199? Custom Cruiser , I'm told $200

Amzing what 2 winters on the wet coast can do to a car....more amizing is what 2 wet cosat winters didn't do to the car !



Rear wheel well...


She doesn't appear to be the best undernieth, not the best pics. I was alone and didn't have kirby or anyone to help me get up if I layed down so you only get 2 Along with the rusted exhaust I did see s few holes in the floor. But I really don't know..I couldn't look





More pics coming........

 

And the other damage.....

The dash, why the dash....I'll never find one on my rock in my lifetime


Drivers side, rear door damage/dent and although you can't see it in the pic the drivers door had a wave to it.


It was humbeling going to see the wagon. I knew the owner has been very ill and his brother is now taking care of things...I know no more other than for 2 years life at this home stopped, and thats just how it looks. Beautiful house, car, truck, garden that were clearly taken care of then nothing for 2 years as of over nite. The car is minutes away from my home yet I don't ever recall seeing BUT I do remember this old dump being seen almost daily on my drive to work and come to think...it's been 2 years since I've seen it.

You live in a small erea, you know what cars/trucks your gona see on the road in the very early hours...

 

Tedy, it's still probably the best deal I've seen since I've been on the forum. I'm eager to hear how it runs, though I'll bet it'll run fine since all the fluids have been maintained.

 

Thanks Snoot, I figure I just can't go wrong with it....even if for what ever reason it doesn't run. I can see this one suffering a terible fate. fannie mentioned DD car, yeah i could see that but I could see crusher before that happened. I know is't blasmafy to say this but if it came to the crusher or DD, I'd rather see the old girl go out in a blaze of glory.
At least with me it will be out in the pasture, you could say....

 

This has got to be one of the sweetest deals ever to turn up on this site!

 

That car is going to clean up real nice, Fat! That underside looks good for a 21 year old car. You are a lucky guy. I'm happy for you!
Oh...and I hate you.

 

Is the underside rust generally removable if not in advanced stages?

 

That looks very VERY solid! Much better than what I started with. Real shame about the dash....that's either a hand punch or a foot-rest crack. People are idiots....those dashboards don't normally crack, even down here in the Texas sun.

Interior looks fantastic and I know from experience that paint will come back. Give it a good bath, follow that with Color Back by Turtle Wax, and then with a coat of Meguire's Cleaner/Wax. She'll shine.

Good to hear you have a set of turbine wheels for it. Those make SUCH a big improvement to the looks. By the way those full center caps for those wheels are nearly impossible to find now. I gave up after looking a while, and used 80-82 Corvette center caps with Olds Rocket decals added (Ebay), and chrome lug nuts.

When I got my car it was low miles, but it had woodgrain and it was sun damaged and peeling, and it took me a week of razor blades and sore fingers to get that all off....followed by cleaning up all the "dead" paint. My car was also missing the bumper fillers...which took some time to find. Again you're way ahead of what I started with!

Here's you some more "motivation" pics!

Before Passeger Side

After Passenger Side

Before Rear View

After Rear View

Before Driver's Side

After Driver's Side

After a solid week of scraping off wood and cleaning:


Added the Turbine Wheels...still had White Walls....tinted windows:



Added T/A Radials:




Now get your car home and post YOUR "after" pics. I'm so jealous I just about can't stand it. Please keep the pics coming!

- Mike

 

Tough question to answer, moto. I guess it depends on what you mean by "removable". But...yes, rust can be stopped....not sure I would use the word "removed" though.

 

Please take a hair dryer and razor blade to that UGLY side molding as soon as you get the car home. That's gotta go. Then after cleaning get a Scotch-pad and some sandpaper after that hitch, followed by semi-flat black Rust-Oleum engine paint.

If I was anywhere near you I'd be out there with my wash-bucket and wax pads helping you clean her up.

Oh and I have my old Olds steering wheel if you need it. It's the same one you have on there now, but where yours is silver on the lower part, mine is wood. My car only had a little over 40K miles when I replaced the original wheel with the leather-covered Cutlass Salon wheel, so my wheel still has most of the original graining on the rim and shows almost no wear. It's been hanging on the wall in my garage for about 4 years now. Let me know.

