Larry Ewing's 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Coupe

An early photo of Larry's Oldsmobile. The Olds engine was still in Larry's garage after he sold the Forty Ford, and his goal was to have 1949 Oldsmobile 88 coupe much like one of his classmates, Dennis Milani, had. "The word was out and I soon got a call from Bill Leonheart having a ’50 88 coupe less engine for $125. Not a ‘49 but a perfect fit for my ’56 engine. My idol at the time, besides Milani, was Gene Adams that ran a ’50 Olds in Southern California that was in Hot Rod magazine almost every month setting the ¼ mile record constantly in an Engle Cam ad." Larry got the Olds in April of 1959, and by August it was on the street with a Cad/LaSalle side shift with Corvette floor linkage and 4:11 gears. "It was quick!" Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

A photo of Larry's first car, the 1940 Ford that he sold to buy the Olds. Early in 1959, after Larry had repainted the car, a young man offered him $500 for the Ford. "He was impressed with the body and paint and had to have it. So away it went." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

The Olds was a stock medium to dark Ivy Green when Larry bought it. "With my experience prepping the ’40 I started in on the Olds." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Larry decided to paint the Olds the darkest metallic green, which was Kensington Green from a 1959 Cadillac. "With a little help from Richard again it was painted and buffed out. I had the wheels reversed and chromed, put on big and little U.S. Royal Master tires with flat ’60 Pontiac poverty caps. It got beautiful!" Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Larry installed scavenger pipes on his Olds in 1959. "This was just a few months before I installed the chrome reversed wheels with big and little U.S. Royal Master tires. Going to the San Mateo Autorama and the Oakland Roadster Show at the time, I must have got the idea to do it! Kind of hard to see in the photo, but I tried as an 18-year-old with a Brownie camera!" When Larry got the car back in the mid-80s, he did a similar exhaust and had short turndown pipes coming out of the dual mufflers exiting just before the rear differential. "But it turned out to be annoying while in traffic or cruising slowly at car shows. The exhaust fumes would come up in the car when the windows were down. So I had complete over the axle tailpipes put on exiting at the rear bumper with turn-down tips." The 1954 Ford 2-door Ranch Wagon in the photo belonged to Larry's grandpa. The 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 on the right belonged to Larry's neigbour. Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

"After a few years, I had so many speed tickets in the Olds that the court was about to take my license away so it went to my younger teenage brothers, Mike and Tom." Fortunately, Mike kept the car for 25 years and Larry was able to get it back and restore it to show condition. "In 1995 it won Best of Class at the Oakland, Now Grand National Roadster Show. It now had a ’57 Olds J2 engine with a floor shifted ’37 Cad LaSalle transmission and with an even darker green, called Black Emerald pearl from ’88 Cadillac/Olds." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

1950 Oldsmobile 88 Coupe owned by Larry Ewing of Redwood City, California. Prior to the Olds, Larry had a 1940 Ford that he had fixed up. "It wasn't fast enough so I bought a ’56 Olds engine with 240 HP," he told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in November of 2020. He sold the Ford early in 1959, before he had come around to swap the engine.

Car without an engine located

The Olds engine was still in Larry's garage, and his goal was to have ’49 88 coupe much like one of his classmates, Dennis Milani, had. "The word was out and I soon got a call from Bill Leonheart having a ’50 88 coupe less engine for $125. Not a ‘49 but a perfect fit for my ’56 engine. My idol at the time, besides Milani, was Gene Adams that ran a ’50 Olds in Southern California that was in Hot Rod magazine almost every month setting the ¼ mile record constantly in an Engle Cam ad."

"It was quick!"

Larry got the Olds in April of 1959, and by August it was on the street with a Cad/LaSalle side shift with Corvette floor linkage and 4:11 gears. "It was quick!"

Kensington Green, chromed and reversed wheels, and big and little tires

The Olds was a stock medium to dark Ivy Green. "With my experience prepping the ’40 I started in on the Olds. Choice was to paint it the darkest metallic green, which was Kensington Green from ’59 Cadillac. With a little help from Richard again it was painted and buffed out. I had the wheels reversed and chromed, put on big and little U.S. Royal Master tires with flat ’60 Pontiac poverty caps. It got beautiful!" Larry separated the rims from the centers himself before he took them to Santa Clara Plating. "$75 for all 8 pieces. Then I went to a welding shop in Palo Alto and had them welded back together for $6 as I waited. I did not change the valve stem location so now the stem was on the backside of the wheel. It looked cool but was a pain to check the air."

The keeper

"After a few years, I had so many speed tickets in the Olds that the court was about to take my license away so it went to my younger teenage brothers, Mike and Tom." Fortunately, Mike kept the car for 25 years and Larry was able to get it back and restore it to show condition. "In 1995 it won Best of Class at the Oakland, Now Grand National Roadster Show. It now had a ’57 Olds J2 engine with a floor shifted ’37 Cad LaSalle transmission and with an even darker green, called Black Emerald pearl from ’88 Cadillac/Olds."