swesson

Hi folks from across the pond. I am restoring a '68 Cutlass Supreme 4dr I bought it last October from good old ebay.com from a guy in Saranac NY considering the part of the USA that it's come from the chassis and body are in pretty good condition. I am hoping to restore the body work first so that it looks really nice for the Americana show that we have every year at our local showground have a look at their website- http://www.americana-international.co.uk/
After the show I will probably start to do something with the engine-don't know what yet though!
Anyway heres some pics-

Sitting Waiting next to a 62 caddy


This looked like it was the worst bit on the car at the bottom of the wheelarch on rh rear 1/4.


All fixed now!


The rest of the interior is near perfect. Shame about the front bench, nevermind of to the trimmers!


There was a small hole in the back corner of the vynil roof the water had gotten in and the metal had rusted. Just caught it in time before it got too bad. Hope the trimmer can patch the vynil.
Note the cracks showing in the filler it was like this on the other side so I went back to bare metal and filled the dents again with modern filler that hopefully won't crack. So I'll do the same this side it'll be easy.


Oh great!! after grinding off about 1/2" off nasty tasting filler (bondo) I can now plainly see that it's had a 1/4 panel section put in at sometime. I'm gonna try lead loading over this repair later this week. Anyone got any tips?


Nasty wheelarch aswell plenty of grinding, welding, filling, sanding to do.


Three doors are pretty good with just very minor work required. The lh rear door however was quite bad so with a slide hammer and some filler it's starting to look alot better.


The bottoms of both front wings (fenders) where they meet the doors are both in a rotten state. I feel more grinding coming on.


Not had it running properly yet but hopefully it will be ok. (fingers crossed)


Maybe someone could help me by posting a pic of what should be happening here?


If you get hold of your monitor and turn it upside down you'll be able to read this tag. Can anyone decode it for me?

I'll post more pics as I go along.

Allan R

Ok, from this tag (upside right now)

19684doorVIN-2.jpg?t=1305418327

11C = build date - November 3, 1968
ST 68 = 1968 model year
3 = General Motors Division - Oldsmobile
42 = Series of car - Cutlass Supreme V8
39 = Style (4 door)
LAN = production plant - Lansing Michigan
100851 = Production sequence
TR 965 = Trim (usually the color and type of front seat) Sorry, don't have that number
Paint code V = Juneau Gray 2 = Black Vinyl roof

swesson

Thanks Allan, the colour is a bit of a suprise I thought the green would be the original colour.
It has a red front bench seat as in pic which I would think is original.

allyolds68

Garnet, Dark Red

Yellowstatue

There are patch panels available for the bottom of those front fenders (wings)...

Indy_68_S

Cool color combo !

Allan R

Actually, in 1968 there shouldn't be any overflow bottle. What you've got there looks like a bleach bottle to catch any overflow coolant if the engine gets too hot. The following picture is of a 65 442, but the idea of what happened with the rad overflow is (I believe) an accurate depiction of how your rad overflow was supposed to work. - it would puke any overflow right onto the ground -

64f85motor.jpg?t=1305502393

I totally agree. BTW swesson, I looked up Juneau Gray and it appears to be a very dark 'charcoal like' color. Can't tell from the color patch, but I'm guessing it could also have been metallic in nature. Hmmmm, charcoal body, black vinyl, garnet interior....a VERY stunning and rich looking combo IMHO.

Also, learning some of your 'lingo' is neat. Are you a panelbeater by trade?

swesson

Hi Allan, thanks for that I suspected that the bottle shouldn't be there at all. No I'm not a panelbeater just someone who likes to mess with cars. The engine bay looks really nice is the 442 yours?

Allan R

No, it's a picture I took a couple of years ago at the Rocket Roundup in Olds Alberta. The car is an 'f85' and was restored to look like this:

64f85left.jpg?t=1305590294

Not sure, but I think the color is 'sterling mist'. It's definitely lighter than the color originally on your car.

armin_68cutlass

Hey
Nice car swesson!
I'm happy to see another Holiday sedan here.
I've got a 68 in Iran and i'm working on it.
The colour is silver with black vinyl top.
See my topic and let me know how you think about my car.
Good Luck.

swesson

Fetched the Olds yesterday from the paint shop (C&L Bodyworks in Boughton Notts, I know that means nothing to most of you but if you're in the UK you won't get a better paint job) It looks amazing the pictures don't really do it justice I'm so, so happy with it. What do y'all think?

