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Ever since we traded in our 1965 98 when I was a little lad, I lamented on the loss of that car. Sparing the story of years gone by, a 1966 98 Holiday 4-door hardtop popped up. Ours was dark blue, this one was black, but the interior from memory was a virtual carbon copy. Aside from the 17' gangster wheels - easily replaced, the car is a totally unmolested example with 88,000 miles and original paint, fogged in on a few spots. The interior is original with only a tiny tear in a seam I am sure can be fixed by the fellow who did our '72 Vista Cruiser. We drove the car home, a journey of over 300 miles with nary a hiccup, the 425 running sweet, the Turbo-400 switch pitching nicely too! The brakes are sweet, steering tight, the car passed safety before being driven with flying colors. The underside is as nice as one can expect a 51-year old car can be, down to very good condition brake and fuel lines, all original. The car has a few nice options such as cornering lights and power windows, even the vent wing windows are power
too! The owners manual is there, with notes written in it, plus the Protecto-Plate is there too. Two families owned the car, one from 1966 to 1982, the next from 1982 until 2016. The last 8 years were in dry heated storage. The third owner bought the car to flip I think, fixed things dried from storage such as fuel pump, etc, and put the gangster wheels on it. Hindsight, I should have asked him about the original wheel covers, ETC, the trunk is huge enough to carry 4 more tires. There is a brand new tire from circa 1971 in trunk as a spare a two thin white stripe model with the blue protectant on it. This car will be a new adventure indeed.
Last edited by Vistabrat72; Apr 18, 2017 at 05:29 PM.
Amazing find. How you find a classic as nice as that in Ontario?
A friend actually found the car on of all places, ebay Canada. It was the sellers first auction. Scary. A Canadian car. Native to Ontario its whole life? Scary number 2! The seller was a touch vague until I smothered him with kindness and told him how much I would appreciate the car. He told me the story, and obtaining a used vehicle previous owner list, mandatory in Ontario province upon switching owners of cars made things less scary. The car looked very clean, and I truly believe never saw salt. Every tiny stock braided ground strip/strap is fully intact even! Folks in the States I guess were scared to bid on a CDN car for the usual various reasons - rust, repatriating it to America and so on. The owner said I would be impressed looking under the car. I truly was. I look forward when I can take and post pictures for the group. I guess one could call this car a unicorn in Ontario. I have not seen a 66 for years and certainly not a Canadian car in such good survivor state.
Congrats. Nice find. I agree with you on the wheels and tires. I bet that car is at least 19 feet long. What a ride it must have. What a cruiser.
Thank you! The ride is amazing, and it handles surprisingly well too. I am sure the tires and wheels have to do with this. They really expose the brakes too. So it is a love hate for me. Wheels and tires can be swapped so easy so I am not worried. Maybe a set of nice white walls for serious cruises and these gangster wheels for distance drives. Again the ride is amazing! Our garage is just over 19 feet long. The car fits in with perhaps five inches to spare. It is huge! We even weighed the car on the scale on the way home. Subtracting our weight and that of bagage when we got home by weighing us and bags, with half a tank of gasoline, the car weighs 4700 lbs!
we do hope to Eric, The car is quietly sitting safe and sound in the garage! I will be of course asking the group for help, advice, or elusive parts. Joe P. helped a lot already!
A few more pictures courtesy of the friends whose place we stayed at over the weekend when we went to go pick up the car! The tail lamps are so pretty! The outer surrounds have clear lenses, but a couple of bulbs behind them have red lenses so the effect at night is sweet! While the paint shines, it is pretty thin and scratched, mainly on the hood, roof and trunk. Also shown is that crazy circa brand new 1971 dual stripe whitewall tire! Looks like the former owners got five new tires at once at some point!
Through all this I would like to give a special thanks to Joe Padavano for the advice he gave me when I had concerns about getting this car, especially considering it is not the type of Oldsmobile, such as the more popular Cutlass based cars, you can get a disc brake or ball joint readily at the parts store. His very knowledgeable answers seen given to many on the forum are a very helpful thing. In fact, many of you help keep the popularity and the preserving of all Oldsmobile cars strong! Another picture! This is when we got the car, it now reads over 88,000 miles so we did even more driving then I thought over the course of the weekend! Just the sort of reliability these cars built a reputation about i figure!
Last edited by Vistabrat72; Apr 20, 2017 at 12:12 PM.
Very nice 98. Whatever you do, don't ask what is it worth.
Thank you! Not on your or my life sir! I have seen already what is going on with Bobby's 69 98! I don't care, it is what the car is worth in enjoyment and memories to myself and those around me.
Or at least don't ask that if you don't want an answer.
- Eric
Nope Eric! I may ask for and want answers on elusive parts (original factory book is on the way!), and need some parts, but for values, and asking for them, can lead to some pretty bright colors in a post!
