1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale 2-door review from North America

Slow and ugly.

A/C probably hasn't worked in years.

Both sides head gaskets and valve cover gaskets.

Speedometer cable.

Fuel gauge always reads too low.

Door gaskets leak during very heavy rain or car wash.

Fuel pump replaced.

Windshield cracked.

Wiper motor replaced

This is truly a car that can take a beating and ask for more (this coming from an 18 year old who has the the car completely airborne, buried in the snow more than once, and even done a few 360's, most of them unplanned) I inherited it from my grandma when she died a few weeks before I turned 16. The body is in almost showroom condition, she didn't ever drive in the winter. The interior is very roomy and comfortable.

My friends call it the "Oldsmopile or Old Snowmobile." When I first got this car I hated it with a passion. I seriously tried to beat the life out of it in hopes my parents would buy me a different car. The black paint and factory mag wheels give this car the illusion that it might be fast. One stomp on the gas and you will be unpleasantly surprised though. When the head gaskets started going out the thing would smoke so much oil that I left clouds behind me. It stunk so bad that sometimes people would give me the finger. It took us two weeks to find the right gaskets, the badge under the hood said 4.3 liter, so we thought it had a 4.3 liter V6 like our Chevy pickup. After some searching, a grizzled old mechanic at a mom and pop repair shop found that it had an Oldsmobile 260 V8, something me and my parents had never heard of. He said there were at least 5 possible engines back then, even a Diesel V8 and a V6 (I laughed because I didn't think there was a slower car on the road). He also informed us that the small Block V8 Oldsmobiles of the early 70's to mid 80's were some of the best engines ever built, hands down. And Chevy, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac still built there own engines back then, many people make mistakes when looking for V8 parts. Once we replaced the gaskets, the car ran like a champ (minus the power, of course). Surprisingly the tank will get over 25 MPG at times. This car will bury the speedometer, it just takes forever. If Oldsmobile could have increased the compression ratio and added a 4-barrel or fuel injection back then they could have had a real sleeper.

That same grizzled old mechanic found me a '77 Custom Cruiser wagon with a strong Olds 350, transmission gone bad and body looking like cottage cheese. My parents can't wait for me to finish the engine swap and get that scrap heap Station Wagon out of the back yard! :-)