Hi All. Fairly new to the site, and trying to figure out how everything works. I am restoring a 72' Olds Cutlass 442. (it is a clone) It has been a work in progress over the past nine months. The shop is doing a great job, and they let me come in to help with the grunt work to save some money. They have also learned a lot over the past little while. The first thing I learned was patience! It takes a long time to do this, and you cannot rush it. I have posted some pics, and will post more later. Great site, everyone I have dealt with has been the best.

 

 

Looks good! What colour are you going to be painting it? Your not to far from me.

 

I chequed her out and looks like the original colour of the body and interior was green eh?

That's a nice floor repair job, looks good underneath.
The rest of the car looks like you did some work on it too.

The hardest part is finished, it's all downhill now, should be done in no time.

 

The putting together of the giant jigsaw puzzle starts real soon. Good luck

 

Thanks for the replies, and the good words. The car will be repainted dark green, I think it is called moss green? It is an original color for 1971. It will also have white stripes, and a new ram air oai hood. This restoration was done bass ackwards. I did the body and paint in 2006, not realizing how bad the frame really was. I had it in for headers last summer, and the shop pointed out to me where the frame was rotten right through. There was not much holding the body on the frame. After we took the body off, we found all the usual surprises. Floors, toe pan, firewall, rear quarters, inner fenders. The roof was in great shape though....This site is great nothing but Oldsmobiles, and lots of great people too! I am located in Winsdor Ontario. Let me know if you are close.

Joe

 

I'm guessing antique jade. Check your cowl tag for the color combo. It will be on the right side in the second line with either 2 sets of numbers or a set of numbers and a letter if the car originally had a vinyl top.

 

Very nice looking job you got going there. It's going to be a beauty.

 

I have some new pics of the bottom of the car. We did a final sand, two coats of primer, two coats of paint, two coats of clear. The body work and paint is being done by my good friend Dennis Cunningham. The body will go on the frame this weekend! Finally instead of taking things off we are putting them back on. I hope to have the paint work done by the end of November so we can put it back together over the winter. Thanks very much for looking
Joe

 

Hey Joe, the project looks great and it looks like they're doing an awesome job! I just joined this site recently as well as a means of trying to sell some stuff but the more I read the posts and see the pictures of all these awesome cars, the less I want to sell and the more I want to work on the "project that never happened". I'm not too far from you either, just across the creek in a suburb of Detroit. If I happen to win the lotto anytime soon, do you think your buddy Dennis would want to take on another project?

 

Thanks for looking, and the comments. You will like this site a lot. The metal work, and restoration work is being done at JH Restorations, my friend dennis is doing the finish work, and paint on the body. Both JH Restorations, and Dennis are very good with their rates. Dennis did the body work back in 2006 (before we knew how bad the frame etc, was) Let me know where in Metro Detroit you are. I work in Detroit, and am all over Southeast Mich. Grew up in Farmington Hills.

 

Thats really looking good.

 

I'm kind of the opposite story...I grew up in Sarnia, Ontario and am now working in West Bloomfield, which I'm sure you know where that is since you lived in Farmington Hills. I am living in the Royal Oak/Clawson area and in the almost 14 years that I've been in Michigan, I haven't done much research on where to go for restoration/body work as my project has been on hold for quite some time. It looked like they were doing a fantastic job on your car so I figured that it might be worthwhile dragging mine across the border to have it done! I'll just have to figure out how to go about getting a passport for the vehicle! I would be interested in finding out what kind of prices I would be looking at though if I was going to bite the bullet and get this car done!

 

Sorry for taking so long to respond to the thread. I grew up in W.B. and went to school in Farmington Hills! Small flippin world. If you want send me a private message with your contact info, and we can talk. You don't need a passport for the car to come across the border if you own it. All you need is the registration showing it is your car. I can introduce you to Jesse who owns JH Restorations, and see what they can do for you.

 

Here are some new pics of the restoration. We now have a frame, trunk, doors, fenders, rad cradle, headlights. She can also be moved around and steered on her own suspension and wheels. We lined up the doors yesterday and will be lining up the fenders and oai hood hopefully over the weekend. Then paint, and we can start putting it back together. The engine should be done in a couple of weeks as well. My goal is to have it on the road in the spring.....

 

Starting to come together nicely!! It will be a very sharp looking car when done. I have a question did they base and clear the jambs then put the car together? Also when you paint it will you tape off the jambs,cowl and undercarriage somehow? I ask because I always have a problem leaving a car all apart to paint (I run out of room). I like the idea of the car being together for paint but don't want any tape lines in the hood,door and trunk jambs. Thanks for sharing you pics.

 

Hi 70Vista. Thanks for looking. The door jambs, trunk, cowl and under body were painted, then clear coated. When the final pain is done, my body man Dennis will tape off these areas when he paints, then remove the tape when he clears. The clear will be blended in. The hood and trunk will be painted off the car. We don't want to take the doors off because they are such a pain to put back on with out scratching something.

 

Nice progress Man!!!!!

I think that will be an awesome Cutlass when she´s done!!!!!!

Keep us posted with pics!!!!

Greets from Germany,
Torsten

 

Looks great. Are you planning on a total stock clone 442 resto or a restomod type with aftermarket components?

 

Nice progress, springs comming, well winter really, but spring is around the next corner. varooooom

 

I love seeing the progress Take more pics!