Oh and one other "tip" for you. The wood "paint" on the Custom Cruiser door panels emblems tends to wear off over time. It's a painted chrome and stainless metal emblem. Take a little paint stripper...I like the gel kind, like Tal-Strip aircraft remover...it does not run, and using a hobby brush paint a little gel on, and you can remove all the wood, which will reveal some nice looking brushed metal. I then used a very fine paint marker from a hobby shop and painted the raised Custom Cruiser script lettering gold. You could do black or red, but gold looked the most factory to me. At the Oldsmobile meetings, people were always asking where I found those emblems....everyone thought they were stock GM because they looked so good.

You can kind of see them in this pic above the grab handles on the front door panels.


And MAN your interior looks BETTER than mine did. I like the metal trim on the edge of your front seat backs. Mine didn't have that. That red interior tends to fade out in the sun...I had to re-dye parts of mine....yours still looks nearly new...nice and dark.

Just some ideas for you. Good luck on that great find! I'm green with envy as are most folks on here!

-Mike

 

Man it just gets better....I was just looking at your interior pics and noticed your car has the VERY rare full gauge package, that normally was ordered with the towing and heavy-duty cooling options. Most Cruisers just have a speedo, fuel gauge, and idiot lights. Your car has the optional gauges below the main cluster on both sides of the steering column. I always wanted to add those to mine but never found a set. VERY COOL! I hated idiot lights.

I'm beginning to hate you too.....

-Mike

 

Fat, I am jealous. That's about all I can say. I bought my '90 CC with 84K miles for $1000 a year and a half ago. $200?!?!? That's chump change for a classic piece of Oldsmobile history. Great find!

81X11, that is one damn sexy wagon! Mine looks almost exactly like your "before" pics. I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. I've looked into replacing the wood grain vinyl siding, but I don't trust myself to do it, and paying someone else would likely cost me more than I originally paid for the car. Not to mention that 5 - 10 years down the road (I hope she lasts me that long), it will probably start peeling again.

Another option I considered was to get a custom paint job to kind of "fake" the wood grain look. I've done some interior home painting this way. You start by brush painting thin black streaks to resemble wood grain, then apply several coats of stain over the top of that. On a car, I don't know if this is possible, but even if it is I wouldn't know where to begin and I don't trust myself enough to attempt it.

The third option I considered was to remove the wood grain and either leave the solid white paint underneath or repaint the lower panels a darker color. My fear with this option is that once I start ripping that vinyl off it's going to remove the topcoat of paint with it, which will need some body work to fix.

After looking at the "after" pics of your wagon, I'm VERY impressed. I'm leaning more towards option #3 now that I've seen how successful you were. It turned out great! How exactly did you remove all that woodgrain? How badly did you damage the paint underneath, and did you have to repaint it? I'm ready to get started!

 

I didn't know about this option. My "Griswold" has all the gauges: temperature and oil pressure to the right/below the steering column, speedometer and fuel gauge, and a voltmeter gauge to the left/underneath the steering column. The two gauges underneath the steering column aren't lit by the dome light, so they have small bulbs inside the lens.

If that is the full gauge option, does that mean that my car is equipped with a towing package?

 

Removing the wood on the Olds box wagons looks better than the other wagons. It doesn't have the picture frame trim around it so it doesn't look like a wagon with the wood removed. In fact, I like the top chrome strip on there. It looks like it's supposed to be there and makes the car look a little classier than it already is.

 

Thanks All, wish I wasn't going away Thursday AM (but glad I am) or I would bring it home but I and the seller don't have the time so the following weekend will have to do.

There is rust through under the car, the exact extent I don't know. I couldn't lay down to look as I was alone looking at the wagon....history has tought me I can't allways get up by myself because of all the steel shoved up my @@Z.

I kinda like this look the best to be honest...guess I'm getting old


Yup, I'll be bringing a preasure washer home from work the day I get it and YEAH, that white molding will be the first thing to go.