I recently found CC Commentor Junqueboi’s flickr page, which documents some of his more interesting junkyard finds. Although it may be a bit sad to see some Curbside Classics at the end of the road, I was especially intrigued with a trio of 1973 GM biggies. In my neck of the woods, cars this old are rarely seen in junkyards, so it’s interesting to see finds like these in milder climes. Let’s take a closer look.
Although sporting a lot of surface rust, this one really doesn’t look too bad–for a junkyard car, mind! Seeing a non-pampered car this old with totally rust-free rear quarters is really rare in my part of the country. Even back in 1993, most ’73 Oldses on the road in the QC were rustier than this one. Too bad its top got tweaked, no doubt by a less-than-careful forklift shuttle to its next-to-last resting place.
The ’73 Ninety Eight was a great looking car. The Regency model was especially luxurious, though our weathered example appears to be a slightly less flossy Luxury Sedan. Unlike some other 1973 models, its front bumper was less massive in profile. It still gave the top Olds a pronounced underbite, however. It’s interesting to note the front-quarter shot in the photo above appears to be an airbrushed 1972 model, a frequent occurrence in GM literature of the ’70s.
Despite its second-banana status in the Ninety Eight line, Luxury Sedans (and corresponding Luxury Coupes) were still quite nice inside. For those in the know, a Ninety Eight gave up very little to its pricier Electra and de Ville cousins.
Next up is one of my favorite ’73 cars, the Pontiac Grand Ville. This one is so chewed up, it’s almost hard to tell what it once was. At least JB managed to save the 455 in it. This must have been a nice car when new, in Cameo White with red interior. I can just imagine it with Rally IIs and no vinyl top. Is my imagination better than yours?
As most of you know, I have a thing for 1970s Pontiac full-sizers. While in middle school, we had a carpool of sorts, to pick up a friend of mine and another kid who was a couple grades behind us, for the morning run to school. As the Gustafsons were of (obviously) Scandinavian descent, we were paid in incredible baked goods, frequently Swedish rye bread that was to die for. Anyway, at the time there was a pale yellow (must have been special-ordered in Sunlight Yellow, as it does not appear to be an available color on 1973 B-body Pontiacs) ’73 Grand Ville hardtop sedan with black top parked up the street from Adam’s house. I saw that car every morning for better than a year, and it made an impression. Though less than mint, it was a sharp car. I never saw another one.
Other than the convertibles, B-body full-size Pontiacs are thin on the ground today. A shame, as they were nice-looking cars. I particularly like the nose on the ’73 Grand Ville, with its over- and under-bumper grille, and slightly fussier pattern than corresponding Catalinas.
The last of our ’73 trio is this bedraggled ’73 Coupe deVille, with a particularly hideous landau iron tacked onto the C-pillar. Could it have been a rare non-vinyl topped version? Hard to imagine, but if so, the landau bars would have looked even more out of place; ridiculous, actually. Initially I thought this could be a rare Calais coupe, but those did not have the rocker trim, which this one had at some point, judging from the remaining plastic fasteners.
Here’s a factory fresh version. Despite the dressing-down these Caddys get from some quarters, they were handsome cars, especially in pillarless coupe form.
While it’s sad to see Curbside Classics at the end of their useful lives, at least we can salute them for their contribution to our automotive history, and memorialize the era of the Big Car. Thanks, JB, for documenting these cars before they are recycled into cat-food cans. I hope you’ll continue to share some of your finds in the future!
My grandfather had an Olds of similar vintage and color as the top picture. I remember one time we were going to visit my grandparents and my mother’s Maverick died along the way. My grandfather came to pick us up and all I remember is the back seat was huge and the ride was like floating on clouds. Quite a difference from the Maverick.
The green Olds sat at the edge of a field about 10 miles from my house for years — I could not locate the owner but always drove by it in hopes I’d catch someone out there. The car had no body damage aside from surface rust and looked like it was driven to where it sat.
I was so disgusted seeing it at the scrapyard like that because it could have easily been put back on the road.
I will also admit to a bit of a liking of the 98s and Grand Villes of those years. My logical brain tells (screams) about the lack of structural rigidity and the cheap trim bits, but the other side of my brain is still seduced by the looks of these. A couple of years ago, I saw an beautiful original Grand Ville convertible at a car show – still owned by the original owner. Unfortunately, it was in that awful butterscotch color.
