Here’s a marque not featured often on BarnFinds, an Oakland. Of course, it has been 91 years since the last one was produced so that may have something to do with it. This example is a project and will be a challenge as it was dismantled for restoration and isn’t completely back together. An in-progress “project” can always spring all sorts of surprises on a new owner so let’s try to take account of what’s happened here so far. This Oakland is located in East Berlin, Pennsylvania and is available, here on craigslist for $7,500. Thanks to T.J. for this find!

Oakland’s story is an interesting one as it was founded in 1907 and then acquired two years later by General Motors. In an attempt to cover more bases, Pontiac was created by GM in 1926 to offer a more affordable Oakland and occupy a slot between Oakland and Chevrolet. Before long, Pontiac was outselling Oakland and by 1931, the latter got the bum’s rush. Our 1929 example is part of what Oakland referred to as its “All-American” series and it definitely appears to be a cabriolet and not a convertible. By 1929, the combined Pontiac/Oakland lash-up came in fifth place in the American automotive production race with 211K copies. For perspective, number one Ford knocked together about 1.5 M vehicles.

The seller of this Oakland tells us, “Frame-up restoration well underway. Driveline, frame, brakes, tires, wooden wheels, upholstery, steering wheel all refurbished. Most wood replaced. All metal stripped bare and etch primed“. As to what, or why all of the activity was stopped is not disclosed. It is claimed to be one of three in existence but I don’t know how that can be known with any certainty. As viewed, this cabriolet has been “lightly assembled” for storage and ease of transport but only a close observation will detail how assembled this Oakland really is.

A “refurbished” driveline is open to interpretation. What is known is that the 68 HP, 228 CI, in-line six-cylinder engine is positioned where it’s supposed to be but it’s hardly together, and based on the “lightly assembled” comment, it may not even be bolted in place. It’s the same deal with the three-speed manual transmission.

The interior is kinda everywhere with recent-looking tan vinyl upholstery covering the front and rumble seat. It also looks like newly fabricated floorboards, literally, have been installed. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of a dashboard or instrument panel in place and one will have to hope that the necessary components are all present and accounted for.

The troubling thing, in this case, is trying to determine which images are current and which ones were taken before the disassembly and the aforementioned lightly assembled undertaking occurred – what will a new owner actually be acquiring? A detailed conversation and a thorough inspection should occur. It appears as if a lot of the right things necessary to effect a sound restoration have taken place but a project like this is too much of a changing-horses-in-the-middle-of-the-stream affair for me, how about you?