All-American Six: 1928 Oakland Landau Coupe
From 1909 to 1931, the Oakland Motor Car Co. was a part of General Motors. Oakland is known for bringing the Pontiac to market in 1926, while also fielding cars under their own name. In those days, Chevrolet was the price leader of the GM divisions and Oakland was the next step up. In 1928, the Landau coupe and 4-door sedan were the entry points to the Oakland family of cars. This one is said to be a barn find that is complete enough to begin a restoration. It’s located in Columbia Falls, Montana and available here on Facebook Marketplace for $17,500.
Oakland was based in Pontiac, Michigan so we assume that’s where the name of the later companion automobile came from. The nameplate dates back to the dates of horse and buggy. The company and its products continued to evolve into 1928 when Oakland came out with a 212 cubic inch inline-six motor, with the car and the engine being marketed as the “All-American Six.” While similar to the Pontiacs they also built and sold, the Oaklands were a notch above in terms of trim and amenities. This played to Oakland’s disadvantage during the days following the start of the Great Depression. GM was selling more of the less-expensive Pontiacs, so Oakland as a brand was dropped after 1931.
At $1,045, the Landau Coupe was one of the least pricey Oaklands, which would equate to $15,816 in today’s money. The seller’s car is one of those automobiles, which is said to have had only three owners in 93 years. We’re told it’s a “barn find” which may or may not mean it was found in a barn. The seller says there is no significant damage or problem, which would suggest a restoration is viable if the parts needed can be sourced. The car is said to have been driven just 41,000 miles and has been off the road awhile, but we don’t know just how long.
This Oakland carries both of the colors the cars were available in circa 1928, dark green and black. The Landau name means it’s a 2-door sedan which was one of at least four body styles that were offered. Online price guides seem to point to $20,000 as the average resale value of one of these cars, so both acquiring and restoring the car will be to preserve a piece of automotive history, not to make money.
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Comments
Well, it was not Imperial, but it was still a pretty fancy car for the day. Not aimed at the “Imperial” golfers, but more of an everyday car, fancier than the Chevy, and I think Pontiac held that image until the end. Not quite a Buick or Olds, but it showed you had some money, and a little class.
Those big steel wheels were popular. My grandpa had a Hudson with those tall wheels, my dad tells of a story, when he was a kid, my grandfather ran over a woman at a crosswalk. My dad said, my grandpa was afraid to get out, thinking he killed the lady, but the car was so tall, she merely crawled out, brushed herself off and kept walking. Try that today.
Oh, the car featured, IDK, it’s certainly nice enough to save, but can’t really be used as is, and you can’t do half a restoration on this, and like I mentioned on the Imperial, I just don’t think the interest is there for a full restoration. Seeing how the market apparently tanked, a future all classic cars will face someday, I don’t see a return on someones money, or someone probably would have done that by now.
When gas runs out or fuel is no longer available, raw Yankee logic will devise a plan to make old cars run.
It’s just that simple.
I wonder if it’s possible for the chaps at BF to simply have a boilerplate comment from Howard stating that the future of the old car market is doomed.
As each new find comes up, the comment automatically gets generated, lest we all forget.
I’d go for that, save some typing. C’mon, Rex, my comments aren’t as half baked as you make it seem. The car hobby I enjoyed died 25 years ago, and I’m still pissed about it.
It ain’t dead in Cali.
I have car magazines from the early-60’s and some more from the 1980’s making similar pronouncements about the coming death of collector cars/interest in older cars. It’s been a recurring theme for decades. There is an ever present ebb and flow when it comes to what’s popular and values, which the naysayers seem to latch into as “proof” it’s the beginning of the end. So far, they have been proven wrong as they will likely be for the foreseeable future.
Steve R
Far as I’m concerned, Steve, those articles from the past you mention, were spot on. Besides, in the 80’s, it wasn’t near as out of line as it is today. Whoever wrote those articles, probably had no idea it would come to this magnitude, but was easy to predict. I guess it all depends on what you consider normal and not to sound redundant, for many, who just happen to be the naysayers, the hobby has died.
In the late 1960s and into the 1970s Automobiles began to use a terribly tacky new product — Plastic. Dashboards became covered in injection molded plastic parts and padded vinyl.
At the time most vintage automobile people made proclamations that in 30 to 40 years no one would even attempt to restore cars with so much plastic.
