Birdman

Well guys I have been away from the board a few weeks now. Im a new member here but made a intro thread if you missed it, its in there.

But here is some background on the car. My dad had 2 of these cars back in 84, when I was 1. I have some pictures that I am in the process of gettin on a computer that i will upload from the day he brought it home. He and his buddys did all of the work in the driveway of the house. The car is not a numbers matching car, and he bought this car originally for its glass back window on the top. That was the only thing nice on the car, as it had been ran into a tree and sat in a field for a few years. Dad put the canvas top on it after he got it home. After working on it he decided to keep it, not only because of the window, but because it ended up being the better of the two, when it started out as the worse of the two. The car used to be a 4 speed, but has been changed over to a glide (yes, now he wishes he wouldnt have done that but at the time he didnt want to shift gears LOL). I am sure there is some more that I am missing, and I am sure there is some stuff you guys will notice that he and his friends changed over when they were doing it. He gave me the car for graduating, and now we are getting it done.

The car has been sitting in our 1 car garage with a bunch of bicycles, lawnmowers, telescopes, tool boxes, cabinets, etc. It looks good from far, but far from good lol. So after 26 years we are finally going to get it done.

We dropped it off to the painter the other day, after we pulled the motor. Im looking for some parts if anyone can help....

Looking for some quarters

Also looking for some chrome stripping that goes around the sides, and onto the trunk (it says Oldsmobile on teh trunk stripping).

Looking for the plastic stuff that the headlights sit in (do they make them in chrome or are they all plastic?), and front grill. Also need the chrome that goes around the headlights.

thats about all i can think of right now, but we just started so im sure ill be adding

here are some pics....

cutlass-1.jpg

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

10.jpg

7.jpg

8.jpg

9.jpg

Ill be updating as we go along. thanks for looking and letting me share the story.

Matt

442_Mustang

Great project!I lurk on this page for the major builds. Keep us posted!:-)

we jeep inn

Cool project. Plenty of great folks and info here to help you get it done. Keep us posted on your progress.

tim72

Awesome car. My brothers neighbor has a beautiful kelly green 68 convertible with the 330 hp 350. Absolutely gorgeous car and have not seen many around.

Birdman

Yeah we havent seen many around our neck of the woods either. Thats another reason why i am really excited to get this thing done and rolling.

Eddie Hansen

it is a neat build for sure!!! love the ss1's on there, looked very close to mine 'cept mine was a 69, gold interior and a 4 speed, also had ssii's on her.... be watching this build for sure...

Atdog

Nice!! I'll be watching the build and checking it out for pointers!

Birdman

Thanks guys and yeah this car was a 4 speed to. What are SS1's? the wheels?

cutlasssupreme71

welcome back!!!

Really nice project! I like the Black/black color combo

And yes SS1`s are the wheels! keep them!!!

Regards,

Torsten

67 Cutlass

Great base for a project car! It looks great already, compared to mine!
Keep the pics coming as you progress

Birdman

I figured they were. We have a couple sets of those wheels. My dad would just buy stuff for the car everytime he saw something he wanted for it. I am going to keep them probably, but im going to put some aftermarket wheels on it. Wanting to go kind of pro street/ rod look for the car.

lil_no

Nice project. I'm working on 68 S vert also. I brought quarters from Tabco. Here's a link to there site: http://www.tabcobodyparts.com/. These quarters were a lot closer to OEM metal thickness compared to the taiwan/china stamped ones and they are made in the USA. They will need to be modified to fit a vert. Good luck... As I'm about 2 years in but I haven't been able to work on it consistently. I will be watching your thread for inspiration to get me away from the honey-do list which keeps growing.

Eddie Hansen

4 speed !!! man gotta put that back!!!

it is even cooler now LOL...

BTW, I am selling a set of stainless steel brake lines front to back, and the axle and master set, if you need them ad is in the swap shop.. ( before it goes to flea bay...)

by any chance does it have the posi rear? mine did, albeit the clutches were a bit worn... My body is still off the chasis but will be lowering it soon.

Birdman

Dad got rid of the 4 speed a while back. Im more lazy than he is and just want a nice cruiser to ride around in. IM not sure if the car has any real value at all since its not numbers matching, just a bunch of centimental value. Thats why im kind of just doing some stuff that I would like to do to it.

