TALES OF 40 YEARS #17 – CROOZIN’ LA in a “J”

A J-2 that is. The gang from Spectrum Auctions had invited me to one of their sales in LA. They were a good advertiser and LA was nice and warm in the early spring, so I went. I got back in touch with my friends at National Rental Car and they coughed up a 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 convertible with the J-2 engine and a continental kit. It was dark red and white and drop dead gorgeous, but it did not go very fast. For safety reasons they might have set up the carb linkage so that the Tri Poweer didn’t work. I never checked under the hood to find out for sure. I just know it was a good-looking boat that ran like harbor tug. How fast it went didn’t matter however. It looked cool and that counts a lot when you pull up at a classic car auction in LA. Angie Fountain drove down from San Francisco in her just-about-running MG and we cruised LA in the J-2 for the weekend. Ah, there were a few perks that came with working at OLD CARS WEEKLY in the old days.