I am new to the forum and new to Oldsmobile ownership (although I have been a GM guy all my life) these picture are from the gentleman I am buying it from (I am picking it up tomorrow)he bought it for a demo derby car but thankfully thought better of it due to its condition.I will probably be asking for some help on this forum.[IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

 

Welcome aboard. You are officially a member of the Land Yachts club. They just didn't get much bigger than this!

Very elegant looking car and I'm sure you have some really good plans for it. Hopefully one of them is to change the color

 

Welcome, yeah that's too nice for the derby.

 

Welcome to C.O.! I know we all heard this one before, but it looks exactly like my dad's last Olds! His was a (company car) or brass hat car, loaded to the gills with options.

Did most of my rookie driving on that car. Drivers ed car was the new N car or calais coupe. Kinda of hard transition going from the Calais small FWD to the 98 sedan full size and back. Just remembered that the hood seemed to go on forever and if memory serves I was like 12 years old was the first time getting the hood open with out help.

Pat

 

Boy, that hurts!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum! That's great that a derby guy actually realized he had a car that was too nice to destroy! Way too many cars like ours are destroyed and their parts literally thrown in the trash so this is a step in the right direction for once!

I own 2 '76 Ninety Eight Regency coupes and have for a very long time. Please give us some details on your awesome new ride, mileage, options, condition, needs, history, etc. You will get lots of great info from people on here. Keep my name handy too as I'm well versed in these beauties!

Welcome again!
John

 

It has 87,400 miles,it has P/W,P/L,cruise,A/C,8 track radio.I would say it is a 7 out of 10,no rust to speak of but r/f/fender and header panel were hit at some point,I am assuming it is supposed to have chrome trim along the back of the hood which is missing and it is missing a piece if trim on the right skirt.according to the guy I bought it from I am the 3rd owner he bought it from a used car dealer in Indiana where the car was originally from.the guy I bought it from cut the latches off the skirts to clear the 18 x 10 wheels he had on it and dzus fastened the skirts on >:-(.I just drove home to New York (about 170 miles) and it performed flawlessly.

 

Can't remember if the skirts on those cars were metal or fibreglass. That would explain the 2 dark spots on the skirts.

The trim at the back of the hood is cowl trim, and it's stainless steel which can be polished up nicely. It's exactly the same from 1973-1976, and good news - it's the same hood on the Delta 88 and Custom Cruiser in those model years if you're out looking for cars in the boneyard.

The header panel is made from fiberglass. How much damage is there? I can see the fender crease but not the damage on the header. Could it be repaired by a good bodyman? If not, the 76 Delta 88, 98 and Custom cruiser share the same from ends.

 

Hi, 170 miles is a walk in the park for these cars, trust me they are made for the open road and with regular maintenance you can go cross-country with confidence! Allan is right about the hood trim being stainless. If it's missing, yours was likely one of the plastic ones that eventually broke off. I think later production cars got the plastic ones....maybe they ran out of the stainless towards the end? lol. Yes, the 88 and Custom Cruiser are the same nose, among other common parts so lots to pick from those cars in yards. The skirts are metal on the 98 and fiberglass on the wagons...why? I don't really know. From the pics, the fender looks repairable and the header should be too. Show us some more pics including the missing skirt trim and I can probably dig up one for you. A lower mileage, rust free 98 is a gem and you scored nicely! Enjoy it! I'm in Connecticut by the way but from lower New York originally.

 

Wow what an awesome find and save, welcome and congratulations. That photo gave me the freesons! Just as my 84 Ninety Eight brings back memories, so does yours...to an even better time.
I hope you will keep us updated with photos on your progress.

 

Nice car, reminds me of the 1976 Sedan DeVille my parents had. Another fine gas-guzzling GM behemoth built at the exact wrong time.

 

I have a few more question,Does my 76 have a service parts identifier sticker on it and if it does where would I find it?also can someone decode my cowl body tag it reads as follows
ST76 3CX39LAN364615
TR 64C 50 64T
01A AM6 CO9 B84

 

Welcome to ClassicOlds!

Great car! I'm glad you saw it for what it is.

Of course, now if we were to discover that you had changed your mind and were going to take it to the derby, a party would be dispatched with quantities of tar and feathers...

- Eric

 

ST76 3CX39LAN364615 --> '76 = Production year 1976, 3 = Oldsmobile Division, X39 = Ninety Eight Regency Sedan, LAN = Production Plant, Lansing Michigan, 364615 I believe is the production # but check your VIN tag to make sure.

