1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88

1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88
This Site is Dedicated to Carla Who Puts Up With Me.

Intro and Background

The blog covers the restoration of my 1960 Olds Dynamic 88. The car spent its early years in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region. The car has been in the family since 1984, when my uncle began restoration #1. That round included a good deal of work by Bob, who towed home little more than a parts car when he bought it. From the pre-resto picture that I saw it looked like it had been parked out in a field and neglected for quite some time. He got the engine running, replaced a fender, added new dual exhausts, exterior body work and paint, re-upholstery, and got all of the mechanicals to function properly. He had it for 20 years and then I purchased the car in 2004, with 58,200 miles on the odometer, and it has been in Arizona since then. Restoration #2 includes returning it to as close to OEM original as possible while maintaining a reasonable budget so the total expense remains close to the book value when complete. This is my first restoration so everything is trial by error and learning along the way.

The car's claim to fame is that it appeared in the movie Kingpin. It served as a background car and you can see it (for only a short time though) during the opening scene of the 1996 movie that starred Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid. It's being serviced at Munson's garage as the movie opens. Check out the Internet Movie Cars Database (IMCDb) link in the right panel.

Interesting tidbit: the license plate on the front of the car in the above picture reads "60 OLDS", and is in Pennsylvania state colors, was actually made at the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary by inmates in the machine shop.

It has a 371 cu in Rocket V8 with 2-barrel carb producing 240 hp and automatic Hydramatic transmission. It has the original driveline. It's painted the original copper mist poly with white top.

11/11/09

Engine and Front Suspension

I began work on the engine area and front suspension in May 2009.  It was time to make it look new again!  The suspension, frame, and engine were heavily covered with road dirt, undercoating, extra coats of touch up paint, road tar, and thick layers of old grease so hard it took a hammer and chisel to break off chunks.  The before pics of the suspension show that there was some work to do on corrosion removal and prevention, and the engine needs some work to return it to an OEM appearance (wires, hoses, radiator cap, paints, clamps, battery, decals, etc.)

The next group of pics shows the parts room, a.k.a. the guest room.  Excellent workmanship by Radiant Powder Coating of North Phoenix.  James and his guys do top notch work and are highly recommended.  The powder coating was selected to match the semi-gloss satin paint that was original and that will be used on the fender wells.

Engine compartment before:


Left front brake, heavy grease build up at fittings, lots of corrosion:

Driver side suspension before:

Suspension before, lots of work to do here!


Two months later everything was off of the car including suspension, brakes, mechanicals, heater system and grill:

Restored parts in the "parts room".  Control arms shot with satin black, new rubber bumpers and hardware.  Beautiful work on the springs and backing plates by Radiant Powder Coating.  These should be plain steel finish from the factory, but I didn't want to watch them rust over after all this work.  Fronts brakes reassembled with new shoes and cylinders.  The power steering pump, generater and starter motor have been rebuilt with new bearings and brushes and repainted:















More great looking powder coating by Radiant--the fan, air filter, and pulleys came out super.  All gold parts painted with PPG Olds Gold.  Can't wait to see them on the motor!  New decals for the oil filler, air filter, and washer bottle.

More great powder coating by Radiant--hood springs turned out phenomenal(!), head light buckets, and master cylinder, which was rebuilt also:

More parts ready to go:

Performance Radiator in Phoenix did an excellent job re-coring the original.  Heater core is new.  Heater fan motor replaced.  New '60 wheel covers found on-line at Hubcaps.com:
Overall, excellent support from parts providers such as Fusick's, Olds Parts USA, and Steele Rubber.  Great suppliers.

Next steps are to get the engine compartment painted and do the re-assembly of all these parts.  I expect to have the engine and front suspension complete by the end of 2009, and drive it over the Christmas Holiday--wish me luck!.