The finned wheelcovers on the 73-74 Pontiacs were really cool looking, with the black fins and the bright backing that gave some cool optical illusions when they drove by. Unfortunately, each individual fin would also rattle just a teeny bit. Ford was still using costly diecastings on finned wcs, but these were all stamped aluminum fins inserted tab-in-slot into an aluminum disc, then the tabs bent over. Probably quite a trick to assemble, but very cheap on close inspection. They looked really bad when the individual fins would start to fall out.
That vile color you are referring to is “Desert Sand”. That convertible you spotted could have been equipped with either white or saddle interior and the top could have been white, black, or beige.
For the past year or so, a guy here in So. Cal. has a ’73 Grand Ville convert, in the color you describe, that he’s been trying to sell on Craigslist. Other than some paint oxidation it’s in pretty good shape. I think he’s only asking $2800 for it.
These take me back, the first car I remember our family having was our 72 olds 98, still parked out back behind the barn today, hasn’t been driven since about 1988.
Inquiring minds want you to walk around back there with your camera and give us a photo tour….
+10
I have some photos in the computer, I’ll have to put it on the list to get comprehensive coverage and post them to flickr.
Is the blue 72 Oldsmobile 98 behind the barn for sale?
When I was looking for my first car – my father and I went to look at a Grand Ville convertible – I think it was a ’75.
I took it for a test drive – my father in the passenger seat – the owner ( an older lady) in the back. The top was down (she said the switch was broken).
Anyway, as I started to pull out onto the main road – the car hesitated for a second or two – while a pick-up truck was bearing down on us from the left. The lady in the back said something like – “You better go – my insurance ain’t that great.”
I’ll never forget that moment of sheer panic.
We had a ’72 Buick LeSabre 350-2, that would hesitate until “warmed up”.
If you were pulling into traffic you needed to know how to manipulate the gas pedal, which usually involved a bit of pumping, to make sure you took off without getting creamed by on coming traffic.
I tried having a friend rebuild the carb, but it didn’t change the situation.
I remember being concerned about Mom driving that car…
A very common problem with the Rochester ‘dual-jet’ carb that was also on our 1977 Impala 305. The choke would be off before the engine was fully warmed up, and there was a real dead spot at part-throttle. I fixed it by drilling out the air bleed holes (thereby allowing more fuel in) for the idle transfer slots (but then the car wouldn’t pass emissions, so I had to undo and then redo it a couple of times!).
I think you are referring to the 2-jets, the dual-jets were the 1/2 a Quadrajet. Both my ’76 and 77 Chevelles had/have 2-jets.
All the 2-jets I’ve got in my garage, all do the same dead spot on cold take-offs, even with the accell pump set right, choke pulloff set right, EFE/heated air system working correctly. The only fix I’ve found, is to have the choke t-stat set to stay on longer, and to really warm up the car to get it smogged (when it had to be, no longer needs to now) at the expense of slightly poorer economy.
I have to caution friends, to take it a bit easy on cold takeoffs to wait for a larger gap than is necessary to allow for the car to figure out that you want to GO, and stomping the gas doesn’t really help as it might stall as it falls flat on its face.
I’ve been DD my ’77 here the last couple weeks, and I will say that it warms up quickly even in twenty degree weather, it’s the TH350 that grumbles about being cold and not going into reverse – it’s done that for 20 years though.
Well – after all these years – it makes me feel much better to learn that it was probably the car’s fault and not my inexperience as a 17 year old driver that led to those few seconds of panic!
Yes, sorry, the 2-jets. And there is an easy fix:
1. Remove top of carb.
2. Remove the venturi assembly (one or two flat-head screws).
OK, now I have to correct myself in the earlier post – the fix was not to enlarge the air bleed holes, it was to make them smaller!
3. Plug existing air bleed holes (they are visible on the top) with JB weld.
4. Drill two new, smaller, air bleed holes adjacent to original ones (or through the JB weld). I don’t remember the exact size I used; it was a carbide bit from a circuit board drilling machine – I’m thinking it was around .025″ or so.
5. Reinstall venturi and carb top.
These air bleed holes reduce the differential air pressure between the bowl and the venturi that is forcing fuel into the idle transfer slots. Making the holes smaller allows a higher differential air pressure which increases the fuel flow to the slots.
It’s an easy fix, and completely cures the problem (a lack of fuel between the low-speed and high-speed fuel delivery circuit RPM ranges). Like I said, I had to undo the fix once to pass emissions, and then the car was emissions exempt (too old) after that so I redid it again.
My brother’s ’67 Skylark (300 2-bbl) had that same (stall/hesitate) problem. Even after a carb rebuild, the problem never entirely went away.
