Fans of old wagons, here’s a missed chance about which there’s little to do now. The opportunity of winning a new ’63 Oldsmobile wagon, plus trailer and boat, all for a $1.00 donation toward Zelienople’s Vol. Fire Dept.
And while there’s no way to take part in this giveaway anymore, I won’t deny I’m mighty tempted by this combo. Not that I’m a huge fan of Oldsmobile’s ’63 line, or boats. But a $1.00 ticket? Sure, why not? (Yes, I’m thinking in ’63 dollars)
The wagon in our vintage photo seems to belong to Olds’ Dynamic 88 range. In the case of Olds, their wagons only appeared in 4-door format, with seating for 6 or 8 passengers. Production numbers for the Dynamic wagons were 16,731 units.
Underneath, much of the chassis and mechanics dated to the ’61 B-body generation, but shedding most of the space-age imagery, with a more angular sobriety taking over. If you wanted your rockets, those were now only found under the hood. For the Dynamic 88s, that meant the 394CID Rocket V-8, in either 260, or 280 bhp state of tune.
Interiors were available in cloth and Morocceen, or all Morocceen. Other options included electric roll-down tailgate windows and a concealed luggage locker. A fancier Fiesta wagon on the higher Super 88 line was also available. Of those, only 3,878 units were built.
Oldsmobile’s best-known wagon line was to arrive just one year later, with the legendary Vista-Cruiser in ’64. Now, I haven’t found any images of Vista-Cruiser giveaways yet. But do we want to? I mean, do we really wish to keep discovering more missed opportunities?
Related reading:
Cohort Outtake: 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Celebrity Sedan – Living Up To Its Name?
Appears to be a Pittsburgh suburb for others wondering-
It is indeed. Excited to see a pic from my neck of the woods. Was likely “Yoder Pontiac/Oldsmobile”, supplying the car!
No “I 79” in those days. “Zelie” was a “hopping place”!
I’m very familiar with the town also, being a native Pittsburgher.
It was before I existed but I sure woulda put 20 bucks or so on that opportunity!
I was going to comment at first that a buck seemed like a pretty cheap raffle ticket, even in 1963, to get a chance to win both a boat AND a car. But then I went to the good old inflation calculator and found that ticket would have a current-day value of nearly $10.
And so, I suppose I’d pay $10 just for a good cause…but it would be with zero likelihood that I’d win the stuff; because I never win stuff. And yeah, more tickets would increase my odds. But would I buy 20 tickets (roughly $200 in present day money)? Nahhhhhh.
Mostly because I never win anything.
Twenty bucks would a been a “large outlay”, in “63”.
I live about ~40 Miles from Zelienople, PA, and drove past it almost every weekend when I went to college. Cool stuff to find that old giveaway station wagon. I wish it was a MoPar of course!
For some reason these Olds and Buick big wagons were never very popular. Their sales were modest, and one didn’t see them often, unlike the Pontiacs (and of course the very popular Chevy. I’m guessing that folks weren’t willing to spend a bit extra for an Olds or Buick wagon because they didn’t convey the presumed bit of extra prestige value like the sedans, coupes and convertibles.
Given that these Olds and Buick wagon bodies were built by an outside contractor (Iona) it’s possible that the production capacity was limited?
Probably a typo, but that’s Ionia like the region in Greece, or in this case the town in Michigan where the company started.
I believe Ionia made wood wagon bodies for Chevy & Pontiac as well, but when they switched to metal bodies the production switched to Fisher. This suggests to me that if Olds & Buick projected more sales than Ionia could handle, they would have gone with Fisher as well?
I had a 63 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 in 1976-7.
Except for the ghost second gear of the Roto-Hydramatic it was an excellent car.
However weirdness abounded.
GM’s first attempt at a “perimeter frame” resulted in a Flexible Flyer.
Six rubber hood bumpers kept your view normal, but turning into a driveway the cowl area squeaked like train brakes. Some RTV in the old school windshield gasket fixed that (they switched to Mastic later).
The flexibility required Corvette style motor mounts, two on the bell housing and one under the crank pulley.
The lug nuts were lefty tighty on one side and the speedo was driven off the front wheel like a VW.
