tcolt

Is there a place on the plastic protect-o-plate card that tells me the color code for the interior and the exterior paint?. Mine says 12-491, 3K66H2M196065 00004

The bench seats are woven cloth... Was that common or normally vinyl?

Thanks, Tom

1970cs

Cowl tag under the hood on the cowl will decode interior style and color

Pat

tcolt

Thanks Pat

Here is what the Tag says:

ST72 34866LAN413654 BDY
TR 993 26 26 PNT
3C A52 V55

Is there a place on this site to decode this?

tcolt

Actually, I found the very nice decoder in another thread and this is what it came up with:

Viking Blue paint and Blue Vinyl bench seat even though all the bench seats are only vinyl on the non-seating surfaces, which are Blue cloth as in this picture...

1970cs

ST72= 1972
34866=vista cruiser 3 seater
LAN=Lansing, MI Fisher body
413654=sequence number
TR 993=bench blue vinyl
26 26 PNT viking blue upper and lower body color
03=March of 1972
C= 3rd week of month

The two option codes will have to be sorted out by others. My print out for quick reference is not complete enough.

Pat

tcolt

Thanks again Pat

Interesting that there is no mention of the wood grain, unless that was standard on all Vista Cruisers?...

oldspackrat

Yes, all Vistas came with the wood grain. The Cutlass cruisers did not come with any.

MDchanic

If this is a picture of your seats, this is NOT the original fabric.



- Eric

tcolt

Are you sure Eric?

I have a good eye and I would swear it looks original. It has Blue vinyl around the sides and the other two benches are worn like they've been in the car for 43 years. Was there only vinyl on Vista Cruisers and where could I find this vinyl to re-do my seat correctly? Oh, and there's carpeting along the bottom edges of the door panels. Is that original?...

Koda

Maybe it was custom ordered by Huggy Bear?

MDchanic

Yup.

From the 1972 Oldsmobile SPECS Book:



Also, a look at the '72 "Prestige" brochure shows no material or pattern anything like that.

- Eric

MDchanic

Huggy Bear's mah MAN!

That wagon wouldn't happen to have a gold Continental grille, huge headlights, and an oversized and misplaced landau bar, would it?

- Eric

tcolt

That's interesting although I still think that I might be looking at the 43 trim code as found on the Cutlass Supreme. Here are a few more pictures.

Would the three bench seats out of a Cutlass Cruiser have bolted straight into a Vista Cruiser and were they a mix of Vinyl and cloth as in the pictures?...

MDchanic

The "Blue Cloth" interior on a '72 A-body should look like this, if I'm not mistaken (I'm not the Olds interior expert):






They should look like the seats above. Someone reupholstered those. Desert seats don't survive well.

- Eric

tcolt

You must be right Eric, but they did a very good job. I'll have to look at the belly side tomorrow and see if I can find traces of non-factory work. This link also confirms that there was nothing like the material in my car....

http://www.smsautofabrics.com/result...C&rpp=12&cpg=6

Thanks for your help. (I like your French sub-title, BTW....)

P.S. The door panels also don't have nearly as much wood grain as the ones in your pictures, but of course it's a completely different model.

rocketraider

That cloth looks very much like what was used in 1975-76 Ninety Eight LS. Nice fabric but not used in 72.

tcolt

Thanks. I guess I'd call it a Corduroy. I guess, I'll have to locate the Blue Vinyl. Is Viking Blue a Metallic paint? I can't tell but I thought so...

tcolt

I'm finally ready to buy new carpet for the cruiser, but does the trim code 993 tell me the color of the carpeting? There are several blues available from SMS and others...

Eric. Is the heel pad and carpet pictured in the Cutlass Supreme pictures original? Are the floor mats still available somewhere?

1970cs

A couple of the other suppliers are showing bright blue and medium blue. Most companies will send swatches to do a match up before ordering. I would go underneath the seat for fade purposes.

http://www.auto-interior.com/olds29.htm

Pat

rand5204

1970cs

Have you, or anyone else, tried carpet from this site? I recently installed new carpet from OPGI in my 442. I wound up with the same problem others have reported. It fit well everywhere except over the driveshaft tunnel where it is quite a bit too large. If my car had a console, I could trim under it for a better fit but unfortunately it doesn't. It would be great to find someone who made a carpet that actually fit properly.

