We often find older pro street style cars that have been neglected, updated, or otherwise changed from their original state but it is rare to find one that is EXACTLY like it was when built. This thing looks like it has lived 20 years in a hermetically sealed bubble! From the wheels, to the graphics, to the base color, tweed interior, and underhood finishing, this car would have been an absolute show stopper during the Clinton administration. The car is still beautiful right now but we’re thinking an old pro streeter this intense may still be a couple years ahead of the “retro cool” curve. We all know how that one works, right? The stuff we made fun of 10 years ago is what we are all craving 15 years past that point. Change the wheels and paint this thing a single color and people would be geeking about it, but doing that also destroys the character of the thing.
The engine in the car is a 550hp, bored 455ci Olds engine, the way that God intended it to be, backed with a Turbo 400 transmission. The 550hp number is not that eye bulging today but again, think of when this was built and how many 550hp street cars were rolling around. It has enough torque to roast those Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pro tires out back. As you would expect, they are full steamroller style and the shot of the car on the lift proves their mammoth size. That shot also shows that the car is as pristine underneath as it is on top. You can see the coil overs, the ladder bar rear suspension, and the reworked rear frame. It is impossible to critique this car on quality. It is a literal showpiece.
The dealer selling the thing says that it was funded by an older guy who passed shortly after the car was finished and it was hardly ever driven, let alone beat on or raced. The interior is tweed for miles with the seats, dash, and everything in sight done in the same dark red color. In contrast to come interiors of the period, this one is tame and while it may require sneaking up on to get in, we don’t think it is too bad.
The bottom line questions surround the car’s current look and whether or not you’d be pulling into the cruise night to oohs and ahhh or laughter from guys who don’t get the look and the history of the car. Would you buy it? Would you change it? Can you imagine how bad ass this thing was when it was first completed?!
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I’d cruise it after ditching the wheels and spray bombing it with black primer.
Some of the graphics on these era cars are bitchin in a nostalgic way but that being said i dont think i really wanna rock a salmon pink oldsmobile. And in agreeing with L-88 Freak the wheels are really horrible. So i would drive it but i would have to change a few things.
Nearly everything about this car is dated and ugly, like a Members Only jacket:
– Salmon pink paint,
– Ugly 3 spoke sawblade wheels
– Red tweed covering most of the interior
– Painted chrome and brightwork
– Useless wing on back
It would take too much money to undo all of the ’80’s touches on this one.
That is a car in need of major updates. Yuck.
Being and Oldsmobile guy and having lived through that era I’m not a fan. But, most of my issues with the car are purely cosmetic.
Knowing that some styles cycle around, I hope this one doesn’t. I’d rather see a late 70’s laced and candy striped, air shocked, Crager’ed 60-70’s muscle car any day than the pastel monochrome look. Hope it never comes back.
Unlike the ’70 Road Runner from a couple of days ago that just needed a wheel change to make it period correct, this one needs major updates and Turbo Regal pretty much summed it all up.
Sweet jesus that’s hideous.
Hell Yeah!! I would leave it almost as is, just put some sticky M/T’s on it and a couple of turbos. People can laugh all they want but if it’s that clean and can run a number, why not. The build quality looks better than anything a lot of us could afford to do.
I hated that concept back in the 90’s and today my opinion hasn’t changed.
What possess a person to paint the car that color inside, outside, and underneath!
I’d take that healthy drivetrain and swap it into something that doesn’t look so hideous. Never cared for the ’68 styling, so I wouldn’t be attached to this car enough to undo all the awful touches
Cage? Rollbar maybe? Heck I can’t even see a trace of friggin’ SEATBELTS. I know, he didn’t want to scare people off street racing?
Maybe there needs to be a museum for this-type stuff…they could play Wham! music all day to help draw people in. Donate it and claim it. Otherwise, drop the price by two-thirds, install a streetable rr suspension and fix the paint/interior/wheels back out of Barbi-car land, and let it live on in this century where it really could be a pretty car.
Gut the interior, cage it, get rid of those horrible wheels and every square inch of that disgusting Barbi pink and maybe it could be OK. I lived through this phase of Pro Street/Street Rod fusion. Blame Dobbertin and that ridiculous Chevy II.
I’m in the minority here. I’d leave the paint but put all the chrome back on and do the interior or in stock black vinyl with some of the colors from the graphics added in. The wheeLS would get swapped to something more contemporary. …. I’d also chrome the engine instead of all the pink details….i think it would be a killer cruiser after those minor fixes.
NO WAY! I don’t mind it being an Olds even though I’m a Mopar guy. And I don’t mind it being pro street as long as it has the go to go with the show. But that color has to go. And why in the hell does anyone want to remove the door handles? Those electric openers are more trouble than they’re worth.
Only thing i’d change is the flowmasters to something else.
then i’d drive the wheels off it.
Spray + cage + all that tackiness = true ebarrassment wjen you see the tail lights of that thing at test and tune.
This one reminds me of my formative years. Though I’m more of a fan of the 70s style street freaks, I’d leave this one alone. If I added anything it would be a chromed out blower and lots of red and blue A/N Fittings.
That look may be dated but it brings back memories for me. I’d keep it just the way it is and drive it pretending it’s 1990 all over again.
It1 looks like the lead float of the Pride parade right now but simply changing the center discs on those wheels m de-pinkifying everything and putting the brightwork back to original would do wonders for it.
According to the ad, the car is Coral/peach… Looks pink to me too. Maybe Coral/peach is pink, what do I know. It also says the rims are “Gorgeous” and because it says it right there on my computer screen, it must be true. I was also disappointed that the car has never made a pass down a drag strip. Thinking it is like a low 12 second car if all those parts work.
Interesting find
Right to the nearest chrome, upholstery, and paint shops.
The fact the car runs good on jet fuel or gasoline is puzzling. Jet fuel is similar to diesel. But when was the last time a craigslist ad had incorrect information from unknowledgeable sellers?