[wbnapier]

Does anyone know if there is an Oldsmobile historical society similar to Pontiac's PHS?

My buddy is trying to help with an estate sale on VIN: 34487LAN329654. It's a '69 442.

If you know of an organization, please reply with the link.

Thanks

[Tellyshavilli]

Is there really a Pontiac historical society I haven’t heard of it

[Stuart]

It's Pontiac Historic Services, and unfortunately no - there isn't a similar Oldsmobile organization.

[Mr Anonymous]

At one time, the Oldsmobile History Center was a thing.

"Helen Earley (note the "e" after the "l") died in January of 2005 (at the ripe old age of 88), but she was out of the picture considerably before this. She and James Walkinshaw together started the Oldsmobile History Center in 1987 after they had both retired from GM, and if you wrote to the center any time between then and the late '90s, you receive a nice letter from her with whatever information about your car she could provide.

Walkinshaw retired "again" in 1998 and Earley "again" in 2000, leaving the center in the hands of a man named Ed Stanchak. Even before Earley retired, though, beginning in 1998, because the History Center's collection had grown so large and for other reasons, a new Oldsmobile Heritage Center was formed and was placed in a new, larger building in Lansing. It began operation in 1999. But it never received good support from Oldsmobile (there's a shock), and with the announcement in December 2000 of the death of Oldsmobile itself, support never came. The Olds Heritage Center closed in September 2001 with most of its materials placed in storage.

In early 2003, the Olds Heritage Center's materials were donated to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, and what was left of the Olds History Center/Heritage Center was moved to suburban Detroit where it became part of the new GM Heritage Center.

So the bottom line is, information about your Oldsmobile free for the asking more or less stopped in the late '90s. Much turmoil engulfed the Olds history apparatus for about half a decade beginning about 1998, no Olds history materials were available to the public after September 2001, and all Oldsmobile history activities left Lansing for good in early 2003."

Most of the original records were lost in a warehouse fire. UNLESS you have an olds that was sold in Canada, the documentation for them exists. Even the assembly line works were told to discard the build sheets, so finding one is rare in and of itself. But it does happen.

"34487LAN329654" isnt a valid 69 vin. That sounds like the trim tag on the firewall, and that sequence number wouldn't necessarily match the VIN on the dash. Lansing cars got an "M" where the LAN is.

If the VIN of that '69 ended in 9050, it was my car.

25+ years ago, I was able to get some docs on my 1984 H/O, and found out it was #2449 of the 3500 made. Helen Earley sent me the info personally. She died of cancer around 2004-2005.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by wbnapier

Does anyone know if there is an Oldsmobile historical society similar to Pontiac's PHS?

Following up on Mr Anonymous' response - sounds like a call to the GM Heritage Center would be in order.

Christo Datini is the guy I usually talk to there.

K