Projects '55 Olds 98 Starfire Conv Custom "Some Doll"

New project everyone! … Some of you may be familiar with my ’55 Chevy Gasser “Bad Banana”. That car is pretty much done for the time being. I accomplished my goal with that car and now have another project/goal in mind. As you may know from my other thread, my dad has some real health issues and there does not seem to be any hope of any real recovery. His last project car is the one that will be the subject of this build thread. It is a 1955 Oldsmobile Starfire 98 Convertible.

From what I know, there was only a little over 9000 of these cars ever made. This car is a true “one owner” before my dad bought it a few years ago. We have all of the documentation of ownership, maintenance records, etc, throughout this cars’ history. The car’s original owner passed away quite a few years ago and his son inherited it. He was really not interested in the car and it sat for a long time and eventually ended up outside in the elements uncovered.

My dad discovered the car and tried to buy it for several years but the son did not want to part with it. “Gonna fix it up one day” was always the answer. Finally, my dad went there with a serious offer and begged him to either “sell me the car or get it inside”. They looked the car over together and discovered the engine was now seized up. The son of the original owner showed him all of the records and insisted the car ran perfect the last time it ran. However, reality finally set in on the son and he realized that the car was deteriorating rapidly and now that the engine would not turn over this was a bigger project than he could handle.

A deal was struck and my dad bought the car and brought it home. He immediately attempted to free the engine. It took over a week of trying but finally he got it to move slightly. Using all the old “tricks” he knew and any suggestions from anyone else, he was finally able to get the engine to turn by hand. Cleaning the fuel system and changing all fluids after several weeks he finally fired up the big Olds. Surprisingly, the engine sounded great and had no noise and good power. After that, he spent the better part of a year rebuilding the braking system and all other sticking components and systems due the lack of use over the years.

My dad was tickled to death to have this car. This was a car he had dreamed of having for his whole adult life. He had big plans for it. He wanted to make it a mild custom, lowered of course, and eventually get it painted blue and white. He borrowed an industrial sewing machine and learned how to make his own seat covers. He began stopping the surface rust that had taken place on the faded original paint. He slowly put the car in a black primer but mostly, he drove it any time he could.

Eventually, his health caught up to him and he now is no longer able to drive let alone work on this car anymore. It has been sitting for the last two years and only gets fired up and driven when I visit him and the weather permits. He really does not want to sell it yet but he is beginning to realize that he can’t let it sit again and deteriorate even more.

Since I have finished the ’55 Chevy, my step son and I are looking for another project. He is 14 now and has shown quite a bit of interest in working on cars. My thought was to bring this car to my shop and do what we can to finish it (within reason). I do not have the resources to completely restore the car nor do I have the means to turn it into a show car. I do have the ability to continue on the path my dad was headed. That is what I plan to do.

The car is all there. What I mean is the car was 100% complete when my dad bought it. The only thing he says was missing was the original bumper jack. He has kept all of the original parts he took off. The car runs and drives fine. It has some engine and transmission leaks. The engine is still very quiet when it is running. The transmission works great. It runs quiet down the road. The brakes are awesome! This thing will put you into the windshield by just breathing on the brake pedal (dad spent much time and effort rebuilding the whole braking system). The short term plan is to pull the front clip off and pull engine and trans out. The engine is coming apart and getting fixed. Likely needs rings from being stuck previously and then we can address the leaks, clean and paint the engine compartment.

I am posting on the HAMB because this car is exactly what the HAMB is about. I want this car to end up as a true ‘50s-60s custom the way my dad envisioned it. On my gasser project I was NOT looking for input on how to do that car. However, on this car, I AM looking for detail input. I will probably spend this winter just fixing what is wrong with it mechanically, but in the long term, I would like to move toward possibly finishing the car with a decent paint job and the 50s-60s era custom look. Not sure exactly where this will end up but that is the direction I intend for now. There may come a time when I may have to part with this car but for now, I intend to keep it. Hopefully in the spring we can have it back together and cruise it some and take the old man a ride in this one as well. Here are the pictures I took today. These are the “before” pics and we’ll see how it looks “after” later. Comments, opinions, suggestions, are all welcome on this one.

Ohhh… and we are calling the car “Some Doll” as dad has rearranged the “Oldsmoblie” lettering in the grille (see pic)

 

love it now paint her !

 

thats a cool car just the way it is

 

Paint and Flake !!!!!!! Thats one nice project you have there.

 

I'll have to agree the only thing that could make her better is paint.

