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Period Gasser! 1950 Olds 88

I’ve seen many “gassers” over the years that are later conversions — cars that have been made over after the fact. This 1950 Oldsmobile actually was a competition car as far back as the 1960s and is now for sale here on eBay. The buy it now price is $11,000 but the seller admits they are looking for offers that will be below that. The eBay listing says it is located in La Canada Flintridge, California.

The seller has included this picture of the decals still on the window of the Olds. I sure hope the buyer keeps these pieces of history intact! The seller knows something about the history of the car as well: the car…“belonged to well-known Southern California drag racer Norm Voorhis out of Monrovia, California. Raced at Lions in the 1960’s running a 394. Raced in the 1980’s and 1990’s at Terminal Island (11.78) and at Carlsbad (11.80) running a 455 with a 4 barrel. In 2002 at Carlsbad the engine blew up and was totally destroyed.”

The seller goes on to tell us he purchased the car from the Voorhis family after the owner’s death and that he has a clear title to the car along with a set of California black plates from the 1960s.

It’s great to see that the car looks like it left the drag strip yesterday, not 17 years ago. Unfortunately, there is no engine and transmission included, but you may look at that as an opportunity to recreate something other than the car’s last configuration. I did some searching for Norm Voorhis but didn’t find anything, although there were plenty of other Voorhis racers.

If the rest of the interior looks as good as this shot, that’s another plus for this car. I’d love to read about what you would do to make this car whole again — tell us in the comments!

Comments

  1. Avatar canadainmarkseh

    First of all I’ve always been amused by the term ” gasser ” it reminds me of the affects of a big bowl of chilli from the night before. I’d never buy a car like this there topically missing to many original parts and they have had the crap driven out of them, there often tourque twisted as well. I new a guy back in high that had a mustang gasser that was so twisted up from torgue that you could no longer open the doors and had to climb through the windows. It no longer tracked straight either it had stress cracks all over the place and was a real death trap. It did however still have the power to lift the front wheels off the ground. So good luck to the next owner of this gasser and my he eat much chilli before driving it.

    Like 4
    • Avatar diehardchevy

      Then….I’d suggest you don’t buy it! simple

      Like 12
      • Avatar canadainmarkseh

        I think I implied that captain obvious..!

        Like 0
  2. Avatar Jett

    An $11,000 BIN price with no engine or trans? Good luck. And I hope he can provide provenance for this “Norm Voorhis” connection. A good google search only turns up ads for the sale of this car. If he was so well-known, his name would be all over the place. I’ll pass…

    Like 11
  3. Avatar Tort Member

    I believe that saying the asking price is negotiable is going to be a substantial reduction in the asking price but it only takes one that likes it enough and has $11,000.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar BR

    A blown engine, even in a box with documentation, would add to the car’s authenticity. Am I the only one that sees the value in that?

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Motorhead

    I love the 50 Olds beautiful and I’m a old drag racer too. For me $1100.00 is not any where close to a reasonable asking.
    Looks like the owner will have it a Long time. Its a shell in fair condition at best.
    There was a similar car in Santa Mara last year in Calif with a fresh Cadillac motor and all trim the owner had it down to $2000.00 finally sold.

    Like 4
  6. Avatar Denis Flaherty

    I would love to have it but it’s too far away…..my number would be $3500 and I have a spare 455/400 Turbo waiting.

    Like 2
  7. Avatar Beatnik Bedouin

    I’m guessing that Mr Voorhis was one of the many drag racers that spent a lot of ‘quality time’ at Lion’s – myself included – so he’s not as famous as, say, the team of Stone, Woods and Doug ‘Cookie’ Cook.

    This Olds looks like it was a street machine that also did weekend battles at the drag strip (and most likely on the streets of SoCal!). I’d say that it got an engine update in the 1970s for the bracket wars at Carlsbad and grudge racing at Brotherhood Drag Strip (a.k.a Terminal Island).

    I’m with Motorhead, the price is way off the mark. It seems the seller is looking to recoup his investment. I sincerely wish him the best of luck…

    Like 1
  8. Avatar 1st Gear

    Mid to High 11’s ? Where’s the cage ? WAAAAAAAY over what it’s actually worth. Our hobby is going down the toilet with greedy folks such as this. Might consider something like this at 1/4 of the asking price. (ha ha 1/4. no pun intended)

    Like 1
  9. Avatar bog

    Odd for a “gasser” to be devoid of any identification. The window decals sure don’t do it. Since the hood is intact, there’s no way it was in one of the “top” classes anyway. So, an “oddity” that some Olds fan may or may not like. Me, I’d rather have something linked to the aforementioned Stone, Woods, and Cook or Ohio George….

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Franko

    Bet it would be very happy to have another 455 backed by a B&M Hydro,it already has a set of M&H race masters now a good cleaning and some leaky headers and off to A&W. It’s already done it’s job.

    Like 1
    • Avatar bog

      Franko – I can visualize that too. What I’d have to also visualize is an A&W, as I haven’t seen one in years. And that one was way out near Appleton, WI. They actually had girls on roller-skates taking and delivering orders…it was fabulous. Not too many places near me would allow slicks on the street nor open headers either. THOSE were the days !

      Like 0

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