My best friend is looking at purchasing a 38 Olds L38 Sedan. I have done some research and havent found much on the net about this era of car. I was hoping someone could enlighten me on the availability of parts new and used. He has it bought for 4k if he decides he wants it. Negotiation isnt even an option, so if he wants it, that's what hes paying. But I would like your opinion on if its worth it. What I know about the car: Straight 8, 3 speed on the floor, all original except for a 12 volt conversion and those gaudy *** wheels. The seller says he drove it 2 years ago, but I havent heard it run or turn over. I told my buddy to have him atleast turn it over by starter or by hand if practical. It seems like a very straight and solid car with the exception of lower door skins. It also seems to be 90-95% complete trim/interior ect. Here are some pictures. Thanks!
Clean ***le? Is the gl*** good, floors? It looks like it's filled with bags of garbage. It also looks like it was a real nice car that has been very much neglected for the past few years. Sometimes that means it'll clean up real nice with minimal effort, sometimes it means a great deal of damage has been done, very hard to say. It doesn't scream out "great deal" to me, being a somewhat undesirable 4 door sedan. If you knew it ran and could be driven home, that'd be a real good price for a pre-war driveable old car, but with the info given, I think it's risky.
No ***le only bill of sale. From what the DMV says we can have a ***le in a couple months. Gl*** seems ok, but the interior is hard to get a good look at it with all the junk piled in. Trust me, before the money is transferred it'll have a thorough inspection, including a vin check. He said he was going to clean out the stuff and try to get it fired tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of the sedan myself, but my buddy drools over the big body cars.
Around here, no ***le is a big pain in the ***. Not sure what it's like in KY, but going through the DMV to get a ***le is like putting your balls in a meat grinder. Granted, $4k doesn't buy a whole hell of a lot of pre-war cars, but this certainly doesn't feel like a great deal to me.
Well to late, he bought it and we brought it to my shop today. Going to get it in the air and go over the major parts to see what we have. One thing that intrigues me is that it has a front sway bar. Surely to god they didn't have sway bars in 38 right? I'm going to start a build thread in the future and ill link to it hear for anyone that's interested.
My '47 Olds has a front sway bar, and new links were available through Autozone, so it doesn't surprise me that this would have one either. Hope the car turns out to be a good one!
That's alot of money .I always thought they were most ugly. A 38 39 40 Pontiac was quite attractive , that one is scarry. I say p***, but it's only money.
Kind ot tall $$$ for a more door but if he bought it already Oh Well A lot of parts can still be had from NAPA wheel cyls bearings etc The up side is that pretty much any GM 'B' body will work, I used a door from my '39 Buick on my '39 La Salle... GM used as many parts as possible on multiple brands of car as possible then as now. Find a couple of coupe or sedan doors from a two door then move the B pillar back and weld her up. I would be dumping the torque tube driveline and getting some more HP and reliability. Your friend can keep the front end intact add a Saginaw pump and steering box the pockets for the springs can be modfied to accept coilovers, it's not hard...Warm up the shop and you can be driving it in the spring Good luck
The Jalopy Journal
