oldspackrat

Went to a local show today & saw a '70 SX coupe & I overheard the owner telling people all about how original it was. After just glancing at it, I could see clearly that it was not original, but was a pretty solid SX. First thing that tipped me off was the 15 x 7 chrome SS II rims with a bolt on center cap, which I believe came off a '69 H/O? Should be 14 x 7 SS II's with a bolt on center cap. A '71 or newer 10 bolt rear end(should have 12 bolts on the cover on a '70), it has a floor shift tilt column with Buick tilt & turn levers on it. The sport wheel base is the wrong color for the interior. After talking to the owner & gently explaining to him that a lot of things have been changed, he asked me to look under the OAI hood to see the gold "455" engine. When I did, I found a '73? 350 with #8 heads on it. The washer jar was on the drivers side(should be on pass side for a 455 car), but there were holes on the pass side inner fender where it might have been at one point? It did have the longer battery tray, so it might actually be an sx, or at least an original 455 car.
The buckets & console appear to have been added, as the floor heat diverter was for a bench seat car & not the bucket seat type. Someone did add a floor shift speedo at least. The car has pw, ps, am fm, sport mirrors, clock, an original oai hood & air cleaner, disc brakes, ac & does appear to be pretty solid with only some bubbling on the doors, trunk lid & quarters. He said he wanted $14,000.00 for it & asked what I thought it was worth without the orig. engine & all the changes. I told him I thought $4000.00-$9,000.00 was more reasonable. He may have to sell soon due to health, so let me know if anyone is interested.





Link to above photos. http://s856.photobucket.com/albums/a...ile%20Uploads/

MDchanic

Yup. You seldom see 'em that original .

- Eric

my72vert

Oldspackrat, boy no one can pull the wool over your eyes when it comes to oldsmobiles. Very impressive. You should publish a book titled " A guide to a correct Oldsmobile" I'd buy one.

Joffroi

Whoa, the SX logo is wayyyy off in the front passenger side fender. The SX is suppose to be under the S of Cutlass. doesn't look like it has the fender brace bolts either. I have a hard time believe its a true SX

oldspackrat

joffroi,
Good eye! I didn't really even look at that side, but you're right, it is way off. I did not see the fender brace bolts either. I've got the vin & will see if it matches up with the Cutlass sx registry. About the only thing I can tell for sure is that it's a '70 Cutlass Supreme, & maybe an SX.

My72vert,
Thanks for the kind words. I have been pulling parts off these cutlass in junkyards for about 25 years, so I've seen all kinds of things through the years & have tried to learn & pass along some of that useless info.
I've thought about a book, or maybe a service where I could check out a potential car for a buyer to see how correct or incorrect it may be.
Back then, EVERY yard had 3 or 4 cutlass & if you drove around the city for a couple hours, you'd see 8-10 of them still cruising around.

stevengerard

All good catches, it amazes me how many folks have cars like this. Just goes to show you how careful one must be even today as many folks just don't know any better when describing their car.

Just the other day I was looking at the assembly manual for the mounting of the washer bottle. It clearly states that 350s are on the drivers side 455s on the passenger side. It does note that when you install on the passenger side that you should fill the existing wholes on the drivers side with some goop under a note. My car and a few other 455s I have seen have had the bottle on the drivers side, I thought it was becasue I have AC but it still should be on the passenger side.