Charlie Jones’ ’63 Oldsmobile Restoration
 
Episode 2

Pictures of Car at Start of Disassembly

The Teardown

Last month I explained the acquisition, now I will tell you about the teardown. Some of the teardown had already been done when I got the car. As I explained in Episode 1, the seller was in the process of stripping the car for parts. The motor and transmission were long gone, and the seller had already sold the bumpers. Otherwise, it was pretty much all there.
I started by removing the Chrome trim, but I wasn’t sure where the clips were located. I remembered that I got a 1963 Oldsmobile Shop Manual with the car. A look through the manual solved the clip mystery and many others, both during the teardown and later as I re-assembled the car. As I removed parts, I noticed their condition. Most of the chrome was very good. The stainless trim was good except for a few small dings. The anodized aluminum grill surround was bad and would require re-anodizing. The “pot metal” trim was pit free except for the RH tail light and the mirror support and a couple of pieces were missing. All the needed items were listed and a ” 1963 Oldsmobile ” saved search was started on E-Bay. E-Bay has been invaluable to me in the search for parts for this car. Next, the glass was removed. The rubber weatherstrip around the windows was rock hard after spending 50 years in the desert. The glass itself was in perfect condition, and was the original E-Z Eye tinted glass. It even had matching date codes. I had to cut the rubber weatherstrip around the glass with a box cutter to safely remove the glass. Next the interior was stripped. The seats and door panels were removed and then the dashboard was removed as a unit. I got careless here and cracked one side of the ” pot metal ” dashboard, as well as a plastic A/C duct. More things for my parts list. The hood, radiator support, and front fenders were removed. All this time I took plenty of pictures. They will help me determine what goes where, as I re-assemble the car.

Check-in next month for the next episode of Charlie Jones’ ’63 Oldsmobile Restoration Project.