Yes Greg, thanks for asking. We went 11 days without electric, but that's nothing compared to thousands of my neighbors.......

 

Didn't mean to come across like an ***, was just wondering. I undertsand life getting in the way, been my issue with my own car.
Glad to hear you faired well after the storm, I also had no power for 12 days. Hope you have a merry christmas and a completed vista cruiser in the new year!

 

No problem and thanks for the concern! I actually started working on it again last weekend. I will be on it this weekend also. I will try to get some pics up and an updated post. Glad to hear you made it through the storm. I've been working in Island Park, Oceanside and Long Beach lately and it is still very sad down there. Just piles of garbage everywhere, and every parking lot that is usually empty. During the off season is filled with flood cars waiting to be picked up....

 

Car looks great Bro !!

 

Thanks Matt! Long time no hear....

 

After not touching the car since May, time to jump back in.....of course, just picking up where I left off......patching some floor rot that wasn't discovered until we pulled the carpet up under the front seat. Front floors were spotless, but who would have thought there would be damage under the seat...finished patching the pass side, and started doing driver's side, which was worse....

 

I got as far as making a pattern for the patch, than traced it to the sheet steel and cut that out. I will weld it in next weekend. My brother also started on the underside of the floorpans. A lot ot scraping and heat gun usage, and the original satin black still looks pretty good. We will be priming any bare metal here, and applying a truck bed liner under here!

 

Been busy working and cruzin.Glad Sandy didn't mess you up too bad.
Love the new Cutlass !!

 

I bought the Cutlass in'96.... Took 7 yrs to restore....it just sits in garage!

 

Erik, Glad to see your back at it. This is my favorite thread. You go man!! Did you ever get the carpet figured out as in where to get it, etc?

 

Thanks Greg! It feels good to be back on it actually. As far as the carpet, I haven't figured that out yet....if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

 

You know, station wagons sure do require a lot more work and a lot more paint than a sedan or convertible. LOL. But they're really cool!

 

Finished the floor work up this weekend. Made the final patch up and got all welded up.....my brother has still been working on stripping the bottom of the car.

 

This car will be converted to buckets and center console. We will order the brackets this week, and I will fab some brackets for the console. Once those are in, we will be dynamatting the entire floor.....

 

Glad to see you are back on it and making progress on the vista. The rugs I got through ACC were ok except at the rear seat area. The rug is short where the seat back bolts to the floor at the rear. I should be able to sew in a couple of pieces to make the shortage up. Steve

 

Erik, I just went back and looked thru your thread again. At the beginning there is a picture of a patch panel for the right rear quarter. You didn't end up using that did you? Was it bad fit? Didn't you get a wheelhouse from desert dog? I saw something similar on ebay (patch panel) and wondered about it. thanks,Greg

 

Steve...I saw your rug pic, then looked at my original today. The rug is supposed to go completely under the seat, covering the whole floor....then, there is another section that goes behind that. Looks like you may have gotten a rug for a coupe or sedan. How many pieces is your rug?

 

You guessed right Greg! Those "patch panels" for a wagon I had gotten about 4 yrs ago from OPGI. They were a joke....not even similar. They wouldn't take them back either! I didn't realize how off they were until I went to use them, by then, about a year later, they wouldn't refund. I used them as expensive patch panels throughout the car.....I bought used qtrs from Eric Jensen(jensenracing77).

 

Erik, I just looked at my pics as I took it apart and the rugs do not go over the whole area under the seat but farther than a regular "A" body. I will have to see if the rug goes in far enough and only need some at the rear edge where the wheelhouse meets the floor. I tossed the old rugs so don't have something to compare it to. I will take some pics of the area that is short after Christmas. Steve

 

Maybe it is a different rug 2 seat to 3 seat? It's completely covered on mine, then has another section that goes up over the rear end hump. Anyway, have a great Christmas too!

 

Glad to see you back at it Eric. Patch work looks good.

 

Erik, Just looked at some of your other threads, Love your 65! did you sell the 72? I like the 88 convertible also. So you are going to put buckets in the vista? I'm not sure if you were joking about your brother wanting a split bench w/armrest-I have one. I also have some buckets but I'll bet shipping would be killer. I was going to put buckets in my 71 convertible and pretty much decided not to do it. So I have a really nice set w/grand prix vinyl on them that could be used as is in a driver Pontiac, and a set of green cutlass buckets bought off ebay that look like were sitting in a junk car for 40 yrs. I also bought a split bench at Olds homecoming last year that is good for a driver but I think I'll use that in my 70 Vista. But your Vista is definately going to be nicer than mine ever will be. So I may have something you want. Let me know, Greg

 

Thanks Richard.

 

Greg, originally we were going with a split bench, but switched plans to buckets. Thanks for the offer, but we have a set. No, I did not sell the Cutlass.

 

Yes, today we got the bucket seat brackets welded in....we are installing buckets from a '69 H/O, which we bought from WTony! They still have the gold stripes on the headrests, although, I don't believe these will make the car any faster.....

 

This car will also be growing a center console between the seats...no, it won't be a 70-72 olds a body console! I have to admit, the consoles from a mid '70's colonnade Buick, with horse shoe shifter, IMO, are much better looking! Plus it was free.....so next will be to make some brackets to hold it down. It will be very cozy behind the wheel, especially once we install the floor shift, tilt column from W31man(Greg).......the last pic shows how it looks with headrests.

 

Erik, I like it. I think the Buick console looks good. Not too sure about your custom steering wheel though... I work for a gas utility in Michigan and a couple of our guys went over to your area to help w/gas restoration after Sandy. They said there were 1000's of salt water flooded cars including classics. I went on coparts site and there were lots of flood cars in NJ including a 71 Cutlass supreme.

 

Well that also solves the problem of the carpet! I agree the Buick console will look really killer once it's restored. Most of the horseshoe shifters I've seen were in Camaros

 

This thread is amazing! I flip through it every day.

 

Thank you Butkus!

 

Yes, we have plans for the console...need to see if I can find someone that can laser cut the PNRDL1L2 into the top chrome cover. Then have it rechromed. We would like to backlight the letters, as they originally weren't. Also some kind of period correct rocket incorporated in there somewhere. Actually, the shift handle is more of a squared "U" shape. I have been hunting down a shift cable and brackets, not cheap though....

 

Erik, not sure if that was a typo, don't you mean PRND21? Not logical to go from D to L1 then up to L2...

 

.......

 

We got the inside floor sanded, cleaned and primed today!



We used Rustoleum and brushed it on....will be putting Dynamat over this to finish up....



We also finished getting all the undercoat off the bottom side. We will run the wire wheel over it now, clean it and prime before applying truck bed liner!

 

Erik,
The console looks great !!
BUT in my opinion you went this far...please put in an Olds console.
The Vista is just tooooo nice to start frankinsteining things now.
Just my honest opinion.

 

Sorry Matt....not gonna happen! Wait and see, I have some plans for this console.....

 

Erik,
Looks fine from where I sit. Have 1 question though. What are those brackets in front of the rear seat lockins for? I've never seen that before.

 

Thanks Allan! Those brackets are the mounts for the fold flat, split rear seat hinges. Apparently, came on three seat Vistas only.... My '65 is the same!

 

Lookin good,,

 

Thanks Henry!