I am interested in other people out there's stories about the accumulated mileage on their 64-90 Oldsmobile V8s. I know they exist with very high miles, I have seen many over the years (especially 330s and 68-76 350s). My own 74 Cutlass Supreme has 475,000 and some change on it. And Im not talking about clapped out either. It still runs very well, starts on first try, has decent power (not like it used to, but it will still break the tires loose)driven everyday except on weekends (drive my 66 Pontiac Tempest wagon with 455 pontiac, and GTO grills around for fun on weekends) AC still works, very reliable car that I use for daily transportation. Have a 68 350 with edelbrock cam and intake ready to go into car if this ever quits.Dont have the heart to "fix what isnt broke" and put this other engine in the car with the original still running well. I work in a repair facility, and I just laugh to myself everytime some foriegn car buff comes in and starts bragging about a worn out, oil burning ,hard starting Toyota or something with "almost 300,000 miles". Then I hop into my car with an extra 180,000 miles on it and head home. Only did normal maintainence ,replaced a couple of gaskets, 2 water pumps, and a few carb rebuilds over the years. Only mod was installing an HEI. My brother used to have another 74 with 365,000 miles on it when we sold it (the guy thought we were kidding about the mileage (he insisted it was 165,000).And I knew of a 65 f85 with a 330 and 310,000 miles on it.

 

i have a 77 cutlass engine that has 310,000 miles. still uses no oil. never had a bolt touched on it till 275,000 miles when we had to put a t chain in it. it has had 3 or 4 water pumps on it and a carb rebuild. other than that even the fuel pump is the same.

 

I believe The Olds Club of America keeps track of high mileage Oldsmobiles. I want to say I saw an article in Journey with Olds that cited a member's mid 50s 88 with over 700,000 miles on it, but that was years ago.

Sometimes it makes me think it is a better idea to own and drive an older car as a daily driver because they are so easy and cheap to fix compared to newer cars. All I need to do now is convince my wife.

 

If you can do that you will be my hero. Then you can tell my how to convince mine.

 

We are waiting.....

 

And that will be quite an accomplishment if you do. I know her guys!

 

Ha ha ha ha best joke I have heard. Could never convince my wife to give up her power everything GPS, Blue tooth, like that's gonna happen

 

When I went with my wife to buy our first new car together, we ended up at the Jeep dealer. All I wanted was 4wd, all my wife cared about was leather seat and cd player.

There was no Jeep in stock that had leather and 4wd. It was one or the other and she wanted a car now.

Guess which one we ended up with.

sb

 

Depends on what you call modern Olds V8?
My 1983 Ninety Eight Regency Brougham had 300,000 + miles on it when I sold it for 1200 clams. Original engine - never had to do anything except change the water pump one winter and one valve cover gasket. Not bad for a car I had for 20 years. Mind you, the 307 wasn't what you would call a performer back then in big Olds. It would still give an honest 12-14 mpg in the city and around 22 on the highway when I got rid of it. I have no idea if the car is still around. If I still had it, it would be around the 400,000 mile mark by now.

I didn't know there was a registry for high mileage Olds. Jesse, can you post a link?

 

I had a 85 Riviera Convertible with a 307 that I bought in 1989 with 25k on it. Over the next 10 years, I drove it another 200k. When I sold it, it still did not burn any oil (I would go 3k between changes and it maybe would use 1/2 quart), made no strange or bad noises, and still had plenty of power.

 

Modern Olds v8s are the 1964-90 260,307,330,350,403and the 1965-1976 400,425,455. It is interesting to also here about the high mileage 1st gen rocket also (the 1949-64 303-394 inch models)

 

I have not had any luck with an olds engine. The motor in my '66 broke a piston at 95,000 miles (40 years old though). I had two 307's one dropped a valve and the other had no power and eventually died at 200,000.

My 95 Chrysler Concorde is at 200,000 miles and is going strong.

I suppose it could stand to reason that I got the Olds' late in life and could not be held responsible for maintenance before I acquired those vehicles.

I got the Concorde at 93,000 miles when it was only 6 years old and it's maintenance has been impeccable.

