Big Al's Featured Car's
Dennis & Judy Foley
1950 Oldsmobile Holiday 88
Pictures by Big Al
Dennis has been hooked on one Oldsmobile or another all of his life. This is the ninth Model 88 that he has owned, not to mention one heck of a lot of other cars that have been in his garage over the years! He has owned other American classics, including a 502 powered 1937 Lincoln Zephyr coupe and a 1933 Ford 3-window coupe but his heart always comes back to the Oldsmobile! He remembers that his first Olds was really fast for it's day and that is something all us gear heads remember. Power & Speed!!! That was over 50 years ago and it is still foremost in his mind. Some of us guys never forget our first errrr Race!!!
When Dennis decided to make this 1950 Holiday 88 into his personal ride with a flair, he did not have to think very long before he thought of his old friend from High School, Jim Capaldi, Owner of Capaldi Enterprises. As if I need to tell you, Jim is a very top notch car builder. After explaining that he wanted to retain the Classic Look of the "50 Olds" but add some of the features of a new ride for comfort and dependability Jim set to work at the planning board and what you see is the finished results!
After some of the regular updates like a nosed and decked hood, they did a French job on the headlights and then did a shave job on the door handles. With remote controlled doors the next move was to add a power operated trunk and power lifts on the hood. A push of a button even makes the dash open up. I guess you would say this is the ultimate remote controlled car you always wanted as a youngster! After doing all that body work Dennis decided to go with paint color from PPG which is a 2003 Prowler Orange with yellow pearl ghost flames also done by Capaldi Enterprises.
The original suspension was updated with a Fatman Fabrications Mustang II front clip, and an Air Ride Technologies Shockwave Coil-over airbag system. A set of Billet Specialties wheels gave the extra room needed for a set of 13 inch disc brakes on all four corners. With all that stopping power Dennis needed something to make it go. The first thing to go was the stock 303 cubic inch V-8 that only produced 135 horsepower! Somewhere a 1970 Olds is missing a 455 cubic inch motor. It's now bored .06" over, Balanced and has 9.5:1 Wiseco pistons sucking fuel through a 650 cfm Edelbrock Thunder Series carburetor into an Edelbrock Torker intake manifold into ported heads with the help of a Comp Cams Magnum hydraulic cam at 244 degrees duration with 0.518 lift. Other then the Manley Steel Valves the valve train is all Comp Cams with Roller Rockers. Spark is delivered with the help of MSD 6AL ignition controlling an MSD Pro-Billet distributor. This is all nestled between the 50's fender-wells with a B&M Turbo 400 automatic transmission with a B&M valve body with a 2,500 rpm Stall B&M Torque converter which transfers the estimated 450 horsepower with about 500 foot-pounds of torque to a Ford 9 inch limited slip pumpkin spinning a set of Moser axles. The engine machining and cylinder head modifications were all handled by Seme & Son. The cooling is taken care of with a recored stock radiator blown over by a Spal electric fan. The custom exhaust is 2 1/2" with turbo mufflers. Other items are a Summit starter, A Summit 100 Amp Alternator, An Edelbrock fuel pump, A Rock Valley fuel cell and Mondello valve covers.
The interior is just as clean with the radio relocated to the center console along with the audio system and the Nordskog digital gauges hidden away behind a flip down door that keeps them out of sight until wanted! The climate controls are also hidden away in the dash. The front seats are Thunderbird Super Coupe buckets done over in custom Oyster leather upholstery was stitched up by Dave Studer at Suburban Interiors.
The rear suspension is Four-link with AirRide Shockwave coil-overs and the wheels and tires are 17" Billet Specialties and the front are 16", All with B F Goodrich Radial T/A tires
Special Thanks to my wife Judy, and Jim Capaldi