As far as rear end im not sure Ill ask him tomorrow.

Birdman

Original stock rear end under the car. Should be getting some pics this week of the interior and the inside when the interior comes out.

Eddie Hansen

that's ok... Matt, somehow I think it will have a posi in it, their is a code on the top of the passenger side axle tube that would tell you for sure, it is 2 letters about 3/8 inches high

don't matter even if it isn't still a wicked looking car!!!

Indy_68_S

Tabco stuff is good, but I tried to get a quarter from them back in Feb as I didn't want the thin overseas stuff and they said they were out and wouldn't be making more until this summer...

Birdman

Thats no good! Well looks like if thats the case Ill be waiting a little longer.

Birdman

I finally got the pictures from the first build on my computer. This was back in the 80's when my dad bought the car, and did the original build on it.

the day he brought it home, i was around 2
meandcutlass.png

wrecked2.png

interior.png

frameoff.png

cutlassside.png

cutlassfront.png

completed2.png

completed.png

bothcutlasss2.png

bothcutlasss.png

Sorry if they are huge, but the pics are very old and i wanted to get them to appear as good as I could.

Eddie Hansen

Nice Pics Thanks for posting them, man looks like his n hers cutlass drop tops in the driveway

Birdman

They were both my dads. He sold the green one (it looks grey) to a guy across the neighborhood. The guy wrecked it, and I believe it still sits in his back yard today all rusted up and everything.

LI Olds

very cool.

I'm looking for my dad's 69 convertible now

Indy_68_S

Really ? How wrecked & how rusty ? How far are you from Indy ?!?! j/k...kinda ...

Thanks for posting the pics......I've never seen a dash disassembled like that...Have fun with the rebuild...

ent72olds

Looks like a race track across the street?

Birdman

Actually I will have to ride by the place this weekend and check it out. Last time I saw it i was riding my bicycle around about 12 years ago lol. Im sure its still t here though. Im in Kentucky about 2 hours from Indy!

Not a race track across the street either. Its actually the highway. Now there is a brick wall where the chain link fence was. Kind of cool to see old pics and see how everything has changed lol.

Birdman

Here are some more pics. Went to the body shop today and got some pics as we got the interior completely out, and found some stuff I needed to get. Its a slow process, but one day it will get there lol.

gutted.jpg

gutted2.jpg

all the stuff that came out of the car
gutted3.jpg

gutted4.jpg

gutted5.jpg

gutted6.jpg

I cant wait to get some paint on it and get the project rolling really good. Going for a look that I like alot. Havent seen many the way i want to do it. Thought originally to redo it stock, but the car wasnt stock to begin with so I decided to go my own route with it. I think its going to look pretty good.

Aron Nance

One large piece of friendly advice - DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED! There will come a time (I promise!) when you will suddenly look up and say to yourself, "I can finish this!". I worked on our '68 LongTop for 4 years, and when I finally painted the tail gate in primer, I knew I was going to finish it..........didn't know when, just knew I was going to do it! Keep us posted on your progress.

Birdman

Hey guys been away from the board for awhile now, just figured I would update this thread. The guy who i had taken the car to originally to do the body work and paint is no longer working on it. I have someone else working on it now and he is moving along very well. Here is a slide show that i made on photobucket. If you cant see it let me know.
Hope you enjoy

http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ection=reverse

Indy_68_S

Requires a password....

Birdman

http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w...n1121/Cutlass/

try again, sorry about that.

Indy_68_S

Works now !
Excellent pics...Thanks for sharing !

Birdman

Thanks for letting me know about the link! I wanted to post individual pictures but when i did they were extremely too big. Im going to resize them next time.

In the pictures there is a picture of two screw drivers being held in my buddys hand. He found them inside the quarter panel burried in 3 inches of mudd! Dad said that he had never had any work done to the quarters, so not telling how long they have been in there or who they belonged to. they appear to be really old, and I know they have been in there for atleast 27 years lol. Pretty crazy.

69442C

Looks like your well under way and good luck with it.