 

Everytime a 54/55 olds thread comes up it reminds me of this Olds custom from the 1954 Autorama. You dont need to do much with these .

 

very cool car man, great to see another olds custom.....john

 

PREEEEEEMO !!!
I would love to have one like that..
Very nice find.
Good for you.
Cheers.....

 

like it,needs paint.drive it

 

Project???? If you want paint it and stick a fork in her ---- She's done!!!!

 

I have to agree with everyone else...... what a nice looking Olds. Did you put the rear skirts on, and are they the metal or the fiberglass ones? I have a set of fiberglass, but decided not put them on for now. Doesn't seem to line up real well.

 

Seeing it makes me wish I kept my 55 S88 convertible,its now somewhere in Minnesota.

 

Some update pics. The engine/trans is out of the car. Now comes the messy part.

 

The skirts are metal. I didn't put them on. My dad added them.

 

Like everyone has already said, paint it call it done. I bet your Dad will be more than proud to take a ride in it with his son and grandson.

 

Here we go again! Sweet ride.

 

I'm subscribed to this one, too. I love it! Interior looks great. Looks like it's just paint and enjoy thoroughly to me also.

My son and I are looking for a '55 88. I bleed Ford blue, but I have a real soft spot for 50's Oldsmobiles. My Dad had them throughout the 50's and loved them. His first nice car after the war was a '49 and he told me he bought it because "it had overhead valves and really hauled ass." Sort of a tribute to him, I guess.

Kevin

 

keep us posted

 

Nice car......

 

the main thing that I would address are the headlight brows. I do like the Kustom headlight brows that were added to it, but they are little too much for the car in my opinion(they stick out too far...they look out of place from the side). I think a set of stock 55 chevy headlight bezels and fender sections would look better in there place, or pull the ones that are on it back about two inches. Thats the only thing that I would really change on it. I love the steering wheel. I also might swap the hub caps to fiesta's (it is an olds after all ) rad car.

 

I need to take pics. We have been making progress. Most everything is cleaned up and painted. I am waiting for the engine to come back so we can start putting it back together. The firewall is done and most everything is back on it. I'll try to post pics soon.

 

What a bomb, I don't remember seeing a 55 Olds rag top ever! My Dad had a sweet 4-dr 55 that I loved, so I have always noticed 55's. I see the production numbers were low, so that explains that. Best wishes gettin the dandy back together and rockin the road again. ~sololobo~

 

Love the car and the family project!! Agree with swapping the hubcaps. The ones on the car now are 1963 Corvette and will bring good money, so you can do anything you want!! Love to see more pics as you get it further down the line.

 

Im not a fan of 'verts in general, but tri-5 Olds are the fuckin biz.
Hard to make one look bad.
I say 2 tone in some nice pearly shade. Possibly fades.

 

Here are some quick pics I took tonight. The firewall done and some of the pieces. It will be more photo friendly once we get the engine back and painted. The car will be White on the front and Blue on the back. I won't get the body painted this year but should have it back running and driving hopefully this spring with everything under the hood and the driveline all gone through and done. Next year we can try to get the body painted. I am thinking about painting the engine blue and the valve covers and stock air cleaner white. Maybe get some pin-stripes painted on the valve covers and air cleaner. Or... should I not use the stock air cleaner and keep the chrome one like in the pics at the beginning? What do you guys think?

 

For what it's worth, since you asked.......I think the stock air cleaner would look better, and I like the hub caps that are on it.

 

You are right, I did ask... And I appreciate the feedback.

 

cool car, I like where you're taking this one, and I'd use the stock air cleaner also

 

Not updated lately but we have been working on it. I am still waiting for the engine to come back. I can't complain because this is the same guy who gave me an engine for my gasser. He has had some more urgent stuff he needed to get done but now assures me it is in works.

We have just about everything cleaned up and painted that we have here. Not much to take pics of yet. Once the engine gets here, we'll take lots of pics on reassembly. It should go together pretty fast as there won't be much fab work.

I did get a radiator made for it. The original was leaking and had been repaired previously. I took it to a guy and he gave me some options. The best one I felt was to have a custom one built to the exact specs but in aluminum. It is dimensionally the same as the original but is shiney new aluminum. I am on the fence about leaving it aluminum or painting it black. I think I will leave it natural at first and see what it looks like in the car. I can easily pull it back out and paint it if it looks too out of place but once I paint it, I can never make it look like it does now again

Here is a photoshop pic of what I think it will look like when finally done. Just probably a little darker "blue" than what this is. Hopefully, we can get it painted next winter.

 

Cool!