Vehicle Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present a very rare 'barn find' (garage really!) example of this most desirable and valuable first year of the Oldsmobile Starfire - an original California 'Black License Plate' 1961 Oldsmobile Starfire 394/345HP V8 Convertible in original and rare factory 'Twilight Mist Poly' (Color Code B) color paint with a matching light Blue interior and fully loaded with factory options including the standard factory options of:
Starfire 394/330HP V8 Engine with 10.50-1 Compression,
High Speed Cam Shaft,
Ultra High Compression Cylinder Heads,
Dual Exhaust System,
Special Fiberglass Packed Muffler,
Foam Cushioned Bucket Seats,
Tachometer,
4-S Hydra-Matic automatic transmission,
Power Top,
Power Steering,
Power Brakes,
Power Drivers seat,
Power Trunk Release,
Power Antennae,
Electric clock,
Courtesy lamps,
Soft ray tinted glass,
Console with shifter,
Outside LH rear view mirror
Original Wonderbar AM radio
The car was recently sold from the renown 'Petersen Automotive Museum' in Los Angeles, CA, one of the world's largest and most prestigious car museums. The museum has over one-hundred vehicles on display in its twenty-five galleries and the remaining half of the collection is kept in a 'vault', located on the basement level of the building. The car is a very original unrestored example that was set to be restored but which will now be sold as is. The car is running and driving very well with the power top working and functional. The car has some very minor dents in the body and chrome and the paint is oxidizing and worn in places (see photos below). All the power windows are working as they should and the car has all it's original logos and its original radio and the original spare wheel is in the trunk. The car drives very well - a truly remarkable daily driver that will really give any modern day sports car a run for it's money! The transmission shifts smoothly through all the gears and the temperature always remains cool! There are no signs or evidence of the car having any rust or indeed signs of any accidents.
The Starfire was Oldsmobile's entry into the personal luxury market built on the Super Eighty-Eight's 123-inch wheelbase frame. The list of standard equipment included a more powerful V8, Hydra-matic drive, sports console with shifter, tachometer, courtesy lamp package, two-speed wipers, power brakes, power steering, brushed aluminum trim, dual exhausts and leather trim. Oldsmobile introduced the new Starfire in mid-1961. It was a high performance, high style, luxury automobile that was true to the company's rich performance history and offered a host of distinctive features. The Starfire returned for 1962 to include a hardtop variant. Priced around $4,000 for the Starfire Hardtop Coupe and $4,744 for the Starfire Convertible; the cars were equipped with all the features found in the Super Eight-Eight plus brushed aluminum side panels, a sporty cockpit featuring bucket seats, leather upholstery, floor console and power-operated front seats. Power was from a 394 cubic-inch V-8 engine that offered 345 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque, courtesy of a Rochester four-barrel carburetor, 10.5:1 compression, a revised camshaft profile, an efficient combustion chamber design and a free-flowing dual exhaust system.
The Oldsmobile Starfire was easily distinguishable from its Super 88 counterparts by the addition of brushed aluminum side panels. Arguably this was the first muscle-car from Oldsmobile since it combined a very powerful engine in a small, compact body. The Starfire's sporty and luxurious hardtop coupe and convertible embodied the personal luxury cars for Oldsmobile with leather bucket seats, sport and special luxury trim. "Distinguished . . Distinctive . . Decidedly New" was how Oldsmobile advertised their all new 1961 first full-fledged Starfire series. Oldsmobile chose the General Motors 1961 Motorama which opened on November 3, 1960 at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC to debut the new one-model series. This series remained until the revolutionary Toronado picked up the Oldsmobile personal-luxury banner. At select Oldsmobile dealerships in January 1961 the first Starfires began arriving. On the outside the Starfire included two slim parallel hood moldings and a 4-inch wide band of brushed aluminum on the sides, touches which were exclusive to the Starfire. The 1961 Starfire also sported a chrome-plated air cleaner perched on top of the four-barrel carburetor and shiny valve covers and oil filler cap. Burning only premium fuel, the Starfire had a 10.25:1 compression ratio. Another unique advertising campaign was a direct-to-dealer piece that urged dealerships to stage special open houses to showcase the new model and gave interested dealerships with up to 500 invitations and envelopes.
It is hard to pin down the first actual muscle car; some have asserted that it is the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, which was built with speed in mind and with an overhead valve V8 placed in a mid-size car with a relatively lightweight body. A lot of observers cite the next big step in the evolution of the early muscle car to be the introduction of the 1955 Chrysler C-300 with its 300 horsepower Hemi engine that could go from zero to sixty in 9.8 seconds and reach a top speed of around 130 miles per hour. A car that came along a few years later that is of note to many collectors and muscle car enthusiasts is the Oldsmobile Starfire.
This is a rare opportunity to own a great candidate for restoration for the Oldsmobile enthusiast, the first and most desirable year example of a 1961 Oldsmobile Starfire Convertible and an original southern California 'Black Plate' car as well - one very collectible example of one of the outstanding early muscle cars and a truly beautiful GM classic car design from the early sixties muscle car era.