Allan R

I think you need to post bigger pics. Hard to make out anything because of the small size. Use the upload on CO to post some thumbnails we can enlarge...

swesson

Sorry for the small pics, hope these are better

1969w3155

Wow! nice paint.

Allan R

X2
Water beads off it real nice. Don't let the water drops sit on that fresh paint too long though
Love the color. Looks like you have some work ahead of you finishing off the details. Curious though, why not take off the vinyl roof when painting then reinstall new one? Is it in that good a condition?

Just realized that it is a 4 door hardtop sedan! Don't see very many of these around. Oooops, my 'envy' button just went off

swesson

I love the colour too Allan I took the pics just after i fetched it back from the bodyshop, after its photoshoot i leathered it off and covered it up until the new year when the work will begin. I thought long and hard about the roof, should I replace it?, rip it off and paint the roof? but in the end i decided that apart from the bit below the rear window the vinyl was too good to replace so i'm getting the damaged part replaced and leaving the rest, it'll look fine once it's cleaned up. (I Hope!) I'll post some more pics as I start to put things back together.

2blu442

X3 on the color, very nice! Please keep the pictures coming as you re-assemble the car. John

Allan R

I'd be curious to see how that repair is done. The roof should have a sewn seam on the center of the roof. That would be the logical place to re-sew a new section. Personally I think the patch will show and you won't be happy with it, considering the amazing paint it will be sitting next to. Let's wait and see what happens. I'm just making a prediction - based on repairs I've seen. They were bloody awfull.

rcorrigan5

Just another note on the trim tag regarding the build date:

11C = November (11), third week of that month (C), 1967.

Randy C.

yeahbuddy

This thread makes me smile! I have the same car as you buddy. I'm really excited to follow this build! I got mine 2 years ago and it was mostly original but one of the previous owners did a (cheap) maroon paint job and dyed the interior black. I even found the build sheet!

Your paint job looks awesome man. Gives me a lot of motivation! I have only seen 2 other postless 68 Cutlass Supreme Holiday Sedans online...and both of them has rims bigger than 24". I just want to share a couple pics of my car (its nothing special) and show you a link to a cool video a found. Are 4 doors big in the UK because I found a 4 door 1970 Cutlass with a 455 and RIGHT HAND DRIVE from the UK. Owner said he sold it since posting the vids!


1970 4 Door Cutlass w/ 455 & Right hand drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2tEjgdpm3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYgQFwqgEn4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3b30hS3HxE

yeahbuddy

One more of the build sheet I found.

swesson

Hi yeahbuddy I like your car, it look great. Have you done much to it? I'm just waiting now to get Christmas and new year out of the way and then hopefully will slowly start to rebuild my olds. I'm thinking now about all new chrome as the paint work just looks too nice to put the old stuff back. It was originally my idea to import the car from the USA tidy it up a little and sell it on at a small profit. That idea has long since gone and now I just want to make a really nice job of restoring it have a little fun and then sell it on (no chance whatsoever of a penny profit, but nevermind ! ) keep an eye on my posts as I will try to update after everything I do. Glad you're enjoying it.

Merry Xmas

yeahbuddy

Swesson, thats interesting you picked a 4 door considering how much some people talk down on the 4 doors! I've replaced quite a few parts but I have been doing so every time something breaks or is on its way out. I can tell you off the top of my head it has new drum brakes all around, KYB shocks on front, air shocks on rear, Moog heavy duty front coil springs, muffler and single exhaust tail pipe, Edelbrock intake, Edelbrock carb, electronic ignition, new wires/sparkplugs/rotor/cap, rear axle and bearings, upper control arm bolts, rally wheels, triple gauge, underdash stereo, alternator, aluminum radiator, battery. Now that I start listing everything Ive done in the last 2 years it is more than I thought. Labor of love I guess...thanks for the kind words.

yeahbuddy

Any updates on this project?