My Cutlass that I have owned since 1988 went away yesterday. This was the one that had a perfect roof and floorboards on it. Couldn't sell the roof and didn't have room to keep it. I would have LOVED to use it on my project car but don't have the skills or the money to do it right. It sure was a SAD day around here, my wife even asked me if I was crying...but even if I was I wouldn't have told her, cause real men don't cry....do they?

 

Real men don't cry , well then many of us are not real men. I spent most of my life thinking that and it took a lot to make me cry , getting older and realizing there are things we care about. The first time I really broke down was when I lost my dog due to cancer. He truly was my best bud and the perfect companion. A greyhound I rescued many years ago we were inseperable and he always knew when I was feeling down. He would always come up to me and lay his head on my lap and I would instantly feel better. It is always a sad day when something that you have considered a part of you go away. Even if it is just a car that you had hoped to turn into your dream car one day it has been a part of you. Stay optamistic cause someday you may get the chance to find that car that you can work on. Real men don't cry? we all do even if it's on the inside.

 

I'm already well on my way to replace it. Here is a shot of my car a couple of weeks ago, put the hood on it yesterday so I can trailer it to the body shop.

 

Willi, that sure looks rough. Keep us updated on the progress at the paint shop. I have been doing that on "video before paint thread."
I drove mine to the paint shop no hood, finders, glass, interior, or bumpers.

 

It still looks rough but I am going with a vinyl top so I just sanded the roof down, POR 15'd it and laid some primer over it. The left front fender is now down to metal, the whole rear section except for the trunk lid is down to metal. It's not as bad as it looks, although it does have some serious issues. Borrowed a friends trailer tonight to take it to the body shop.

Here is a short series of photos from beginning to where I am now with this project:

 

Its ok for a real man to cry about selling their Oldsmobile but if a man cries about selling a Ford or a Chevy then they are a wuss..

 

My dad left me his 1929 Model A Leatherback and I ended up trading it for my 1969 Olds 98 convertible There was only joy when I made the deal for an even trade.

 

I really like the hood and when she comes back from the shop it is going to look nice Are you going with the same color scheme as the hood and a white vinyl roof? I wish I had the funds to invest in a new paint job. At least she is solid rust free for the most part. What are your major issues?

 

Previous repairs that have gone south are big problems on the fenders. The pass door was damaged in the accident that took out my original Cutlass and the rear quarters have rust along the bottoms and dents on the pillars that come down around the tail light. I dropped it off today and will keep weekly tabs on it while it is in the shop. I went with a single stage paint (cost 1000 dollars less), Nassau Blue with a black vinyl top as factory, I am having black (satin or semi gloss) stripes painted on the hood.

 

In case you guys didn't see this cause I put it in my new guy thread from over a year ago, car went to the body shop last week, I will be stopping by occasionally to check progress.

 

Progress at the body shop! Things are looking up!

 

So it will be blue with black stripes and top? Is the interior black or dark red , can't tell from pics. Can only see it's dark.

 

Nice! I too just went with single-stage paint. Not necessarily because it was cheaper, but mainly because I wanted an original look to my paint. I'll post pics once I actually get some. Will be seeing it for the first time painted next week.

 

Nassau blue with a black vinyl top, black stripes on the hood and the interior is black.

 

The shop called me today and told me the car was ready for paint. I told them I wanted to inspect it before they painted it and it's a good thing I did. Found several minor issues that needed straightened out before paint, overall not too bad though. They say it will be done by next Friday. Here are some pics from today, kind of dark in the body shop for the pics.

 

Yeah, a lot of "Real Men" learn it is okay to cry. It's learned in combat when guys you know have been watching your back get cut down or blown up.

Semper Fi

 

Well, the car is progressing along nicely. Went over to the shop today and they had the color on and the car was in the booth being heated. Next are the hood stripes.

 

Maybe it is just the light from the shop but it looks like a lighter blue than I thoght it would be. Are the stripes going to be a nice shiny midnight black? That would look really nice. can't wait to see a picture in daylight outdoors , it's going to be really sweet

 

Stripes will be a satin black (or you could say a semi gloss). Should look nice with the black vinyl top.

 

can't wait til you get the pics of it finished.Should be a real eye catcher

 

Sweet , lookin foward to the finished product

 

Pics from Friday afternoon. They used some kind of rolled tape to seal the door jams and around the hood and trunk when they painted the body and I can't tell whether the paint in the jams was not set up yet or if the tape left a residue on the paint but they have to clean up around all of the seams before I will accept it. Anyway, it looks pretty good and they did a real nice job on the hood stripes.

