The car is a 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass S Holiday Coupe (got to love that Oldsspeak). It was built in GM's Oshawa plant early in the model run in1967, and sold in Halifax in November of 1967 at Bob McDonald
Chevrolet-Oldsmobile to Ms. Verna Johnston. Over the next 26 years she put a
little over 28,000 miles on the car before I bought it from her in November
of 1993. Originally a metallic blue-green, I had it repainted in 1968's
Scarlet color using Sikkens urethane base-clear when I had some bodywork
taken care of in the spring of 1994. I've replaced the springs, shocks and
tires, added 1968 model SuperStock II wheels, a rear sway bar and dual
exhausts, rechromed the bumpers, and generally detailed the car. The
interior is almost all original and near-perfect, although I've added the
proper clock, AM/FM radio and replaced the package tray.
The car now has 35,000 miles on it and in the summer of '95 carried me 1300
miles in 3 days on a round trip to Portland, Maine, probably the longest run
of its life. The engine is the original 350 Rocket 2-barrel with a Jetaway
automatic transmission, although I'm planning to convert it to an original
4-barrel in the near future and possibly do some mild hop-up work as well.
The car is used as a semi-daily driver although that's not really a fair
description since it only gets used a couple of times a week at most. It's a
fun car to drive, reliable and strong, and brings out the little boy in the
owner, a 1956-model Leo, still single, born and raised in Halifax and who
works for the Province of Nova Scotia. The car is a cousin to the other toy
in the owner's life, a 1964 Buick Skylark convertible, also restored and
used only on sunny days.
