When a particular car comes along that has a history of consistent trophy wins in shows, combined with extraordinarily low mileage, it is always a car that is worth a look. This ’76 Delta 88 is just such a car, but after 11-years of ownership and prize-winning, the owner has decided that the time has come for this car to find a new home. He has listed it for sale with an opening bid of $9,000. Barn Finder Russ G spotted the Oldsmobile for us, so thank you for that Russ. It is located in Toms River, New Jersey, and is listed for sale here on eBay.
Amongst its list of credits, this Delta 88 has picked up a number of awards and 1st place trophies from the Oldsmobile Club of America, so that shows some real promise for the overall condition of the car. It is also a car that doesn’t appear to have done much work, given the fact that it has a claimed 9,779 miles on the clock. The Inca Silver paint appears to be in very nice condition and is nicely complimented by the dark blue vinyl top. There are no visible signs of rust or corrosion, and the numerous photos of the underside of the car look clean and solid. The hubcaps are one item that causes me some confusion, as while the owner says that the wire caps were optional, the car will come with a set of NOS factory caps. I’m not sure whether he means in addition to the wire ones, or instead of them.
The interior presentation of the car is also rather nice, but I wish that there was one photo showing us what lies under that dash mat. I’m sure that the pad is probably okay, but I’d just like to see it to be sure. There are a couple of small imperfections around the interior, like a mark on the steering column, but nothing that would be a deal breaker. One of the things that makes this car interesting is the way the original owner chose to equip it. As you would expect from a car of this type, you get air conditioning (which is said to work well), along with cruise control, a radio and cassette player, power locks, and a remote driver’s mirror. The surprise stems from the fact that the original owner chose to order it with power windows and a power seat as delete items. You don’t often find a luxury car where the original owner chooses to delete some of the luxury items.
When you consider the deleted luxury equipment from the interior, that makes what is happening under the hood even more interesting. The standard engine for the ’76 Delta 88 was the 350ci V8, but the original owner decided to go for the optional 455ci unit instead. Power is fed to a Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission, and then to the rear wheels, while the car is also fitted with power steering and power brakes. The Oldsmobile has recently been fitted with a new exhaust, new tires, a new battery, and has also undergone a recent service.
If the mileage claims for this 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale can be verified, then that makes it a pretty extraordinary car. That equates to a yearly total of around 227 miles. There is no doubt that the overall condition of the car seems to support these claims. From a classic car perspective, this appears to be a nice, original, classic luxury car, and if the claims can be verified, it would make a great addition to someone’s garage.
Under 200 hp for a 455 Olds in 1976. Almost begs the question “what’s the point of having one?”. Still this is a great looking car and it’s easy to see why it has won so many awards. Dad had a 76 Olds 88 hardtop but it probably had the 350 in it. I remember how thrilled he was to get that car. GLWTA!
Torque.
The seller is misinformed. 1976 Oldsmobile 88 Royale’s came standard with a V-8, Turbo Hydramatic, Power Steering and Power front disc brakes as standard equipment plus fancier carpet, some additional courtesy lights and amenities over the base model.
Power windows and power seats just like A/C and tinted glass were Extra Cost options. Nothing was deleted. If the buyer or dealer did not order and pay for any available optional equipment, it was not on the car, period.
Some sellers find their cars do not have certain, often desirable, equipment that most similar models had and then automatically declare the items as “deleted”. A check of the options that were available at the time would reveal actual standard equipment vs extra cost options. It may not matter to the buyer but it would educate them, stop erroneous claims, and identify any potential modifications to the car.
https://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/olds/76oldmo/bilder/11.jpg
The low miles is nice, but a GM silver paint job usually lasted about 6 months in the ‘70s. The car is nice, but I suspect a repaint.
I owned a 77 delta 88 sedan, great highway cruiser. This same car is listed on the cars for sale .com site for $27,995. You would be crazy to pay that for this turd, IMHO.1 day 3 hours left, no sale!!! What was GM thinking with that big back side glass? One reason to buy the 4 door in this model. Maybe that is why GM got rid of it in 1977.
I don’t see a problem with the window styling. Should it have been covered with vinyl? If so, that would have been a helluva blind spot.
I had a ’76 Delta 88 Royale 2 dr, with the Y-61 package. The port windows were covered from the conversion by Hurst Performance Group at factory. I had it from April ’77 – Sept 2010. Put over 240k on it. Mine was blue with white quarter padded vinyl top, blue interior, much like this one. There wasn’t a blind spot. Either you could drive or you couldn’t. Where this one is silver, mine was blue. The paint quality wasn’t that good back then-to much silver in it. The vaunted TM-400 transmission, never lasted much more than 40k for me, and I didn’t rod it. Other than the transmission, I have no complaints. Mine had pretty much every option available on it. Great car. Somebody liked it better than I and stole it, probably for the 455 engine.
Whatever it’s book value, those delete items de-value it tremendously.
After helping my very picky mother try to select a new car, I gave up. She came home with a Chevy Celebrity with power locks and cruise control. No power windows, no intermittent wipers and some other wierd non-combo stuff. She did nothing but complain because she was used to those features on her previous cars I helped her select. That car was the last one on the lot, nobody wanted it and they pawned it off on a fool. I’m sure she’d say it was because she was female.
Very nice 😎
This is a nice car but I doubt the miles being original too. As someone stated before, the General’s silver paint basically washed off with the rain back then. This paint is too nice. Yes, those are Oldsmobile wire caps, & yes the do fit. But wrong year. That blue mouse fur upholstery was surprisingly durable. I saw many high mile GM vehicles from the era with nice velour interiors, usually high mile cars. Then there is the dash pad cover. Yup, I own a 1972 Eldorado convertible & it too is supposedly a low mile car. It too had a repaint & needs a dash cover for now, but it was in Phoenix it’s entire life before I bought it 3 years ago. Is this a nice car? Heck yeah! Would I buy & drive it? You bet. Is it either original or worth what the owner is asking? Not to me.
Those Oldsmobiles are some of the most durable reliable cars on the road. I own several of them. I currently have 1984 Oldsmobile 98 2-door. My dad bought it new and he later gave it to me. It has 147000 miles on it it runs and drives as good as it did the night we took it home the car has never I’ve been on the back of a tow truck. It has never left us in a lurch and even the few repairs that were done nothing major now it’s my classic and I’m trying to give it the wonderful retirement it deserves