Rocco Bastone is a freaking one man wrecking crew when it comes to finding cool stuff for sale on the internet. This dude has Bruce Lee level Google-fu skills and he’s not afraid to use them. He recently shared this gem with us. You are looking at a survivor 1978 Olds Starfire that is for sale and the thing is beautiful. Yes, it is slow and a little weird because, well, it is not a Monza, but we’d love to get our mitts on this car and make it “right”. By right we mean we want it making more than the 110 or so horsepower it was rated from the factory and handling better than it does now.
The car is one of those fantastic examples of how an automobile can exist in an almost suspended state of animation if it is well cared for. The floors in the car are perfect, the interior is beautiful, and the engine compartment does not have a factory hair out of place. The odometer shows 49,000 and after the current seller got the car, he had a mechanic go through it and service stuff like the valve cover gaskets, rear main seal, motor mounts, and other factory pieces that were either leaking or on the verge of failing. The result is a car that has basically been reconditioned to new!
The 231ci V6 is not a fire breather and it will never be one. That’s OK if you want to keep the car all -original but we’d love to mess with it a little. Sure an LS would do its normal “self-install” into one of these but how about a Rocket 350 or something Olds-centric?
The sky is the limit with this one whether you keep it stock and cruise it as-is or you decide to step up the power and handling abilities.
Link: This survivor 1978 Olds Starfire is radical, different, slow, and bone stock!
Turbo’d 231 from a GN…keep it all tucked up under the hood…it’d be perfection.
One of my shop employees was an Olds guy & had one of these for his work car. He installed the Hooker IMSA fender flare kit & painted metalflake(giant flake) blue. He also installed the Hooker header & sidepipe kit & was stylin’ for 1980!! With a baby 4bbl Holley carb & intake, he could almost spin the L-60×14’s on the back with 4 spoke Cragar SS wheels
How about an all aluminum 215 Starfire V8?
Just get a junkyard Land Rover V8 and your set!
Oldsmobile 350’s can make some pretty decent power for the weight of this car. Just remember to upgrade the transmission, rear end and brakes while you are at it.
Angry Joe’s on the right track. Turbo’d V6 from a GN, plus a 700R4. Convert it to 5-bolt hubs, and put a set of one of the nicer factory 442 15″ wheels on it with 70 series rubber. And change out the speedo face to an earlier 100 or 120 mph unit.
Swap in a Coyote motor and watch all those LS lovers gnaw their own hands off in anger – serves them right for putting those foul motors in Fords!
Small block CHEVY bolts right in. That’s the common sense thing to do…