Features Jalopy Auction: Survivor 1954 Olds 88 Custom

Looks like it came out of a Time Machine. Very cool

 

Amaze-balls. Best of luck with the auction.

 

Cool car, I watched the upgrades/fixes when I followed marc.

 

That Old's is pure automotive jewelry!
I dig the color and all of the attention to detail.

 

I'm very surprised no-one has snapped this car up already. It's a really sweet ride.

Of course I suppose most guys are in the same boat as me; no extra cash laying around for a car I don't need.

 

Agreed!

I can't believe Marcus @M.Edell (& brother Sergio) haven't already sold this piece of '60s Bay Area Custom history.

Here's a couple other vintage photos of the car:

Bill & his '54 Olds


at the '66 Oakland Roadster Show​

 

I love the chrome reverse, but the Foresight Venture wheels are so bitchen!

 

I really like the pic shot in front of Vals Burgers...

 

Here's a great article with Bill Olivo about the car from 2010.
https://www.sfgate.com/cars/myride/article/Olds-and-its-owner-are-inseparable-3268350.php#taboola-2

Olds and its owner are inseparable
Bill Olivo owned a plumbing business in San Jose for 40 years and now lives in Novato.

My ride for the last 49 years has been a Customized 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88. I first started to tear apart autos with my dad, Nello Olivo, when I was 13 years old. He taught most of my 16 siblings and I about cars and how to customize them. I saved all my dollars earned from working, and when I was 15 years old I bought the beautiful dark-green Olds that I still own today.

I started my customizing work by "Frenching" - a term for recessing lights to create a sleeker look - all the headlights, taillights, blinkers and back-up lights. I also shaved off all of the car's emblems and installed electric solenoid doors, an RCA 45 record player with a Vibersonic sound system (there wasn't any stereo back then!) and a chopped steering column toaccommodate a '59 Olds steering wheel. I also chromed everything under the hood that I could take apart. I installed the very rare U.S. Royal Masterstires on the real Indy 500 mag wheels and then painted the whole car Metal Flake Kelly Green with tons of clear coats of lacquer; I believe this was the very first metal flake paint job in Santa Clara County. This paint lasted for approximately five years before the lacquer started to crack. Because of this, I had someone from the famous George Barris custom paint shop spray Gold Metal Flake and blend in different shades and highlights with tons of clear coats of lacquer.

My family lived in a perfect location, inbetween John's and Mel's drive-in theaters. My '54 and I would be seen nightly, parked at John's watching movies shown on the adjacent building with all the roller-skating waitresses coming by my Olds, and there was always loud music with a DJ announcing the coolest ride of the night. Then the '54 would always let me know that it was time to drag the main!

I started showing it in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena as well as in Oakland's Grand National Roadster Show and indoor shows throughout California. While at the LA Sports Arena Car Show, the great DJ Wolfman Jack broadcast his showfrom inside my Olds, which was right next to Sonny & Cher's Mustangs, the Munsters' car, the Batmobile and other iconic rides. After 200 car shows - and many first-place awards -- I put the '54 up on blocks so I could drive my other great vehicles, including a rare 1969 Hurst/Olds and a 1957 motorcycle, which I also showed.

After 46 years, the sun-baked metal flake paint on my Olds was in bad shape - it was cracked, charred, and every bit of its glossy history was over. So in the summer of 2007 my son, Dominic, and I stripped the paint down to the bare metal and then had an expert rebond everything and repaint it with a very unique "candy green" that included bits of tiny glass. This gives my Olds its sparkle, using a "prism effect" when the sun hits it at different angles.

Those 48-year-old tires still look new because I always had it on blocks when I wasn't using the car. I am proud to have owned my '54 Olds for such a long time - one year shy of half a century. I guess that my wife, Laura, will eventually have me buried in it. Why not? The paint job will probably last another 49 years even in the ground with all the clear coats that we put on it! I had nothing but fun around people like Wolfman Jack, Big Daddy Ed Rolf and many other characters of the "American Graffiti"era.

 

Here's a couple candid pics that Marcus shot during the Henrik Forss photo shoot:

images by @M. Edell
​

 

the simplicity is what make it extra cool!

 

Hey Trent. I was in South Dakota last week. Stayed in Custer, Hill City and Deadwood.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. I appreciate it, as does Bill Olivo whom I just spoke with a couple of days ago.

 

You were minutes from our place when you were in Custer

 

I figured we were close. Watched the fireworks in Custer on the 4th.

 

Sale Pending

 

Sold.

 

It showed up in Regina Saskatchewan this afternoon...