1925mosin

Hey everybody, I'm about to buy my first oldsmobile, a 73 Delta 88 Royale with the 350 Rocket. I've been a Ford guy all 23 years of my life, but this car excites me and is just too good of a deal to pass up. It has 65k miles, very minimal rust, the floor pans and trunk pan have no rust at all. The interior is dirty, but everything is there. Even the rear defrost works! I think actually the clock is the only thing that doesn't work. The seats are PERFECT! I'm excited to get my hands on this cruiser. Only problems are it was in a front end collision and the front fenders are bit crumpled. A previous owner replaced the nose with one from a 72, but left the hood and fenders, so now theres a 2 inch gap between the hood and nose. Either way, this will be a good driver for this winter and then do all the body work next spring. If anybody has any recommendations of mods to make or issues to look out for please let me know, it will be greatly appreciated!

Ben

MDchanic

Welcome to ClassicOlds.

The one piece of advice that I could give you at this stage is one you don't want to hear anyway.

Don't drive it in the salt.

These cars were not very rust resistant, and if you add salt to the minor rust that you already have, you will be amazed at how fast the iron mites eat through that car.

Now, if the car was cheap, and you're not attached to it, [flamesuit on] that's no big deal, as I do not consider these to be particularly collectible [/flamesuit], but if you're planning on hanging on to it for a while, I'd recommend completely changing your current plan.

- Eric

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, post some pictures when you get it.

m371961

Welcome. I was new to Olds when I got my 98 a few years back. Lots of old Ford and Mopar experience. Lots of fellows here that know Olds, ask any questions and get yourself factory chassis and body manuals.

1925mosin

I'm not terribly attatched to it. It's only $1900. If all goes as planned I'll be picking her up tomorrow. I will be bondoing and priming the one hole as well as sanding and priming all the surface rust. I will take the time to undercoat it too. I have a work vehicle that I take home with me, so I don't have to drive it for a commute and it won't see a ton of winter driving. But I'm buying it so I can store my 94 F150 Lightning. That's my baby and is currently rust free and still has all original paint. I've been forced to drive it the past 2 winters and I dont want to again. Thats why I'm getting a $1900 steel land yacht lol

Allan R

Welcome aboard.
The 1972 front end is completely different than 73. The header panel for 72 for example is metal, whereas the 73 is fibreglass. Also the bumper mounting on the 72 uses 2 spring plates to absorb energy whereas the 73 uses compression struts. The fenders and hoods are interchangeable for those 2 years though. Eric can likely fill you in on whether the radiator supports are the same, but I suspect they are different.

I guess it really depends on what you want to do with the car. Here's the cosmetic differences in pictures.

1973 - note headlights/grills/ lower valence and grills/narrow flat contoured bumper/ turn signals on lower valence (also fibreglass BTW).


1972 - note separate headlight bezels, taller narrower grills, bumper is full drop to bottom and shaped to match contours, signals just below headlights

1969w3155

The gas mileage should be about the same as the Lightning...12mpg!

Allan R

Really? I'd think the 350 would have to work harder than a 455. IMO it's kind of unusual to have a 350 in a top o the line Delta Royale but I just checked the 73 SPECS and sho nuff! Standard engine was the 350 2bbl. L74 available for an extra 199.00. Had to dig for this, but it appears the last year the 455 was standard offering in the Delta series was 1969.

At least the 98's and Custom Cruisers got the 455 as standard engine up to the end of 76.