Of the nearly 229,000 1972 Olds Delta 88’s built; only one-in-sixty rocked this rare convertible body style. Better yet, this one packs the optional 455 4-barrel with dual exhaust. Just the thing on the eve of the 1973 OPEC Oil Crisis!
I miss the old JC Whitney catalogs- Continental kits, curb feelers, static straps, and two whole pages of nothing but hood ornaments- those were the days! 😄
I have a “car guy” brother-in-law and one of our biggest points of dispute regarding automotive styling involves Continental Kits! He is in his mid-70’s, and during his formative years, a Continental Kit was considered “high style” - he loves them! I came of age (automobile wise) in the 1970’s, and to me, Continental Kits are an absolute abomination that does nothing but detract from what would otherwise be a beautiful automotive design! He has gone so far as to threaten to add a vehicle with a Continental Kit to his collection and leave it to me as an inheritance just to spite me! And once we beat that horse to death, we usually move onto fender skirts……..😂
What you got against fender skirts? What if he leaves you a 1962 Rolls Royce? You gonna take the skirts off it? I’m just kidding,I don’t have a horse in this race! I think newer cars with the spare tire attachments are an abomination,even, Steve, said it would look right at home in the hood! I can’t believe he said that! LMAO! Fender skirts? It depends on the car really!
I worked at a GM dealership and they sold those continental kits in the 70's and 80's, I'd paint them body color to match the car. Installed them on several Cadillac's and Buicks and Olds, Different taste than I ever had but made the customer's happy!
I had a friend with one of these nice ragtop in its day. We all had to chip in to feed that 455 if wanted to ride in it. The ac didn't work but who cares its a drop top. And it was smooth ride.
My uncle ordered a mid-70s Royale convertible to his spec from a Rockford dealer. I can't remember the year, but I remember that the headlight housings were round. Later he changed the front end to the square housings. We bantered a bit about it, because I liked the round headlights better. Anyway, in the late 70s he sold it and in the early 80s he bought it back. He had so many cars, and this is the one I remember the most. Honorable mention to his mid-60s Corvair, early 60's Austin Healey, T-bucket hot rod that he drove in the mid-70s, and his 1960 Impala panel van. Burk Schmidt, please rest in peace
@@willhorting5317 That's how he described it, and that's what it looked liked. An impala wagon without windows. I know the difference between a wagon and a truck. It was not a truck. It was pretty awesome. Possibly it was only a Biscayne, but as best as I can recall from 30 years ago, it was definitely a station wagon body
@@bryanschmidt7336 ok, I understand now. I wasn't doubting what he called the car. Only the model name. Yes, likely a Biscayne Utility Sedan (formerly known in previous years, as a Sedan Delivery). To my knowledge.... which IS limited...in 1960, the Biscayne was the only model offered in the Utility/Delivery Sedan.
@@willhorting5317 Very possible. My uncle drove hundreds, may more than a thousand, cars during his lifetime. When he was drafted in the late 60s, he had (by his account) over 40 cars to liquidate in a matter of weeks. His military service was spent in an Alaskan motor pool. When he was discharged, he automotively picked up where he left off. I remember scraping grease off 1940s axles for him when I was in grade school. Anyway, I did not keep detailed notes, mentally or otherwise, of the many cars I saw him driving (or road in with him), but this video definitely rang some bells
Nice to see the entire video… As a kid and car enthusiast, I still remember our local Olds dealer had one of these as his demo driver. Great looking car…hate to see one so highly optioned with that big motor now languishing in the boneyard.
In college(1974) I worked for a Porsche +Audi/Oldsmobile dealer. I drove from the Bronx to Orangeburg. I usually had an Audi Super 90 to pick up parts. Occasionally I would take an Oldsmobile. The other dealers had VW buses. When I showed up in a Delta 88 everyone was jealous.
My neighbor uae to build derby cars he loved the oldsmobiles that had the leaf spring bumpers. He even adapted them to other cars. He said they sprung him out of trouble. He quit using then when he couldn't repair or find any more.
The energy-absorbing bumper was a good idea that got out of hand and ultimately defeated itself. Two things that make my blood boil: continental kits & dummy spotlights.
wow. cool video steve. i owned a 71 olds 88 ragtop. midnight blue, white over white. one of the best cars ever!! nice hubcaps on that one! funny, you slammed the door and it still sounds more solid than a new car today.
As classy as a rat with a gold tooth excellent just excellent I’m gonna use that one in the future. If I have your permission Steve, it’s a good one liner.
Thanks for giving us the ending this time! Never new those later cont'l kits were fake!. Those Olds in coupe form were pretty slick looking too. '72 was the last good year though OF COURSE!
