1970 Olds Rallye 350 Restomod
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 11:45 am
My dad bought a 1970 Oldsmobile Rallye 350 brand new, off the lot, when he got out of the navy. I'm not quite sure how it's still in one piece at all, after hearing several stories about the car all my life, but it has survived pretty much unscathed. The car ripped around on the street when Dad was in his 20's. I've heard about it being in police chases, racing stoplights, sliding down off ramps, and pretty much what I picture from an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard, minus the jumps.
After a while, dad settled down a little, and started drag racing it. By the time it was retired, it was leaving the line with the front end in the air, and spinning 8000 rpm on it's way down the strip. At this point, Dad decided that he was becoming too hard on the car, and decided to build a racecar. The rallye was retired, while a 70 442 W-30 was built and raced.
I wasn't born until 1980, and when I grew up, the Rallye always sat in the far corner of our garage in non running condition, while Stock cars, were being built, tuned, or reconstructed in the other side of the garage. I remember sitting in it when I was too little to work on racecars, and pretending to drive, and dreaming of all sorts of things.
I didn't know it then, but this is where my affliction started. Now, I'm 39, Dad is 70, and the car is back from the dead, and more alive than ever. Now I get to drive it for real, and I have a hand, and a say in what we do to the car. I always hoped this day would come, but I never imagined just how great this could turn out, in our price range, in this era of affordable go fast parts. The project is cool, but I get to do this all with my Dad, who is 110% responsible for how I've turned out.
I'll start with pictures from the day we pulled it out of it's place in the garage. This was in 2011. We had moved in it's 30+ years of resting. It had been in this stall since the early 90's. It had a wheel locked up. We washed the car up, worked on getting some things back in working order, and officially started the process.
After a bath
After a while, dad settled down a little, and started drag racing it. By the time it was retired, it was leaving the line with the front end in the air, and spinning 8000 rpm on it's way down the strip. At this point, Dad decided that he was becoming too hard on the car, and decided to build a racecar. The rallye was retired, while a 70 442 W-30 was built and raced.
I wasn't born until 1980, and when I grew up, the Rallye always sat in the far corner of our garage in non running condition, while Stock cars, were being built, tuned, or reconstructed in the other side of the garage. I remember sitting in it when I was too little to work on racecars, and pretending to drive, and dreaming of all sorts of things.
I didn't know it then, but this is where my affliction started. Now, I'm 39, Dad is 70, and the car is back from the dead, and more alive than ever. Now I get to drive it for real, and I have a hand, and a say in what we do to the car. I always hoped this day would come, but I never imagined just how great this could turn out, in our price range, in this era of affordable go fast parts. The project is cool, but I get to do this all with my Dad, who is 110% responsible for how I've turned out.
I'll start with pictures from the day we pulled it out of it's place in the garage. This was in 2011. We had moved in it's 30+ years of resting. It had been in this stall since the early 90's. It had a wheel locked up. We washed the car up, worked on getting some things back in working order, and officially started the process.
After a bath