Vega

Okay, so some of you have been following my search for a Cutlass. It has finally ended with a 72' Cutlass Supreme. I have the car itself which is in great restorable shape. Have new front and rear bumpers for it, new roof for it, lots of new misc parts for it, and an original 2-piece OAI hood for it. Here's pics of everything before i dig into her! Enjoy!


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Here's the game plan. Im going to strip her down, rebuild everything that needs rebuilding and get it into very clean driver shape. I do not want a show car, i like cars with character that arent too nice where you dont want to drive it. So it will be a frame-on rolling resto. The idea im aiming for is a 71' SX clone. Im going to put a 71' style vinyl top on it, 71' headlight bezels, 71' rear tail lights, SX badges, OAI hood. The car will be triple black when im done, black vinyl top, black leather interior with bucket seats and a Hurst dual-gate shifter, and black paint with hood stripes. Havent decided on what color to do the hood stripes in yet though, im waffling between white, gold, or red. So thats the idea. My 455 will be going into it, most likely replacing the TH350 with a TH400 or maybe a rebuild overdrive transmission (then i could have the dual-gate 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears, and then the "drive" gear would be overdrive). I might be looking for a 442 rear bumper with the exhaust cut-outs, in that case i might put a 70 bumper on it instead of a 71 since i like the 70 tail lights better. Thats the plan! I'll keep everyone updated with pics and info!

don71

Thats gonna be a fun project. I like where you're going with it, black on black yea

''i like cars with character that arent too nice where you dont want to drive it.'' Right ON !!

Vega

Thanks! Yeah its already a great way to pass the time. The last guy had it for a year and it never started in that time, me and my friend got it started in the first few hours it was here. Changed out the battery terminals and it fired right up! Haha

Had the car less than half a day and im already in love

oldspackrat

Glad to see someone is saving that car. It was in pretty sad shape when I found it.

Vega

Yeah, its in good enough shape for me. Runs good now, and its got a nasty idle which i love haha. I have pretty low standards when it comes to project cars, most cars people consider "parts cars" i see as great restorable candidates. Idk, it seems like people arent willing to put a whole lot of work in anymore. Im willing to go that extra step though. For me the fun isnt in the finish line its in the journey getting there. This project could take me 8 years and id still love it just because itd be so much fun getting just one more Cutlass, or A-body in general, back on the road and doing what it was born to do

I'll hit you up if i find anything i need Scott. Later on down the road i plan on putting an Olds dual-gate shifter in it, not sure if you have any of those laying around but if you run across any i may be interested sometime in the future

ah64pilot

I have a dual-gate, center console, and bucket seat frames that I was going to use for my car. I've decided to stick with the bench seat and column shift for health reasons, I have leg cancer and it's easier for me to sit on a bench seat with armrest. PM me if you're interested...I got the buckets from Brian (507Olds). They just need some cleanup, foam and covers...The console is a restored black console I got from billions and trillions.

I'm not sure about the dual gate yet, I may hang on to it for my dad's convertible....we haven't decided.

Vega

Thate great, let me know what you might want for it all, id be interested.

Got it running a few days ago, it ran ok, yesterday i changed out the plugs and wires and hooked it up to a charger and today i got it running again, runs a lot smoother with the new plugs and wires. The thing loves carb cleaner, it eats it like friggin catnip. Runs great now, has a pretty sweet idle. Gotta love these cars, they'll run forever. This one sat for a year and fired right up with some gas and a charge

Also i took the back seat out, build sheet is long gone. So i put a jack under the rear end and spun one wheel. Woohoo, posi-rear! One more thing to mark off my "to buy" list haha

Fear Reborn

If your looking for a cutout bumper and wanna save some cash. I got mine from ebay and I love it. Fit was very good, and chrome looks really nice. I got mine for 240 shipped so it definatley beats finding a original and getting it rechromed. This is a pic before I got my exhaust put on.
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Vega

Looks really good, i might be looking for a cutout bumper for either a 70 or 71, 71 would work better with my SX clone project but i really like the way the 70s look. Still not sure though, i have a 71' rear bumper without the cutouts thats in great shape so im still waffling on going with cutouts or not. Looking at your car makes me wish i had found a fastback haha i really love the lines on the fastbacks

ah64pilot

PM sent

RetroRanger

lookin good Vega

i too am all about 'cars with character that arent too nice where you dont want to drive it.''