Rocketowner

If you have an auto upholstery shop that was in business back in the '70's take a sample of the material and they can most likely tell you what it was originally used on.In that period of time that was a "go to" fabric that they used on many applications because it blended in color and was a very durable material for most applications. In the used car business we had many Pickup's and Suburbans reupholstered with that and blue was a very popular interior color at that time. Larry

1970cs

Not for the carpet mentioned above! But I have for o.e.m. floor mats. Pretty damn close on the color and they were cut to match the original contours.

My original carpets in my 70 were in pretty decent shape so left well enough alone.

tcolt

Larry. Are you talking about the Blue fabric shown in Eric's Cutlass Supreme pictures above? I think I am leaning to go "non-original" with that material even though my Vista Cruiser never was offered with anything but vinyl. I just don't think that vinyl would be a good idea for my Cruiser, which will be parked outside in the hot California sun...

tcolt

ST72 34866LAN413654 BDY
TR 993 26 26 PNT
3C A52 V55

I still have the roof mounted shoulder belts sitting in their trays, but how do I know whether my seat belts had retractors in 1972 or not? Would the seat belts have been the same as in a Cutlass? Would they have chrome receivers or Black plastic?


I also am ordering a molded carpet kit from http://www.auto-interior.com and a pre-made headliner and other fabrics from SMS tomorrow.

If anybody has had any problems with these products please let me know :-)...
Also, I am going to order the carpet with their 40 mil rubber backing bonded to the back of the carpeting. They claim that many of their customers think it's worth the extra $54.

Thanks, Tom

1970cs

Nope! The A52=bench seat asy., V55=roof top carrier.

Pat

tcolt

Thank you Pat. It looks like you were the one to sort out the option codes after all :-) I thought the roof racks were standard equipment...

That could mean that my wagon had no retractable lap belts or maybe there was no option for the seat belts then... Hopefully some Vista Cruiser owners will know whether their cars came with retractor lap belts or just loose belts on the bench seat.

tcolt

Where, from my option code or the interior chart, would I be able to tell if my car came with "medium" or the "bright" blue. They are both available and both pretty close, so I might as well order the "correct" one.

Allan R

Tom,
Your car was built in the 3rd week of March, 1972. By that time all the A bodies (which includes Vista Cruiser) had retractable lap belts. FYI there was an option for the style of seat belts. 72 offered RPO A39 - Deluxe Seat belt; front and rear, as well as RPO A48 - Standard Seat belt front and rear. RPO AK1 featured the Deluxe Belts c/w latch retainers bolted to the leading edge of the seat. That's a nice option for keeping the belts secured in a straight forward position when not in use. Avoids trying to find them when they get otherwise jammed between the upright and bottom cushion.

re: your trim? According to the 1972 Dealer ordering guide, which I'm currently looking at, 1972 upholstery (page 89) The Vista Cruisers had the option for Madrid and Elk-Grained Vinyls, and Prima Cloth with Orleans Cloth. Your Trim code of 993 however is only available as 'trim 13' which is All Morocceen vinyl. The only Trim that I see that is a cloth combination is 944 - Covert Gold, and that matches Eric's excerpt from the 72 SPECS booklet. BTW, the cloth material feels very nice to the touch.

The picture Eric posted showing the blue interior of a 72 Cutlass Supreme shows the A65 split bench seat with armrest. Look closely and you'll see the armrest tucked upright in the middle. That vinyl combination with cloth was a no charge option for the 72 Cutlass Supreme. Too bad the A65 seat wasn't an option on the VC or Cutlass Cruiser. The cloth that SMS uses is an almost exact match to that pattern.

The V55 option was 62.00 according to early 1972 Oldsmobile SPECS booklet.

Just a tidbit of info if you're interested. According to the POP (protecto plate), your car was delivered to the original owner with 4 miles showing on the odometer.

Allan R

Tom, the correct trim code for your car is actually a rather dark shade of blue vinyl. I can try scanning it if you like, but I'm not sure how well it will show.

tcolt

..if I'm interested Allan!? I was interested in every word you wrote :-)
I love information like this for a car that I'm going to probably be buried in ;-). I completely agree that Eric's interior looks great and I think I will probably have to take a bit of liberty and go with that fabric, since vinyl will just be too hot for the weather here.

