Sometimes the reason to buy an old car has little to do with whether it makes financial sense. This 1959 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday Sport Sedan needs floors, mechanical recommissioning, interior work, and plenty of rust repair, yet it possesses one thing no modern car can duplicate: outrageous 1959 styling. At an asking price of just $750, someone may be willing to save it simply because cars looking like this aren’t coming back. Located in Oakland, California, the Oldsmobile shows 34,186 miles, has a clean title, retains its 394 cubic-inch V8 and automatic transmission, and is listed here on Barn Finds.
The story behind it might be almost as memorable as the car itself. The Oldsmobile belonged to a friend of the seller who has since passed away. Apparently, the car became something of a neighborhood landmark—or nuisance, depending on which neighbor you asked. The seller jokes that if it ends up going to the crusher, the former owner’s ghost may come back to haunt him. Looking at the photos, you can understand why opinions probably varied.
The enormous Holiday Sport Sedan body wears decades of weathering, faded paint, oxidation, and surface corrosion. Yet beneath all of that deterioration remains the spectacular excess that defined General Motors at the end of the 1950s. The sweeping bodywork, massive chrome bumpers, panoramic glass, and dramatic rear treatment ensure that even in its current condition, nobody will mistake this for anything built in the 1970s—or any other decade.
Nearly all of the exterior brightwork remains. One rear “Ninety-Eight” emblem is missing, one front headlight trim piece is cracked, and the driver’s window is the only piece of glass specifically identified as bad.
Rust is the real issue. A large hole is below the passenger-side corner of the rear window, and the seller states plainly that the floorboards are gone. The photos confirm this is a serious project, not something awaiting a weekend tune-up.
The cabin is equally weathered. The dashboard, steering wheel, broad bench seating, and major interior components remain, but restoration will be required throughout. That enormous red-and-white interior does at least give the next owner plenty to work with if the goal is preservation rather than modification.
Under the hood is Oldsmobile’s 394 V8. The seller says the engine turns over by hand, and evidence suggests the previous owner had at some point operated it using a temporary gasoline supply positioned behind the grille. No one claims it currently starts or drives, so a complete mechanical evaluation should precede any attempt to revive it.
Here’s the important part: the car still has a clean title and even has current registration despite being stationary. Nobody should buy this Oldsmobile believing a $750 purchase will lead to a cheap restoration. It won’t. But that’s probably not the point. Parts alone may justify the price, while someone with fabrication skills and a soft spot for giant late-1950s GM sedans might see something worth saving.
Plenty of perfect collector cars are available for people with perfect-car budgets. This is for the person who looks at a rusty, neglected 1959 Oldsmobile and thinks, “That’s too cool to die.” At $750, would you save it?
My granddaughter used to watch the movie “Frozen,” there’s a song in it with a chorus that goes “Let it go, let it go, don’t hold it back anymore” or something like that. I think of that song when I see this car.
I think something should be done with it.
Someone buy it and donate it to a high school shop class to be restored over years by students.
Raccoon tested, raccoon approved.
O Brother. Y Bother.
Maybe someone has one that needs a nose or doors or glass. But sadly, it’s just parts now.
More of a parts car than project.
Unfortunately, interest in this sort of car is collapsing. The purchase price is inexpensive, but the cost of doing even a budget “restoration” will far exceed what you could purchase a similar style car that is a turn key driver. Unless this is someone’s dream car, this is a hard sell. Even those that are the biggest proponents of saving cars like this say “someone”, meaning someone other than themselves, should do the saving. The idea of saving older cars without strong followings would be better utilized by focusing on the cars that have survived in drivable condition since the number of people interested in them is far smaller than the supply.
Steve R
Seller here. Everything said in the comments is true!!!
The hardest part is being a car person who owns multiple cars himself and charged with getting rid of it for my friend’s estate. Is it seeing value others can’t or is it being blind to junk that others see? I just can’t help but think that there’s someone who needs that amazing back glass or razor sharp trim or….or….or….. ? To the right person, the price is very, very negotiable. I’ve connected to some California-based Olds owners who are into this vintage, so maybe there’ll be a love connection made. Trying hard to keep my inner-Jonny Smith quashed to and NOT to get it to turn over! That being said, digging into this car now it’s frikkin’ amazing the tech that GM was offering up in 1959. I have tons more pictures for anyone interested.
