Nice photo collection. I love the style but I must say, you are a brave man to attack this.

 

And I say that respectfully.

 

All I can say to someone in your situation is......
Don't stop.
My car was in similar condition.
The amount of time and money you are about to spend will probably never amount to the final sale value, so I hope that you LOVE this car and want to keep it forever.
If the frame is effed up at all.... stop where you are and pull a different one from an AZ boneyard.
The towing costs will be cheaper than the resto efforts in the long run.

 

Definitely true. Don't let the rust monster creep up and kill your project. Cut out the cancer now if it is there.

 

I salute you. I've burried both, my 77 442, and 77 Cutlass S projects due to lack of affordable parts.

 

U still have the 442?, Crazybout?
I'm looking for a 1/2 beat up one to mess with this summer.

 

O know. They meet there match. A scrap yard. Parted them out before hand. All I have now, is my 76 Cutlass S. O, and of course my Deltas, Omega, and 85 Cutlass.

 

Only 5 ladies to occupy your time!

 

Ya, I don't have anymore room in the driveway, or I'd have one for each day of the week! It would make my insurance agent and the state happy.

 

Crazy, I'm surprised to hear you say the parts were too spendy for the 1977 vintage. In my part of the country there's no demand for the 73-77 vintage and their hard to give away. Last year there was a 1973 442 for sale in Portland for 6-8 months, he kept dropping the price and when there were no takers at $800 he parted it out. If I remember right it was complete but not running. The bumpers are kinda huge, but fixed up their still nice looking cars. John

 

I agree John. Those 73 - 77 Cutlasses are beautiful cars. I especially like the 76 and 77 with the really deep grills. The 442s are unique too.

 

Well, the only reason I say that, is, both cars needed floor boards, rear quarters with inner and out wheel wells, of course, rear bumpers. I only paid $250 for the 77 442. It was a 403 car.
I only paid $100 for the S. Guy thought timimg chain was bad. Turned out it only needed an $11 control module.
It's not that I wasn't able to find the parts, but, location was an issue. If you look at my avatar, you'll see no truck.
I was watching complete quarters go for under $1000 a set, but no way to pick them up. Bumpers, picked one up for $75, but the winters weren' t nice to it. Floor boards, not in this neck of the woods.
My brother in Florida has been supplying me with trade-ins at the car lot. That's how I picked up my 76 S with under 50,000 miles. Most recently, He got me my 78 Delta.
Any way, I'm not trying to discourage anyone. I was only voicing my opinion and experiences. I love my Oldsmobiles and will do all I can to keep them on the road.
Hope I didn't ruffle anyone's feathers, that wasn't my intentions.

 

Not mine.

All of these are rotten by me too. The only nice ones are a few supremes I see every now and then, but I hate the grilles on those. That 77-80 thing where the grilles fold up over the top of the header panels just doesn't do it for me at all.