Newbie here, I'm looking into buying a 62 F85 Cutlass Convertible, and I am very new to Oldsmobiles. Just what would I be getting myself into?

To clarify, it's in pretty good shape, I'm just wondering about reliability, parts availability, community, etc.

 

Welcome, reliability is based on maintenance required vs maintenance performed over the years. Parts availability is limited to donor cars as there is little available in the aftermarket. Some mechanical parts are still mostly available at your local parts store and the rest is basically a treasure hunt. It seems recently there are more of these cars popping up for sale.


As with any old car a certain amount of skill and aptitude will make or break your enjoyment of the old car hobby. If you are going to farm out repairs it can get very expensive vs being able to do it yourself.

 

They share a (very) few parts with the Buick and Pontiac versions, but the BOP "senior compacts" are overall as individual from each other as their full-size brethren from back then.

The Oldsmobiles do seem to be the most popular of them now.

Get the best one you can find to start with because of limited reproduction parts availability and near non-existent old stock parts. The baby SlimJim transmission is adequate if its working right but hard to find anyone who can service one properly, so if it's a 3 or 4-speed stick, mo' better.

 

Thanks for the responses. I come from the VW and Corvair worlds, so it seems like it would be a bit of a shock. You can practically build a new one of those cars with all the aftermarket parts availability.

 

All I can add to it is grab a catalog like OPGI and see what parts are available. I've ran into that same thing with my '64 Convert. Parts I needed, no parts. Any quarters, fenders, replacement sheetmetal, I'm limited to the floor and trunk pan, and that's about it. It took me a month+ just to find some decent seat tracks. Luckily the body is in decent shape on mine although not up to the standards I would like for it to be. So someday, I'll run across a donor car sitting in someones backyard, and hopefully ****** it up.

 

None of the A-body vendors (Fusick included) sell anything for the 61-63 cars unless it is common with the 64-72 cars. For example, you can get a 63 F-85 outside mirror from Fusick, but only because it also fits 64.

Amazingly, Steele Rubber does sell all the weatherstripping. Kanter sells suspension and brake parts. The 215 engine parts are still easy to get. That's about it.

 

This is interesting because Fusick specifically advertises that it has parts for "61-77 Cutlass/442/H-O". It would seem that, if they have parts for the pre-'64 cars, it's only by accident, not by design.

 

Fusick has to some degree taken notice of the 61-63 market. It had been growing the past 3 years. I even got them to reproduce the 62-63 Jetfire radiator hoses. That is a very specific set of hoses with a very limited market. I feel sure that sheet metal will NEVER be available for these cars but at least outside of sheet metal there are many parts available.

 

Technically, they are not lying, as the do sell more than one part that fits a 61 Cutlass. With the exception of the Jetfire radiator hose, all of these parts fit later models also, such as the mirrors I cited or the inside door lock *****.