TR 64C 50 64T = These should be the color codes of the body, interior and vinyl top

01A AM6 CO9 B84 - Honest, not sure what these #'s are...anybody ??

What exactly are you looking for by a "service parts identifier sticker"?

 

I don't have my reference materials with me so I can't confirm all of it, but the last line breaks down as:

01A = body build date, January (01) First week (A)
AM6, C09, and B84 are all RPO codes. RPO stands for Regular Production Option. B84 is protective bodyside moldings. I'm pretty sure but need to confirm that AM6 is split bench seat with center armrest, and C09 is full padded vinyl roof covering.

Also, just throwing this out there, the 364615 is the body unit number. The production unit number of the car at final assembly is the last six digits of the VIN. They started with 100,001.

 

64=buckskin paint
T= tan vinyl top

Just a guess here TR 64=buckskin C=cloth?

Pat

 

John, your comment got me curious so I looked up the 1972 Ninety Eight info in the Dealers showroom guide. It clearly identifies the skirts for 72 as being fibreglass, so I'm guessing they all were? At least that's one part of the puzzle for 98 owners that's filled in.

 

Some of this is already covered by others.

ST76 - 1976 model year
3 - Oldsmobile Division
C - ?? Did you make a typo?
X - Ninety Eight Regency
39 - Body type; 4 door hardtop
LAN - Lansing Production
364615 - Production sequence at Lansing (not related to VIN)
TR - Trim code 64C - Combination Cloth/vinyl Light Beige
PNT - Code 50 Lower body color - Cream. Upper 64T Top color - Light Auburn Metallic
01A - Time build code at Lansing Fisher body works. First week (A) January (01) 1976
AM6 - Seat, Front - split, 3 passenger with center arm rest
C09 - Roof covering - full vinyl padded
B84 - Ornamentation - Extra Moldings - Body side

 

Hey Allen,

I can't speak with 100% certainty for the '72 but I'm 100% positive about the '76 being metal on the 98 and fiberglass on the wagon. As far as I know, that's how it was on the earlier models as well. I'm pretty sure about the 98's all being metal. Fiberglass would have made sense to me so I'm curious as to why the wagons got them only.

[QUOTE=Allan R;646914]Some of this is already covered by others.

I must have missed this line:
C - ?? Did you make a typo? C body = Full sized

 

You're probably right about 73- 76 because a guy at work had an 73 Ninety eight and his skirts were rusty. But honestly, the 72 guide states 100% that the skirts that year were fibreglass on the 98. It's on page 83 in the Accessories section of the Dealer showroom book - item 6. They were fibreglass with metal trim on both CC and 98 that year. Do you by any chance happen to know if the fitment of these skirts was universal or if each body line needed a special one? It would make more sense that they'd all be the same design..... and material...

I wondered about that C. What through me was that the A bodies don't have a coding system like that in the model years I'm more comfortable giving info about. But when you think about it, it just makes sense.

 

Thanks for the info guys,the service parts identification stickers on latter cars (sometime in the 80's) was a sticker that listed all the RPO codes of the vehicle but I have since found out that GM did not use them in the 70's,I had a 76 Caprice that I found a build sheet under the rear seat of listing a lot of the RPO codes but read on a forum here that they usually weren't left in most Oldsmobiles is that true?

 

Now I know what you're talking about. It looks like this?


I remember seeing that sticker on the drivers door of my 83 Ninety Eight. I'm not so sure they weren't used in the late 70's, but they may have been placed in the trunk. Have you checked there?

Build sheets from Lansing were typically never found in cars that left the factory. Other assembly lines - different story. I don't remember who on this forum divulged he found almost a dozen build sheets ; lol - all from different cars, somewhere in his (Chevy??) when he tore it down.

 

Hey Allan,

That could very well be for 73-76. Unfortunately, the CC skirts do not fit the 98's. Of course, based on what you found out above, maybe the '75/76 CC skirts would fit an earlier year 98 because the rears of those CC's are very much like the earlier 98's more so than the cars from same years.....hmmm.

I wish they were all fiberglass b/c it's such a common rust area and just about every car has gone through a set during its life. I've got a huge stack of used skirts at home all in fair to good condition, then a spare pair that looks like NOS and one NOS RH as well. (yes, I like to stock up on certain things . I pulled the set on my black 98 off a '75 98 at DVAP that had the airbags! It was the only one I've ever seen in person with ACRS and the skirts were like new! The ones on the red 98 are the originals and starting to show their age. That car has just shy of 150K on it and they've held up well for nearly 40 years but some of my spares will end up on there one of these days. Come to think of it, the driver's side is getting bad the passenger's is actually still pretty good....strange right ?