As someone who drives throughout the US around 40,000 miles a year, seeing a car as old as this 1974 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight with just 22,000 miles on it really catches my eye. They say that it hasn’t been driven in the winter since the late-1970s. This well-preserved two-door hardtop luxury car can be found here on craigslist in St. Clair, Michigan and they’re asking $12,500. Thanks to Pat L. for sending in this tip!
The car looks great, but unfortunately, the photos only show close-ups of this beauty. The opening photo 3/4 shot is the only one showing the whole car in one frame. I don’t understand that but I’ll never understand a lot of things. It is what it is, as they say, and we’ll just look at parts and pieces, and you can check out the craigslist ad to get a sense of how good the car looks. It appears that there’s a bit of a color or tone change between the driver’s door and front fender, unless that’s just a trick of the sun or shadow. Otherwise, this thing is beautiful.
This is another car with a name that gets written either with numbers as in 98 or letters as in Ninety-Eight. For the last five years of production, 1992 through 1996, Oldsmobile did away with the hyphen and it was Ninety Eight. Just in case anyone was keeping score.
This is a ninth-generation Olds Ninety-Eight and they were made for the 1971 through 1976 model years. My dad had a 1970 Olds 98 and it was a great car and at least at the time, it seemed like a rocket. I can’t count the number of wheel covers that my brother and I lost as they spiraled off while doing a burnout somewhere. I mean, as they naturally fell off accidentally by no fault of ours… The interior in this car looks almost like new and the back seat would be the place to be on a road trip.
My dad’s Olds 98 had 365 hp but this 1974 Olds 98’s 455 cubic-inch V8 has 210 hp. It’ll still get up and move even at 2.5-tons and it’s probably an 11 on a scale of 1-to-10 on being a smooth highway cruiser. Have any of you owned a ninth-generation Olds 98?
It’s not particularly sexy, and it’s malaise era, but……….it is a good color and it’s in great shape, and the miles seem to be true.
The horsepower number is pathetic for a 455 but……..who’s gonna go drag racing in this car?
Pricewise I bet 10K would buy this car, and it would seem to be worth that kind of money all day long. It’s a shade on the stodgy side for my tastes, but still it’s another time capsule cruiser that’s great to see.
This car is a beauty, with enough features and creature comforts to keep most people happy today. Sure, the 455 is well understressed and strangled. But it would make a great cruiser, and has a lot of presence/cachet.
BTW,
Speaking of Cruisers, and for anyone who has not yet heard….
Michigan’s Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise has officially been cancelled for 2020. The conglomeration of municipalities through which Woodward runs have agreed “in the interest of public safety ) to rescind all licensing/approval for the event.
Bummer.
My Dad bought a 72 Olds Ninety Eight brand new. I was born in 73 and was brought home from the hospital in it. We had that car until 1993. It was immaculate. I don’t remember how many miles were on it, but he sold it for $750 when we decided to all move to Florida from Wisconsin.
How did he keep it nice in Wisconsin? I remember seeing these driving around by the mid 1980’s looking like swiss cheese (us Wisconsinites know our cheese lol).
I like this car. The price is good too.
I always referred to this color as “dead fish” gold, because of the gold tints to the silver shade. It reminds me of the dead fish that would wash up from lake Michigan. I actually do like the color though.
No, I never owned one, but my neighbor
did. His was a 98 Regency and man, that
thing was sharp! And like this car, it had
all the bells and whistles you could get that year– even a thermometer that told
you the outside temperature! Being close
friends with the family, I got to ride in that
old barge quite a bit and that thing cradled you in comfort. The quadraphonic stereo system was mind
blowing. You heard every note being played no matter what kind of music you
listened to. Being a musician back then,
that was my favorite feature. Sadly though, my neighbor loved his alcohol and he wrapped the car around a tree
in a drunken stupor. He wasn’t hurt, but the car was totalled. I heard about it
after coming home from playing a one
nighter in Champaign, I’ll. I rode over with
his wife and daughter to pick him up at
the ER. That crash shook him up to the
point that he almost quit drinking. That
happened in October of 1980. Such a
sad ending for a really nice car.
