Hi all,
I was given a '72 Cutlass S (350 2 bbl) holiday coupe, and other than having sat the last 8 years and the rotted roof (more on that in a minute) it seems to be a solid car. Now the bad news.... the car has a lot of holes in the roof. a LOT of big holes! As you may have guessed by now, this car had a landau roof (the only part left of it is around the edges)
Now is thais car worth saving? or should i just part it out?

 

Welcome to the site.
I wouldn't put the money into it to fix the roof unless it's really something special. If you wanted to fix it you would probably just find another body shell and use this car for parts.
Personally I would part it out or sell it outright and put the cash toward something more workable, if you want to go that route.

Allan

 

Welcome aboard

I'm gonna let the body experts answer your question.

We've got some experts here

 

No body expert here either but want to welcome you to our site.

 

I hate to say it, but repairing those holes will be costly and difficult to do properly. In addition, once you remove the chrome around the windshield and back window you will almost certainly find even more rust in the pinchweld area. Parting out is unfortunately the most cost effective choice unless this is a special and valuable car.

 

Welcome to the site. If the engine and running gear are good, then find yourself a good body shell and interior and build a nice car. You will have lots of parts to choose from.

 

Gonna go against the grain a little here. How is the rest of the car? If the rest of the car is solid a roof panel is one of the easiest weld on panels to replace. Think of spot welds as screws holding the roof skin on. Once you unbolt all the little screws the roof comes off. Use the roof from a donor car and it will screw (weld) back in place. Its and easy weekend job for a couple guys with intermeadiate body work skills.

 

Well, as I said above, pull the chrome around the glass and assess the rest of the rust before doing anything. I've got $10 that says there's significant pinchweld rust.

Also, any donor with a good roof is likely a better shell to start building on anyway. Since they're all the same for 68-72, I'm surprised no one repops the A-body roof panels yet.

 

Thanks for all the encouragement guys, the car is otherwise solid i believe, but all will be told when i get her home and start pulling trim off.

 

You may want to pull off fenders too. The bottom of the fenders where they meet the firewall is a catch all for all sorts of stuff.

 

I am a new guy to the forum but not new to cars and have been doing body repair for many yrs. What you have is a car that almost needs radiation treatments. Well not really. If the rest of the car is decent and by that I mean if it doesn't need 1/4's, rockers and a new cowl, it is a restorable car. It will not be a cheap ,easy resto. If the brunt of the rust is the roof, spend the money and fix it. I have never seen a car bring what it cost to restore it anyway. Resto is only a money maker for the body man, upholstery shop and mechanic. If you can't fix it yourself you are looking at $1500 to fix the roof give or take a li'l. But again these cars are not getting easier to find either. Check the frame rails next if there is rust it is still fixable but it just became no longer cost efficient to do so. Just because the roof is bad doesn't mean it should be a parts car. I can think of a few reasons to save it from the crusher. Car resto is not about money with most people. If you are scratching a broke mule ,then it can be. Just think of what you wanna do with it. some of the finest show cars I have seen and some I have built were basket cases that make your car look like a diamond among cow patties. If the rest of the car is in decent shape then have it fixed and either put another vinyl on it or paint it and make a slick cruiser out of it.Sorry I know I am long winded.

 

I agree check out the rest of the body and frame. It didn't look too bad from the pics other than the roof. I have always been a sucker for the basket cases though.

 

Even if the rest of the car is rotten you could always seal the rust on the roof and slather bondo on it. Then you can paint it at Macco and turn it around for at least $4000.

 

Gonna agree with Joe, check for hidden rust. I'd have the fenders media blasted because they usually have a lot of hidden rust. With that vinyl top you'll probably want to check the back window especially. That panel between the glass and trunk almost always holds water and will need to be replaced. If you've got holes in the top then that might be more than you want to deal with. It's all about how much time you want to take and how committed you are to the project. If it's your passion then take your time and just fix it. There's a different attitude between guys that build their cars and guys that buy them. You'll either appreciate it much more or absolutely hate it when you're done!

 

Being in the biz there's two ways to look at this. If the rest of the car is pretty nice and solid, consider everything from pans to qtrs to frame to base of windshield/top of cowl, like another gentleman said, the roof is an easy replace, dvap probably has several nice ones you can see on-line before you buy. If not, it looks like you could probably part it out and sell a lot of those parts right on this forum and then turn around with the money you made and buy one of the cars for sale here!

 

Tamraz has new roof panels on ebay for $353.00. Just thought I would let you know. Fit???
Kevin

 

Lot of body work to do if you have the time or if you have the money have someone do it.

 

FINALLY!!!

It appears that these were released this past November. Here's one time it's a good thing that Cutlii and Chevelles have some commonality. Shop around, because all the Chevelle repro houses have them, though Tamaraz has the lowest price I've found so far.