1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Convertible
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This car is one of only 3900 produced in 1972.� It has been through a lot, and I intend to keep it going for a good while.� My brother bought the car in 1992 from an owner who did not care for the car very well.� The stock 350 engine died, so my father gave it to an old family friend (also a mechanic) who in his spare time overhauled a 455 engine from a 1973 Delta as well as the TH400 tranny.�
Seven years later (yes, seven) my brother had already bought another car and this was given to me.
The car had a considerable amount of rust in the body panels, and in the chrome bumpers and misc pieces.� Through a slow (but steady) replacement process, the starter,
alternator, battery, distributor, oil pump, brakes, and some other
things were replaced. My attention turned to the body in 2003 when I began to scour eBay for bumpers, accents, and other replacement
pieces for my car.
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Some body work was done to the car, and the front bumper was replaced.� It was cheaply repainted white in someone's backyard to make the car look a little better.
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The car only looked marginally better after the job was done, but the guy did it for next to nothing so I was happy.� This year while at the University of Virginia, some stupid
horrible girl made an illegal left turn that crippled the front end of the car.
Lucky for me, the car is worth a pretty penny due to its low production, 455 Engine and Air
Conditioning.� The insurance gave me a fat check to start a fairly thorough
restoration.� The results are as follows.�
The car is currently in the shop getting headers put on, the paint wetsanded and buffed (it was only
painted 2 weeks ago) and the differential replaced.
I intend to get a new convertible top and upholstery this summer.�
If anyone has any suggestions on minor tweaks to the 455 Rocket that aren't too drastic, I'd love to hear from you.� This is my daily driver, so nothing too crazy or expensive, but I'd sure like to hear some ideas.� my email is lesnick(at)virginia.edu
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