Still, it ran like the hammers of Hell on the highway and got 20 MPG
Interesting to hear your experience. Yes, Olds and Pontiac pioneered the perimeter frame in 1961. Unlike what many think, perimeter frame cars depend very heavily on the body for their rigidity. They’re really more like a unibody with front and rear subframes.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/tech-history-vintage-article-the-perimeter-frame-body-and-frame-not-body-on-frame/
I always thought the rear tail lights treatment was very cool and neat.
Yes – everyone gravitated towards those cool looking Pontiacs and of course, the Chevrolet, but both the Buick and Oldsmobile was damn nice too. I like the looks of the Oldsmobile, but I have to confess, that for an Oldsmobile, it wasn’t easily identified. When we look at the other Olds on the road in 1963, we see a lot of Space Age Cool. So, in hindsight, I like the Jet Age Cool of these neat rectangular designed Oldsmobiles, but it was a new look for Oldsmobile buyers used to flashy rocketry.
These wagons are easily overlooked, but what a clean and beautiful design.
Many a gentlemen at this time who put up a dollar was looking more at the boat and trailer.
Mom would end up with the wagon.
I never paid much attention to car raffles as a kid. Certainly, never harangued my parents to buy a ticket. But I do recall, various old time small town raffles often featured the cheapest cars. Same for the large Central Canada Exhibition in Ottawa. Vegas, Monzas, Chevettes, Pintos, and Escorts, being very typical in my childhood. Cavaliers and 2000s, later on. As hospital lotteries, with costlier tickets, appeared to help increase the public’s expectations in a lottery car.
Impressed, to see an Olds wagon offered in ’63.
The highlight of our yearly church carnival was the raffle ticket drawing for a new Oldsmobile, donated by a local dealer who was a prominent parishioner. In 1961 the new Olds Dynamic 88 sedan was won by our neighbor and good friend. It was the cheapest Olds 88 I ever saw, it’s only options being Hydra-Matic and back-up lamps. No radio, blackwalls, dog dish hubcaps, manual steering and brakes.
Even in the Oldsmobile-centric environment of my youth, these were always uncommon. If Oldsmobile could not sell these in decent numbers to the middle class families of Fort Wayne, Indiana (who bought Oldsmobiles in droves), there was no hope.
That combo was the stuff of a suburban dweller’s dream vacation! A new wagon to haul the family during the week, and to tow the boat up to the lake on the weekends and during the Summer. I almost hate to mention it, but that’s exactly what SUV owners do Today!
My Dad bought a new ’64 Pontiac Tempest wagon, white with a bright red interior. A bit smaller but still pretty spacious. It had a 326 V8 with a checkered flag call out on the front fender. And you know, it was the GTO’s more prosaic brother. At least, that’s how I looked at it.
Nice looking wagon .
In 1963 the average blue collar Joe made $50 / week so $1 tickets weren’t cheap .
-Nate
For all the Pittsburghers do you remember when the Dormont Fire Dept raffled a new Cadillac Coupe DeVille every Fourth of July ? I lived in Bethel Park and my neighbor won it in 1974!
It’s hard to convey what the new Interstates and more fluid of the two lanes looked like in the summer months back in those days. Wagons were everywhere, with boxy home built equivalents of Thulle luggage bins strapped to non-adjustable chrome roof racks, and “way backs” crammed high with suitcases and coolers. Every one of the 6 seating positions was occupied by a parent or child, and the dog’s slobber would be let loose in the windstream between front and rear windows. The average full size, low price car would not yet be air conditioned, Dad’s goal would be to cover 500 miles in a day. Visions of bumper stickers promoting tomorrow’s attractions (“Fairy Village, “Santa’s North Pole”, etc.) as seen on cars passing the other way, danced in your head; in bed at night, the skin on the side of your face that had endured with 75 mph hot wind tingled for hours. Families on the move in station wagons gawked at each other as if the opposite was a carny attraction.
As far as car and boat raffles go, I don’t recall any, but I will never forget the electric 1956 Olds Kiddie Kar that I didn’t win in a contest at the Pontiac dealership..
Actually, 21,000 Olds 88 wagons sold wasn’t too bad for a mid-priced line. Buick moved 13,000 full-size wagons for 1963 and Mercury did 13,000 as well. Chrysler sold 8,600. Pontiac, which had a huge sales year in 1963, sold 35,000. Olds stacked up fairly well in comparison. Not exactly common, but you did see a few of them around.
As one would expect, Chevy and Ford dominated, selling 198,000 and 126,000 full size wagons respectively.