Originally published at: I am in love with this '72 Olds Delta 88 Royale convertible | Boing Boing
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You could convert that to one heck of an EV.
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Came to see if it was the color of spaghetti, leaving satisfied. The white interior is a total bonus.
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Gonna need a skipper for that boat:
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“I got me a car that’s as big as a whale, and it’s about to set sail!” - The B-52s, Love Shack
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Man, I miss couch seats in cars.
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I remember the days when you could stretch out across the back seat like it was the sofa at Grandma’s house, springs so soft you bounced gently up and down for miles, driving my Mother’s 1968 Chrysler Newport with about 48 of my friends stuffed into it … ah, those were the days.
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If I remember correctly, those Hydramatic transmissions didn’t have a friction plate or gear tying the engine to the driveshaft - it was a spinning fluid, hence the “turbo” moniker.
My father told me about one of these, where it was possible to throw the car from drive into reverse without the transmission traumatically disassembling. I can’t imagine it’s good for the life of your transmission fluid though.
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The GM 3-speed automatic transmission of the sixties was called a Turbo Hydramatic. There is a trio of turbine blades in the torque converter. It’s magical! There are two sizes that were in use back then, the TH350 and the TH400.
Also, the use of a two-barrel carb on this land yacht makes it have less than stellar dragstrip performance.
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Oh man, I looked at one of these 20+ years ago that was in similar condition but the seller wouldn’t let me take it to my mechanic for a check over. I would have owned it if that check up came out well. The one I looked at was a beautiful merlot color, almost purple. It’s probably best for my sanity if I don’t see what this one ends at.
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“Fix the cigarette lighter.”
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“Shear” nonsense … see what I did there? Thank you, I’ll be here all week.
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“I wonder what was ‘turbo’ about the 3 speed automatic?”
The Torque convertor is a turbine
Now, the new Porsche “Turbo” Taycan S electric car? No turbines there as far as ?I can see.
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The term ‘turbo’ was used by GM in the early sixties in strange ways. The Corvair had a ‘Turbo-Air 6’ engine, whose only turbine blades were in the centrifugal cooling fan that sits on top of the engine.
Curiously, they made a turbocharged version of this engine that wasn’t called Turbo-Air, rather Super-charged.
I wish that they had offered the Turbo-Hydramatic transmission in front of the Turbo-Air engine, but no. Only a 2-speed Powerglide.
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It’s nice, but an Oldsmobile Delta 88 is best with a 455 rocket engine. They wrote songs about that engine, with 455 cubic inches (7.5 liters)
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My father was an Oldsmobile man and when my brother was through with it I “inherited” the '72 Olds Delta 88. Ours wasn’t a convertible, unfortunately, but the color was “Mayan Gold” with a white top. Hubcaps - don’t recall the interior color anymore. Being on the water in Florida meant there was quite a bit of rust though it wasn’t that visible at the time.
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I love these huge convertibles that are like boats on the road
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If you want that “wind in your hair feeling,” just tow it behind an EV.
