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Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 11:53 pm
by human
Well, my dad surprised the hell out of me this weekend. He scored a sweet '97 Olds LSS for me on eBay with--get this--48,000 miles on it. That's absolutely unreal for a 15-year-old car. It's black with a tan interior. This will be my third LSS and my fourth H-body. It's a base model, meaning it has no moon roof, no supercharger, and no Bose system, which were the only three options available on an otherwise loaded package. The paint's slightly faded, but not bad; the headliner will eventually need replacing, but not right away; and there's a little bit of warped plastic trim, but nothing I can't easily replace at Pull-A-Part. Other than that, it's absolutely cherry. Being based on the final generation Olds 88, the LSS doesn't have quite the same attitude factor as the Bonneville, but it's still a very nice car with a third as many miles as on it.

One thing I especially like about this car is it has the same seats (same color, even) as my late Aurora—may she rust in pieces—except the LSS version has a single-point manual lumbar adjustment instead of the two-point power adjustment. The Bonneville seats are great, but I like the Aurora-style seats at least as well.

Barring an unforeseen circumstances, or as they say down here in the South, 'good Lord willin' an' the creek don't rise', we'll be going to pick it up in about a week and I'll be putting the Bonneville up for sale sometime after that. I'll post a drive report when I get it home. Meanwhile, here are a few photos from the eBay listing:

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Now that's one stealthy exterior.

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Aurora-style seats give this otherwise sedate sedan a little dose of attitude.

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Yeah, you're reading that odometer right. This car has seen an average of less than 3,300 miles of driving a year!

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:16 am
by Hotwheels
Wow, what a find! Congrats!

That first photo looks about like a stock photo for a brochure. Did you get a pretty good deal on it?

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:32 am
by harofreak00

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:35 am
by 94SilverSSEi
If I had to get another 3800 car besides a Bonneville, I think an LSS would probably be it. Pretty nice and I like the looks of the interior. Supercharger would be mandatory though :twisted:


NICE FIND!

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:56 am
by human
We didn't exactly steal it, but we got it for well below Kelley Blue Book.

94SilverSSEi:
I'm not at all worried about not having a supercharger. I've never had one and gotten along just fine with natural aspiration. Besides, supercharged LSSs are uber rare. Olds just didn't push the superchargers to anywhere near the same extent that Buick and Pontiac did.
Hotwheels wrote:Wow, what a find! Congrats!

That first photo looks about like a stock photo for a brochure. Did you get a pretty good deal on it?

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:58 am
by 1oldman
Looks like a very well cared for LSS. Looks good! - BC

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:59 am
by 94SilverSSEi
Yeah naturally aspirated isn't bad but the supercharger just makes it a little more fun.


Price doesn't seem bad. Not super cheap but fairly reasonable especially with the low miles and if the body is clean.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 1:39 am
by 95naSTA
Not too far from me.

It looks very clean. Nice find.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 8:04 am
by SSEiMan01
Sweeet! :sadeyz:

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 9:01 am
by Gumball
Nice looking ride!

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 9:30 am
by Backhoe
Wow, that is some crazy low mileage, and I would LOVE to have one in black. You're absolutely right about the seats, I just got mine set up right and now it's truly better than my lazy-boy at home.

Congrats, I'm sure that beauty has a long road ahead of her! Nice pick-up!

On a side note, does that interior look grey to anybody else? Maybe it's the camera, it looks just like mine.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 11:37 am
by human
Yes, the interior looked gray to me at first, more so on my HP notebook than on my Mac. but it's definitely tan. Oldsmobile called that interior color "natural" and it's very pale and slightly grayish, unlike the warmer tobacco tones Pontiac used in that era. My Aurora had that same interior color. I especially like the two-tone effect of the darker dash top and the deep, mocha colored carpet.
Backhoe wrote:Wow, that is some crazy low mileage, and I would LOVE to have one in black. You're absolutely right about the seats, I just got mine set up right and now it's truly better than my lazy-boy at home.

Congrats, I'm sure that beauty has a long road ahead of her! Nice pick-up!

On a side note, does that interior look grey to anybody else? Maybe it's the camera, it looks just like mine.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:05 pm
by cmarchel
I would love to rock an LSS I almost bought one instead of the Bonneville. Great find!

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 1:09 pm
by Jrs3800
OMG..... If that is a 97 all I can say is SCORE !!!

Do the LIM gaskets when you feel the time is right.... Port the LIM while you are there...

Get a stainless PLOG

Get a Hogan bolt on Down Pipe for it


Dial up the timing a couple degrees( make sure you have no KR )

Bump the shift RPM's up about 200-300 Rpms

Change the 2-1 down shift to 39mph

Change the 3-2 down shift to 80mph


And there are some torque management tables to dumb down.... These will make the car way more drivable and fun at the same time...


Does the car have the F41 suspension...?

Man do I love those LSS's

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 4:17 pm
by swampthing
If you were to change out those wheels for some 2000+ impy ss wheels it would be dead sexy and kinda resemble the the 94-96 impalas that i love sio much

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 4:07 am
by Saturn Simon
Gorgeous! And in black too... I love it.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 11:32 pm
by 00Beast
Looks great!!

LOL Don. You just can't leave well enough alone....

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:27 pm
by human
Just one week to go!

I'm flying up to Philly next Wednesday to pick up the LSS. I would have gone today, but we messed around and the lowest ticket price more than quadrupled in a matter of hours. Pushing the departure out another week brought it back down.

I think I may have a buyer for the Bonneville. A co-worker is very interested in it for her son.

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:12 pm
by nos4blood70
00Beast wrote:LOL Don. You just can't leave well enough alone....
:btruestory:

Nice ride!

Re: Landed a sweet LSS

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 11:29 am
by SSEIking
That is a SWEET ride!