1978 Oldsmobile Toronado XS

The other thing I'm working on with regard to the dashboard is trying to clean up the instrument cluster.

The clear plastic lens came off with no trouble (just remove three screws and lift it out), and it cleaned up nicely.

The situation isn't quite as good with the instrument cluster faceplate as it's called. It fairly heavily pockmarked with rust. It doesn't look that bad when it's installed and you're sitting in the normal driving position, but it definitely needs help.




Here's closer views. They give a much better sense of the rust issue.





It's impossible to sand off that rust without damaging the paint underneath. Everything gets scratched. If I could find replacement decals for the "PARK R N D S L", the white trim, etc. I could just sand everything and repaint it. But I don't think new decals or whatever you'd call them are available. I've got some leads on a better quality piece, so I'm hoping I'll find something to replace this. The range of possible parts cars is pretty wide as this was used on all '74 to '76 full-size Oldsmobiles (Delta 88, 98, Toronado) and all '77 and '78 Toronados.


Here's the instrument cluster partially disassembled to get the lens and cluster faceplate out. The speedometer itself has a few rust spots as well, but not enough that I'm going to worry about it.

 

Thanks! I may give this a try.

 

It's kind of amazing that moisture can get that far in.

 

The car sat outside for many years. It was under a car cover, but covers can trap moisture. Plus, you get a humid day down there in Georgia followed by a cool evening, and you've got moisture condensing on every surface. It's actually probably amazing that things are in as good a shape as they are.

 

It's even more amazing that nobody designed the unit to allow moisture to exit

That's probably the deep South's version of Michigan's yellow snow. I heard about a car owner who somehow hooked up an ignition coil to his vehicle, for the purpose of training dogs to not instinctively mark their territory on his car

 

Just scored this piece from a guy parting out a '75 Delta 88. Should have it in a few days.

In doing some more research, it turns out I was not quite right when I listed the years of compatible cars. It turns out that the faceplate on the '74 Oldsmobiles is slightly different in that it does not say "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" under the fuel gauge. The unleaded fuel requirement started with the '75 model year. So the '74 faceplate would fit, but it would not be 100% correct.




The photo quality is not the greatest (I didn't take the photo), but here's a '74 instrument cluster. No "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" on the lower right.

 

Grammatically, it would still have been correct. Since leaded fuel is no longer available, there's no longer the danger of filling it up with leaded. There's no such thing as a guage labeled "LEADED FUEL", as far as I know, since it was taken for granted that lead oxide was automatically mixed in. If it wasn't a decision based solely on originality, I would have taken the decision purely on aesthetic grounds. All in all, it's still your car. If you were to someday sell it, I doubt that the buyer would notice the difference, if he hadn't been looking for it

 

It doesn't matter that leaded fuel is no longer available. It has to be period correct!

I believe the additive was tetraethyllead, not lead oxide. That's the origin of the phrase "fill 'er up with ethyl!"

 

I thought it was "pumping Ethyl"?
Serious note, don't forget the Standard Oil refinery in Bayway, NJ.
https://www.wired.com/2013/01/looney-gas-and-lead-poisoning-a-short-sad-history/

 

I'd be willing to bet those yellow blotches on the wheel cover are road-striping paint. Tough stuff......... maybe a sharp xacto knife to gently scrape it away?

 

Darn! I was waiting to see the coil he would have hooked up to his car

I think, I'll pull up to the unleaded pump, afterall

 

New faceplate arrived yesterday and installed this morning.




For comparison, here's what things looked like with the old faceplate and the lens not yet cleaned.

 

Looks good, I like it.

 

Thanks.

 

I've seen the occasional craigslist ad where the seller takes some photos in the twilight with the headlights and such turned on, and I think it looks pretty cool. I thought I'd try that myself, and I finally got around to doing it early this morning.


Here's the photo that inspired me.





Here's a few I took just before 7 a.m. today when the sun was just coming over the horizon. At that time there's enough light to photograph the car but not so much that the headlights and other lights don't stand out. I think it looks pretty good.

The wheelcovers are the NOS pieces I bought about a month ago.













As my wife likes to say, I entertain easily, and "if you're going to go out that darn early, bring me back a Starbucks coffee!"