1949 Oldsmobile 76 Sedan, 11,531 Actual Miles

1949 Oldsmobile Series 76, 4 Door Sedan, 11,531 actual miles, 6-cylinder Automatic, Seafoam Green (49C)

Up for sale is another car out of my small collection of cars that I have acquired over the years, my 1949 Oldsmobile 76 Sedan with 11,531 actual miles. The car is one of the more unique pieces out of my collection but I have owned it for a few years now and I decided to sell the car to make room in my garage for another car that I have been searching for over the years.

The story behind this car is quite interesting, as any car this age with such low miles. I purchased the car from the estate of an elderly lady out of Iowa, right next door to my home state of South Dakota. The car was sold new in Ankeny, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. It was special ordered with the Radio, clock, automatic transmission, Sun visor, Fender Skirts, bumperettes, and the Sea Foam green paint (49C). The seat covers you seen on the car were installed at the dealership and have never been off the car.

Her children were at the estate and I had a chance to talk to them about the car and hear the story about the miles. Her son told me what happened was that his parents were very particular about their possessions and always took care of everything, so the car was always kept washed, maintained, and put away at night. His mother didn’t drive, so it was always up to his father, and later him, to take her wherever she needed to go when the occasion came along. His father had a work pick-up that he drove most days and the Olds was for his wife when he needed to take her somewhere. However, his father passed less than 5 years after they bought the car and since then the car was left in their dry garage on blocks.

Her son told me that after a couple years of sitting in the garage and not moving, the car was put on blocks, battery removed, and covered. Apparently is never really moved from that spot, and me buying the car was the first time it had seen sunlight in what he guessed was probably decades.

I have a lot of old cars, some from even earlier than this, and because of that I know that having a car sit for so long isn’t always a good thing. It really depends on how it’s done. After buying the car, I didn’t want to take any chances so I took it to a longtime friend and professional mechanic of mine that does all of the work on all my cars and had him completely go through the car. Specifically, he performed work like blowing out the fuel lines, cleaning the gas tank, new tires, a tune up on the carburetor, new exhaust from the manifold back, and a very careful full detail of the car. There is smoke coming from the car and no blow-by, which was more than positive. I would say he had the car for about a month, going through each section of the car one by one as he got to them. Since then, the only problem I had with the car was a small adjustment to the carb about a year later, and I had to replace the battery because I left the key on by accident.

As far as condition of the car goes, it is unbelievable. There is not a rattle in the car, no sputter, no cracks, the interior is just new, look at the dash! The paint is in wonderful shape for its age, with some great patina that you just can’t replicate, and stainless trim that as new as you’re going to find. The body is also very good with no major dings or scratches.

The car is not without its few small flaws though, you can see in the pictures that the chrome bumpers are slightly pitted, but still retain a good shine, and there is some small, what look like, bleach stains on the headliner. You can also see some minor paint chips on the door jams of some of the doors and some very minor surface rust on the rear driver side door-jam next to the kick panel. Nothing major that hurts the car, and completely understandable for what the car went through.

The car is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and I would be happy to show the car if anyone is nearby or if you’d like to have a professional 3rd party inspector verify anything concerning the condition of the car. Also, as a side note, I have sold a few cars on ebay in the past to buyers that aren’t necessarily sure on how to ship it home. I have purchased numerous cars from all over the country over the years and am lucky to have worked with some very good trucking outfits. If you need any help arranging shipping for the car, I can sure give any of them a call an see if they can, or recommend anyone to help get the car to you. If you have any questions, message me on eBay and I’ll do my best to answer them!