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Steve's 1972 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight

I first met Steve hanging out in the darkness of the Scarborough Beach carpark in around 1977, when we used to assemble for the weekly Friday and Saturday night viewing of the illegal burnout activites.
Yep, they were the fun days!
He was a pretty hairy old bugger back then, and his "Magilla" (the Gorilla) nickname still stands with his best mates today.

He usually had some sort of bomb back in those days, but now he owns this rather long, and as he calls it in full, "1972 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight LS 4 Door Pillarless Hardtop". And it's almost capable of landing helicopters on the rear deck!

Magilla's Oldsmobile was first sold new on the 24th July 1972 in New York, and eventually found it's way to Perth around 1988, when it was converted to right hand drive using the original LHD dash.
When he bought it in June 2007, the original 455 cubic inch engine wouldn't start, so it was towed around to his mechanic, and it was found that the camshaft was worn and 5 pushrods were bent. While he was at it, it was decided to re-ring the engine, and install new bearings.
The engine was then refitted, and is pretty much as it was.........dirty!........He'll kill me for saying that......Hahaha!
Also, the original Ivory paint was redone with Mint Green, a Holden Torana colour, but I would never admit that to anyone. So lets just call it Oldsmobile Mint Green!

Now why did Oldsmobile call these cars a Ninety Eight? Well apparently the Ninety Eight was the Oldsmobile flagship model, and with the 455 Rocket V8 in 1972, and the Cadillac influences at that time, they could hardly call it the One Hundred and outdo Cadillac! That's my theory anyway.

Engine:	455ci V8.
Transmission:	Turbo 400 auto
Rear Axle:	12 bolt
Wheels and Tyres:	Standard wheels With funny black round things.