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Before I get started - I am not in love with Oldsmobile or any other car in particular. I like cars and trucks in general, and really like the A body platform as driver cars. I build these things into what I want to use and maintain. My main goal is to have a decent driver while spending as little as possible. Focus is on being able to use or re-purpose stuff that I've already paid for.
This car is already being used as a driver and I am going to post some pictures of the car as I had put it together.
Last edited by letitsnow; Mar 22, 2026 at 05:52 AM.
There was an add on Craigslist with no picture "Olds Cutlass $400". I called the owner and went to look at the car. It was rough, but I paid the guy his $400 quickly. He had owned the car since 1974. Parked it in 1984. The car had serious rust issues and every panel had at least 1 dent, but the frame was still in ok (for Minnesota) shape. The guy I bought the car from is a good guy - I am in contact with him still today. He really enjoyed this car as a young guy and told me stories of how nice the red looked with the white vinyl top, back when it was in good shape. Here it is as purchased.
The picture above makes it look better than it really is. Both rear quarters are shot, the inner rear wheel wells had serious rust issues, the trunk and passenger compartment floor were shot. The passenger side windows were broken years ago, and the interior was trashed. Also, it was off white Which just doesn't work with the stuff that I use cars for.
I parked the car in a quiet spot next to our house and started ripping it apart. It took me a while to even get the hood open, as the rust and damage from being pushed around with tractors etc for years had taken their toll. Here is a picture of it ripped apart. Notice the damage near the heater fan from a "mailbox" hit that I was told about before buying. It took a hard hit...
Getting the hood open... The metal where the drivers side hinge bolted was completely gone. Here is a pic of the scrap metal that I patched the hood up with. I don't remember what this steel came from, but I must have been doing some color samples or something. Again - this is just junk that I throw in a pile and maybe use later. 0$ spent except for a little wire.
The seats were in tough shape. I took them apart and cleaned up/lubed the important stuff. Removed the chrome trim from the plastic and painted the plastic with some gooey xo rust that was left over from another project, just to keep the plastic from sloughing. I then cut out the most rotten foam and patched in with decent foam that I had saved from another project, then duct taped the seat covers where the vinyl was gone.
The interior - I removed the headliner, cleaned up the surface and painted with satin black xo rust or rust-oleum enamel. I removed the steel from the interior panels, painted then made basic panels out of some 1/8" mdf that was left over from something else. All is attached with self tappers and is easy to service. I made arm rests out of a scrap piece of 2x4 for the front, The rear is just painted steel which the dogs seem fine with.
I made new sail panels, package tray out of the 1/8" mdf. Also installed some indoor/outdoor carpet that doesn't have a rubber backing - seems to help let the floor breath to keep things dry, but isn't as good (for comfort) as the typical sound deadner and carpet of course.
Some pics of my floor hackery. Again - $0 spent except some wire. I forgot about the seam sealer - maybe $15 worth of that. Also, notice the area where the door hinges attach on the passenger side. That was a pretty stout mailbox...
Last edited by letitsnow; Mar 22, 2026 at 05:44 AM.
The heater box sure did seem to make a good mouse house. I really hate those F'n things! Patched up, new heater core installed. Note the fan box is bent from the "mailbox" hit. I suspect the mailbox may have been attached to something like a bridge pillar...
These pictures aren't in perfect order - here is when I had the car clean enough to trust bringing it into the garage. Getting the mice and spiders out of a car like this is a bit harder than many realize. They are persistent bastards.
Some frame repair that I suspect was from the "mailbox" hit. The previous owner told me that he thinks that the spindle is also bent on that side, which could be true. The alignment isn't terrible, but there are more shims on that side vs the drivers side. I have another spindle that i'll swap (sometime) to see if it fixes that.
The trunk - the body supports underneath were totally gone. I welded in patches, made my own body mounts out of some HDPE and rubber that I had on hand. I then welded some scrap angle iron on the top side to help give it some strength. It isn't as good as new was, but it isn't terrible. Here are pictures mid-hack, and as it is today in use.
Over the the years I have ended up with 3 sets of vortec 350 front accessories and 2 tbi 350 motors. This motor came from a rusted away 1989 square body plow truck. I bought the motor for $100. Added my front accessories, replaced the oil pan ($50 from Summit) because it had rusted through, bought a GM 4 barrel intake that had a Mr gasket spread to square bore adapter on it already for $20. Added an edelbrock 1406 that I had, and a china HEI that I had replaced the vac advance and module on. I used some cut up headers that I had on hand, making my own 2 into 1 exhaust that exists through a used dynomax muffler. It sounds kind of farm trucky, but runs real good. I like these tbi 350's as drivers. Nobody wants them because they make no power above 4000 rpms. Daily driving I never see that many rpms and they work real well. Cheap and reliable.
There you have it. My chitbox in pictures. It is ugly, probably makes many people cringe when you read/see this - but I really like the car and where it came from.
