Are you feeling brave? If you are, then have I got the car for you. This 1957 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Convertible has some significant rust issues. It will take an exceptional and dedicated individual if it is to be returned to anything resembling its former glory. However, the owner includes a few of the necessary parts to get things rolling. It all helps, but the shopping list for this classic is still going to be pretty long. The Olds is located in Dade City, Florida, and has been listed for sale here on eBay. It seems that the amount of work hasn’t discouraged some people, because there have already been 40 bids submitted as I write this. The result is that bidding has risen to $2,000 in this No Reserve auction.

The Eighty-Eight would have been a striking car back in 1957. The Alcan White paint and the Black convertible top would have made quite a statement. Sadly, those glory days are a long way behind this old classic. Starting on a positive, the owner is including a nice new top for the vehicle that is still in the wrapping. Now, let’s get down to the work that this car would require. The rust is pretty extensive and has consumed the floors entirely. Surprisingly, the trunk pan looks okay, with only a few small holes in the spare wheel well. Included in the sale is a set of good secondhand floors, so that will give the next owner something with which to work. The seller provides some good photos of the vehicle’s underside, and while there is a heavy coating of surface corrosion, the frame does appear to be structurally sound. Externally, there is rust in the rockers and the bottom of the passenger-side door. There is also some minor rust in the lower rear quarter panels, along with surface corrosion in numerous locations. Some of the external trim and chrome is missing, while the vast majority of what remains will need to be restored or replaced. The windshield is badly cracked, but the passenger door glass is worse. Summing it up, it would be fair to say that this car is going to require complete dismantling if the restoration is to do it any justice.

The news doesn’t get much better when we start to poke around inside the Oldsmobile. The rear seat is still present, as are the door trims. The back seat is only suitable for the frame that it provides, while the door trims are only good for the rubbish skip. This is an interior that is going to need everything, including a replacement front seat. It looks like the gauge cluster is okay, but the rest of the dash is toast. Unfortunately, interior trim kits for the 1957 Convertible aren’t thick on the ground, so the buyer might need to have some pieces custom made.

If you were hoping that the news was going to improve when we popped the hood, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. The engine bay would have originally housed a 371ci V8, a Jetaway automatic transmission, along with power brakes. If this were the standard engine, then it would have produced a healthy 277hp. If it was the optional J2 engine, then that figure would have risen to 300hp. Sadly, the engine and transmission are both gone. This raises an interesting conundrum for the person who chooses to restore this car. It is definitely possible to source the correct engine and transmission and to return the vehicle to its original specifications. Alternatively, this might open up the option of pursuing this car as a restomod project. That’s a fascinating option to consider and could make the Olds a more effortless classic to live with daily. It depends on whether the buyer is seeking spotless originality from the project.

While Oldsmobile managed to sell 132,105 examples of the Eighty-Eight in 1957, a mere 7,128 of these cars were the Convertible. That makes these a rare vehicle. It isn’t clear just how many have survived, but you can be reasonably sure that the numbers are quite low. Sometimes rarity doesn’t equate to high values, but that is not the case with the Eighty-Eight Convertible. Today, good examples will command prices of $70,000 or more. That throws a whole new light on this as a possible project car. Is it enough to get you interested, or has this old classic gone too far?