Two 48's and a 49 Code Enforcement says move em out

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

Yep, I'm here in Crazyfornia the Napa valley Wine country. Seems someone is not liking my cars. None can be seen from the street or any neighbors, but somehow I got busted. Actually, these cars are parts cars. But pretty complete. One 48 is a series 62 sedan with automatic transmission. Engine is stuck. some broken glass. The other is a Fleetwood, heads off engine, body beat up from idiot forklift hacks. The 49 is a manual transmission sedan, engine turns. Also have a 54 Fleetwood with no engine or trans. Actually not a bad car, but as we all know, project cars should be considered as parts cars- too expensive to save, but a shame not to try.
I do not want to sell parts, because of the situation, they need to leave ASAP--  $500 each- How soon can you be here?

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I think we are going to see a lot of this stuff, now that everyone has a drone.

One good reason to live in Australia.   None of this.

Bruce.

[holydagmars]

Any luck yet in disposing of your vehicular offenses to proper genteel society?  They surely sound worth saving.

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

Not one single inquiry. I suppose I could post the 49 on the Hot Rod boards. The Cad overhead with manual trans would be of interest for those guys. I am sure I would not make most Cadillac guys happy by selling off to a hot rodder. 

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

The straight stick OHV takes me back to when a friend was cruising the back roads of Indiana back in the late 50s and came across two 1949 Olds fastback coupes with straight sticks. He bought one for $50. That was back in the day when most Olds' had Hydramatic. I took him on once in a drag race and really got wasted. I was driving dad's 1959 Ford six with straight stick.

(Just remembered an old "slogan" we used to bandy about..."Slip and slide with............")

[Jay Friedman]

Barry,

The late Joe Patten was well known in the Atlanta area.  He was the Technical Director of the historic Fox Theater downtown, which included the task of keeping all the equipment working, as well as having restored its enormous theater organ.  Secondly, and germane to the topic at hand, he was an old car guy and had 2 great Cadillacs: both '41 Fleetwoods, one of which has a Derham body with a sunroof.  (He and I convoyed together to the 2005 GN in Iowa, Joe in his non-Durham '41 and me in my '49.)

Anyway, he once told me a story about how as a well-heeled young man he bought 2 brand new '50 Oldsmobiles with stick shift to enter in the Daytona race.  I think he drove one and hired a professional to drive the other.  I forget how they did in the race and what he said became of the cars, but I wonder if your friend found them back then since there could not have been too many pairs like that together.

BTW: there is a '50 restored Olds coupe with stick currently for sale on Hemmings.com, which I'd love to have but the wife says my Cad is enough.  (Before graduating to Cadillacs I was an Olds nut.) 

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

Jay, I "think" it was a dark green, if that fits in to your story. Don said they were just sitting in a row in this small Indiana town. I don't know what he did with it as it wasn't too long after that he ended up with a nice turquoise '54 Chevrolet convertible.

[Bob Schuman]

Barry, I'm sorry but cannot help nitpicking your story. Any 49 Olds with a stick shift was definitely not fast, as only the six cylinder series 76 was available with the manual transmission. All 88's and 98's had Hydra-Matic as standard equipment with no optional choice. That was because Olds did not have a manual transmission strong enough to live behind the Rocket V-8.
The 50 Olds was a different story, when it offered a wonderful three speed manual transmission for all V-8 cars. That was the Cadillac transmission, adapted to fit the Olds driveline, and was one year only. Starting in 1951 manual transmission Olds cars used the Buick transmission. Since its gear ratios were identical to the Cadillac, some think it is the same transmission, but that is not true.
A stick shift 49 Olds six may have been able to beat the Ford six you drove, but by 1950 a stick shift Olds 88 of any body style was the dream of many young males, myself included, as there were arguably no other new cars except the rare stick shift Cadillacs that could stay with the Olds. That all changed again in 1951 with the introduction of the Chrysler hemi, IF, and that's a big IF, the Chrysler driver knew how to get its engine power to the road through its non-high performance transmission.
Incidentally my 48 Olds 98 has much more performance than my 49 and 51 Cadillacs. That is only because its original very slow 115hp flathead straight eight was replaced with a 79 Olds 403 V-8 by another person twenty years ago, but that is another story.
Bob Schuman

[Jay Friedman]

Bob's great write-up is right on the money.  I was thinking '50 when I read Barry's story about the two '49s. 

