the kickdown linkage is missing), it has a couple of leaks that I will need to chase down and the heater core is leaking. It ran when it was parked in storage but I haven't gotten it fired up since.
I have been around and worked on vehicles since I could tell the difference between a 1/2" and 9/16" wrench and have plenty of tools so that is not the issue.
Let me know what you think and thanks in advance.
Last edited by oldcutlass; Apr 13, 2023 at 09:20 AM.
Reason: Removed the hint for an offer
That's quite an Oldsmobile! If you decide to sell it you'll definitely get more if you can get it running. If you're missing the throttle valve on the side of the carburetor that operates the transmission you'll have to get that from a parts car for the car to drive properly. Good luck.👍
Very cool oldsmobile..I grew up in South Dakota..in August check out Kool Deadwood Nights..its third week ofAugust in Deadwood South Dakota..4 day classic car show, street party, live bands and gambling..I go every year..great time.
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and kind words.
As requested, some pics of the carb with the air cleaner off.
I may not have been clear with my first post. I am not trying to cash in on my inheritance. I would love to keep the car and get it in cruising shape as it has been around me almost my whole life. With that being said, half of this car is my sister's and I will either need to buy out her half or sell it and give her half the proceeds. As I am sure that some of you have the same problem, the biggest obstacle is my better half. I could probably get away with buying out my sister for a few grand but if fair market value of the car is much more than $10-15k, it will be an uphill battle trying to convince my wife to let me shell out that much cash, especially with the other project that I want to do that is pictured in the background of my first post.
The car did run when parked and I realize that if I put in some work, profits could increase, but I don't want to spend the time and money if it isn't feasible for me to keep it. I also want to be fair to my sister but she lives across the country and won't be helping out at all in the sale of the car if there is one.
I have seen some of these go for as much as $30k online but I am sure those are show quality with all parts intact in turn key condition. This is not that at the moment so a rough estimate of value would be appreciated so that I can make a decision as whether to convince the wife to let me keep it or start the sale process. I also realize that this is probably not the right forum for this topic and for that I do apologize.
Secondly, nice car. I'd say you need to have a serious conversation with your sister to decide on what would be fair compensation to her, while allowing you to keep the car in the family. Market value vs the value to YOU (and maybe her) to keep the car, there should be room for agreement on a lower amount. Of course, that would be best case, and you don't necessarily need to provide us with any of the details on what your relationship is with your sister or your/her financial situations. Perhaps you could even draw up a contract of sorts that states if you sold the car later and recognized an increase in value over a certain percentage, that she would be entitled to a portion of that market value increase (less any costs incurred by you to get the car running, and any expenses incurred that further increases the value).
It needs some additional tranny linkage (I think the kickdown linkage is missing),
Here are some pics of 56 Olds two barrel carbs.
Maybe they will help you determine what's missing.
This area looks suspect to me (circled in red)
Especially the part marked with a blue arrow.. ( looks like a brake shoe hold down part? )
Here are the 56 Olds carb pics.
Here's an illustration from the parts book, it's for a 52 but 56 should be similar.
Wow that's a lotta all thread for the air cleaner. Definitely shows how tall those things are.
If it's OEM original or even the correct part since you can purchase threaded rod in various lengths from various vendors; still, that's a TALL air cleaner rod.