BTW, first-time BF classifieds poster. Who knew they were all creative writing majors?!! Color me impressed! Thanks @Josh
Good luck finding a new home for your friends Oldsmobile. I’ve seen this happen too many times, it’s never easy for the friend. It’s better the owner deal with this sort of belonging, but the world doesn’t work that way.
Steve R
Your effort for this machine is noble. The difficult thing for me to witness is those that are almost gleeful when there is a problem selling something that is not an example of an auction show muscle machine. It’s also difficult give credibility to someone who states that unless you have the means to take on a project, you’re not allowed to have an opinion or to wish good things for the potential project.
Everyone comes at this “hobby” from different points-of-view. I gained a lot of comfort attending the now defunct Billetproof car show where they would sell stickers saying, “it is done”. That being said, I had a great conversation this weekend with the former owner of a 6,000 original miles ’59 98 Holiday SS barn find that was and is in showroom condition. I dug his jam. He was in super super deep. Both are equally valid to me.
I belong to a Facebook group called 1960 Oldsmobile car group…. they focus solely on 59 and 60 Oldsmobiles… I will contact them and reference this article- believe it or not there is a (relatively) large interest and demand for 59 and 60 Oldsmobiles and Buicks. Thank you for not relegating it to the crusher !
Hey misterlou, I went to the very first Billetproof car show ever! That was in the mid 90’s. I know it’s gotten big over the years, but that first show didn’t even fill the parking lot of the Albany Bowl! I brought my ’50 Ford Business Coupe freshly chopped, and drove it from SF to Albany over the Bay Bridge (the old one) with NO windshield! It was an absolute blast…
Being the “bane of the neighborhood” I’m frankly surprised it still looks this good. We had a modern abandoned car that was sitting on 4 flat tires and never moved. The city wouldn’t tow it, the police wouldn’t impound it. Finally it started getting vandalized in more and more obvious ways until someone set it on fire as a last resort. The city eventually towed it away. This was when we were emerging from Covid and the city stopped citing people for expired registrations and quit towing cars.
One more story: My college sociology book had an example of broken window theory from the ’60s and the subject of the article was a ’59 Olds just like this. At the time of the article it was just a 7-year-old used car. It sat undisturbed for weeks, then they simply opened the trunk and left it open. Within a few days, parts started disappearing. The photo sequence showed part removal accelerating until it was just a hulk on blocks.
I just lost a long time friend, fellow race car builder and driver, and more experienced and knowledgeable than I have ever known. The feelings are almost overwhelming, especially since he died in a boating incident, not from old age or health problems. This old beast is getting comments from you folks that you feel the same way about keeping, loosing, junking this car and it shows your close contact to cars and their history. We’ve had over 85 cars over the years and a few days ago we talked about leaving a rust free front half of a 356A out in the Nevada desert when we could have easily picked it up and hauled it home. We took out the instruments and left it out there. 20 years later we put the instruments In another saved car. It’s all feelings guys or we wouldn’t be doing it.Picture with gauges in the car just as we found them in the desert.
Of all the ’59s GM put out, the Olds is my favorite tail fin design by far. These are good looking cars. Especially the hardtops. I do hope this goes to a good new home, or can help another ’59 Ninety Eight come back to the road.
My parents bought a used 1960 Olds eighty-eight. Pretty blue. Very heavy. Kind of slow until it got up to speed. Once at speed, it flew. Had a four digit Delaware tag on it. That tag is now on the back of my pickup. Lots of stories with that car. Thanks for the memories.
I am in tears at the sight of this once beautiful road queen.
Lovely looking car. 1959 is my favourite year for this generation Olds. Hopefully this car can be restored and upgraded.
My grandparents had one exactly like it. Bought it brand new just a few months before I was born. I LOVED that car, but this one is too far gone I believe, except maybe for a school project.
my post seems to have disappeared… I belong to a Facebook group called 60 Oldsmobile cars- they focus solely on 59 and 60 Oldsmobiles… I have communicated this article to that group-hopefully the car can live on as organ donor… THANK YOU for not relegating it to the crusher..
