The F-85 was Oldsmobile’s first compact automobile and the Cutlass was the top trim level. It was only in production for three years (1961 to 1963) before General Motors promoted all of its non-Chevrolet compacts to mid-sized vehicles in 1964. This ’63 Cutlass has the 215 cubic inch aluminum V8 which made the little cars quite peppy, even with an automatic transmission. It looks quite nice until you look closely at the damage in the front sheet metal and the rotted carpeting in the interior. Located in Douglasville, Georgia, this cosmetic project is available here on eBay where just one bid has been cast at $3,500 with the reserve unmet.
When work began on GM’s 1960s compacts, it was thought that the F-85 would be a variant of the Chevrolet Corvair. However, things soon changed, and Olds/Buick/Pontiac would get more “conventional” smaller cars thought of as “senior compacts” within GM circles. These machines would use a new Y-body platform that featured unibody construction, a relatively new design approach at the time. The F-85 had a V8 engine as standard equipment (unlike the Tempest and Special), and a new “Rockette” engine made of aluminum to save weight. Depending on carburetion, the motor could produce between 155 and 185 hp based on compression ratio (the Cutlass got the more powerful one).
The seller has owned this Cutlass for about three years and its use has been limited to weekend drives as it needs work. It has no issues mechanically other than a shift linkage problem with the automatic transmission that should be adjustable. It starts up and drives every time it’s been pressed into service. Its issues are of the cosmetic variety.
The seller makes no mention of the minor fender-bender that damaged the grille and front bumper. A spare grille comes with the car to help with repairs. The seller refers to the color of the car as grey, but it looks black to me. With some detailing, it ought to look good. The floorboards have some holes in them which may have led to the carpet rotting out, yet the upholstery looks solid. No title will come with the auto, so you’ll need to be satisfied with a bill of sale. Is this the kind of project you’ve been waiting for?
The Buick Special “Y-Body” used a Buick V6 and the base engine, with a low-compression two-barrel version of this motor as the middle engine choice and a high-compression four-barrel as the top dog power plant. The Oldsmobile, Buick and Pontiac “Y-Bodies” shared the same aluminum engine block, but the Oldsmobile version was drilled and tapped for an Oldsmobile cylinder head with two (2) extra cylinder head bolts in each cylinder head. The Pontiac Tempest was the most famous, due to the “rope drive” drive shaft and the rear-mounted transaxle designed by John Z. DeLorean., My Mom had a 1961 Buick Special with the two-barrel aluminum V8 and a two-speed Dual-Path automatic transmission.
Thanks for that excellent summary. Never know about the Oldsmobile heads, plus the two bolts per side.
What’s nice about that 215 is Range Rover still makes it.
True, and there are some aftermarket upgrades for it, like the four-barrel intake manifold from Edelbrock, and several aftermarket electronic ignition kits. The four-barrel intake seemed to show up on Triumph TR8’s quite a bit, to replace the dual Stromberg downdraft carburetors with a single four-barrel setup. That mod meant that synchronizing the dual carb setup was no longer required, although later TR8’s (1981-82) got Bosch K Jetronic EFI with a Lucas Control Computer! What could possibly go wrong (he asked sarcastically)?
From Wikipedia:
“After Land Rover switched to the BMW M62 V8 in the 2003 Range Rover, and the Land Rover Discovery 3 switched to Jaguar AJ-V8 engines, the last mass-produced Rover V8 was made in May 2004, after 37 years of production, and just under 1 million engines produced.
Olds also made a rare turbo option for this car called a Jetfire. This one looks like a worthy restoration, I hope it finds a good home.
I think the car used to be gray. Look at the photo of the inside of the trunk with gray wheel housings. Notice also the large hole in the headliner and is that a dent in the right front fender, or just a reflection?
They spend 50% of the article talking about the various engines yet no photo(s) of the one in this car. WTF?
I would Carefully inspect the 63 F85 for rust as this can be structural. My 63 special was plagued by floor board rust-out(check this !) Otherwise, good luck with your “Chevelle” clone (!) Always wondered about that frontal design ?
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My wife had one of these in convertible form when we were dating in the early 70’s. It kept overheating on the highway as aluminum was “stuffing” off and screwing with the cooling system.
Mom’s ’61 Special started running on about six (6) of its eight (8) cylinders on day, when we were driving my Dad to his office to meet up with a colleague for a business trip. We pulled it into a gas station about a block from his office and the mechanic comes out to look at it. Pulls off the air cleaner, revs the engine, and looks like a funeral director as he utters the following words: “Here’s what you do. Drive it about a mile down the road, park it, take the tags off of it, and leave it!” We threw a can of STP oil treatment into it, and ran fine for another six months until we gave it to a distant relative’s teen age son as his first car!
Have a ’62 convertible that picked up, runs good and can see the previous owner (dealer who collected) did some work as all freeze plugs been changed. Ca. car that came to Va in 2014 then sold to dealer in Pa in 2015. He kept it till retired and shipped most of his collection south. I picked it up and after a few bucks is a nice survivor driver. Intend to pass it on as disc problems in back have taken me away from my passion of restoring. Interesting fact is that Mario Andretti signed the glove box while doing a promo at a Firestone dealer when was getting a new battery. Taking offers
First car was this car but much better shape and had console stick automatic midnight blue ext. and matching interior. If I had that car back I would be all in for a project. This one eh, no.To old for that big a project
No title no sale.