Wicked Oldsmobile Gasser in HOT ROD

October '06 issue of HOT ROD magazine, page 72

Beautifully done '55 Olds 88, running 394ci of Olds power. Straight axle, perfect stance, great execution- makes the mag worth the cover price alone!

Nice work, Freiburger. Keep the cars like that featured in your rag & I'll be a subscriber for life!

 

That feature on that car is great! What a cool build.

Joel

 

I subscribe, and that car made me very happy this month. Hot Rod will expose a whole new demographic of car nuts to the wonderful world of traditional rodding. Good job spreading the gospel

 

1 it was a wicked *** g***er and 2 its awesome seeing the other tri 5's in magazines finally!

 

I saw the car in person at the Woodward Dream Cruise. The car was done very well, but when he started it up and left I was quite dissappointed as it sounded bone stock. Dont get me wrong, I think the car deserves to be in the mag, and the guy actually drives the car, but the package would be complete if it had a lumpy idle.

 

I don't subscribe, so I was hoping that they would have a couple of pix on their website... instead I found this.
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/113_0503_vintage_drag_racing_hot_rods/rat_rods.html

- Joe

 

Christopher Campbell - The guy that wrote that article, along with a few others in the issue has only been with HotRod for 6 or 7 months. He's a good guy and is genuinely involved in hotroddin'.

 

I saw that car on Power Tour (he went the distance), and Gofaster and I spent several hours talking to him.
That car is sooooo much more than it seems at first sight.
A couple little details that DON'T jump out but really contribute:
The hood rockets: Stock, there is a flat bar between the two bullets. The under side of the complete piece has studs in it that hood supports attach to. He was on the fence about shaving the whole ornament because it's big and bulky, but wanted to keep the studs for the supports. So they reworked the pot-metal ornament so it was just a pair of bullets. Reworking pot metal is expensive.
The grille surround: On Oldmobiles, the grille surround is part of the bumper. On this car, they created a new grille surround, following the shapes of the original, out of steel. Welded it in, painted it, and few people realize it. But it was absolutely needed with this car.
He turned the Moon tank around so it doesn't have the tag hanging out there for all to see. He wanted a Moon tank on the front of the car, but he didn't want to end up having a car behind his MOON TANK.
The globe on the center of the hood has been reworked. Only hard-core Olds guys will add that.

When he first got the car done, he said it was all over the road when he would drive it, even though all the alignment specs were where they are supposed to be. He thought he wouldn't be able to drive the car, 'cuz it was scary.
Finally, some "old guy" told him that the front end needed to be toe'd in "A Flavor." (Keep in mine, the owner is no spring chicken, either) He asked the guy what the hell "a flavor" is, and the guy said "You know, a flavor..."
So he went to an alignment shop, asked for an old guy who'd been doing it forever, and told him he needed the front end aligned. The guy came back and said "Everything's straight up. You're fine."
He said "Yeah, I know...but some old guy said the front end needed to be toe'd in, um..."a flavor...."
Without missing a beat, the alignment guy said "Oh, okay," and turned the tie-rods in 1/4 turn.
Car went straight as an arrow and handled very well for all of Power Tour.
I spent hours looking at it, and could spend several more.

-Brad

 

I saw that briefly as I was thumbing through at Safeway. Awesome car...