Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale coupe







Welp, yep. Another Oldsmobile. Hope you're not getting bored. This time, the example is from the early to mid eighties, and to be honest, it looks like it could be older. This body style lasted from 1977 to 1985, with this particular car being a 1983-1985 model. I have no idea why, but I like this version alot more than the 1977-1980 version in four door form; in coupe form, it the opposite. I tend to like the 1977-1980s a lot more.
Like the recent rash of posted Oldsmobiles, this car seems to be in fairly nice condition for a Minnesota car; no rust, no obvious dents or damage, and certainly no bondo covering shoddy bodywork. Usually, I'm not a fan of white or cream cars, but here, the hue seems to work. It doesn't scream "I'm cheap", nor does it scream "luxury" very well either. This is a color, where you have to judge on a car-by-car basis. This Delta 88 Royale pulls it off well. Slap another two doors on it, and I'd rather have it in sky blue anyday.
One thing that I've always said when it comes to older cars, wheels often make or break the car; and this Oldsmobile is a rare occurrence. For the most part, I like to see bigger cars that aren't outright pro touring cars (or hot rods or what have you) left stock with standard wheels and tires. On this particular car, however, the modern wheels set it off. A lot of you are probably wondering what these wheels are, since they don't look too bad. Sometimes, removing a centercap makes all the difference; these are simply GMC Sonoma ZQ8 appearance package wheels with the GMC centercaps removed. Not bad, and certainly not expensive either. I'm guessing the total "build" if you can call it that was less than a grand for car and wheels. Again, not too shabby.
If this clean Olds coupe were mine, I'd chuck the Olds 403 (or heaven forbid the 305) and toss in a LS6 with a T-56 and some Corvette Z06 suspension bits and have myself a nice pro touring vehicle that not everyone and there father has built. I guess I'm just a sucker for offbeat projects-- and a pro touring Oldsmobile Delta 88 certainly counts as an offbeat project.

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