ID this 80s GM wagon!

[DRIVEN]

Cool backstory. I always thought your grandpa was mostly a Buick guy.

My grandpa had a Model A and a '40 Ford convertible when he was drafted in '44. When he got home, his family cars were Olds in the '50s and '60s. He drove a log truck starting in the '50s and bought a '35 Ford pickup in 1956 (that my uncle still owns) to get back and forth to jobs. He put a 265, then a 327 in it with a McCullough supercharger. I'm told it was pretty fast in it's day. My uncle got it in 1969 and it got an LT1 crate motor in '71. My grandpa replaced the '35 with a '68 El Camino that my dad eventually inherited and still has. Grandparents switched to VWs (unexpected plot twist) until they bought my Cutlass in 1980. That was the first car I remember them driving. I remember him frequently lamenting the lame 305 and lack of power. It's really the only reason I plan to put a BBO in and set things right.
My family isn't all that brand loyal.

 

[joesregalproject]

Cool backstory. I always thought your grandpa was mostly a Buick guy.

My grandpa had a Model A and a '40 Ford convertible when he was drafted in '44. When he got home, his family cars were Olds in the '50s and '60s. He drove a log truck starting in the '50s and bought a '35 Ford pickup in 1956 (that my uncle still owns) to get back and forth to jobs. He put a 265, then a 327 in it with a McCullough supercharger. I'm told it was pretty fast in it's day. My uncle got it in 1969 and it got an LT1 crate motor in '71. My grandpa replaced the '35 with a '68 El Camino that my dad eventually inherited and still has. Grandparents switched to VWs (unexpected plot twist) until they bought my Cutlass in 1980. That was the first car I remember them driving. I remember him frequently lamenting the lame 305 and lack of power. It's really the only reason I plan to put a BBO in and set things right.
My family isn't all that brand loyal.

That's pretty cool that some of the vehicles are still in your family. I don't think any vehicles my grandparents had would be hotrod-able, but it would've been cool to have one of them around still.

In my lifetime he always had Buicks, so I suppose I associate him with Buick, but there was apparently a long lineage of Oldsmobiles before my time. He worked for a company that fabricated custom repair parts for the massive rolling and finishing mills in the steel plants. He said it was heavily frowned upon to be driving a foreign car at a domestic steel mill, so he always bought American.

If I remember right, the two Fords he had were used beaters that he got cheap. I remember him saying the '60 Impala was his first new car, and he knew exactly how much he paid for it (I think around $2k). At the time he thought he'd never be able to pay it off. He told me it was a red 4 door, with a 283 and a floor shift manual. After that, he bought only new cars until he bought his second 1994 Lesabre around 2005, which was also the first car I ever drove. He wanted it to be his coffin car, but he outlived it and wound up getting the Lacrosse.

Here's the only picture I have of his second Lesabre. I loved that car. I'd like to find an identical one in nice shape to have as a summer driver.

 

[DRIVEN]

Ha! Your grandpa drove the Jeepers Creepers car (glad he survived it). If you've never watched it, 1960 4dr that shifted like an automatic in the chase scenes yet somehow had gear grinding issues when the creeper was near.

 

[L05edSS]

those tail lights def that of a olds.