cjbrown

I'm at a toss up and I can't decide, so I thought I'd see if anyone could persuade me either way. I do know that the 84 year isn't worth anything but the brougham was my chic magnet in highschool and I fell in love with the body style. Anyhow I bought a Calais for a parts car but I found out it had t-tops when I went to pick it up and thought that would be cool but the whole roof from the a-pillar to b-pillar is pretty much crap and front and rear floor pans are garbage to but the frame is completely rust free. The Brougham has some rust on the frame but the body overall is in better shape. Question is it worth it to get the t-tops. Is there anything about each model of car that is a pro and con. Thanks anyone who reads to my rant

radioburningchrome

I often wonder why the 1980-1984 cars are not worth much? Low hp or torque?

In response to the T-top question, they always leak-even new!

If its rusty now, how much work do you want to put in it?

sammy

totally agree. Have a 84 and 87 broughm .These cars are gaining in popularity-their time will come

I took out the 200metric tranny in the 87 and replaced with the 700r-best thing I did....

Allan R

Both cars are pretty much the same as you know. I had an 82 with T tops and to be honest, they're a PITA. I would never buy them again.
Pro: It's kind of like having a vert, Calais has a neat hood ornament and badging, you can see down your dates blouse by looking in the t tops reflection. (did I mention to keep your eyes on the road???)
Cons: take up lots of storage space in trunk when stored, they have terrible wind noise and aren't all that waterproof, they're cold in the winter, Don't offer any sun glare protection when they're installed, don't really add much to resale value of the car, trapped lots of water and premature rusting, t-top seals were not that good and they were/are expensive to replace.

I'd be more inclined to run the Calais frame under the Brougham and call it good. The Calais should be a bucket / console / rallye gauge car. Swap all those to the Brougham.

cjbrown

Yeah I don't understand why they are not worth to much, but when I look for parts people sure are asking a fortune for them. The popularity of the years is surely increasing. Thanks for the help guys I think I'm gonna swap frames and keep my Brougham

Allan R

All you have to do is look at production numbers. They were a very popular car back then and record numbers of them were produced. The term "common' comes to mind. I think that's the image people still have of them, until the number of surviving cars dwindles down to 1 or 2% of total production. Then it will suddenly become an iconic classic.

FWIW, I think you're doing the right thing swapping out the frame. I know that Steele rubber products has the T top rubber components, but it sounds like the rest of the car is a rust bucket that would cost too much to salvage. BTW, is the Calais equipped with the bucket/console rallye dash?

69HO43

Problem is about the parts is that in the 80s, GM didn't require stocking a buttload of them in the warehouses. Thus a minimal supply of new/NOS parts for 40 gajillion G-body Oldsmobiles out there.

442s and H/Os are very limited in production respectively of their non-VIN9 brothers/sisters, but because of the lack of a huge engine they'll bring more than a "regular" Cutlass, but not that much more. I could be wrong. Time will be the telling factor.

The 84 Calais and even other models are unique as 84 seems to be the year that GM experimented with aluminum hoods/core supports/bumper supports the most. So don't overlook checking that Calais over for those things. Could be corroded to heck, but you never know.

cjbrown

The calais did come with the bucket/console rallye dash, the gauge was the only thing I was able to save, a not so smart kid mounted oversized speakers on the top with sheetrock screws and just kept mounting weird lights and everything else. He mentioned something about a sway bar rearend? Also said the rearend was a lower gear ratio. I haven't got the numbers off it yet, but I thought my Brougham was a 241 when I checked 10 years ago. It seems like the car numbers should be declining, around here in Mn everybody uses them for race cars, wish I had the time and money to run around and salvage a lot of the parts that they just scrap. This is a good starter project car I plan on moving on to a mid to late 60s cutlass when I'm comfortable doing a big project and have more money of course.

69HO43

Yes, Calais came with rear sway bar. The gear ratio could be lower, but it's a crapshoot back there. 2.73s more than likely, which may not be a far cry from your 2.41s.

radioburningchrome

IIRC the rear ratio went to something like 2.29?