Oldsmobile 1961 - 1964 custom & mild custom

1961 Oldsmobile Custom Convertible "Aladdin" - John d'Agostino

330 hp, 394 cu. in. OHV V8 engine, four-speed Hydramatic transmission, air-ride front suspension by wishbones and air ride rear with semi-solid live axle, four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 123"



- International award-winning John D’Agostino custom
- First year for Oldsmobile Starfire convertible, one of only 7,800 built
- Candy-apple red with white leather interior, four-inch chop
- Adjustable air-ride suspension, modern air conditioning



Oldsmobile launched the convertible Starfire late in the 1961 model year, on January 1st, 1961. It shared its wheelbase with the 88 but had a more powerful 330-hp, 394-cu. in. Rocket V8 engine. Its unmistakable signature was a wide brushed aluminum side sweep, which ran the length of the car. All Super 88 options were standard, and the Starfire also had power bucket seats, a console-mounted tachometer, and a dual exhaust system. Oldsmobile sold 7,800 Starfires.



Customizer John D’Agostino found this car at a Good Guys show at Pleasanton, California a couple of years ago. It had been brought from Northern California to be sold “and there were four or five guys behind me,” he recalled. A very sound original car, D’Agostino took it to Bill Hines in Long Beach, California to be customized to his “Aladdin” design. All the bodywork in the car is lead.



The windshield was cut down four inches, all three top bows reworked for the correct shape and a custom top installed. The leading edges of the hood were reworked, as was the trunk. The grille from a 1959 Imperial was adapted, with the taillights from a ’59 Cadillac. The interior was reupholstered in white leather, with diamond pleat, button-back and tuck-and-roll flourishes. The car was fitted with chrome wire wheels, adjustable air suspension and modern air-conditioning, and the chromed engine compartment is highly detailed.

1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 two door hardtop


The car has factory working A/C all original interior and was painted "once" back to the original color.


The paint under the hood and deck lid is original no rust. Professionally installed air ride system and stereo.

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to discover that Kevin Petitt, the owner of this ’64 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe, is an automotive painter by trade. Hanging out as a kid with your dad at custom paint shops, then working in one after college is likely to have that effect on a guy. He now works painting Hayabusa-engined three-wheelers for a living (check out www.tanommotorsusa.com), making painting his own car more fun than a work-related chore, for sure.
1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

The Olds came into his possession via a straight-across trade for a Dodge truck he’d built. Or as he puts, “I built a rusty turd of a ’37 Dodge truck with junk parts I had laying around and cheap parts I could find. I had $3,500 in the truck and decided to sell it. The owner of my Olds at the time wanted a rat rod bad and loved the look of my Dodge so he had to have it. There is an ass for every seat. So before he could change his mind I had the Dodge on a trailer and made the haul from Virginia to Kentucky to make the trade straight up.”
1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

The Olds was a garage-kept-since-new, 60,000-original-mile granny car, to which he had installed hydraulics, 13-inch wires, and put an awful paintjob on the roof. “The paint on the body was in decent shape and went well with the original aqua color interior so within a couple weeks of having it in my hands I ripped the hydros out, installed air ride, painted the roof pearl white, and fitted black steel wheels with wide whites. I drove it that way for a couple of years before painting it the way you see it now.” That air suspension consists of 2500 Dominator airbags all round, with the chassis notched to allow full travel, yet lay frame with the ’bags deflated. The suspension is otherwise stock, as is the running gear, though Kris Abe assembled the 394 motor with a custom grind cam and 3x2 Offenhauser intake with a trio of Rochester 2G carbs. The valve covers are Offy, and a PerTronix ignition provides the fire.
1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

Just as it was with mild customs back in the day, it’s the paint that makes this car such a standout. Once the emblems and side trim were shaved and he’d tackled the bodywork, the paint was, as Kevin admits, the most challenging part of the project. He wanted to come up with something that would look period correct for a ’60s mild custom but with a modern twist. He says he couldn’t have pulled it off without Darren Wenzel’s help, as he “pulled out just about every paint technique they would have used back in the day from his bag of tricks. A lot of Larry Watson influence went into the paintwork.” Using pearl white, aqua, purple, and cashmere as the main colors, the results speak for themselves, and we can only imagine the hours he has invested in masking, let alone the money invested in fine-line tape!
1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

Working for two years on and off on the Olds, all the while trying to keep it on the road at the same time, brought it to the point you see here, with Kevin “glad that there are people out there who appreciate the hard work that went into it, and the fact that it’s not a lowrider but a ’60s mild custom”. He says it has become something of an attention whore, even taking a Top 5 award at the pre-’62 Jalopyrama in Maryland last year, where it received a ton of attention all day. He’s not afraid to rack up the miles under those Astro Supremes either, with trips from Northern Virginia to Austin Texas for the Lonestar Round Up already undertaken. After all, that’s what they’re for, right?


1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

Rod & Custom Feature Car

Kevin Petitt

Culpeper, Virginia

1964 Olds 88 Holiday Coupe

Read more: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1212rc_1964_olds_88_holiday_coupe

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