It’s a sad story and a sad day for cars like this. Value minimum, love great. Parting cars out is risky at best. You must spend time itemizing, cataloging all the salvageable parts, price each item, advertise them and deal with potential buyers. I’ve been there and done that, it’s a royal pain in the butt.
The 394 might have some value to the right person, body parts are limited to model year.
A project car for teaching is probably the best bet, but they have no budget to buy, it must be donated.
God Bless America
“weathered”??
AAAHAHHAAHAHA
i saw this on eBay the other day. there are a lot of small parts that are hard to find. great parts car for the price. by the looks of it’s hard to believe it’s in California.
Lots of micro-environments here that’ll take your car out!
Take whatever the crusher will pay. I see no upside in this rust bucket.
Thanks, Josh, for the sympathetic delivery of Mister Lou’s Oldsmobile. Sadly there’s not a lot left save for glass and trim. This was a magnificent car at one time.
Shades of nobody puts baby in a corner.
Serious LOL!
I say if it turns over, it is worth salvaging.
One Sunday afternoon in a small, old Bavarian town the family and I were sitting in the square eating ice cream when low and behold a ‘59 Olds pops out between buildings on a side street. It almost went wall to wall! American opulence of the ‘50s versus Medieval Germany. It was truly bizarre. It must have been a US serviceman’s car left behind. Too bad this one is in the shape that it is because nothing says the ‘50s like this beast of a mobile, a panzer of a different type.
Not sure the crusher would prove equal to the task of dispatching this behemoth!
It seems to have been comprehensively lightened.
I learned to drive in a 59 Oldsmobile. After learning to parallel park that boat, everything else was easy. Loved the car and it hurts to see one in this condition. I think this one is only good as a parts car. I think it will find a buyer at that price. I also second the idea of donating it to an automotive vocational school so the students can learn their skills on it.
But it’s not $750.00 it’s $1250. after your ridiculous $500 fee.
Happy to report that I found the perfect match for the car. Sold it locally here in Oakland for $400. The new owner is beyond thrilled with his new ride. It’ll join his late ’50’s Imperial and Hudson Commodore. He’s already found bits for the car which were missing. Incident free tow and it’s off to it’s new home. As always with BF, it’s all about the comments! Thanks!
One like this has resided in a field near here for decades. It even ran, but nobody wanted it. At one point, the hubcaps and seats vanished. It has now sunk to the degree where the frame rests on the ground. All of the windows eventually were taken. And the trim-pieces have been removed. As to this one, I agree with those who suggested donating it to a vocational school for their students to restore.
IF THIS OLDS WAS CLOSER TO ME I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN IT. I DON’T NEED IT AS I HAVE 57 TURNPIKE CRUISER THAT I’M KNEE DEEP IN FIXING UP. BUT I WOULD SEE WHAT IS FIXABLE AND JUST GET IT DRIVABLE AND FIX UP NOT RESTORE AS TIME AND MONEY ALLOW.
Folks, anybody thinking that restoring this refugee chicken coop needs to look at the picture showing the body completely rusted away at the base of the rear window. There ain’t enough money or time to do anything with this wreck. Maybe some parts can be salvaged.
Well…as the seller, I can tell you that the fella who bought this yesterday for $400 is not in agreement with your perspective. Everyone has their own idea what “restoring” means. Their own goals and expectations of what they want out of an old beat-up car. Not everyone has concours d-elegance as their north star. The next door neighbor said that the car started and moved under it’s own power 3 years ago. This new owner is up for the challenge and bubbling over with enthusiasm. Which for me, was my goal— get it to someone who wants to make something from it.
Thank you. There are a lot of people here who see the glass as empty. I’m not sure why they’re even here. I found a 1972 Cud’a on here. The minions all popoo’d it. Not worth the money, Too much rust, Never be worth what you put in it. I bought it for $6,500 replaced $8,000 in sheet metal. All in I have $26,000 in the car. My Insurance company just valued it at 50K. So don’t bother listening to the armchair mechanics on this site. They are seldom right.