Exactly. One of the rules of thumb of a few different fields is not to ask a question unless the answer will give you meaningful information that you can act on. If you have just paid cash for a car, which you like and intend to keep, then the question of what it's "worth" will not go anywhere.
If the answer is more than you paid, nothing will change.
If the answer is less than you paid, nothing will change (because you like the car, and you're not going to go back to the seller screaming for him to take it back).
The only possible reasons to ask such a question are either a completely dispassionate academic curiosity, or a 50/50 hunch that you got a good deal, and that others will confirm your hunch, which will make you feel like a master negotiator.
Personally, that's not a bet I'll usually take.
Thank you! Not on your or my life sir! I have seen already what is going on with Bobby's 69 98! I don't care, it is what the car is worth in enjoyment and memories to myself and those around me.
Exactly. One of the rules of thumb of a few different fields is not to ask a question unless the answer will give you meaningful information that you can act on. If you have just paid cash for a car, which you like and intend to keep, then the question of what it's "worth" will not go anywhere.
If the answer is more than you paid, nothing will change.
If the answer is less than you paid, nothing will change (because you like the car, and you're not going to go back to the seller screaming for him to take it back).
The only possible reasons to ask such a question are either a completely dispassionate academic curiosity, or a 50/50 hunch that you got a good deal, and that others will confirm your hunch, which will make you feel like a master negotiator.
Personally, that's not a bet I'll usually take.
- Eric
Eric, again I agree with words of wisdom you give. The deed is done, the deal is done, no second guessing. I feel a good car has been obtained, thin paint notwithstanding, everything is solid, reading up on Bobby's car, I noticed mine has all the trunk cardboard pieces too, and I also have noticed one set of keys I got still has the original punch outs with the codes on them! So all things considered, the car is a (worn in the paint) survivor, even has the original braided style parking brake cables which work flawlessly. Feeling a bit better now, I will do my best to get some under car pictures to show, and some trunk details as well.
Any questions I will ask will involve things I need for the car or am not sure about. The car is not going anywhere for a while, so value is not an option. My biggest thing will be , do I paint the car? Then it is no longer original, or do I drive it, as is, saying it is, with paint not looking show room? What is, is, what will be, be!
beautiful 98 you have there,4 door hardtop is real nice.if you are looking for stock rims and/or wheel covers i have plenty.central mass.jc
Sweet! Thank you JCdynamic! I really appreciate this and will keep it in mind! I do have friends who live in the area who may be able to help. Unfortunately for us living in Canada, between the value of the Canadian Peso lately, and shipping, ETC, we have to wait for the right chances to come along to get parts without having to sell the car needing the parts to get money for the parts! Spinner type wheel covers with period correct width white walls would look so nice on this car! Our '65 living only in my memory now had those type of wheel covers, and, triple stripe white wall tires.
For the group a movie clip put together today about the 1966 Oldsmobile 98. We were able to get some under vehicle pictures too! The most nice surprise was at the car wash today, we expected to get water in the car, and were equipped with towels in case! We only got a couple of drops sneaking past the passengers vent window rubber. A good sign!
Thanks for the kind words Eric! We had the car out today in the beautiful weather! We totally enjoyed the car, many were asking questions about it and taking pictures of it and sharing stories of family who had one.
Very nice. Hopefully you can sell the 'gangsta' wheels & tires to pay for a set of original size rims, spinner hubcaps, and double/triple whitewall tires. Does the '98 have disc brakes and is it possible to upgrade to 15" rims/tires? I like the turning lamps. The stepped design is much more fancy compared to the mostly seen flat lens design.
Very nice. Hopefully you can sell the 'gangsta' wheels & tires to pay for a set of original size rims, spinner hubcaps, and double/triple whitewall tires. Does the '98 have disc brakes and is it possible to upgrade to 15" rims/tires? I like the turning lamps. The stepped design is much more fancy compared to the mostly seen flat lens design.
Hi Anthony, for travel we are going to keep the gangsta wheels, eventually, we have known from patience, nice things like wheels and tires will come our way in a good deal. The spinner wheel covers are a must! No, we have drum brakes on the car, they have not given me a moments concern in over 500 miles of city/highway driving. No swerving, pulling or shakes, and i drive this elderly car accordingly. Disc brakes, again chosen wisely and carefully, things are prohibitively expensive in Canada classic car-wise, may come in the future, but brake shoes and, if needed, I know some members of this group have drums. Yes, 15-inch wheels are no problem to switch up to, but then i can't use the spinners when hopefully found. Indeed, the cornering lamps are very nice, I have a proper turn signal switch NOS on its way to restore their function properly, all checked out with wiring tests, even those big hot air balloon shaped bulbs are perfect! Bright too obviously!
