STORY LINE: THE DEMISE OF OLDSMOBILE

 The clock is ticking and soon the oldest American surviving nameplate, Oldsmobile … will be history. I have had a good number of Ransom’s cars over the years and had a good deal of fun and education with Oldsmobile cars. My first being a 1950 model. 

Just before I entered the military in the ‘60s I owned a pair of 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air cars. The ’55 Bel Air sedan was powered by a 350HP/327 Corvette engine with 3-on the tree, the Bel Air Hardtop was fitted with a 425HP/396 and Turbo 400 automatic with again a column shift. Both were fast … the 396 pure animal and both loved Woodward on Friday/Saturday nights. Too much oomph, zoom and tickets and a more sedate Oldsmobile transportation would soon fill the garage space. 

After the service it was a  1950 Olds 88 Club Coupe (2 dr sedan ‘Turtle Deck’) with the 303CID/135HP OHV-V8. Black as night and as pretty  a car that I have ever owned, that Olds was my pride back then. Ginger my dwarf beagle would pretty much accompany me where ever I went and ‘owned’ the back seat of that Oldsmobile. How well I remember when the 4-speed Hydramatic went south while racing it and I swapped a trans from my parts car … it’s about 22 bolts flywheel/converter to drop an old Hydro. Sold that Olds to a Detroit gentleman who installed a FORD SOHC in it.  

Used cars were really all I could afford, and after the ’50, a ’65 Cutlass with the 330/4-barrel and automatic worked just fine. A set of Dayton white wall tires and beauty rings for the wheels fit the customization bill. Two more ’65 model Oldsmobile cars would I own later; in 1969 it was a wrecked 1965 Ninety Eight ‘pic-a-door’ Luxury Sedan  that I rebuilt to almost as new with a George Busti paint finish … Rolls Royce Silver Gray Iridescent Metallic color with Black vinyl top. With the 365HP/425, switch-pitch Turbo 400 and 3.42 semi-locking axle this 5,000lb behemoth was no slouch. A few years later it was another ’65, a Dynamic 88 pic-a-door with the same drivetrain … quite the zoomer in a lighter body. Both of these big bodied Oldsmobiles were tweaked by Clarence Walters and fooled many an unsuspecting foe at stop light gran prixs.  

Dad always bought new cars and had a few Oldsmobiles, one was a 1965 Dynamic 88-and yes it was the pic-a-door family version. Fun it was helping dad order that car … stipulating the 365HP 98 engine to replace the standard 310HP version, 3.42 semi-locking axle, heavy duty Turbo 400 with frame and chassis ‘goodies’ to match. Yep, dad had the right car to tow the old 14-foot wood boat around … and as my Saturday night date with Woodward car. That car was where I learned all about 1965 Oldsmobiles, and so did a lot of  others. Harley B. Fergusons Garage taught dad a lot about broken motor mounts and premature tire wear, so, dad said I had to get my own Oldsmobile.   

Dad bought new Cadillac cars in 1966, 68 and 69, but switched back to Oldsmobile for 1970. This 1970 Oldsmobile 98 Luxury Sedan was somewhat of a problem, as it must have had gremlin’s causing those electrical shorts, premature tire and brake wear and that one time head gasket failure. Now I was not to blame for this malady-the blown head gasket-as I was already on my own and never used, uhhh, I mean abused, this Olds. And I might add that all the other Olds cars dad owned ‘lived’ through my testing  procedures-if you will-of it’s power sources on the highways, and Motor City Dragway. This 1970 model as my mother would reference it, was ‘nogoodniak’!  

Yes, I do remember my parents staying at a friends cottage in Lexington right on Lake Huron, and calling me with a request to come and get the Olds as it was overheating and throwing away it’s coolant. It was the blown head gaskets. Hooked a heavy-duty bumper hitch to my trusty ’63 Buick LeSabre with the 401-V8, rented a 4-wheel car hauler and brought the wounded Olds home … what a ride that was with 5,000 lbs. balanced on a bumper hitch. WHEW!!! 

I have owned a good number of Ransom’s productions, glad that ‘Boss’ Kettering invented or found the ‘stuph’ that made high test fuels for the Rocket V8, enjoy the history that Gilbert Burrell and Gibson Butler created while at Oldsmobile, and am personally a group proud of knowing John Rock, Helen Earley and John Walkinshaw for preserving that Oldsmobile history … hopefully forever. Ransom E. Olds … Olds/REO vehicles. Rest in peace.

 TOP HAT JOHN can be contacted for story leads, vehicle appraisals, or questions at: P.O. Box 46024, Mt. Clemens, MI., 48046-6024; or call 586-465-1933