This brings back memories of my mother’s 74 LeMans with the 2 bbl 350. Horrible hesitation during warmup from the time it was new. As a teenager, I knew enough to fool with the adjustment on the choke spring, but every time I thought I had it right, the next time it would stumble just as bad or worse. This car was one of the reason I stuck to the 60s stuff as a kid.
Well that Olds 98 is really close to what my parents had. My dad owned a ’72 98 for only a year or so before he got rid of it – it turned out to be a lemon. It was dark green with vinyl. Like Tom said, it’s sad to see these old luxury barges die, but I suppose after 40 years, it’s time.
I believe ’73 was the first year for EGR – Exhaust Gas Recirculation.
Beechcraft (Raytheon) could thank Cadillac back in ’73 for some free advertising – unless they struck some kind of bargain. That King Air BE-90 and Bonanza BE-A35 look mighty fine.
This yard is in S. GA. Feel free to use these photos for CC’s! Enjoy the patina, as they call it now…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonengle/sets/72157626641914357/
Hey, that’s just a couple hours from me. Might have to check that out. Although most of the cars there are seriously rusted out or picked over, those two complete-looking ’64 Comets are intriguing. Would be nice to see someone pull those out intact and restore the coupe or at least make a 24 Hours of LeMons racer out of it.
Heh, that Oldsmobile sure apes its Cadillac big brother, at first glance I thought it was a Cadillac.
I remember heavy metal band Saxon turning up to play King George’s hall Blackburn in their heavy metal cruiser a 72 or 73 4 door hardtop Olds Regency in a horrid shade of hearing aid beige with a brown interior.Although i preferred Mustangs I thought the Olds was a great looker despite it’s awful colour
This story reminded me of seeing cars that I grew up with get older and rustier. It’s weird seeing the cars you saw brand new and beautiful sitting almost dead and/or dying on the street or junkyards.
A friend had a ’71 Olds 98 luxury sedan – bigger than most cars around at that time. It was dark brown with a tan vinyl top and an officer sticker on the front bumper that got her salutes from the gate guard going to the px long after she was divorced from the navy guy.
The Grand Ville is such a cool, rare model, especially in hardtop form (it seems mostly convertibles survive.) Am I right, and does this B-body have a C-body roof? The Grand Ville 4-door hardtop roof seems to be exactly like the roof on Electras and 98s. The Caprice had the curving backlight and slightly smaller C-pillar of an 88/Catalina/Bonneville/LeSabre.
Here’s the C-pillar of my ’73 GrandVille 2-door parts car. It’s definitely got the “C” body roof.
I won this titleless engineless car off E-bay several years ago for $350 & towed it home from Albemarle, NC to use as a parts car for my convertible. it really doesn’t look any worse now than it did then. However, the more I look at it, the more I think it could actually be fixed. It was a gorgeous car new: Florentine red and ordered with Rally II wheels, sport mirrors and no vinyl top. Interior is oxblood vinyl instead of cloth.
Here’s another 1973 GrandVille parts car showing the 4-door C-pillar. Definitely C-body. Cats and Bons could be had as 4-door hardtops or 4-door sedans. These lesser cars had the typical rounder lines. I personally find the Cat and Bon 4-door hardtop very sleek & attractive.
FYI, this car was a beauty when it was new too and very heavily optioned. It (was) Admiralty (midnight) blue with black vinyl top & black custom interior but is missing its transmission, carburetor, & parts of its roof (due to rust).
JB, please bring back that Grand Ville coupe! It would look so cool sitting next to your restored pair of Catalina coupes 🙂
And you already have an appropriate engine from the white GV!
I’m not so sure that the Grand Ville roof was simply a C-body roof, despite the close resemblance. Notice that Grand Villes with vinyl roofs do not have vinyl below the bottom bright molding of the rear window, whereas Ninety-Eights and Electras of the same vintage do have vinyl entirely surrounding the rear window. The glass might be the same, but the dimensions of the roof itself may be slightly different from those of the C-body roof.
My “definitely C-body” remark should have actually been “sure looks like a C-body” instead I guess. B versus C body criteria is pretty muddy in the ’71-6 Pontiac dept.
It was an adaptation of the C-body roof, Pontiac had wanted a C-body car for years, but Olds and Buick nixed the idea every time, Pontiac first started with the Bonneville Brougham in the 60’s which had almost Olds 98 levels of trim, but they never got a lwb C-body car, the 1971 Grand Ville was a compromise.
The ’71 and ’72 GrandVilles had a 126″ wheelbase while the same year Catalinas had a 124″ wheelbase. Some sources say the Bonneville had the long wheelbase while others say Bonnevilles had the short wheelbase & I got tired of researching it. I never really understood what made a C-body a C-body anyway. The stuff I read said the ’71-2 GrandVilles (& possibly Bonnevilles) were a “modified” B-body which makes no sense to me.
