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Sometimes we do things that don’t make dollars or sense. I think my 1978 Holiday 88 Project is one of those things.
But a Delta 88 was my first car. (It was given to me by an uncle — dark green on pea soup green, radio delete …. I dubbed it “The Think Tank.”) So I’ve always had a soft spot for these B-Body cars.
What I really wanted back then was a 1977-1979 2 door. Fast forward about 30 years and for some non-sensical nostalgic reason I started looking for one.
I went down the rabbit hole and discovered the Holiday 88 — a base model Delta 88 with the Y98 option package - buckets, console, T-handle shifter, sport mirrors, a sport steering wheel, color matched hubcaps and Holiday 88 badges.
Well, heck yeah. I just needed to find one. Apparently they are rare-ish. Not sure of actual production numbers. What I am sure of is that there Ain’t any of ‘em where I live — the Peoples Republic of California.
Hello Facebook. I found a few on marketplace (Indianapolis aka “Naptown” is apparently a hotbed - go figure?) but I missed out on a couple of good stock ones and didn’t want to pay extra for 28 inch wheels and who knows what kind of suspension and modifications to accommodate said 28 inch wheels.
One guy kindly reached out to me and turned me on to something similar but different — a 1977 Delta 88 Indy Pace Car with 70,000 miles… Having struck out on my Holiday 88 search and wanting to scratch my 77-79 2 door Delta 88 itch, I jumped on it. Of course that’s when I found (what I thought was) a great Holiday 88 deal. Luckily, one of the members of this community had been searching for a 77 Indy Pace Car so I sold it to him for what I bought it for (less shipping costs which I ate)
So the Holiday 88. White with a full white vinyl top, dark Carmine red vinyl interior, red pinstripe, optional SS wheels with the starfish center caps, 350ci engine, tilt, cruise, a few other goodies. Lots of original documentation. Lots of photos from the seller. Clean. Dead straight. Mostly original paint. Mint mint mint interior with uncracked dash and unfaded wood trim. All the exterior trim and chrome shined bright like a diamond (thanks Rihanna…) Seller said it ran good, but trans was slipping. Midwest car so I asked for pictures underneath. He sent me pics and video. I knew the rockers were bad. The only other bad spot (I thought) was one of the rear body mounts….
You know where this is going. It gets off the trailer and I immediately notice a couple spots hiding under the fender wheelwell trim. Drove it straight to the shop a couple blocks from me and put it up on the rack. The undercoating hid a few things for sure. Loud crunch as the rear body mounts come apart and the bumper drops about a foot. Frame ain’t bad. Floor pans are ok. I start poking around some more. A spot by the opera windows, a spot in the door jamb, another spot under the quarter wheelwell trim. I get home and do a compression test. Dead even across all cylinders. Check the transmission fluid — doesn’t smell burnt but down a couple quarts. Everything else works.
If this was a Cutlass, Chevelle or GTO I wouldn’t blink. But it’s a B-Body and no one makes patch panels and I don’t know how to weld.
So what do I do?? Donor car!!
I find a sun-baked southern 1978 Holiday 88. Complete car. Interior is cooked. Paint is chalky as can be. But straight as an arrow, rust-free underneath and runs and drives…and almost identical build sheet as the one I have. So of course it’s on its way to me.
Plan is frame up and paint on the southern car and then swap over all the minty fresh parts (and likely the drivetrain) from the Midwest car.
Wish me luck. Pics to follow…
Last edited by mapearso; February 11th, 2024 at 07:30 AM.
Reason: grammar
Well that sucks that the rust was much worse than the seller told you. Not very cool of them to do that to you. Looks like a nice car in your "good" pictures. I can see why you bought it. Good luck on your project. 👍
Well that sucks that the rust was much worse than the seller told you. Not very cool of them to do that to you. Looks like a nice car in your "good" pictures. I can see why you bought it. Good luck on your project. 👍
Yeah -- Indeed it does. Seemed like a very nice guy. I can't imagine he didn't know. But not my first rodeo. Since I couldn't go see the car myself I should have at least had someone take a look at it for me. I need to own that mistake.
Anyways, can't unring that bell so here we are ....
Last edited by mapearso; February 11th, 2024 at 07:25 AM.