 

This body shop is starting to irritate me, I went over on Monday and the car was supposed to be done but it wasn't. They still had to clean up the jams from the tape they used to seal around the doors, hood and trunk. I went over yesterday and found a place on the drivers fender where they had drug something across the paint and peeled it back on the fender. I went back today and found that there were now scratches in the hood stripes. AAARRRGGGGHHHH I am supposed to pick it up tomorrow, they said they would have the scratches out of the hood and the paint buffed out by noon. I hope so cause I took a day off of work to go get the car and I will really be upset if it isn't ready. The upholstery guy is waiting on the car too so he can do the vinyl top, headliner and bucket seats.

 

Sweet

What kind of exhaust are you going to run?

 

You have to make sure that they do a good job and don't just try to rush it to get it done.Make sure that they know it is in their best interest to do the job right and in a timely fashion , something that I am sure they promised at the beginning of the job and now something they need to be held to.Hopefully it will be done soon and done correctly. Keep checking up on it and everything that they need to have done , I hope you will be happy with the job in the end.

 

As always it the final product that counts. Some times people take care to do 90 percent of the job correctly and their finish sucks because they get in a hurry to get it done. I hope you don't end up with that kind of finished product

 

The car is now at the upholstery shop. I had to drive it about a half mile on the streets of San Diego to get it there. With no lights, turnsignals or glass in the car and setting on a milk crate it was an adventure. To be honest I don't know what type of exhaust it is, I would love to say flowmasters but it was a long time ago that I put them on. Just got back from the upholstery shop to drop off some of the trim parts and they have already started putting the vinyl top on. I will post some pics later. I paid 4500 for the body and paint, the paint job is not perfect but it is what you expect for that price. I will have some block sanding to do and a few spots to touch with a small brush and paint (mainly on the sides of the hood, but it looks good from 5 feet.

 

Here are some pics from the upholstery shop today.

 

OK, the pictures wouldn't load because they were too big, I made them smaller.

 

The pictures look the same size to me nice job on the car, ask them if you can trade the Cutlass for the '57 post...

 

I thought some one might catch that in the background. When I pulled it in and asked the guy where to park it he said "Just park it next to the Olds out there." Pretty neat car, but I like the muscle car era.

 

Just got back from a VERY upsetting visit to the upholstery shop. They cut the vinyl top incorrectly and will have to replace it. It wouldn't be that bad except that they had already glued most of it down and it now has to be pulled back off! Hopefully they can do it without tearing the paint off. Man am I upset. The guy that was doing the top told me "I haven't really done that many of these." I gave them all of the chrome trim for the top so they could tell exactly where to cut it and they didn't even use it. What he did was look at the fender, saw a line in the paint, and thought that that was the line for the vinyl top. What the line REALLY was was where the body shop taped it off and reshot that fender where they had made a repair to something I had pointed out to them. My buddy told me that when a butterfly flaps its wings on the other side of the world, something happens over here. Anyway, they have to order a new top and install it, they said it should be done by Friday which means I won't be able to pick it up until Monday cause I am working late Friday and they are not open on the week end.

 

Man I can feel your frustration from here hope it turns out ok in the end.

 

I would want to see it after they pull the top and if i could not be there then I would request that they take pics , cause if they screw up the paint then they can pay for the paint to be redone. I hope everything turns out ok cause it sounds like you need lots to go your way from here on in. Good luck man , I got my toes crossed.

 

I am going to stop by there tommorrow and tell them I want to see it after they remove the top.

 

Well I hope that they are able to remove the top as well as the glue they used without damaging the paint. It is important that the paint is not removed , even in a small area as it would affect it in the long run so keep on them and tell them to use the chrome this time so that they cut the top correctly. good luck.

 

When I got there yesterday they had already removed the ruined top and started installing the new one. I asked the guy doing the work if any of the paint had lifted and of course he said "No". I also got to see the seats which look really good, I had them do some headrest covers for me that look pretty nice. Should be picking it up on Monday now.

 

Got the car back and the reassembly continues. Put in the package tray and other misc items today. The glass guy comes on Friday to install the front and rear glass, then I can start installing the carpet, console and seats. Here are some bad pictures I took tonight, I was working on the car so much that I forgot to take any pictures until after dark.

 

can't wait to see it in the light of day Post pics of the paint and top cause from what I have seen so far it looks good. I have to get working on mine as it is just reassembly now.

 

laying tools on a fender is a bad habit,makes tiny little dings in metal

car looks awesome!!!