Cutlass Fan

A great story!

Desmo61

Hi Gary, Can I ask about interior door handles and escutcheons?






The pot metal handles are deteriorating. I have a local sculptor who can make replacements. But before I commit I would like to know if there is reproductions made.
The escutcheons are cracking - not sure if that is age related. Removing the handles was very difficult.
One thing that I do not know is are the US and Australian models fitted with the same handles?

Any ideas and advice greatly appreciated.

Des

garykrig

I did my car over 43 years ago, and the handles were all in very good shape. I was able to polish the plastic ***** on the window cranks and dash so they looked like new when I was finished. Your ***** look like they would cleanup nicely, if they could be removed without breaking. There are reproduction ***** for Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac but none for Oldsmobile that I am aware of. The best is to look at what is out there and match them as close as possible. Most handles in the US are splined and not a hexagon like yours, that is what I see is the biggest and most expensive challenge, reproducing or restoring them. The escutcheons on my car are metal and where real nice so I was able to reuse them. If all of your escutcheons look like the you have pictured I clean them up also. There is also a variety of those available from the reproduction people. Check on the what is now the 32-36 Olds facebook page, maybe you are already on there, you will get a lot of help there also.

fredb_

Nice thread, thanks for the photos and interesting information.

Patolds

Gudday Des

Here I am.

Something like 30 years ago I was tricked into a trip to Castlemaine to pick up a Holden FX sedan....the misses knew my dream car was the 35 oldsmobile sloper.

An evil plan hatched at the hot run run in Narrandera!



Many years later I got around to starting it.

Cheers Paddy

Desmo61

Interesting. I assume your car is in the foreground. The car in the background looks like it has suicide doors, so was that another one.

My car was originally burgundy and was repainted a yellowish cream colour. Those cars looks similar colour - or is that a white paint?

Patolds

Gudday Des

Yes the sloper is in the foreground,. the other from memory was a mid 30's Mopar jobbie .. not real flash.

Lighting and fading over time make the car look whitish, but curiously, it was oversprayed cream on top and a light green below the swage line including front sheet metal.

Over the original dark blue from the factory. Did service as a taxi or delivery vehicle maybe?

The brake master you asked about is falcon XA/XB twin system. Made a template and fabricated a mount using original Olds mounting points at the chassis.

I intend returning the timber frame but with extra steel gusseting an incorporating steel anti intrusion crash bars in doors and rear quarters.

The original 213 has been rebuilt with some added flavour....hmmmm! Being early Olds nothing is off the shelf and most bits were fabricated. Will run original gearbox .. luv the noise...and a modified '39 Olds rear.

It took 15 years to find a reproduction grille from the US .. and I still don't know if it fits properly. The inlet manifold came from Canada.

Enough for now.

Yours looks pretty smick ... little green eyes of jealousy here. Is it a driver mate?

Cheers Paddy

Patolds

An afterthought Des

0447 353 629

Cheers Paddy

Desmo61

Hey Paddy,

Yes mine is a runner .



With my son’s help I got these front windows in yesterday.

Now that I have the front widows installed I am very happy.

Next step is to finish the wiring and then work out how to get the headliner sorted out. I would like to rescue the original, but I am not sure it is viable.



The 3D copies and the original

Should look good once painted

I found a young fella who is studying engineering and working part time at the local rod shop - Castlemaine Rod Shop. He does 3D printing so, So I got him to copy the missing wiper bezel. A good solution I think. He is now doing some parts for my bike that you can no longer buy or find.

I will give you a call,

Cheers Des

Patolds

For some reason Des, I completely missed this posting! Sorry Mate.

Screen looks the bee's knees!

Good to hear it's a runner...haven't fired mine up yet!

How's your progress? The shed is cold at night now...eh?

Cheers Paddy.

Desmo61

Hey Paddy, I tried calling and left a message.

I was out last Sunday and had an oil pressure issue. I was advised that the sludge in the pan could be the issue, but all good there. This wouldn’t have helped:


No sludge here, and no mesh either 😳😳



There is some gunk on the walls, but the notes look good to my amateur eye.

Also my water pump is leaking so I think I will replace the cork gasket with paper.

so I am trying to repair the oil screen with some $2 tea strainers.

I took the oil pump to the local vintage guru and he suggested new gears. He said the current gears had suffered from too much wear from the ‘crap’. I didn’t show him the oil screen 😉. The 5 thou clearance should be closer to 2 thou.

So, all good here, and yes it’s a bit crisp in the shed at night.

cheers Des

Patolds

Good doing the phone thing tonight Des.

Will keep in touch.

Cheers Paddy.