Love these big cruisers. Nice write-up Scotty. Even as the HP numbers fell off (some of which was on paper due to the change from SAE gross to net) these cars made a boat-load (pun intended) of torque. I don’t know the Olds 455 well but on of those hot rod TV shows took a ’76 or so Ford 460 and kept nearly everything except new pistons to bump the compression, intake, and headers and made something like 370 HP with the stock heads. What’s more American than a giant two-door like this? Nice!
War story #26- I worked at a Curtiss-Wright plant in Buffalo in 1974. One of the foremen bought one of these in white. I was stunned at the price of the car in 1974 dollars. I left the plant in 1976 to head off to California for college. The expensive Olds was riddled with rust after two or three Buffalo winters.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that GM’s bodies were painted by Fisher Body, while the front ends were considered part of the chassis and were painted separately at the assembly plant. It’s common to find original GM cars from the 70s with a slight variation between shades on the front clip and the body, particularly on cars painted metallic colors.
That is true. At the Lansing Assembly Plant, the bodies were made by Fisher Body at a plant across town. They were then trucked to the Oldsmobile Plant for final assembly. Thus, you are correct, as the front clips were painted by Oldsmobile.
I have an ad for a 73 Olds ,the tag line was something like ” lets face it ,if you’re going to spend $6000.00 for a car, it should be luxurious ” $ 6000.00 ! It seems like so little now
My father in law got a new a new 98 every three or four years from 1962 on so I feel an affinity for them every time I see one. In this generation he had a 72 and a 76. The 76 was one of the first with an optional air bag.
Air bags were being experimented with in 1973 by General Motors.
If you get a chance, find an interior picture of the 1973 Caprice used on the Sienfeld Show that Kramer drove. It was an air bag car.
It’s almost surreal to look at a two-door vehicle this big. That would be completely unheard of now and considered selfish and garish in polite circles. All that metal, velour and chrome for really just two front passengers, giving each the carbon footprint of Bigfoot!
When was the last car like this made? The Buick Riviera in 1999? But even that was shrunken cinsiderably by the time it was discontinued.
My parents owned a 1968 black 98 and a 1970 mist green 98. Both were massive and ran like a dream. Miss those land yachts.
Very frugal owner. Only drove 520+- miles a year. One fill-up a year. Oil change every 6 or 7 years.
I owned a ’73 White 2 door and black vinyl top. 455 4 bbl land yacht. Black fabric silkish interior. I was the second owner but sold it as my wife couldn’t pull the door closed when parked curbside. 😊
This car would be a short little day trip for me, if someone REALLY wants it, and needs a pair of local eyes.
I’d love it for myself, but… Priorities.
Road trips weren’t the only thing the backseat was good for. At 6′ 3″ it allowed me to nap comfortably. I was so happy when a girl I was dating borrowed it from her grandfather. It was a very wide car.
Is this car still available
Click on the Craigslist link that Scotty has provided. So far it is still listed for sale.
Better measure the length of your garage first. These cars are to long for most of the garages of today.
Just last week
We were at the local pick a part
And there was an ugly boat like this
We pulled out our sawzall and cut up the front fender tips wit the grille and bumper
Its now mounted in my friends mancave
Its still ugly but now its useful …
Before you call this ugly, have you taken a good look in the mirror lately?
I bought a 1974 Regency 98 for $100 from a friend in 1988. Typical Oldsmobile maroon color on the 2-door coupe. The car was faster than you and others expected and you could outrun half the cars on the road at the time which was hilarious. It drank gas like a pig, but I would say it rode even better than a 1980 Lincoln Town Car and you could fit 7 people from the 80s in this car.
One quirk was that to start the car you had to lift your butt off the seat then turn the key. This was because I had the seatbelt tucked away and left it unlocked. I figured this was a cheap way to have some sort of theft-deterrent. Who wore seatbelts in the 80s anyways..
In any case, owning this car and the adventures it brought is one of the memorable things about the 1980s that I can remember.