Picked up a 69 cutlass s with a 6 banger today.
Gonna need a lot of bondo removal, I am concerned about the hidden rot. (but nothing is bad as my convertible as far as rot goes)
Mechanically pretty solid made a 3.5 + hr trip home from jersey.
Other than wishing the tranny had a 3rd gear the 250 had plenty of power. (i need to chk the rear for the ratio and with my dentist from clenching my teeth for nearly 4 hrs).
Was a little tricky when the headlights went out halfway home.

Was hoping to have something to drive while I am restoring my 70 vert but it looks like it will need some tlc to get/keep it as a driver.
Got it from the second owner who has been the owner for the last 40 years.

Meet Jersey girl





Will take some pics in its new home tomorrow.

 

Congrats, it needs more than a little tlc. Looks like something serious going on under the vinyl top.

 

Yup gonna need plenty of work might even get better gas mileage when the 100lbs of Bondo removed.
The rust/rot I can see is not what worries me it's the rust/rot that I can't see.

 

Congrats on the purchase! Hope to see you on the road someday.

 

Your right up the road from me... haven't seen you at the Carter Hill farm car shows have you been?

 

You bought it at a yard sale? I love it!!

 

Congrats on your recent acquisition... Good luck with the project...

 

is it me or does it look like it's riding a little low?

 

Cmon, nothing bad is ever under a rust hoarder top.
The paint doesn't look that bad, is it worse in person? Curious what rear end ratio usually went with the 250 straight 6?

 

Can you please take some pix under the hood? I have never seen a 2 door with a real live six . . . .ever.

 

She looks good, congrats.

They look low straight out of the factory in my opinion.

When I first went to look at my 69, didn't notice her as she looked so low and small next to the newer cars she was parked with. Mine looked to sit about the same as yours but when I filled the tank the rear of car was really sagging. Drove me nuts, but purest loved it. Early in my ownership I was told how great it was to see one as it was intended to be, without the rear being jacked up...




1969 Cutlass "S" Holiday Coupe 250 CID 2 speed Jetaway, standard gear 2.78 , optional 3.08 and 3.23

 

While I never cared for the jacked up rear end look, I never liked the dragging rear bumper look these cars originally had. To me, it looks like your trying to smuggle all your buddies in the drive in movie.

Just a little “attitude” with the rear ever so slightly higher than the front looks perfect to me.

I might be among the minority, but I like the look of a vinyl top. I’m sure NOBODY likes what usually is hiding under the vinyl!!! I know GM never expected these cars to be on the road 50 years later, and I know the extra cost of protecting the bare metal from rust is minuscule on a single car basis (multiply the cost of that primer over many millions of cars, it adds up to serious money) but it sucks having to deal with it now.

 

Not sure about the factory look but this looks pretty badass to me

 

That looks perfect in my opinion.

 

Haven't made it there for a cruise night yet, but did swing in for a photo op at the gas pumps...

 

A/c even works

But the A/C is in the way of the distributor

Plenty of elbow room


The more research I do it appears the inline 6 can be made to have a great deal of HP

 

Interesting that the exhaust is on the drivers side. All of the V-8 single exhaust cars I have ever seen were on the passengers side.

 

Yes.

Oh yeah !

Agreed, perfection.


TK, notice factory spec stance the highest point of fender lip covers about 1/2 of tire wall. Meanwhile look at the pic above at the same point. Tire wall looks fully exposed, but frame rails are not visible... I believe I may have same rear springs/height on my 69, springs and shocks are from Summit Racing IIRC. Front is still as I bought the car, needs to be done also...


I measured height of car from same fender lip location to blacktop, before and after. I am **** with notes, specs, measures, numbers, etc, so please bear with me.

Rear spring height, notes from summer of 2016.

Before new springs and shocks.
passenger side rear 26 1/4 inch
driver side rear 25 1/4 inch

After new springs and shocks installed.
passenger side rear 28 1/4 inch
driver side rear 28 1/4 inch

All measurements done with approx 15 gallons gas in car or 3/4s of a tank. All else same.

 

I didn't think factory A/C came with the 6 cyl engines in those years.

 

yup strange combo on this one.... buckets and no console as well

 

Had decent weather today so I decided to see if Jersey girl would come out of hibernation.
About 10 seconds of cranking to get some fuel up to the carb and it fired right up.
Can't wait till I can get it registered and on the road.

 

Those 250 inline 6 are pretty good torquey engines. Get rid of the 2 speed trans (a 2004R would be perfect for this!) and have fun.

 

I really love this car! Only thing that could be better is a 3 speed on the column. I would make sure it is safe and reliable and drive it as-is. I drove a 68 Cutlass 6 cyl 2 speed in the early 80's- don't remember it being too slow or deficient in any way. I'm just sayin, if you get into that "bondo" and fix it right, you probably will put mucho time and money in it and it will never be worth big 442 type dollars. Your car though, enjoy it either way!!

 

A 2004R would be great, especially if one of the optional rear diffs ratios was used. There are all sort of goodies for the inline 6. The coolest would be the South American factory multiport EFI. It looks like a great cruiser as is. I drove my 70S 6 hours to bring it home with my Wife following me, I added a ton of ATF on the way, then the leak decided to slow down a lot🤷‍♂️. The joys of a new to you car, hopefully they are small once you are driving it regularly.

 

Looks like a 3.08 based on having A/C

 

I had to move Jersey girl, which has been sitting around two years without starting.
I figured I was going to need to charge the battery and prime the carb.
Without doing a thing I turned the key, and to my surprise, it cranked over.
What the hell, let's crank it a bit.
Cranked it for about 30 seconds, to get some fuel to the carb, I gave it a rest as not to overheat the starter.
Another crank after a few pumps and it started for a few seconds, another crank and it was running fine.

 

Dependability!

 

No, no, that's just the textured vinyl top Oldlsmobile tried out for one year only, that's all...