If you'd be so kind, I'd love to have any scans of that information that relates to 1972 VCs and Cutlasses that you can share. Do you happen to know if Medium or Bright Blue would be the correct color for the carpeting in my VC, Interior code 13?..

tcolt

Here are some examples of belt retractors that are being sold as correct for 1972 a-body cars and I still can't tell which of these might have been used in my VC.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Oldsmob...ZVoZB0&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-SEAT-B...p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GM-SEAT-BELT...dW5ewr&vxp=mtr

Allan R

The retractors in the first 2 links would be correct. They're pricey aren't they? Set #1 looks pretty beat up, and remember that the VC may have different rear belts than a coupe/sedan?

I can't help but comment, this thread started out as a seat fabric research project, which is perfect for that need and I think you've found your answer to that question. Now you need seat belt retractors and belts for a VC? You won't get the exposure or input/response when the thread is directed to seat fabric.

I have 2 suggestions.
1. Start a new thread for your needs
2. Contact one of these guys (they appear in no particular order) as they all seem to have ample inventory of parts from Cutlass/VC they have parted out.
jensenracing77 - Eric in Brazil Indiana
oldspackrat - Scott in Indianapolis, Indiana
442oldsredberet - Thomas in Birmingham, Alabama
2blu442 - John in Medford Oregon

I don't know what part of the country you hail from, it might also be a good idea to post your location under your join date?

tcolt

Thanks again Allan

I did also ask some of our parts guys, but I also thought it might be a good idea to check ebay and I agree that the prices are out of line for some seat belts that I intend to use only as cores to restore with new webbing, etc. Also, I've been so busy with my 200-4R transmission rebuild and installation that the interior stuff took a back seat (pun). The transmission went in today, so now I mostly just need to have a longer drive shaft made...

So Allan, you'd say the belt buckles are correct to have pebble textured plastic on the face of the buckle rather than a completely chrome buckle? Also, would this plastic have been Blue and a car with blue webbing which a car with a blue interior would have had?

Thanks, Tom

oldspackrat

Tom,
I'll answer this part of your questions. If they were the pebble textured seat belts, they were metal not plastic. Some other brands & years used black or other colored smooth plastic covers but not a '72 Cutlass/Vista. I'll get pix if I get the chance.
By the way, welcome back Allan!

tcolt

Thank you! So would the Black pebble textured metal buckles have been Blue on my car or were they all black? Did they have a GM or Oldsmobile emblem. Or I'll simply wait until you can post a picture. I'm not in a huge hurry for this.

Allan R

Tom, the seat belt latches you're asking about were usually trim coded to the car, with a blue GM insert. The other style of belt was the brushed stainless (aka Deluxe), and it had a black GM insert. Seat belts on the other hand would trim match the cars interior and so would the plastic parts. BTW, the reproduced GM blue inserts are not that expensive - 5.00 each.

I know that seat belts are re-popped, but they are uber pricey. Maybe Scott can chime in on the answer to whether the rear seat belts for the VC would be compatible with the ones for back seat of other A bodies. This set, in medium blue, from OPGI sells for 388.00!! This set is complete as far as I can see - it has restraints for 5. Does this help any?

tcolt

MDchanic

That's not my car, Tom - I pulled those pictures from AutoTrader as an example of that trim code.

Sorry.

- Eric

Allan R

Tom, those aren't Olds floormats. They're aftermarket. You can buy them almost anywhere. If you want Oldsmobile floor mats (RPO B32 front, B33 rear) you can get them only in black from almost any of the Olds aftermarket vendors. They aren't cheap though.

Here's a link to OPGI. They sell OEM style $$$$ and aftermarket $ (usually their prices are higher but these seem to be reasonable) Blue 80/20 loop - plain and these ones have the rocket emblem if you want something like that. Medium blue c/w gold rocket

tcolt

Thanks Allan and Eric

It looks like these are the same as those that I was going to order from Auto-Interiors. I might add the Olds Rocket embroidery. Fusik has correct repros, but they don't really look nice. I'd probably buy blue ones for the rainy season though.

Allan, any idea if the nice seat fabric in Eric's Autotrader picture is period correct Olds, at least? My VC only came with vinyl, but I don't see myself living with vinyl in the hot summer months.