Everyone knows that you don’t start noticing things until you start noticing them; for example, a recent encounter with a reasonably priced 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire Convertible for sale on the side of the road about twenty miles from my home made me wonder if I needed an Oldsmobile in my life. Then this thing comes along. OK, that’s not a big enough sample size, but it’s enough to rekindle those Oldsmobile feelings that had just begun to subside. T.J., who seems determined to sell me a car based upon the links he finds, found this one on eBay in Mt. Sinai, New York (that’s mentioned in the ad copy; a different city appears in the “delivery” column of the ad). It appears to be a consignment at a dealer, but it’s presented as having a nice older restoration and either 62,000 or 64,000 miles, depending on which part of the text you want to believe. The high bid is currently $9,400, but it has unsurprisingly not yet met the reserve.

The Starfire was the top “sporty” option in the Oldsmobile line, with bucket seats, a console, and the hottest engine Oldsmobile had to offer, a 345-horsepower, 394-cubic-inch V8 in its final year of availability. The “Starfire” V8 had the highest compression ratio in the line (10.5:1) and was also standard in the Ninety-Eight and the Jetstar I. Interestingly enough, all big Oldsmobiles in 1964 used the “Slim Jim” Hydra-Matic (also called the Roto Hydra-Matic), which has apparently caused fits for any number of transmission builders over the years. Be that as it may, this car “starts, runs, and drives perfectly.” You may also notice that it has power steering and power brakes, and given the new-looking gaskets up front, it may have a new water pump (and maybe even a timing chain), but that’s speculation. It’s worth asking the selling dealer if you’re interested.

The Starfire’s interior is original, down to its bucket seats, bright console with working tachometer, working clock, working gauges, and working AM-FM radio. The convertible top is also “brand new,” one less thing to worry about.

The trim and chrome are “perfect,” and the trunk is huge and well-furnished, just as you’d expect. The brakes and tires are new, too. It’s not really a huge financial victory, but it’s a moral victory to have the factory service manuals included in the trunk, so it’s nice that the seller spread them out for us to see, another dangling carrot for Oldsmobile lovers.

Big, sporty convertibles such as this handsome Tahitian Yellow Starfire would decline in popularity as the sixties elapsed, but this one captures its time period well. With the dual exhausts rumbling, the wind whipping your (perhaps, if you’re of a certain age) thinning hair, and all that bright trim glinting in your eyes as you’re driving, you’ll truly feel as if you’ve arrived. But please, someone get this thing out of my sight before I take a ride up the road to look at the one in my neighborhood again.