Hi everyone,
I am new here and new to the restoration of older cars. I recently bought a 1973 Olds 98, no motor and no transmission. The car was a "barn" find. A lady in a near by town had the car sealed into a Pepsi truck trailer. The body is in pretty good shape, and the inside is as well. I would like to put a 455 from a `71 and the th400 transmission into the car. Besides fixing some of the body work, I would like to put the car on Air Ride and do a shave kit on the doors. I have been looking for a forum that I can find some people who have worked on these cars before, and I think this is the place. Looks like there is a lot of good information here to read up on. Hopefully I will get to talk to some of you and learn more.

Thanks for having this forum here,

Dropped98

 

Welcome to CO, yes you will find lots of help here. It sounds like you have a good plan set before you so go for it and good luck.

 

Sounds like you have an AWSOME project! We look forward to seeing pics.

FWIW, any 455 / TH400 combo out of a 71-76 98 or Delta 88 will fit into your car with no troubles.

 

Welcome from across the state!

Any pictures of your new ride?

 

Welcome to CO, and congratulations on your barn find! Sounds like you have a good plan. Pictures when you have them would be nice.

 

Welcome from California, Dan

 

I was looking inside my car today and noticed on the drivers side door there are two panels of switches. One panel controls all four windows, power windows, that cool did not know it had that. But the other panel is the question.... The panel states the following... "Forward" "Back" "Tilt -->" and "Tilt <--"?????? I am not sure what these are for..... a friend said power seats maybe, but right now I can not hook a battery up, did these cars have power seats??? (1973 Olds Ninety Eight Ls)

 

 

Sure they did.

Brakes, Steering, Windows, Antennas (often), Seats, Door locks (often), and A/C (sometimes automatic climate control A/C).

- Eric

 

Well this thing is loaded then. It has more options than my 04 lancer lol. It has AC power windows, doors, locks, and antennas.... wooohooo lol...

 

... And they can all think of new and exciting ways to break... .

 

lol. yeah. that will come , once everything else is done then the stupid stuff starts to break... lol. And I always thought we came so far in the "options" of new cars....

 

A '46 Lincoln we had years ago had power windows (hydraulic) and antenna (vacuum).

This stuff goes back a long way...

 

Welcome to the site

 

We have in the sense that many things that we used to think of as extra-cost, high-end options are pretty much standard on almost any car today. Back in '73, it was common for cars to have AM radios, roll-up windows, non-power locks, no cruise control, non-power seats, and many cars were still purchased that did not have air conditioning. Even the Olds 98's, which were luxury cars, could, I think, have been bought with relatively few options if you wanted it that way.

Nowadays, even the most base car you buy will likely pretty much have all of these, and more, as standard equipment. Just as an example, back in 2005, we bought a new Nissan Sentra for my daughter. We thought we were buying a pretty low-end version of what is a pretty low-end car, but it still had power windows, power locks, power mirrors, remote keyless entry (something not even on anyone's radar back in '73), AM/FM/CD, cruise-control, power brakes, power steering, the list goes on. I can't remember the last time I rode in car that wasn't of the vintage of my old Oldsmobiles that didn't have power windows or door locks or remote keyless entry.

 

Great find and welcome to the site! Looks to me like you have a '72 Ninety Eight LS (Luxury Sedan) on your hands, not a '73.

 

Yes, the photos in the original post are of a '72 Ninety-Eight.

 

Well thank you for the correction on the year. I bought it off an old lady type of a deal, title says 73, but I was hurt at work recently and have not really work on the car at all.
What are the differences from a 73 and 72, google images does not really help.

 

Attached are thumbnails showing the front end differences of the two. For '72 (the one on the right), the headlights each had their own separate trim piece, the turns signal lights were mounted above the bumper but below the headlights, and the front end just had a taller, more angular look which was reinforced by the sharp angle of the turn signals. For '73 (the red one), the pair of headlights on each side had single trim piece around them, the turn signals were mounted below the bumper and were flat instead of angled, and the front end as a whole had a shorter, more rounded look.

 

Welcome aboard! I have two '64 98s. One has every available option (including auto headlight dimmers, power seats, p windows, a/c etc.) I have seen a few 98s out that were bare bones no options cars, but it's not often. The second panel will definitely be for your seat, as mine both have similar panels with all the same labeling. That's a sharp looking car, it will make a great cruiser!

 

Great "trailer" find. Sounds like you are going to be doing a lot of customizing. Did the mice find their way into the car?

Make sure all of the safety things are fixed first...brakes, tires, suspention (can all be done while you are looking for an engine or rebuilding an engine).

One thing to check on the '72 98s is the rear window - usually the lower driver's side corner leaks. I'd hate for you to put in some speakers just to have them take a bath.

 

Hi Dropped,

Nice find, good luck with the build.

Im not far from you, less than 30 minutes away. We will have to get together sometime.

 

O yeah Latrobe is not far at all, My wife works there.