I drove a 1973 Delta 88 Brougham, huge 2 door beast. Only had the Rocket V-8 350 ci, no guts but a great highway cruiser. Had to scrap it after the timing chain jumped a couple of teeth and the motor danced around a little. 4:00 Hey that’s my car on the left page, same color even. 😜🇨🇦👍
I had a 52' GMC 3/4 Ton with 330 ci OLDS dumb design of ⚙️ plastic coated timing ⚙️ gear .. mine stripped out replaced with new steel timing gear and all was good. These are non-interference engines (no way for valves & piston damage)
Great video Steve That continental kit is a customizer dream! Kidding. Is JC Whitney still in business I can remember getting there catalogue laughing at the Custom Parts
I want a 455. I remember how the family car would pull from start despite the weight and I would like to have one in some project vehicle. I looked at videos of the cad 500 and it's not the same.
That Continental kit is an absurd add-on, not a factory item. Sorry the video cut short, but if I recall correctly, the fake spare is mounted to a hinge to allow fuel filler access. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Why dont you put the year and make model in the title? Seems like you did it for a while and have slightly higher view counts. Makes it much easier to go back over your back catalog. Also please do some more late 80s-90s vehicles
Interesting that those five mile an hour bumpers actually caused more damage over 5 mi an hour then if they weren't there at all. Ad 300 400 lb to the nose and the tail then hit the brakes real hard front end goes down rear end goes up. You go under the car in front of you and the car behind you goes under your rear bumper.
Loved the old Oldsmobile's, I hated to see that division go from GM, along with Pontiac too, what a big big bummer!! But Olds was one of the oldest car manufacturers there was, I guess, it R.E. Olds at first and then there was REO which was the big truck division or whatever. Well what do I know, I'm just saying what I think is the deal but I could be wrong.
@@DanEBoyd I hear ya, but fuck that mentality. Nothing cool that's NEW, that's all. I have several tons of cool sitting in my driveway right now! Who cares that they scrapped Olds, Pontiac, or whatever. I didn't even notice. There hasn't been a decent US car since nineteen seventy freakin two!
This is one of two videos that got TRUNKated due to a programming glitch two weeks ago. I relaunched it so the full story appeared. All new Junkyard Crawl videos resume TOMORROW. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante Ok, was the old one deleted? I couldn't find it, so here we go again. In another video, it shows this might be a 1973 model year vehicle (but I think I see a 2 in the VIN for 1972). We got the (partial and dirty) VIN, we win: 3 for Oldsmobile, N for Delta 88 Royale, 67 for convertible, U for 455 V8 with four barrel and dual exhaust, 2 for 1972 model year, maybe M for Lansing, MI assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The Lansing Assembly plant closed in 2006 and today's Lansing Grand River plant has "assumed" the production of the former Lansing, MI plant. No tag, can't brag, but somewhat easy to figure out, no doubt: ST72 for 1972 model year, 36467 for Oldsmobile (3) Delta 88 Royale (64) convertible (67), LAN for Lansing, MI assembly, 17 for White interior trim, possible 26 for Viking Blue lower exterior paint, AA for White convertible top, among other codes. No, 350 V8s in 1972 were codes like J,K, and M depending on how many barrels and single or dual exhaust. "Q" as a VIN code is not often used, but GM did use it as the Camaro Sport Coupe VIN code from 1972 onward, The letters "Q" and "I" are often skipped because they are easily confused with other characters. In the paperwork I got with my 1979 Trans Am, at one time someone put a '2" for the fifth digit of the VIN which is wrong. It is a "Z" for Pontiac 400 V8 with four barrel that year. It was eventually corrected.
This video- and yesterday's Desoto- were indeed posted earlier but the final 1/3 was not shown because of a programming glitch. But tomorrow ALL NEW videos resume. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante I believe that this is a way to increase views and advertising revenue share by loading only part of the video, then load the entire video.
A little off color comment at the end....describing the continental kit...I guess he wanted to say black guys in the hood would buy them....the K in classy
Those fake "universal" continental kits bring decent money in any shape...As they are outrageously expensive when new......That one would probably bring $250-$300 at a swap meet in its junk condition....They were originally made to fit each car that they were intended for but they all will pretty much fit any car with a little work. ...You should've snagged it Steve,if you could've gotten it cheap.
Replacing a chrome steel bumper might've been more expensive and labor intensive. But the parts were also recyclable. You take your modern vehicles to the body shop and we pull off the plastic bumper covers and they go to the landfill. They either aren't recyclable, or nobody wants to recycle them. I love cars, and I love working at the body shop. But it is disgusting to see the amount of plastic that goes into our dumpster every day. If you care about the environment. Try to figure out how to get Automotive plastics recycled. We desperately need to do something about it