1973 was the first year all three models had the same 124″ wheelbase.
Always liked the 73 Coupe DeVille, halo top, big leather or brocade front seats, that semi-toothy grille behind that batering ram of a bumper. I passed on a trip-brown one a while back, I shoulda grabbed it.
Tom, I’m flattered you picked some of my photos & shared them with “The Club”. I don’t like writing and you saved me the trouble so THANK YOU! 😀
I need to be more diligent when I go to ‘my’ yard because every trip is interesting enough to share. What’s weird about these particular cars is that all three of them were at the yard at the same time. 1973 models are becoming very hard to find so you can imagine my sensory overload that day! It’s probably for the better because I would have pulled & purchased the 472 and Oldsmobile 455 engines, making me $200 poorer and more packed-out.
I just started messing with Flickr & will slowly be adding pics of my vehicle collection, junkyard finds, junkyard scores, & random sightings.
FWIW, the 1973 Ninety-Eight LS was one of the very few cars that actually came with two clocks standard. Clock #2 mounts in the back of the middle front seat to be viewed by the rear seat passengers. I love it! The Regency had one special Tiffany clock in the dash but no rear seat clock..
Thank YOU, JB. Looking forward to Fiero Fest!
Two clocks is pretty fancy. They must have been trying to top the cutting-edge Chronometer.
These pics hammer home just how long ago ’73 is. Not that I’m feeling old or anything. 🙂
So JB – did you get the clocks out of the Olds, or do you already have a couple in “inventory?”
Both 🙂 I went out to the shop awhile ago & managed to find the rear seat piece out of the green car but my trusty old cell-phone battery died before I could get a decent pic of it. No luck finding the box-o-’71-’73 Olds dash clocks either. There’s two or three 1973 Tiffanys in there which are very interesting & quite rare. I wish I had the rarer 1972 version — those are gorgeous. This is what they look like.
That’s one flavor Chronometer I don’t have! Is this off (what I assume is) your ’73 Imperial? GM’s didn’t discover the little rolley wonders until 1974. Ford got them in either ’73 or ’74: I can’t remember.
That Tiffany is slick!
The digital Chronometer was new for ’73. I think mechanical-digital kinda sums up this transitional era. Electronic ignition, but no computer. Low compression, runs on unleaded, but no air pump or cat con. Imps came with radials but pretty sure many lesser cars still came with bias-plys.
Anyway, I’m always amazed when I put the battery back in every spring and the thing still works!
To get the 2nd clock though you had to have the fixed front bench, since all the Regency’s had 55/45 (or 60/40?) split front bench, no clock. Crappy compromises.
I was in 6th grade for 1973 model year and it was a sales bonanza. Biggest sales year for car sales, not including trucks. 1978 was record, until later, for combined car/truck sales. Brand new 73’s cars were all over middle class Mid-West back then. Mostly full and mid sizers, but quite a few RWD compacts.
When there was no idea of any gas crunch, Motor Trend predicted another record sales year for 1974’s. Who knew that overnight, all the newly bought ’73 bigger cars would end up as ‘hogs’. We know the rest of the story, blah blah…
I have a couple of stories to share about these early 70’s GM luxury cars. When I was in second grade (1974) I got a ride home from one of the girls in my class. Her Mom had a 1972 Olds 98 LS with the 2 clocks. I thought it was the coolest thing! My Mom had a 1972 Toronado at the time and I thought it was so weird that half the dashboard was the same as my Mom’s car but the other half was totally different! The 98 seemed so much bigger than the Toro, too. I know they had that car for at least 5 years. They replaced it with a 1977 or 1978 Cadillac, a blue Fleetwood sedan if I remember correctly.
In 1982 I was a sophomore in HS and car pooled every day. I rode in a 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville sedan, brown with a tan top and tan cloth interior. The kid that drove it beat the living crap out of it. I really felt bad for that car. I always thought it was very luxurious for its day – the wooden carved door panels looked so classy and the seats were very soft and comfortable. I was actually surprised that it was a Pontiac – they always seemed to be on the sportier side for GM. This car seemed more like a Cadillac than a Pontiac. It was a highly optioned car, too. I remember him saying it was his grandfather’s car and that the grandfather had ordered it from the local Pontiac dealer and waited a long time for it to come in. He hated that it was so big and resented that car. His parents had a nice 1980 Cutlass Supreme Brougham and he felt he should get to drive that to school, not the Grand Ville. Memories.