Reason: grammar
There us actually a nice one being sold right now, saw this on the G body site. Most don't have a 403, let alone a factory non A/C 403. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/non-g...e.88695/unread
These are my favorite of the 70's big Oldsmobile, liked them my better than 80's two door for styling.
big project interesting !
yes some people at car shows tell me that they get a car based on all the after market parts available . But it seems to me that there are too many of those cars to look at , at car shows or meet ups . I like to look at the cars that you cannot buy after market parts for .
There us actually a nice one being sold right now, saw this on the G body site. Most don't have a 403, let alone a factory non A/C 403. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/non-g...e.88695/unread
These are my favorite of the 70's big Oldsmobile, liked them my better than 80's two door for styling.
Sometimes we do things that don’t make dollars or sense. I think my 1978 Holiday 88 Project is one of those things.
But a Delta 88 was my first car. (It was given to me by an uncle — dark green on pea soup green, radio delete …. I dubbed it “The Think Tank.”) So I’ve always had a soft spot for these B-Body cars.
What I really wanted back then was a 1977-1979 2 door. Fast forward about 30 years and for some non-sensical nostalgic reason I started looking for one.
I went down the rabbit hole and discovered the Holiday 88 — a base model Delta 88 with the Y98 option package - buckets, console, T-handle shifter, sport mirrors, a sport steering wheel, color matched hubcaps and Holiday 88 badges.
Well, heck yeah. I just needed to find one. Apparently they are rare-ish. Not sure of actual production numbers. What I am sure of is that there Ain’t any of ‘em where I live — the Peoples Republic of California.
Hello Facebook. I found a few on marketplace (Indianapolis aka “Naptown” is apparently a hotbed - go figure?) but I missed out on a couple of good stock ones and didn’t want to pay extra for 28 inch wheels and who knows what kind of suspension and modifications to accommodate said 28 inch wheels.
One guy kindly reached out to me and turned me on to something similar but different — a 1977 Delta 88 Indy Pace Car with 70,000 miles… Having struck out on my Holiday 88 search and wanting to scratch my 77-79 2 door Delta 88 itch, I jumped on it. Of course that’s when I found (what I thought was) a great Holiday 88 deal. Luckily, one of the members of this community had been searching for a 77 Indy Pace Car so I sold it to him for what I bought it for (less shipping costs which I ate)
So the Holiday 88. White with a full white vinyl top, dark Carmine red vinyl interior, red pinstripe, optional SS wheels with the starfish center caps, 350ci engine, tilt, cruise, a few other goodies. Lots of original documentation. Lots of photos from the seller. Clean. Dead straight. Mostly original paint. Mint mint mint interior with uncracked dash and unfaded wood trim. All the exterior trim and chrome shined bright like a diamond (thanks Rihanna…) Seller said it ran good, but trans was slipping. Midwest car so I asked for pictures underneath. He sent me pics and video. I knew the rockers were bad. The only other bad spot (I thought) was one of the rear body mounts….
You know where this is going. It gets off the trailer and I immediately notice a couple spots hiding under the fender wheelwell trim. Drove it straight to the shop a couple blocks from me and put it up on the rack. The undercoating hid a few things for sure. Loud crunch as the rear body mounts come apart and the bumper drops about a foot. Frame ain’t bad. Floor pans are ok. I start poking around some more. A spot by the opera windows, a spot in the door jamb, another spot under the quarter wheelwell trim. I get home and do a compression test. Dead even across all cylinders. Check the transmission fluid — doesn’t smell burnt but down a couple quarts. Everything else works.
If this was a Cutlass, Chevelle or GTO I wouldn’t blink. But it’s a B-Body and no one makes patch panels and I don’t know how to weld.
So what do I do?? Donor car!!
I find a sun-baked southern 1978 Holiday 88. Complete car. Interior is cooked. Paint is chalky as can be. But straight as an arrow, rust-free underneath and runs and drives…and almost identical build sheet as the one I have. So of course it’s on its way to me.
Plan is frame up and paint on the southern car and then swap over all the minty fresh parts (and likely the drivetrain) from the Midwest car.
Wish me luck. Pics to follow…
Bernhard wrote:
In my opinion I would look for a dry car that has not been in a collision and swap the parts. These cars are underrated as they were very reliable and nice to drive. There were even a few running in NHRA stock. Note some of these cars were said to have com with a aluminum hood, if your into rare factory parts that might be of interest. Like most cars the money invested will be hard to recoup.