Question: In the photos that show the car wrecked, there is also a photo of a rolling chassis/engine. Is that the frame that was put under the car to replace the original one that was probably bent up from the wreck? And if so, is that the one in the car now? Reason I ask is there was a specific frame for convertibles that had the side frame rails boxed to give extra rigidity since there was no roof on the car. Cars with roofs had the non-boxed or open side rails as you can see in your photo. You might want to take a look under your car to see what you have. If it's the one in the photos, the car may flex more than you want it to when you drive it. If this is the case, it's a problem that can be solved without replacing the frame but it will take some time and effort.

Birdman

yeah it is a hard top frame. At the time that was the only one that my dad could find and he just wanted to drive it. What should be done to the hard top frame?

69442C

Can you remove the frame from under the car so you have access to work on it? If so, you would probably want to do this before the car is painted. You can use your existing frame and make it into a convertible frame with the right pieces and it's not that hard to do once you have access to the frame and someone who is a good welder if you can't do that work. I also have the pieces that need to be added. I converted a HT frame into a conv frame and it looks like it always was a conv frame. Let me know and if you can pull that frame, and if so I can help you out. I have been giving thought to posting a thread on this and this may be the time to discuss it. The best part is the conv sections that need to be added were used on some HT GM cars. The bottom line is this is an avenue to build a conv frame using a HT frame and do it for a fraction of what it costs to buy an actual conv frame and when completed, the 2 would look just about identical when put side by side.

Birdman

Yeah the frame is out from under the car, but unfortunately has already been blasted and cleaned. Do you have any pics of what you did to yours?

69442C

Yes I do. I needed a conv frame (damaged front center crossmember) recently and found them to be quite expensive and none were local. So through some investigation, I found that the 69-72 Pontiac Grand Prix frames (Monte Carlo may be the same but I am not sure) were boxed like the conv frames. These frames are basically the same as a A body frame from the firewall back. I found a GP frame on Ebay that wasn't selling, bought just the side rails of that frame (seller cut them off and shipped them to me) and trimmed them so I was able to remove just the box pieces. Paid $100 for a HT frame that was relatively local and made it into a conv frame. There is a small bracket in the center of the side rails on the HT frame to keep the top and bottom spaced apart and that needs to be removed. Other than that, the conv box sections have tabs that make the alignment pretty dummy proof. I just compared the placement to the conv frame I had and made sure they were aligned. All in all this wasn't that tough to do. The biggest part is trimming down the donor side rails to get the box pieces removed. I have a set of conv side rails that can be offered if you want to do this. You'll need a conv transmission crossmember or cut down your HT one to work. One of the photos shows the old frame so you can see how the side frame rails were done by GM. In the end, both frames were practically identical.

allyolds68

I would post a "wanted" ad here and every other forum you can find as well as craigslist to get either a complete convertible frame or at least the boxed sections so you can weld them in. The body is going to flex & your doors aren't going to close properly.

I've seached before to see if anyone is reproducing boxed sections & I've never had any luck so you're going to be stuck trying to find something used.

Fix it now while you still can

I'm pretty sure I have a spare convertible cross member if you come up with a frame

BTW that Grand Prix tweak is an excellent idea. I've never heard that before

TRW

Hi 69442C, If Matt does not need the conv frame side rails, I would be interested in them. I'm doing a 68 Cutlass S convertible that has a rusted frame. I picked up a hard top frame from with the intention of doing this, but I think I have rust on my convertible frame box pieces and would prefer to get another set.

Let me know.

By the way Matt, Nice car!

Tom

69442C

Allyolds68, yes, I was pretty pleased when I discovered the 69-72 GP had these pieces. I think some of the Monte's had them too but I've seen one with and one with them. I suspect GM boxed the frames on those cars because the long front ends would cause flex in the frame. I'm sure there aren't a ton of those cars out there but it is another avenue to pursue for these pieces. There was a 72 GP frame available in Cape May NJ last month and if it had been closer I would have grabbed it. Cheap too and clean. Someone needs to find a way to repop these things and it's doable without cutting up a original conv frame.

TRW, would be glad to make them available to you. Let me give Birdman a chance first to see if he wants them and if not, I'll let you know. The ones I have are rust free and are from the conv frame that had the bent up front crossmember.

Birdman, let me know what you want to do.

Brian