J
jerrym3
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The last Olds was made yesterday. It's time for a little respect to be given to one of the first real performance cars.
There were three Olds in my family over the years. My dad had a 55 88 2dr hardtop, red/white, 4sp Hydramatic. Very quick off the line; hurt by only having a 2 barrel carb on the high end.
As a kid, my first Old was a 54 88, 2 dr sedan, three speed on the column; very rare car. Unfortunately, the engine had seen better days, but I needed a car with a good heater (my 55 Ford convertible was literally falling apart piece by piece), so I fair swapped my Ford for the Olds.
You could bake bread with that Olds heater.
Car ran OK until a friend of mine, while driving my car, decided to scare his ex-girlfriend by driving at her whille she was crossing the street . Fortunately for her, he didn't come close; unfortunately for me, his 1st to 2nd speed shift blew the trans. Time for the junkyard.
My next, and last Olds, was a 57 98 convertible, originally a white car. But, since I worked in a bodyshop at that time (1961), I got one of the guys to paint the car 62 Chev Honduras Maroon. Gorgeous car. The 57 trans (Jet-away, I believe) was not as crisp as my dad's 55 Hydramatic, but the car was still fast.
55 Mercs and Fords were no match, and I only had the 4 barrel motor.
Last Olds to talk about was my friend's brother's 57 Olds Super 88, J-2 convertible (white). (It was amazing how GM designed the beautiful 57 which was then replaced by one of the worst looking cars in the 50's, the 58 "chrome" Olds.)
Every now and then, we would "borrow" the car and go cruising.
That thing would run. The Olds clock was high up on the dash, so we had a pretty good shot (from the back seat and leaning forward) to see the speedometer and the clock.
Three guys in the car, and we could still do 0-60 in less than seven seconds, pretty quick back then.
I sold my 57 Olds for a 57 Chev Bel-Air. The Chev was three sp off the floor, 283/220hp powerpack, and was a pretty quick car, especially after I put 4:11 rear gears in.
But, nothing beat that Olds convertible for class, comfort, and room, especially at the Saturday night drive-in movies.
RIP with the Plymouths, DeSotos, Nashes, Packards, Hudsons, Studebakers, and all the other great cars that once made our auto industry the envy of the world.
There were three Olds in my family over the years. My dad had a 55 88 2dr hardtop, red/white, 4sp Hydramatic. Very quick off the line; hurt by only having a 2 barrel carb on the high end.
As a kid, my first Old was a 54 88, 2 dr sedan, three speed on the column; very rare car. Unfortunately, the engine had seen better days, but I needed a car with a good heater (my 55 Ford convertible was literally falling apart piece by piece), so I fair swapped my Ford for the Olds.
You could bake bread with that Olds heater.
Car ran OK until a friend of mine, while driving my car, decided to scare his ex-girlfriend by driving at her whille she was crossing the street . Fortunately for her, he didn't come close; unfortunately for me, his 1st to 2nd speed shift blew the trans. Time for the junkyard.
My next, and last Olds, was a 57 98 convertible, originally a white car. But, since I worked in a bodyshop at that time (1961), I got one of the guys to paint the car 62 Chev Honduras Maroon. Gorgeous car. The 57 trans (Jet-away, I believe) was not as crisp as my dad's 55 Hydramatic, but the car was still fast.
55 Mercs and Fords were no match, and I only had the 4 barrel motor.
Last Olds to talk about was my friend's brother's 57 Olds Super 88, J-2 convertible (white). (It was amazing how GM designed the beautiful 57 which was then replaced by one of the worst looking cars in the 50's, the 58 "chrome" Olds.)
Every now and then, we would "borrow" the car and go cruising.
That thing would run. The Olds clock was high up on the dash, so we had a pretty good shot (from the back seat and leaning forward) to see the speedometer and the clock.
Three guys in the car, and we could still do 0-60 in less than seven seconds, pretty quick back then.
I sold my 57 Olds for a 57 Chev Bel-Air. The Chev was three sp off the floor, 283/220hp powerpack, and was a pretty quick car, especially after I put 4:11 rear gears in.
But, nothing beat that Olds convertible for class, comfort, and room, especially at the Saturday night drive-in movies.
RIP with the Plymouths, DeSotos, Nashes, Packards, Hudsons, Studebakers, and all the other great cars that once made our auto industry the envy of the world.
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