Olds442redberet

I just recently picked up this car in Georgia. It was sitting in a driveway in suburban Atlanta for the past 20 years or so when the former owner finally decided to offer her up for sale. She was his car in high school and apparently he used to race her as a sleeper. And I got the feeling he had a lot of emotions for her.
Looking at this car she looks no different from my grandmother's Cutlass Supreme did back in the seventies; Stock in appearance with stock wheels and tires. But she sits just a taste higher than she should, all the way around. Crawling up underneath the car you'll find boxed rear trailing arms that were iodized for rust protection, heavy duty springs and shocks, with blocks to lift the car ever so slightly, and beefy front and rear sway bars. Underneath the hood there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary except for a set of headers leading to the duel exhaust, but in the trunk there is a small file detailing the massive number of Mondello parts that were ordered during the engine rebuild. She’s a real sleeper.
The mild mannered seller told me of his younger years street racing this car against other performance oriented muscle cars such GTOs and GTXs, and winning most if not all of these races. Of course his stories are hard to confirm, but the modes on the car do remind me of a fellow in my high school who drove a true sleeper that could put a hurting on the competition. Nothing was ever done to his car that would indicate to anyone glancing at it, that it was built to be raced.
All of this intrigued me. Not to buy the car, because I had made up my mind to buy the car long before I left my house that morning. The deal was made three days prior. But instead of parting out this rather mundane looking car, I decided I would rather sell her to someone who'd really appreciate her for what she was than destroy her, as I seem to do a lot of good cars. Now after bringing her home and staring at her daily in the shop, I've decided this is the car I will cut my teeth on. This is the car I will restore. I have developed a passion for the particular car. Bench seat and all.
It'll be a frame on restoration, nothing fancy or expensive. I will do everything I can in house, including the bodywork, and I'll only farm out what I cannot do myself.

Olds442redberet

I purchased a Cutlass Supreme a while back that came with a lot of extra parts, including two perfect fenders and a perfect hood. All three were in primer with the undersides already painted in an epoxy or enamal chassis black. So I am prepping these parts now. I am stripping the old primer while leaving the epoxy in place. These parts were painted over ten years ago and the black looks perfect still.
I hope to have new etch primer and sealer on these and the trunk lid by Friday.

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oldcutlass

Looks like a fun project.

Olds442redberet

I am real excited about this project. I am giving myself a year to complete it.

vette442

Love it. It's a very worthwhile project car.

Terry

sammy

X2^^^... Will be following along

Ted

Olds442redberet

I ran into a few issue this week on the build. It's paint and body so of course this was bound to happen. LOL

1. The lower sections of the fenders have been repaired. They're still solid and very usable, but I am going to see if I have another pair that are better. If not I'll use these.

2. One of the fenders has been hit and repaired. I won't be using it. To much work.

3. The trunk lid has a few rust holes, which I already knew about. I am going to media blast the underside and up inside it as good as I can and then see what I have left to work with. I had a near perfect trunk lid lined up for this build but it turned out to be a convertible trunk so I am saving it for the 442. But this lid is real solid, even around the holes. So I think I can fix it fairly easily.

Olds442redberet

The paint on the car must be a Laquer, it's just melting as I run the wire wheel across it. In the end I had to chemical strip it. Then I ran the wire wheel across it, followed by some sanding.

Olds442redberet

I took the trunk to a local media blaster yesterday. Wow! What a mistake. I just needed the underside blasted so I figured it would be safe and easy. It looks like they took a hammer to it. Its trashed. I don't know if they were just being idiots and throwing it around or if they actually banged on it with a hammer. They could have just told me they didn't want my business, I would have taken it elsewhere.

So I guess I'll pull the lid off the red 72 and start over. LOL

This is why I am cutting my teeth on a car with no real value. I would have been pissed had someone damaged anything from my 442.

It's all about finding the right people with the right experience to get the jobs done. The right exhaust shop, the right painter, the right machinist, etc.

Live and learn

Olds442redberet

The trunk lid from the red 1972 looked rough but I pulled it off the car anyway. I gave it to a professional. Actually, I traded some parts for his labor (and expertise) to fix my trunk and fenders. Well, he sent me some pictures of the work in progress as well as the finished product, and everything looks great! Epoxy primer followed by urethane primer with Por 15 used on the inner fender panels. The guy seems very honest and very thorough. I'll be picking them up tomorrow. I'll post picture when I can.

I also found a set of BF Goodrich tires on ebay for a fraction of the price of what they cost at Jegs. I mounted them on a set of powder coated SSIIs with repro center caps and original tirm rings I had on the shelf. I had to order a set of acorn lug nuts from the parts place to finish up the look I was hoping for.

The 1970 four door I just picked up has a really nice set of Flowmaster dual exhaust as well as a new set of Gabriel shocks. I'll be using them on this budget build of mine.

As I said, this is a budget build. I am tracking every expense with the hope of getting a nearly perfect car for less than $8,000. We'll see if I can pull it off.

sammy

I re read this thread....it has me intrigued too.
What rear end is in the car? I noticed a tag...
What was done to the motor? I assume it is a 350...
Low mileage? A very cool save

Ted

Olds442redberet

It appears to be a low mileage car. But you never can tell.

The rear end is out of a late seventies Trans Am, It's a posi. I don't know the gear ratio yet but I plan on pulling the cover and counting the teeth one of these days.

Eddie Hansen

Glad your saving this one.. with all the goodies on the inside and a plain brown wrapper sort of reminds me of that ford from white lightning lol... maybe it ran a little shine? . Anyway good luck with the build

Olds442redberet

I picked up the Fenders and trunk from the body-man yesterday. They turned out quite well.
If you notice the parts on the roof, they are fresh from powder coating and they are for this car as well.

Olds442redberet

These are the pictures I got during the work.

Olds442redberet

Here's a shot of the trunk having it's cancer cut out and another one of the set of powder coated wheels and BF GoodRich tires I just put on the car. I have a set of Acorn lug nuts on order.

This is still a budget build. I have a friend helping me out with the powder coating. I am pulling parts from the donor cars I am buying, and I am buying used parts on this site or Ebay and reconditioning them when neccessary.

But I am thinking about buying a new set of reproduction 442 grilles from Fusik to set the car off. Any thought on this would be greatly appreciated.

sammy

If I was to restore another Supreme, I would make it a true sleeper..or as Eddie said.."plain brown wrapper ...you seem to have the makings of one...I would concentrate on some performance goodies, and leave the car looking stock.i kept the original hood from mine, just in case I do not get around to another Supreme....

Ted

Eddie Hansen

Well its up to you regarding the grills but the 442 grills arent cheap, that loot could buy you some engine goodies, just saying,

Olds442redberet

Well, that's enough input for me. I'll keep the original grilles.

I am trying to keep the car true to the previous owner's intentions.

Fun71

That is the typical GM tag identifying it as a limited slip differential.

Wow, someone went though a lot of work to convert a TA leaf spring rear to fit the Cutlass coil spring application.

Olds442redberet

I think they went throught he trouble of pulling the gears from the T/A housing and transferring them over.

bigin1978

its looking really good. I can't believe all the metal work on that deck lid wow.

Olds442redberet

I just recently traded for a turbo 400 for my budget build project.
It's a perfomance built transmission with a 3000 stall converter (included with the trans). There are some small issues with it: It has a manual reverse valve body which will require me to actually shift the gears and it has a 3000 stall converter... I don't race. But it does fall with in the perameters of the budget build concept in that it only cost me two rear ends. An open ten bolt and an open twelve bolt.

This trade might allow me to get the car on the road a month or two ahead of schedule. This will complete the powertrain package.