I remember helping out at the 1970 Washington DC annual Auto Show, as one of my friend’s family owned the local AMC dealership. This was the first year the AMC Gremlin was introduced, and I have vivid memories of countless people coming to see the car, and remarking how cheap and tacky all the interior plastic appeared. By the time the show closed, both Gremlins on the display floor were missing the A/C vents, because they were snap-in plastic assemblies and popped out with only a little bit of effort.
But of course there are serious collectors of Gremlins, especially the V8 versions, who are restoring these cars today.
Love your comments Howard. There are other decades that can be appreciated, but few with your perspective, and I do want to hear that!
Thanks scott, I’m nobody special, but I know I’m not alone. I think there are few things to indicate our economy is in trouble, and the escalation of classic car prices, full classics not included, is a sure sign people are desperate for money, and classic cars are “venue de jour”, and you can’t blame them. It’s a bottomless pit of money that many want to cash in on, before it goes bellyup, and rest assured, like most these flash in the pan deals, it will. Sadly, by then, most of us that would have had an interest in this Oakland, will be gone, and I just don’t know what’s going to happen to cars like this in the future.
I agree with a lot of these comments on the hobby. Last local show I went to I only recognized 3 vehicles from my era(60’s/70’s). The rest were import and tuner cars. That is this generations future collectables as this is what they grow up with. I have no interest in them and most have no interest in whats in my garage. I have little interest in model A’s etc as not what I grew up with. There will always be a market for certain cars due to collectability. Just my 2 cent observations.
I agree with Howard. I remember when a Model T in good condition would get snapped up as soon as it hit the market. Now, the people who collected these are dying out, and the people who bought them because Dad had one are leaving us too. I have watched as the 6 figure Packards and Hudson’s in concourse condition are still being bought as investments, but cars before 1940 are falling from favor. I’m old enough to remember riding in cars without air and had manual transmissions, the the buyers now want modern convenience as in restomods. As we older car buffs go away, soon the only cars selling will be late fifties on. Those were the cars Dad owned.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
In my humble opinion this car should absolutely not be restored. I like it a little sweaty. Sympathetically refurbish what needs to be done, and enjoy it for what it is. Just like the imperial the other day I wish I could have this but it’s not in the cards right now. Hopefully somebody recognizes it for its place in history and doesn’t cut it up.
You got corn, you got alcohol, run ’em on that. Spent 20 yrs. in the oil biz, we are not running out of oil! Had dry holes in 1990 come back life a couple years later, still producing 30+ yrs later go figure. Alaska is loaded with oil.And the car hobby changes with the market, get used to it.
.
The love of old cars has a bit to do with romance, the popular music from your teens, when you felt in love with a cute lass with a pony tail that “wiggled when she walked” and you dropped like a boulder falling over the cliff. It was a time when sex suddenly was the entire focus. Cars were our freedom. Cars are where we fell in love. Cars are where we drove away in anger, in happiness, in euphoria, and in deep sadness and longing. Cars were an extension of our personality – be it an old Kaiser Frasier or an ugly Nash that looked like a long Mealybug. Cars were our best friends and like a best friend, they shared everything in our lives. It’s like me when I find a 1949, 6-cylinder Fluid drive Desoto at a car show. “Oh wow! This was my first car. Mine was blue. I had one just like that.” All of that is lost on a generation that was not there when you drove away on your honeymoon.
Oakland was the brand and Pontiac was a model within the brand. However, the Pontiac became so popular that Oakland became Pontiac. As an aside my hometown is Pontiac which is in Oakland County MI. My dad was an engineer (GMI graduate) at Pontiac.
I have been restoring old cars since the mid 1970’s, I got my start doing it professionally, working with a guy who started restoring antique cars in the 1940’s ! My assessment is this. There are two types of guys who restore cars for the fun of it. 1, the guy who has no money and does all the work himself. and 2, the guy who pays someone else to do the work. Of course there are exceptions to every rule , but for the most part when guys get to a place in life where they have enough disposable income to spend on a restoration, invariably what they want to pay for is the car that they drooled over but couldn’t imagine ever owning back when they didn’t have any money in High school. So over the years, and decades, what has been coming into the shop has been newer and newer as the older guys have died off, and the cars the older guys spent so much money on have decreased in value as interest in them has waned. However there is a practical limit to this trend, as the cars of today will never be considered restorable by future generations, The reason is because todays vehicles are basically computers with wheels made out of injection molded plastic. How do you repair 40 year old electronics’ ? or plastic ? So eventually the trend will reverse as cars made out of steel, wood, and leather, will still be workable, At least until the gasoline runs out. And then the only cars that will survive will be the ones determined to be museum worthy.