Latest on the '62 Olds Dynamic 88 wagon

Some door jamb work today from Impala Jim...also, a shot of the refurbished tailgate panel, though once the linoleum is obtained from SMS Auto Fabrics, that will be replaced. The window channel felt ("fuzzies") for the tailgate window is in, looks great and the window works fine, just tough to get a picture of that with any detail...

 

Love that car. I wish you guys with all the super cool wagons didn't live all over in different parts of the country. It makes it real hard to come up with a plan to come and steal them when they are spread out like that!

 

dam....your wise to our plan....now we gotta move again......

 

OK, another beautiful (if brisk) spring day in NE Ohio; Jim was able to work on the wiper cowl area. Jim removed the windshield wiper blades, and the grille from the cowl area that covers the wiper motor and apparatus. Primed and now painted, it's ready to go.

Next you'll see The wiper cowl grille in primer, then painted with the white acrylic lacquer. The one-speed wiper motor itself is cleaned up, and is ready to be re-installed back in the wagon; it had served time in the Starfire while the wagon was down, and the motor in the SF went on the fritz; that two-speed motor is now refurbished, repaired, and back in the Black Beauty.

Jim also had time to paint the tailgate door jamb area and side of the gate itself; today he did the driver's side, with the passenger side on deck.

I did receive the new door sill panels from Fusick's Automotive, as always, in quick fashion. They even did me the favor of not affixing the Fisher Body ovals in the center of the front door sills, as I will be using the Ionia Body logo ovals on the sills I presently have. Anyone with ideas where new Ionia Body ovals with the red lettering can be obtained can absolutely share the source with me and everyone else!

 

Today's update include a better shot of both sides of the tailgate jamb area, as the interior door edges are now detailed; in addition, Jim has cleaned up the various panel scripts that say "Oldsmobile" and "Dynamic 88", painted the master cylinder, and is continuing work on the interior cargo area hardware.

The cardboard for the door panels has been obtained (ordered from Chevy supplier Ciadella Interiors; the four-door Bel Air station wagon panels fit perfect, holes are lined up), and looking at the next or future step of replacing the vinyl material on the lower two-thirds of the door panels with the heat-imprinted vinyl from SMS Auto Fabrics.

Ordering more hardware, including the belt weatherstrip kit for the doors, and the door panel edge metal bands to secure the material.

 

Looking good! That Jim really does first class work!

 

With much of the heavy lifting out of the way getting the '62 Olds wagon back to its former glory, here's a little retrospective of some of the work performed by Jim Fuller, chronologically showcasing his diligent repair work on my White Whale. Thanks again Jim for all of your help!

 

Nice to have a dedicated old school guy like Jim around. And I'm not kidding. Guys like him with all his perfectionist experience are few and far between anymore. You are a lucky guy to have him, Elvis. AND lucky to have that beautiful Olds!

 

...I count my blessings every day. I am sure Jim will appreciate the kind words!

 

OK, some shots from today; Jim took the spare tire out of the wheel well in back of the wagon, shot it with some of that white acrylic lacquer, and also detailed the original jack and base as well.

Also included is a pic of the empty spare tire well; I had forgotten how big of an area this was, and these were prone to rust on many wagons, was pleased to see how solid this compartment was. Although Jim cleaned this area up nicely, it won't be detailed until the new linoleum for the cargo area arrives from SMS Auto Fabrics in Oregon, which will likely be after Spring Carlisle.

Even with the spare tire in place (the jack and tire iron are behind the wheel in the back of the tire well), there is still plenty of room to store any other items, such as fluids and such that are always good to have with you in an old car, and perhaps for storing some other small items that will make their way to the swap meet.

Although it was in pretty good shape, Jim did some re-detailing of some portions of the engine compartment, particularly anything that needed to be re-shot in satin black, such as the air cleaner.

Looking forward to finishing up the exterior detailing on the wagon this weekend, plus whatever can be done on the inside...

 

I'm a big Olds fan and wagons in particular.
That car has loads of style!
I like the flap that folds down when the tail gate is open to cover the open area between tailgate and floor.
I may invent one for my wagon

 

Impala Jim says that since he flunked out of rocket science school, he became a policeman for thirty years, and an amateur old-car restoration guy, which is not rocket science.

Still, I think he's done pretty well with this Oldsmobile "rocket", and today's update showcases his repair of the water-damaged passenger rear interior door panel. Jim attached the new lower vinyl material (from SMS) to the new cardboard door panels and door panel edge metal bands (from Ciadella Interiors, designed for a '62 Chevy Bel Air wagon). Came out pretty darn good!

Also Jim re-covered one of the front door arm rests, and refurbished one of the rear door arm rests.

Finally, the center hood spear moulding was attached today. Not bad for a rainy day in NE Ohio.

With tomorrow promising sunshine in the afternoon and temps near 80, working on plans to get a lot done!

 

...just an addendum to the last post--thought it might be nice to offer the "before" and "after" perspective on the front and back of the door panels...

 

Thanks for the update, looking good. Being an Olds guy, how did the 88 lineup rank and what were the differences between the Dynamic, Super and Delta lines? I may have even left a couple out?

 

Basically, the Dynamic 88 was the low-price model, with the Super 88 next, and, whichever way you want to slice it, the Starfire and/or the Ninety Eight the flagship for Olds at that time. Basically, a rule of thumb here would be this--as you go up the ladder, the more glamor, glitz, chrome, and luxury you would see.

The Ninety-Eight would have been Oldsmobile's luxury entry, along the lines of a Cadillac or a Buick Electra 225; they would have had the longer wheel-bases.

The Starfire would have been the "sporty" or "performance" entry; it was considered to be along the lines of a Chevy Impala, Ford Thunderbird, or even a Chrysler 300. In fact, the other GM divisions of Buick and Pontiac introduced their "sport/luxury" entries that year, in the Wildcat and Grand Prix, respectively.

The Starfire shared its wheelbase with the Super 88 and the Dynamic 88; to draw a comparison at that time, perhaps the analogous hierarchy for Chevy at would be the Impala, Bel Air, and Biscayne, in descending order. But, keeping in mind the GM pecking order, even the Dynamic 88 was by comparison more luxurious than the relatively spartan Biscayne.

The Delta series did not begin until 1965; it more or less supplanted the Super 88 series, which was retired after 1964.

Olds full-size wagons for '62 were available as either 2-seat or 3-seat entries for the Dynamic 88; curiously enough, only the 2-seater was available for the more upscale Super 88 that year.

My friend Paul Hartlieb has put together an absolutely fantastic website that basically offers everything you'd ever want to know about the 1962 Oldsmobile; it can be found by clicking on

http://home.comcast.net/~oldsfan/MySite/62oldspage.html

An invaluable reference for a guy like me with two '62 Oldsmobiles!