Are you feeling brave? If you are, then have I got the car for you. This 1957 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Convertible has some significant rust issues. It will take an exceptional and dedicated individual if it is to be returned to anything resembling its former glory. However, the owner includes a few of the necessary parts to get things rolling. It all helps, but the shopping list for this classic is still going to be pretty long. The Olds is located in Dade City, Florida, and has been listed for sale here on eBay. It seems that the amount of work hasn’t discouraged some people, because there have already been 40 bids submitted as I write this. The result is that bidding has risen to $2,000 in this No Reserve auction.
The Eighty-Eight would have been a striking car back in 1957. The Alcan White paint and the Black convertible top would have made quite a statement. Sadly, those glory days are a long way behind this old classic. Starting on a positive, the owner is including a nice new top for the vehicle that is still in the wrapping. Now, let’s get down to the work that this car would require. The rust is pretty extensive and has consumed the floors entirely. Surprisingly, the trunk pan looks okay, with only a few small holes in the spare wheel well. Included in the sale is a set of good secondhand floors, so that will give the next owner something with which to work. The seller provides some good photos of the vehicle’s underside, and while there is a heavy coating of surface corrosion, the frame does appear to be structurally sound. Externally, there is rust in the rockers and the bottom of the passenger-side door. There is also some minor rust in the lower rear quarter panels, along with surface corrosion in numerous locations. Some of the external trim and chrome is missing, while the vast majority of what remains will need to be restored or replaced. The windshield is badly cracked, but the passenger door glass is worse. Summing it up, it would be fair to say that this car is going to require complete dismantling if the restoration is to do it any justice.
The news doesn’t get much better when we start to poke around inside the Oldsmobile. The rear seat is still present, as are the door trims. The back seat is only suitable for the frame that it provides, while the door trims are only good for the rubbish skip. This is an interior that is going to need everything, including a replacement front seat. It looks like the gauge cluster is okay, but the rest of the dash is toast. Unfortunately, interior trim kits for the 1957 Convertible aren’t thick on the ground, so the buyer might need to have some pieces custom made.
If you were hoping that the news was going to improve when we popped the hood, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. The engine bay would have originally housed a 371ci V8, a Jetaway automatic transmission, along with power brakes. If this were the standard engine, then it would have produced a healthy 277hp. If it was the optional J2 engine, then that figure would have risen to 300hp. Sadly, the engine and transmission are both gone. This raises an interesting conundrum for the person who chooses to restore this car. It is definitely possible to source the correct engine and transmission and to return the vehicle to its original specifications. Alternatively, this might open up the option of pursuing this car as a restomod project. That’s a fascinating option to consider and could make the Olds a more effortless classic to live with daily. It depends on whether the buyer is seeking spotless originality from the project.
While Oldsmobile managed to sell 132,105 examples of the Eighty-Eight in 1957, a mere 7,128 of these cars were the Convertible. That makes these a rare vehicle. It isn’t clear just how many have survived, but you can be reasonably sure that the numbers are quite low. Sometimes rarity doesn’t equate to high values, but that is not the case with the Eighty-Eight Convertible. Today, good examples will command prices of $70,000 or more. That throws a whole new light on this as a possible project car. Is it enough to get you interested, or has this old classic gone too far?
Nothing to work with here. It’s a shame. One of the best looking and running cars GM ever made.
I too thought the ’57 Olds was the nicest of the bunch. Probably a $2 grand bid because someone needs that right tail light to complete their restoration. Ah, the old car hobby, nice huh?
Dade City, Florida, about 45 minutes north of Tampa. What is with this place?
This site has featured a number of overpriced rusty relics from this town. Speaking from experience, I’ve driven up there a few times to look at overpriced half-sunken cars the owners are “gonna restore”, after they fix the leaking roof on the trailer. People. They’re getting worse.
If it’s gonna need everything, you might as well restomod it.
At least it would be back on the road again. Slide a 455 V-8 and
a T-400 into the engine bay, take the carcass to the local metal
fabber for some new floors and trunk pan, then bring it back to
your house to get it ready for paint. If you can do a lot of the
work yourself, you’d be well ahead of the game. That’s what we
did when we a found the remains of a very rare car, we put
modern amenities into it and drove it. We saved a lot of great
old cars that way.
$500 parts car.
Not worth even considering a stock restoration, financially speaking. Good resto mod candidate if the frame is solid, or parts for another Olds convertible.
Very sad. What’s left of this carcass really isn’t worth much more than a couple parts. Taillights, bumpers, windshield & cowl pieces are about all its good for. Anything beyond $2000. really is money wasted. Surprised it’s that high.
Flintstone meet the flintstones, have yabdabadoo time fixen this one.
Only a shadow of its former self.
Ma’s first convertible was a black 57 88. She paid $600 at Jackson Ford in Ossining, NY around 1962 or 3…an almost 5000 lb car without power steering. That was what finally got her to sell it for the 59 powder blue Catalina convertible ($900 from the same dealer). I was 14 and would back the car out of the garage and warm it up for her to go to work :-). Powerful car and a fun ride. Reverse was at the bottom. Dunno what happened to it. Body was perfect as was the drivetrain. She just couldn’t parallel park it physically. Gave her a stiff neck…yes, a pain in the neck.
You know a car has been exposed to the elements far too long when the seat frame and springs have rusted away !
This poor car looks like someone found it in an old junkyard where it sat for 50 or so years, stuck some tires on it and power washed the algae and lichens off .
This reminds me of a white 58 Buick convertible that was sitting in an old junkyard here in CT. back in the 1990s . The top was up but there was no fabric left after decades of neglect , and it had a massive wild rose bush growing out of the passenger compartment . In the winter you could see most of the car, but in the summer you could just make out the grille . I’m thinking this car was in the same boat as that one was .
I believe this same car is for sale on Hemmings for $3300
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/oldsmobile/super-88/2423041.html
Kev,
Yep, it’s definitely the same car.
40 bids? $2000? Sorry, it ended with no bids.