Ben

 

Hi Guys, Here are some more pics of the Olds. We now have fenders and the Ram Air hood. We just need to line up the hood and fenders and it will go in for paint. Hopefully in the next week or so The guy with the orange ball cap is Leo. He is redoing a Buick GS Stage I. I know it's not an olds, but it is a GM A-Body, and it's not a Chevelle...lol. The guy working on the front by the drivers side A pillar is Jesse Henke. He's the owner of JH Restorations in Windsor Ontario. Great guy, huge help, great work.

 

Starting to come together. Will it be finished by spring ?

 

starting to look like a car. Nice work!!

 

It will be mostly stock with a few exceptions. I went with cross drilled oversized front disk brakes with oversized drums in the rear. The engine is being built to W-31 specs, and the stock rally wheels. After I get this all paid for I would like to move to larger tires, shocks, sway bars. Butt, that will have to wait for now. Thanks for looking.

Joe

 

Hey Bulldog. Yes, it better be. Everything else is ready to go. The big job I need to get done now is the paint. Back in November my body guy Dennins blocked the shell so it would ready to go. Now, all he has to do before paint is the front fenders, and the hood. After it's painted we can start putting everything back on.

 

Really nice work going on w/ the build. If I were in the Detroit area, I'd go by just to check the car out, the shop, and to meet a site member and the guys doing the work also. I've met up w/ members of other sites I belong to, ie; Corvette Forum and Classic Ford Trucks. There's nothing like getting up w/ people who are into the same thing to the same extent. And there's nothing like new friendships. That's the main thing I've always missed about the military, there being so many friends, both old and new and more all the time. Makes life so much more interesting. Best of luck on the build and I'll be looking foreward to the future progress. So far, no doubt it'll be a beauty when it's completed.

 

how is the build going? any updates?

 

Seems I am in restoration limbo...I have all the panels on and lined up. My body man has sanded and blocked, primed, sanded and blocked. We are waiting on the paint shop. We are using the paint booth at the shop where he knows the owner. The problem is that they now have a 45 foot off shore racing boat they are doing, and it takes up the whole shop...So we are going to do the final prime and sand in my garage, then take the car in and paint it.

The frustrating part is that everything else is ready to go. Has this happened to anyone else, or are the resto gods mad at me. I am just waiting for the color..I will take some pics of the car and get them on here this week.

Thanks for checking in on me. Muchly appreciated!

Joe

 

Here are some more pics of the restoration. I got the ram air hood back from my body guy Dennis. He painted it at Chatham Kent Collision in Tilbury Ontario. It feels so good to see color on the primered parts. There are also some pics of the car. She is final primed now. All that is left is to paint the top of the dash, scuff her, and paint her. Can't wait!

The engine and transmission are done and ready to be dropped in. This has to be the hardest part knowing everything is coming together, but not quite fast enough.

 

Very nice color! Looks like you have done a great job. let me know if you guys are planning on attending any olds shows in Detroit? The olds club has a nice area at the Dream cruise.

 

Thanks Tim. I usually go to the Olds show in Lansing to get parts. I will be going to the Dream cruise this year. I will let you know to see where you guys get together.

 

Forward progress! We took the 442 out to get fresh paint on Tuesday. My body guy Dennins Cunningham shot it, cleared it and baked it on thursday 5/27/10.

Jesse from JH Restorations in Windsor Ontario took me out this morning 5/28/10 to pick her up. She looks good with color on her!

I want to thank Chris & Ryan at Chatham Kent Collision in Tilbury Ontario for the use of their awesome downdraft paint booth and for their help to tweak the line up on the doors, and seam sealing where the rear quarter panels meet the rocker molding.

Dennis did a great job, and was a huge help! Now we can start putting it back together. Hopefully we will have everything ready to go in about 4-6 weeks. Here are some pics.

 

Well. We are moving right along. we now have door handles, marker lights, front/rear bumpers, wiring for the engine and interior, locks. The inside now has carpet, back seat, and door panels. The engine should be back in about two weeks. So my friend Bill and I need to get the console in, seats, dash and gauges. Then the windshield. The progress lately has been really good, but hotter and humider than heck. Please have a look at the pics, especially the last one. My friend Bill thought he would be a wise *** and jump into the picture. He also didn't think I would post it like a told him I would. Thanks. Joe

 

I see you are from Ontario - like the job you are doing - where have you been getting parts from???? I am starting work on my 71 convertible.

 

My car is at JH Restorations in Windsor Ontario. They are distributors for mostly GM A bodies, like our Cutlasses. Call Jesse Henke at (519) 737-8902. With the Canadian dollar being at close to par the prices are pretty good.

They have done a lot of the work on my car and they do a great job. If you do call them, please tell them that you were referred by Joe McFadden.

 

Well, we are hummin' right along now. The drive line is in, the gas tank, fuel lines, brake lines, new tires mounted.

Today we did final fitting for the front bumper, man what a pain in the butt! We also did the inner fenders, and put the carbinator on. Really the only stuff left to do is to finish the wiring under the dash and hood, install the windshield, then fire that bad boy up!

 

Today was a huge day. We got the Olds fired up on Wednesday night. She sounds sweet! We did have some issues with the float on the carb, and the alternator. We got it all buttoned down today, and I got to drive it around the parking lot! I still have to put the hood on, do the stripes, and get the front end aligment done.

I will post pics when I get them.

 

Love that color . So what stripe pattern are you going with, the original W-29 striping or the W-30? If you need help with original W-29 striping, let me know.

 

I brought her home today! I will be going with the W-30 stripes because I went with a nice ram air hood. Instead of the W-30 badge I will be using the W-31 because it's a 350 not a 455. I will post pics soon.