I think Quad black would be really nice too flat or satin black stripes on the gloss black hood

firefrost gold

X2 on the stipe's satin black would set off a bad *** vibe

Vega

Thats a good idea, i'll keep that in mind and try to look up a few examples. I had been debating on what to do as far as that goes. I always felt like just leaving it black makes it look unfinished, like these hoods just beg for stripes whether their OAI or not

crzyjef

Are you going to fix the roof to where it is not a hard top " convertible"?

Vega

Naw it is going back to hardtop with a 71' style vinyl roof. Although i have to admit the thought did cross my mind "since im chopping the roof off i could just convert it to convertible" but im not sure if the convertibles had more structural bracing in the body of the car like modern convertibles do

droptopron

Looks like a nice project. Good luck with it. Some things to consider - mismatching the front clip with the rear '70 bumper might hurt you come resale time. Some people just won't like it that way. That being said, it is your car so do it your way.
Consider silver for the stripes. I saw a car that way & it looked great. Plus on Olds, you don't see it too much.

kpl70sx

in my opinion there is no cooler looking rear end than the Cutlass/442 with the cut-out bumper and the trumpet tips. This is a mod that you will enjoy everytime you see it from the back.

Also, I have a complete set of "Halo" trim for your new roof. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you pics.

Vega

Thatd be awsome, you can PM me some pics if you would like

Vega

Swiss cheese, crater lake, and "looks like F*ckin' Mars!"...yep, well i got the vinyl top off and its bad news city. I guess i cant get too upset because so far luck has been on my side 100% with this thing so we've got to take a little bad with a little good.

Finally got the Cutlass into the garage and ready for work, pulled the vinyl top off minutes later and it is baaaad. Bad bad bad. But i have a new roof for it so its not completely horrible i guess. Will be posting pics soon! Once the pics are posted the interior is next, it has to come out, then the body work begins.

442_Mustang

Nice Project... I am kinda partial to black Cutlasses myself. I had to put a roof on mine too. Good luck on it!

Vega

indeed, the whole triple black scheme is just amazing I think. It just looks so mean without going out of its way. How did you go about replacing the roof? I know this is going to happen on my project but I have no experience with roof replacement and haven't started compiling tips and ideas on the subject yet haha. I imagine it will involve lots and lots and lots of measurement. And then some measurement haha

Vega

rear interior and trim is out. Man those window cranks are annoying :/

442_Mustang

No, Not much measuring... I just carefully trimmed everything away on the used roof till I got to just the origional roof skin and then I cut the rusty roof off of my car. I went to the factory seams so the roof lined up fine. I used panelbond all along the edges where it meets to the driprail and welded the rest. The biggest pain is trimming away (Carefully) the origional roof at the driprails because the factory used some kind of roller weld and I just slowly ground away the weld with a cutoff wheel. If you need any help, just let me know. Glad to offer advice.:-)

Vega

Thanks! Yeah that sounds like a good way to do it, me and the guy I bought it off of were talking about doing the roof that way. The parts of the quarters under the vinyl all needs replaced too though, hoping I can get away with re-skinning that. I've been taking quite a few pics, will try to upload some soon but its hard coordinating that with dial up internet haha. Most of the interior is out now, the wiring was a cluster-f*ck. The last guy to do wiring on it had a wire on the tach that was red, spliced to a grey wire, spliced to an orange wire hahaha, yeaaahhh

Vega

Just got the dash out tonight, it was kind of a pain, lots of nicks and scrapes all over my arms. The studs werent bad, they came off easy enough but were just hard to find. Only broke one, the one furthest to the left on the driver side thats held in by a clip. I cant imagine getting this out without breaking it, it seems like a real nightmare.
Slowely getting there, soon will have the whole interior out and will start grinding away at the floor.

I might end up replacing the passenger side rear quarter. The upper part that makes up part of the roof is pretty boned. Also theres some dents and scrapes and material missing. Its save-able but i dont know if i want to go through all that hassel. Id rather not replace it as i have no idea how to cut and place quarters, its nothing like bolting a fender on. But im seeing this project through, whatever it needs ive got to do