If you enjoy drag racing, then do we have the find for you! This 1961 Oldsmobile Cutlass has already had many modifications done in anticipation of making some quarter miles passes. Lots of work has been completed on the suspension and a set of slicks and even a fuel cell are included. The project stalled before an engine was installed though and you could either look at that as a blessing or a curse. The original engine would have been a 215 cubic inch aluminum V8. A good engine no doubt, but now with a gaping hole under the hood the next owner will have to decide what they want to install in its place. So, if you have some spare time and a few bucks to burn, this project can be found here on eBay for $1,900 or best offer. It would look pretty mean out there on the drag strip with the exterior left just as it is!
I know for sure I wouldn’t have thought of it, but it does have a lot of potential .. maybe keep the ” beat” look until more $$ rolls in .. but I can picture it at my local dragstrip
Seeing this car reminded me of another old racer, Arnie Beswick when he campained one of GM’s econo boxes from the same era.
Small body and a huge engine can win races.
Thats a ’63 rope drive Tempest/Le Mans……..not exactly an econobox. Whatever he had under the hood if coupled with the transaxle would have been a screaming straightliner
Arnie still races a 80+ years young. My all time favorite driver. Mickey Thompson and a few other big names from the sixties had cars similar also. Lot of tempests with 389’s & 421’s. I think this is the first time ive seen the olds dine this way. I love it.
Just for the record, the original engine in this car would have been the Oldsmobile 215 CID aluminum V-8, not the Buick version. While the engines were similar, the blocks and the heads were unique to each brand. The cam and the intake was interchangeable as was the crank and rods, but the pistons were different too.
Thanks for the clarification Bob! The post has been updated.
Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick” a great racer not many seem to know who I am talking about.
Looks like it already sold. Did anyone here get it?
Bob G just made the comment I was about to make. Attached (hopefully) is a picture of my disassembled four-barrel F85 engine. The heads, in particular differ between the Buick and Olds versions, and owing to the number of studs, they are not interchangeable.
FWIW…
I knew Arnie Beswick and saw him race many of his Tiger cars all the way up through the GTOs, wagons, etc. Lived in Illinois..I sponsored him at a Vegas race one year…