The Oakland Motor Car Co. launched in 1907 but was part of General Motors from 1909 to 1931. It was positioned just above Chevrolet in the GM pecking order. A variety of models were produced over the years, including this 5-window coupe from 1928. The seller has owned it for nearly five decades, finally admitting that a restoration will not come under his watch. Located in Cortland, Ohio, this piece of rusty gold is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,500 or trades.
Oakland operated out of Pontiac, Michigan, and was instrumental in bringing the Pontiac brand to market. Since the seller’s car is a 1928 edition, we assume it has/had the then-new 212 cubic inch inline-six that was sold as the “All-American Six.” Apparently, the cars sold well enough to retain their separate identity until 1929 came along and the financial markets crashed. Looking to consolidate and save money, GM dropped the Oakland marque in 1931. The seller took possession of this automobile in the late 1970s with plans of doing a restoration. But reality has no doubt set it, and this project is better left to someone else to undertake as the car approaches its 100th birthday.
Of course, it doesn’t run thanks to a cracked head, but the engine at least turns freely. A total restoration is needed, but how many of these old Oaklands could still be left? Almost anything would make the seller’s trade list, from a dune buggy to an excavator. If it’s worth $3,500, why not reach out to the seller? He started at $3,700, but the price is coming down as potential buyers don’t seem to be materializing. The company marketed their products in those days as “True Blue Oaklands,” and you have the chance to make one of them yours. Kudos to “JDC” for the tip!
It’s going to be a challenge to fix but it looks like most of it is there. I imagine there’s going to be a challenge finding a replacement head but there’s a chance that you might find one through the various interest groups. There was a guy in our club that belonged to the TIN INDIANS and restored at least four Pontiacs. Las I talked to him he was looking for a V8 powered one. I thought that would be a real challenge.
I wish luck to both the vendor and the buyer…
Why not just see if the cylinder head can be repaired first?
There’s a good chance that the cracked cylinder head can be repaired if a replacement head can’t be found. A friend of mine found a place in Cleveland OH that regularly repairs cracked cast iron engine blocks and heads.
It’s a wild process, you have to get the iron you’re welding on red hot (1000 F) to start, and then take a day or so to let it cool after welding.
They mostly do large diesel blocks and heads that are prohibitively expensive to replace. The price won’t be cheap, but their reputation is good according to my friends.
Guarantee Auto Weld
1258 E. 49th. St.
Cleveland OH 44103
(216) 431-1412
Of course their price to repair the cylinder head may be more than the price to buy the car, but it’s an option that you didn’t have before.
Fire up that wood stove! I have repaired some castings over the years, nothing as intricate as a cylinder head. Get that wood stove glowing red, drill the ends of the crack to keep it from running, then heat the casting red hot as well, weld or braze the crack and set it on or pitch it in the stove and walk away, slooooow cooling is the key.
There was a place in Great Falls and another up in Calgary, Canada, that welded cracked cylinder heads. The earlier International WD/TD/UD 9/14/18 engines were notorious for cracking heads. I think the place in Calgary (Head Hunters) actually exchanged them. People said the reworked ones worked better…
On the Pontiac cross cross country I mentioned we got a crack on the left side of the block. Covered it with JB Weld and kept on trucking. Got back to our junior year of classes with still no leaks and after graduation the owner packed up his stuff and drove it home JB Weld and all.
5 years ago an Oakland just like this was seen here at BF. Advertised for $17,500 it sold for $12,500 and was in much nicer condition than this one. Pre-war vehicles don’t bring the money they used to as interest in them wanes. All that said, if you can do your own work and are just looking for a fun driver it would be a fun project.
Wet blanket Howard here,,,sorry folks, I just don’t see it happening.You know, we hear “stored for 48 years”, must be clearly since the Byzantine times, but hello, that was 1978,,sigh, and in ’78 interest was keen on these, now, I just don’t see it. If you look at images, the Oakland was really a beautiful car, even though all these cars look similar, it was an upscale Chevy, and stayed that way until the bitter end. I read in 1929, there were almost 50,000 Oaklands sold new, but by 1930, that number dropped in half and still not the 163,000 Pontiacs sold. Oaklands had to be great cars. Guess we’ll never know, huh?
A generic medium price car of the era. Like Howard said, just an upscale Chevy. No cachet of the independents, no cool factor like its premium stablemates. To me, until cars started getting grilles in front of the radiators in the 30s, cars of that era all looked alike. Except for this one. It looks like a money pit. Either part it out or hope to find some well heeled collector that MUST have an Oakland. I got a feeling that She Who Must Be Obeyed want it out, and out fast.
“She”, an interesting movie starring the young Ursula Andress as the Queen, searching for her Very Long lost mate.
There is a contemporary remake planned, called “They”.
Good one!
And don’t forget “Them”, I think about some nasty ants.
Days gone by not worth restoring you could have 50k+ in the build if you could find someone that would do the work
Forget the restoration. Just clean it up, fix the head, throw some new tires on it and have some fun with it. Imagine the thrill of firing that ol thing up for the first time since who knows when.
If I didn’t already have a garage full of projects, I would do just that. Seeing this thing cut up to make some ratrod, well I just don’t want to think about that.
Just my opinion, for what it’s worth.
$3500 is still too high for a non-running Pre-War car in that condition.
There happens to be an engine advertised as a 1928 Oakland on FB Marketplace for free.
https://www.facebook.com/share/18U8XFEbNT/
This looks amazingly solid, and if that is the correct engine, it could be an affordable “get it running, clean it up, new tires / tubes and go” project.
The engine looks older to me though; exposed rockers look like pre 1920…
57wayne, you’re right. From what I’ve found, the ’28 Oakland engine was a flathead. They used overhead valves earlier; before ’23.
That is another cool project, though. Good thing it’s not close to me or I’d be making room in the garage for it, even though I don’t need it.