Just wanted to introduce myself and have a place to post some info about a new addition to my herd. I live in central Ohio and as the title suggests, I recently purchased a 1971 Cutlass S, my first Oldsmobile. It is also my first big block car; it has a 455 in front of a TH400 with a few Edelbrock goodies thrown in for fun. I am largely unsure of the cars history as I purchased it from a dealership wholesale lot where it had been traded in. What I do know is that it was built in Fremont, California and was originally a V8 car with a column shift automatic. Somewhere along the way it was converted to floor shift with a B&M Megashifter. I do not believe the block is original, at least according to the casting number by the water pump (396021Fa which is for '72 and later, as far as I know.) It has some typical "old car charm" like a leaky trans pan and noisy speedometer cable, and the hvac system appears to have been completely removed including the factory equipped A/C. Otherwise the car is solid, rust free, and an absolute blast to drive! I have used one of the few pictures of the car as my signature and avatar, but I will post up decent pictures once it gets a bath.

Questions, comments, criticisms? Shoot them my way, I love talking about my cars!

 

Welcome, nice find.

 

Welcome fellow Buckeye. The members love pictures. Every car has minor problems, lots of parts available from members. Later, Ken

 

Welcome aboard, very nice looking car.

Post a pic of the cowl tag and give us the VIN? We can decode it for you and give you more info about the car. Do you know where to check the block to find the VIN derivative, or is knowing the engine origin important to you?

Luckily, these model years have a huge after market vendor supply of parts too.

 

Welcome to the site. I am in Central Ohio too. Hope to see you around!

 

I am not terribly concerned about the engine originality, but I am curious. I believe the vin derivative is located on the drivers rear of the block, but I am completely new to GM/Olds engines.

VIN is 336871Z124045 which I have decoded as:
3- Olds
36- Cutlass V8
87- 2DR Holiday Coupe
1- 1971
Z- Fremont, CA plant
124045- production number.

Let me know if any of that is incorrect. Cowl tag is a different story, I have been having a hard time finding what the codes mean. Sorry for the crappy quality of cowl tag pictures, I couldn't get the sun to cooperate. I will be driving the car on nice days, so if you are on the east side of Columbus you might spot me cruising. I will also be taking it to Cars and Coffee at the Lennox tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

 

Your decode on the VIN is good.

The cowl tag information


ST-71 - 1971 model year
3 - Oldsmobile
36 - Model - Cutlass with V8
87 - Body style - Cutlass S (Sports) hard top coupe (also called Holiday)
Z - Fisher Body Works at Freemont (responsible to build the shell from the cowl back, and install interior + trim components) Cars were also painted by Fisher.
BDY O8240 - number assigned to body build by Freemont Fisher Body Works. Not related to VIN. Note that Freemont did not produce nearly as many A body Olds as Lansing.
TR 947 - White vinyl/cloth combination trim
PNT 53 11 - Bottom body color Saturn Gold, Upper: white. This means your car was what's called a 'two tone' color combo. The trim used to separate the colors was the same as that used for vinyl roofs
05C - Fisher time build code: third week (C) of May (05) 1971

The other number sequences on the cowl tag are references to the build sheet used for this car.

The stamped '1' is a question mark no one has been able to give a firm answer to. Cowl tags from Freemont have been identified with "1", '2' and '3' stamped on them too. Some speculation is that is the shift that made the car.

 

I won't make it to Cars and Coffee this week. It's soccer season for my oldest and the car isn't back on the road yet. I plan to drive it again in a couple of weeks if all goes well. I am on the east side too.