Sleeping Beauty: 1954 Oldsmobile Nighty-Eight Starfire Convertible – Not Sold?

July 11, 2021 Update – Unfortunately, an angry couple claiming to be the owners and sellers of this Oldsmobile tried to post disparaging comments about the fact we featured their car.  Additionally, they tried to claim we had it listed for something much less than everything we’ve documented since we first came across the Craigslist ad.  When we tried to contact them and get an understanding of whether they were, in fact, the Craigslist posters or not, we could not get a straight answer and in fact, were nastily threatened by them as they would not stay calm enough to try to  While we can’t comment on whether other sites have also posted this car, we’re not going to track this car any further and are assuming the listing on Craigslist was a scam.

June 16, 2021 Update – We just confirmed the listing for this Olds Starfire “Classifind” expired, so with no replacement found we’re assuming this ride “Sold?” While this one got away, please reach out either by email or call Rudy directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.

May 11, 2021 Update – New post, same price.  The private seller of this ’54 Olds 98 convertible just launched a new ad with the same pictures, description, and price.

April 19, 2021 Update – Nearly one month after hoping that increasing their asking price just as the weather warmed would sell their vintage Oldsmobile, the private seller’s plan backfired as we just came across a fresh listing with the price adjusted back down to $49,000. We will continue to keep an eye out to see whether the lower price finally sells this pretty car.

March 21, 2021 Update – One of our pet peeves since starting this website is finding sellers who believe in the antiquated notion that the price goes up when the weather gets home for convertibles.  The problem is the Internet doesn’t forget, so just because this seller decided to raise their price by a whopping five large from $48,000 to $53,000, you know what his floor still is when you negotiate.

March 9, 2021 Update – A third listing just replaced the second one for this nice-looking ’54 Oldsmobile convertible we first featured in January. As with last month’s ad, the description, pictures, and asking price all remain the same. 

February 6, 2021 Update – we just came across a fresh listing for this pretty vintage Olds convertible we first featured in January 2021.  While the description and pictures carry over from the previous post, the seller elected to keep the price at $48,000.

Like many domestic car manufacturers, Oldsmobile used the “Starfire” brand name several times over very different models over the years.  The GM division first used the name on its top-of-the-line 1954 98 convertibles. A very nice example featuring an older restoration and reported to be fresh out of 35 years of storage was listed in May 2021 on Craigslist in New Lebanon, Ohio (Cincinnati) with a revised asking price of $49,000. Not quite the $53,000 set one month earlier, but not the $48,000 we saw several months earlier.  Comparing this price against the Hagerty Insurance Online Valuation Tool confirms this private seller has their Starfire priced between this guide’s #3 “Good” estimate of $46,400 and its #2 “Excellent” appraisal of $68,600. Similarly, the Collector Car Market Review Online Tool reveals the seller’s ask falls between this guide’s #3 “Good” estimate of $36,350 and its #2 “Very Good” appraisal of $49,520.

You can find this great Oldsmobile overview from 1954 on YouTube that provides a nice review of the brand’s 98 offerings that year.

This appears to be a very straight and pretty example in a great color combination.  While the convertible top and power windows are in need of repair, there is more than enough time between now and the return of top-down weather to resolve those issues. Good luck with the purchase!

Here’s the seller’s description:

“Beautiful 1954 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire Convertible. This is a very rare collector convertible fresh out of 35 yrs storage, previous owner owned the car since 1978. It runs good, transmission shifts good, the convertible top and electric windows aren’t working, it just clicks. I believe the solenoid or motor needs rebuilt. The floor and trunk pans are solid, never rotted. The body mounts are solid, never rotted. This cars very shiny and slick, no waves, very straight car. It has new tires, the dimmer light on the dash works. This is the original color on car, capri blue, code 40 on vin plate. This car is a beauty, you’ll be happy with it. Good Luck finding another one in this condition at this price. Serious inquiries only…. MAY TRADE What do you have ????

I like Convertibles from the 40’s and 50’s, Chop Top Mercury, Muscles cars like Chevelle, Impala, Charger, 55 or 57 Chevy, 2015 or Newer Corvette.“

Show or just go: What would you do with this Olds 98 Convertible?  Comment below and let us know!