In the small, southern Missouri town of Koshkonong, is this 1969 Oldsmobile F-85 two-door sedan. It’s listed for sale here on craigslist in St. Louis, and with an asking price of $3,500.
The seller says this car is equipped with a “wide block” 455 engine, and I have to confess my unawareness of this particular engine in any other variation. The normal 455 which was manufactured between 1968 and 1976 was a very popular option with Oldsmobile buyers. This one is said to run “amazing” and sound good as well, fitted with a Flowmaster dual exhaust system. The transmission is the ever-popular 400 Turbo automatic.
The lone photo of the exterior shows a straight body, with possibly minor rust starting to become visible. The paint looks good, and is probably not very old, so as usual this would warrant a careful up-close inspection before purchase. The solid body might be attributed to the car being from Alabama and therefore also not having a title. This could be the ultimate deal-breaker. If the seller doesn’t have the proper paperwork, this car could be difficult to obtain a proper title for in the buyer’s respective home state, making the bargain price – not much of a bargain after all.
But what do you think? If the paperwork is on the up and up, is this car a great deal?
A two-door sedan is rare on any of these bodies. This car looks like it just needs its wheels back and some color!
At or near that price, I’d just buy it, do the few repairs it needs and drive it! I had a 69 442 convertible in 1978 with the 455. Sold it for $650. You can probably hear the noise my head is making from wherever you are, as it repeatedly hits the wall!
I had a mint, low-mileage 2nd owner ’70 Cutlass HT and sold it in ’97 for $800.
The 455 is not correct to this car. Only the full size Toronado, 98 and 88 models and the Hurst Olds were offered with the 455 in 68/69. The 70 model was the first year the 455 was offered with a Cutlass body.
Correct and the original engine was either the 350 V8 or maybe the 250 L6 and probably the 2-speed auto, and there was no Olds engine that is a “wide block.” The F-85 was the base “stripped” model but regardless this is a “post” car and those are hard to find. My ’71 Olds Cutlass S Post is one of only 4399 made and there are probably <100 left. Post cars were often used in the mid/late 70's for race cars and were destroyed. The price is good, and if it is in good condition, worth the money IMO.
Chris N….actually the 400/425/455 was a “wide-block”…the block was wider than the 307/350/403 and the intake is visually narrower on them..just clarifying.
@Denis While technically the big blocks you listed are wider than the small blocks, they’ve never been referred to as wide blocks. That was Mopar’s thing, my brother had a 318 wide block in a 1965 Plymouth Fury. The only designation ever given to larger Oldsmobile blocks are “big blocks”.
Seems like a decent buy but hard to tell with the one pic….someone transplanted the 455…other than the Hurst Olds, the ’68s never had one but who cares? It makes a helluva ride…wish it was close enough to inspect.
Denis, I believe you are right 68-70 H/O s all had 455s just the run of the mill 442s had the 400 . btw this looks like a fun car
Yup, the 68/69 had the small-bore, long-stroke 400…not a great motor but still an Olds… :-)
I own a 1969 442 with the original 400 motor. While they aren’t the best candidates for builds, the 68-69 400s aren’t weak by any means. In fact, the previous 1969 442 I owned which came with a non original 455 (out of a 1973 Delta 88) didn’t have as much power as the 400 in my current car. From pretty much 1973-76, the 455s were a bit weak (as weak as a 455 can be anyway). But the lower power and emissions took a bit of the bite out of them compared to the big blocks built prior to 1973.
GM Corporate policy until 1970 forbade the use of any engine larger than 400 cubic inches in anything less than a full size car. Hence the 396 engine was so named even though the actual displacement was 402.
I got a 70 with an m21 and a 3.91 year end. Sucks on the highway but it is the fastest muscle car I’ve owned. The 455 is a great street motor. Tons of low end.
Having grown up 20 miles from where this car is located, I have to say that I never expected to see the words “Koshkonong, MO” printed in this site or any other. LOL!
Minor rust? It could be completely rotted out looking like that.
decent car, fair asking price. do what needs to be done to make it a safe driver, and have fun.
Nice find.. For just a few bucks and a new paint job, this one is a keeper.. I like it.. If I remember correctly, the new oem factory exhaust sounded great on these cars. When the secondaries kicked in on the carb, the sound was unbelievable.. Great car.. I like it a lot..
listing is now deleted by author so it most likely is sold