 

A lot-a whole lot-of what helps these newer cars go for a lot of miles is light weight(less drag on parts) and overdrive transmissions. The engines themselves nowadays, with a few exceptions,(LS engines/Cummins diesel/3800 Buick) are quite flimsy. They will go for quite a while but miss an oil change or overheat one even a little bit, and they are very unforgiving. I work in a repair facility that services all makes, and the reason I dont drive a newer car is I see too many of them screwing up in an expensive way. The later 307 (and other post 76 windowed main engines were more dependent on maintainence than the earlier models), and had more smog equipment running the temps up. A lack of maintainence could have killed one of these prematurely, but a lot of the 1971-76 models I have seen (working on cars since 1982) went for a whole lot of miles even with some abuse. The older ones 1964-1970, are just as sturdy, the only thing that ever did those in was this dishwater we have had for gas since the mid 70's. The older engines needed more octane with 10.75 to 1 compression.

 

A freinds family drove nothing but Olds Custom Cruiser wagons (1980's) wth 350's or 307's. Every two years the father would buy a new one and one of the kids would get the old wagon. A lot of teenage joyrides and weekend trips to the cape and back (60 miles ea way). Boy scout's camping gear etc. General maintenence only, these cars never wore out but they eventually rusted out. I beleive he also bought one the last year they were built.

 

This is some good info. I got my 307 at 85,000 and it's now at 92,000. It's nice to know it should last me a bit longer. Especially once I start cleaning it up.

 

My 1996 V8 had 225,000 miles when the car was sold.

 

Pete, what kind of car was that? That is quite a few miles!

 

boy my miles are low compared to some of these numbers but my Toronado and Royale both have 70k and the wagon has 120k (got it with 106k a year + ago, daily driver)

 

OK... So now I am thinking... (and thats scary)

I have 151,000 on my car and in the middle of a restoration. The car starts right up and doesn't smoke. My original plan was to rebuild the motor but as money is alway an issue at my house, it sounds like I might be able to get away with a freshening up? Maybe a carb and distributor rebuild, some plugs and wires, etc...

 

Enjoy the Jeep, my friend - those are way cool!

Good maintanence (even just the basics) is what makes a car really last.

My mom traded her 86 CSB with a 307 just before it turned over 100K. Never burned oil, but had ongoing emission issues after a crackhead mechanic tried to change the intake gasket....
My 86's 307 still runs fine at 68K - should be broke in by now...
Lady's 350 has 155K+ with a little oil consumption - not enough to make smoke. She shows evidence of some early abuse though...
My 78 Pinto has 150K+ without a rebuild, but shows some signs of a pending valve job. Clutch is original, which is surprising seems how 2 leadfooted teens learned on it.

Sounds like I would just tune it up and change the fluids. and do some basics as needed. Drive it around when you can and do the engine rebuild last, that is IF it needs it.

 

Just give her what she wants and you do what you want. As long as the car is "new" enough to fill in for the new car in an emergency, she should have no complaints.

That is exactly why I joined this forum....When the Aurora goes, I will buy a 70s Cutlass. I want a/c, t-tops, console and 350 engine. I told the wife she can have her new cars. She is fine with it. The Aurora does not seem to want to go anytime soon though but I research everyday............

 

1996 Aurora that is in my sig pic. I sold it earlier this year, I would have kept the car but had to make room for the 64.

It had a Northstar but its an Olds to me.

 

That is totally AWSOME!

 

475,000 km 5A 307. This was a well taken care of motor in a 81 Delta 88 4 door. Bills from new with the car, Mom and Dad got the car for $500 about 1990. Timing chain skipped, motor was still running good using minimal amount oil and good power. Just chucked it,put in a chain and it would went many more miles. I had another 307 to put in. Our 1975 Cultass 4dr "The Beast" with it's original 350 Rocket went well over 300,000 km and the last few years were very hard km's. Parent's sold the car for scrap, someone bought it and drove for another 5 years. The mechanic said the bottom end was going but who knows, drove along ways after that.