I would think that Oldsmobile would have made a better fitting (curved) emblem, just like the curved Olds Rocket emblem in the center of the tailgate, but the "V" on mine seems to be a flat piece. It doesn't seem damaged or bent, but the tip of the "V" stands off the tailgate about 1/16 inch. The rest of the emblem and the Cruiser fit the contour quite well.. It's almost like the previous owner might have mounted the emblem that's missing from my left fender and put it on the tailgate instead? Does anyone know if those can be mixed up or what's correct with these emblems?

Thanks, Tom

 

Tom, that's not right and those two pieces are not mates. Other than the curvature difference, note the following...

• There is a slight difference in the color of the chrome between pieces
• The Cruiser piece has a small flange around the base that is absent on the Vista piece

If I had my car here with the spares, I'd send you my tailgate emblems.

 

Excellent Gary! I'm glad I asked before I started filling up the tailgate with all sorts of parts. :-)

I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't check the emblem on the fender first, but it was getting late and I was anxious to see the emblems on my just freshly color sanded and buffed paint. I really happy with my Matrix paint and SPI clear...

 

Gary. I'm not sure that the Vista is from the front fender too. That small flange that you see is more of a molding separation line and you can't see from the picture that it it present on the Vista emblem too, but camouflaged by the pitted chrome (see second picture). At least, I will have an easier time finding a complete Vista Cruiser set instead of one piece here and another there. I do like the idea of having original emblems, even if they aren't perfect.

 

Anxious to see a bit more of the car with that beautiful color. The wagons were usually ordered with boring colors; 442s with more extroverted colors.

 

Thanks Gary. The color turned out pretty close to my original Viking Blue. After trying three other brands which weren't a great match, I finally decided on the Matrix paint for cost and quality and without ever seeing a sample it turns out that was the closest match of all of them. I'll decide whether I like it enough as is or whether I will add my originally contemplated lower dark Blue strip (28 Twilightblue Met.)

The project is coming along slowly. I'm working in my narrow carport, so I'm sort of working on one side/ end as much as I can before I turn the car around to work on the other :-)
While the rear looks like it's coming together, I'm currently making patch panels from a spare front fender, for some badly repaired old accident damage to the left rear wheel arch. It helped a lot to give me a good starting point with the complicated compound curves and angles.

 

It turns out the Cruiser emblem doesn't fit on the fender either. I just looked up the part number and you were right Gary. The Cruiser is correct for the tail gate and the Vista is correct for the fender. Go figure...