Bob's statement that a "1950 a stick shift Olds 88 of any body style was the dream of many young males" includes me too.  I was too young to buy a new one in '50 as I was only 10 years old that year, but by the time I was old enough to know a few years later in the mid-'50s I was very envious of another guy in my high school who had a '50 Olds coupe with stick shift.  I searched classified ads in my local Long Island newspaper for months, but couldn't find one since almost all Oldsmobile 88s of that year were Hydra-matic.  Finally an ad appeared for a '51 Olds 88 4-door with a manual transmission for $150 and I persuaded my Dad to finance it.  It showed its age and it had the inferior Buick-based transmission, but it was a "stick Olds" as we boys called it and so mostly satisfied my need.  We kept it in the family 10 years and it took both me and then my younger brother through college.  In 1960 my brother and I drove it to California and back, sleeping many nights on its wide, comfortable seats.  Wish I still had it, of course.

[gene harl]

Why not rent  space in a storage yard until you can find a buyer for them?
Gene   CLC22406

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

I think I saw the car only in the dark at 38th and Post Road for one time. And as anyone knows, the difference (externally) on a 1949 & 1950 Olds was pretty minor. So, it could have been a 1950. As a historical note, this event took place shortly before I left for the service in the spring of 1959. It was cornfields then and totally dark. By the time I came home from Berlin in 1964, it was sub-division after sub-division and my folks lived three blocks or so from the shopping center that had sprung up there.

No charge for the elucidation on "off-brand" cars. I think we can allow print about Olds as the straight-stick cars used a Cadillac transmission. And one last note, the Chrysler Hemi not-withstanding, it was coupled to the infamous MOPAR Fluid Drive transmission. And you can't "speed-shift" one of those. My brother tried, in our '53 Chrysler Spitfire Six (which is a long, long way indeed from a Hemi.) To make matters worse, my Dad's car was a '52 Dodge Coronet, so we did not have any "cool" cars to drive when it "mattered."

Thanks guys for adding on to my story. Some day we ought to have "car story day" and see how many tall tales we can come up with of when we were teenagers. I found out that a 1941 Cadillac has a slightly better top speed than a '55 Ford Sunliner.

[BJM]

Not one single inquiry. I suppose I could post the 49 on the Hot Rod boards. The Cad overhead with manual trans would be of interest for those guys. I am sure I would not make most Cadillac guys happy by selling off to a hot rodder.

Rod
This is not a matter of making a CLC original only guy happy or not. They are your cars and you can do with them whatever you want.  I for one do not care.  There are a lot of old cars still out there.

Personally it's a great set up for a 50's nostalgia rod or even a retro fit into like a Kaiser Darrin which had a few Cadillac V8's out in them. 

Parts cars are only typically available locally.  I am in Iowa and it would cost me $2000 + to bring any car to me from California, simply not worth it.  Considering most everyone on this forum is spread way out, it becomes a needle in a haystack issue. 

[Jay Friedman]

Rod,

If you decide to part out the '49, I might be interested in some parts.  An easy one would be the oil filter assembly, including the cannister and tubes. 

I also might be interested in the manual transmission components. 

If so, please email me at jaysfriedman@yahoo.com

[piperman]

i have a oil filter assembly for free. from a 1949 or a 1950

[piperman]

post them on the vintage Cadillac site on Face book

[holydagmars]

Rod --
       Are you still trying to part with your parts cars?  Reason I ask is that I'm looking at a sedanet for which I could use your '49.
       Thanks!

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

49 is sold and gone to San Luis Obispo. Both 48's are still here. 

[MercsDude]

49 is sold and gone to San Luis Obispo. Both 48's are still here.

Any photos of what you have left? It may spark someone's interest.