Good luck.
Last edited by Bernhard; February 17th, 2024 at 08:30 AM.
Nice.
We did one of these cars for my Dad. He had a dry car and we swapped the majority of holiday 88 parts over. I have always thought that they were a very nice highway car like the name implies. He would always get complimented on the car people liked it. We deleted the vinyl roof on his car as we thought it cleaned the lines up, looking forward to seeing the car progress.
Last edited by Bernhard; February 17th, 2024 at 10:05 AM.
I have a small opera window like yours in a fox body car ,sail window on a Fox body , on a fox body not easy to get that window to stop leaking . I did see an aluminum hood for sale at a small yard outside Saskatoon . mapearso , what colour of interior are you going with? i would like those red bucket seats for my car , if they are ever for sale !
I have a small opera window like yours in a fox body car ,sail window on a Fox body , on a fox body not easy to get that window to stop leaking . I did see an aluminum hood for sale at a small yard outside Saskatoon . mapearso , what colour of interior are you going with? i would like those red bucket seats for my car , if they are ever for sale !
Thanks. I’m keeping this interior. I do have another car with the same buckets but they would need to be recovered. Plus you are in Canada and I’m in California so there’s that …
Moving right along - getting close(r). Front bumper is next. All the fillers are out and are in great shape. I’ll probably pull the whole header panel off.
I’m thinking about cutting the length of the bumper brackets in the front and rear by about 1.5” so they don’t stick out like Jay Leno’s chin…
You could sink the bumper shocks. Drill a small hole in the bottom of the shock to release the pressure, sink them to your desired depth, and add a couple small welds to the tubes. Half-assed? Maybe. It worked well in the old demo derby days.
Dude- about the midwest on line purchase. I found a car on line and agreed to swap a motorcycle for the car. Seller said it was rust free, ran great, all original- bought by a local guy in Minnesota and always garaged, never driven in the winter.... same family since 1964... yeah. I drove 2400 miles round trip to get it. Springfield Mass to Fort Wayne one day- around 800 miles. Then round trip to Wisconsin, a small town north of Madison, the seller agreed to drag the car from St Cloud and meet me there. I turned around and drove back to the hotel in Ft Wayne, through Chicago (worst roads in America, Chicago) the same day- another 800 miles round trip. It rained the whole way towing a 19 foot long car on a trailer behind me. It would have had to be a complete rust bucket non-running POS to make me turn around and go back home empty handed, but it was pretty much what I expected. It's a good car that needs work. I love your car and I'm excited to see what you do with it- but yeah, internet purchases... you get what you get.
Last edited by davek1661; March 8th, 2024 at 08:52 PM.
You could sink the bumper shocks. Drill a small hole in the bottom of the shock to release the pressure, sink them to your desired depth, and add a couple small welds to the tubes. Half-assed? Maybe. It worked well in the old demo derby days.
Good idea. I've seen this done before. What's inside the shocks? Oil or someother fluidf or gas or ???
Just don't want to do something dangerous when I break out the drill!
And the recipient car is on its way … As someone here said, I’ve got my work cut out for me.
Good news is it’s a 1978 Holiday 88 - Almost identical spec to the donor car. And it runs, drives and stops.
I’ll know more and post more when it arrives …
More
Showed up yesterday morning — in the pouring rain of course.
I was pleased that it’s as straight in person as it looked in the photos. That doesn’t always happen. (I also like how the soft-Ray glass matches the Impala SS convertible that it showed up with… not mine … I sure hope that guy knows what he bought)
I put some SSIII Rallys on it because as you can see the old tires were toast. Looks better already and of course it moves a helluva lot easier.
I’ll dig into it later today, time and weather permitting. I’m sure RockAuto and Amazon are about to get some of my money …
My Dad had a car lot in the 80's and 90's and I remember he bought one of these, I think a 77, that was supposedly owned by a guy that worked at the Leed's Plant in KC and followed the car down the assembly line. It was black with a black padded half top, black cloth interior, 403 and a posi. I always thought it was a pretty neat car, even as a kid. Glad to see you giving this one a new lease on life.
February 10th, 2024, 07:34 PM
