1964 Oldsmobile F-85 Build - The $3,500 Challenge

At LACR, the Olds ran a rather anemic 2.07 60-foot time on its way to an altitude-corrected 13.94 at 97.35-mph pass.

At LACR, the Olds ran a rather anemic 2.07 60-foot time on its way to an altitude-correcte

Road and Track

In typical car-crafter fashion, the Olds had perhaps 50 miles on it when we drove it to the starting gate of the Anti-Tour this year. At first, all went well. But after two bouts of full electrical-system failure, Moore discovered a weak pin at the fuse-box connection at the firewall. Later that night at the RaceLegal (racelegal.com) drags at Qualcomm Stadium, the Olds spun the tires to a 9.69/76.53 mph in the eighth-mile, comparable to a 14.80 pass in the quarter.

On the road, the Olds is fun to drive, although way soft on the springs and shocks. Mileage sucks at around 11 mpg on the freeway even with tall rear tires. An overdrive TH200-4R would be an excellent move in the future.

On the road, the Olds is fun to drive, although way soft on the springs and shocks. Mileag

A couple of weeks later, we wandered up to Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, California, to get a true 1,320-foot evaluation. On its best pass with absolutely no tuning other than setting the timing at 16 degrees initial, the Olds ran an observed 14.40/94.17 that altitude-corrects to a sea level 13.94 at 97.35. This was with the rock-hard, used rear 255/60R15 tires. We tried a set of sticky Mickey Thompson ET Drag tires just for fun, but the car ran exactly the same, so clearly we have some work to do on enhancing the Olds' low-speed torque, which was exactly the opposite of what we thought we would face. This is all part of the fresh-off-the-jackstands work that any new buildup faces. Our latest theory is that it's either the carburetor or the stock converter is lame. We'll let you know what we find.

By Jeff Smith

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