Reader Michael B’s father purchased this 1950 Olds about 15 years ago with the hopes of restoring it one day. Sadly, he recently passed away unexpectedly and now Michael is trying to find a good home for it. He’d love to see someone fix his father’s project up and get it back on the road, so he is offering it for just $1,000! That seems like a great deal for a V8 powered Olds project. It sounds like his dad was a true car nut and a good man, so let’s find a good home for his Olds! If you’d like to adopt it, you can email Michael here to contact him about buying it.
From Michael – He bought it for $2000 about 15 years ago from Southern California and I believe it was running at that time. The car was stored under a car awning for several years until the awning collapsed from the weight of snow a couple of years ago and cracked the front windscreen (see photos). The right front wheel is frozen, so getting it out of my father’s back yard will require lifting the front end somehow. It’s a beautiful car and really deserves to have someone find and cherish it and bring it back to glory.
My father was a fan of classic cars and hot rods since his teens, growing up in Van Nuys, CA. He was a member of a couple of car clubs—the Sultans and the Chancellors, and cars were his life until he got married and felt he had to give them up to provide for his young family. For as long as I knew my father, he owned and drove only classic cars that needed love and attention. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago, when he retired, that he got back into restoring (and sometimes hot rodding) classic cars.
My father and I both figured he had a good decade or more ahead of him, and he was planning it out by buying and bartering for project cars and parts and getting his home garage shop scaled up to deal with all the work. His death in March came after an unexpected and very short illness. He wasn’t lucid for much of his last weeks, but there were two things he wanted to make sure I was on top of, and his project cars were one of those things.
He had put a lot of love into some of the cars and had planned to put a lot of love into the rest, and he had hoped his cars would be his legacy. So in a way his cars are like my step-siblings. Some were old enough to go out on their own, and some, like this Olds 88 Rocket, are less developed and I’m looking to get them adopted into a good home.
First off, I’d like to give Michael my condolences for his loss. I also need to thank him for sharing his dad’s story with us and for giving us the privilege of finding a new home for it. If you’ve been looking for a ’50 Olds project, be sure to send him an email! If you’d like to see more photos, take a look at Michaels’ Photobucket.
My sincerest condolences on the loss of your Father Michael.
May He float in Grace.
My condolences to you Michael. may he rest in peace. Had to be a great guy if he loved cars and can see he had good taste. Long way from Middle Tn to Ca. but if not so far I would be after it. One of my favorite and desired cars and price seems very fair. also the Model A Vicky in the background is a desired killer too.
Retract the last sentence Ron.
Ron meant to say that the Vicky is “Awesome” also.
Anyone know what the holes and what appear to have once been brackets are over the windshield? Did this have one of those metal sunshades that seem to have been popular at the time? My grandfather’s ’50 Chevy — which I used for a while after he passed — had one.
It’s not a windshield, it’s a windscreen,
Obviously it was a torpedo missile launcher mounting bracket
Michael, So sorry for your loss… My dad left us last September, and he too was a car guy.
You should have no problem finding the right buyer.
GLWS
sorry for your loss.
that Olds has an alternator, electric fuel pump and an Optima battery?
Sorry for your loss…..one of these – in the same color – was my mom’s first car….
Does anobody know where to find a new windscreen for a car like this?
Is it still possible to buy spareparts for this model?
Isnt there realy nobody there can help with a company there is selling parts for these cars?
Sorry Jesper, I dont know of any companies making windshields for these. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there though.
This Olds sold to one of our readers in Germany! It’s going to be his first American restoration project.
Yepp. It is on the way.
Its the first American car, i restore for my own collection.
It must be a four door, so it can be used as wedding car.
Thats why all my cars is four door, like my last projekt.
But so it didnt end, at least not yett.
When the car came to custom in Oakland, for shipping to Germany, they found out that title didnt fit to the car.
The no. Plates fit to title, but thats also the only thing. Anyway the car came trough custom.
Arrived in Bremerhaven the German custom also let the car pass, but only write that vin, in title in the German registre for importet cars. Not the vin in car.
The problem is now the car has no title, and when its not in registre for importet cars. So no Tüv. No number plates :-(
Like it is pt. A parts car , there run, and drives, without rust, but ofcourse still need work.
How the story finalized? Five years later, is the car on the road now?