I'm new on this site and thought I would check it out.
I am doing a full restoration on my 79 H/O. I'm looking
for the header emblem's on the nose pc. Any help would
be greatly appreciated. I'll check this site out and try to get
use to it.
Thank's Bill

 

Bill,

Welcome to CO. All of us love to see photos so please see if you can post a few of your car. Also, list at least the state where you are located as it might help with those who can assist you with parts. I'll forward this post to another CO member, bluecalais79, as he has a fair amount of parts for your HO and may have the header panel emblem.

Brian

 

Welcome Bill, post some pic's of your project.

 

Welcome Bill!
Post some pics of the HO....I am really starting to dig these cars

 

Here's a very rare and unique 79 HO that was originally owned by Hurst and was used at various events to promote Hurst and Linda Vaughn. There may be some restoration photos in this album that may assist Bill with his car.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...urst+olds.html

Brian

 

Thank's everyone! This is a pretty cool site. I'm from Iowa. I'll try to get some pic's of my car posted in the near future. But don't expect glamour at this point. This is a frame off restoration. I just got it back on the frame and took it to the paint shop 2 week's ago. They will have it 4-5 month's.
There is a lot of very nice car's on here, I'm really impressed.

 

Welcome to CO! Look forward to seeing your resto pics.

 

You got a nice looking car there. I'm going to scan in some pic's. probly next week.

 

New floor pan's, body bushing's, quarter panel, changed front fender's.
New ball joint's and spring's in the front end. Blasted frame and painted.
No interior or motor. This is how it went to the paint shop. I got a long way's to go. No short cut's here.

 

I had a 1978 Calais. The hood emblem and also sail panel emblems were garnet colored centers with one word ' Calais '. It looks exactly like this one below only in garnet color. I believe the 79 Calais has the black hood emblem and sail panel emblems. Brian can correct me if I'm mistaken. These emblems and laurels surrounding them remind me a bit of the ones used on the early 70's Ninety Eights

1971/72 LS emblems


1979 Calais Hood Ornament


When the Calais was introduced as FWD in 1984 it was still called Calais' and the emblem went back to red. So I think that there's some interchangeability in some of the years hood ornaments. After 1988 when the Cutlass RWD lineup stopped, the Calais was rebranded as the Cutlass Calais, and the hood emblem changed again.

 

I think your right on the year's of the emblem's. Mine look's just like the 79 emblem you posted. But mine is in pretty poor shape. The pic's I posted are a little dark in color, but that's all I had. I think the Calais and the H/O cars were the only ones to use the black back ground on the emblem's in 79. But I'm not sure.
Thank's

 

Hey Allen,
I don't know how far back you go on these car's. But I do have a 1957 old's 88 with the J2 in it. It only has 17,xxx original miles on it, all original never been touched.
I'm not no pro. at these car's. But I'v always liked the olds.

 

I'm not quite that old. I would have been 1 yr old when that car was born. 57 is one of the years IMO that is just killer for looks, somehow the 2 door and 4 door coupes just looked so elegant with all the windows down. One of the local guys here has 2 57's. Every time I see them I have to stop and go back in time. The 3 window back glass is quite the show stopper, and I really love the way the dashes were laid out.

Now if I had a 57 vert, that would be the ticket to ride!

 

welcome to CO! Looks like you have quite a project. Keep the pics coming. You may want to start a thread on the major builds forum. We do not see as many G body builds. It could be very informative for all.

 

Thank's Alan, they are pretty nice car's. I wasn't even born yet when the car was produced. Lol But that's ok. I like the old school stuff.
Thank's Sampson, I have thought about starting a thread on the major build forum.
Not to many of these car's out there. some part's are very hard to find. I still haven't found anyone that re-makes the quarter window seal's.

 

If anyone can point you in the right direction it will be Brian or Gene. Those pics that Brian linked into permalink 5 are the 79 HO he restored and sold to Gene IIRC, so he knows a lot about the builds on these cars too and is an invaluable source of info as he also used to work for Hurst back in the day. I wouldn't be surprised if he let Linda Vaugn sit on his lap just for fun.

Sometimes it takes a while for Gene to reply though. If you don't hear from him (he's really into 79 Calais's) Pm Brian (69442C). He and Gene are friends. I only know Gene casually.

 

Allan is correct in that the header panel emblem was black for the Calais and HO cars in 1979. I think the standard Cutlass used a red emblem. I'll confirm this with Gene tomorrow.

Are you referring to the seal on the lower exterior side of the qtr glass? If so I'm not familiar with any reproductions.

Gene bought his 79 HO in 1996 from the person I sold it to back in 1990. I restored it for Gene in 2004-2006.

Brian

 

Ok thank's Alan.

 

Yes that is the proper seal that I am talking about for the quarter window. It is an "L"
shaped seal. Rubber with a metal insert.
Thank's

 

OK, that's what I thought. That seal installs from the inside and is held in place with a few small screws which are covered with glass sealant tape/caulk. I've been trying to see if Gene has the parts you need but he's not addressing those questions so I'll have to assume this means he does not want to sell anything he has.

Have you reached out to Metro Molded Parts for the quarter window seals? They do not offer them in their catalog but it's possible they may make them if you send them what you have. I see their website talks about rubber parts bonded to metal strips so it might be possible. The worse they can tell you is no. Can't hurt to ask.

 

Your Exactly right on the installation of the seal. I'v never herd of metro molded part's.
I'll have to see if they are on the internet and check them out. Thank's for the tip. I have found every piece of rubber for this car except for the quarter window seal. I'v seen other people asking for the same exact piece. You would think somebody would make these. I think there would be a good market for them.
But ya, thank's a lot for your help.

 

Just curious, is the seal on your car no good? Is there any possibility of picking up a good used one from a donor car? IIRC the 78-80 bodies were identical.

 

I've been looking for a good pair of these seals for close to 5 years. The rubber cracks away from the metal core and then the metal rusts. If you found a good pair on a parts car they would be almost impossible to remove without destroying them. They're gooped in with sealer pretty good. I've never found any good ones on a car in the wrecking yard but I keep looking anyway... I don't know of anyone who reproduces these seals.

 

Ya, mine are brittle and cracked, I'v looked at a lot of them in the salvage yard's but they all seem to be about the same. Texxas is right on. They are hard to get out with out damaging them. I keep looking though.

 

Here is the link to Metro Molded Parts. If it were me, I would contact them to see if they would have interest in making them. If they want you to order more than 1 set, give thought to seeing how many other people may need them and put an order together for a quantity of them. Or buy a dozen sets and sell what you don't want.

http://metrommp.com/

 

Welcome aboard, Bill! Cool project, you don't see many '79's receiving frame off restorations.

I have a '79 Supreme daily driver (survivor) and plan on restoring it after my '77 restoration is completed.

Regarding the header panel emblem on non H/O and Calais models, as Brian mentioned, my car has the red (faded from age in my case) background with the Cutlass Supreme script.

Ditto on Metro Molded Parts. A few of the aftermarket outfitters are sourcing Metro for their weather seal supplies. If you get something worked out on with Metro, count me in for a set.

You mentioned finding every rubber seal besides the L shaped quarter window seal. Does your car have the outer window sweep with the small chrome strip or the full chrome band the covers the upper outer edge of the door(s)?

 

The 79 Calais and HO use the wide anodized aluminum molding that covers the top of the door (about 1.5" wide) and the window sweep is machine stamped to it, not screwed or riveted. A tool was used to deform the metal to cause the pieces to stay joined together from what I recall. I gave thought to having these door moldings restored for Gene's HO when I restored it but it wasn't as easy as I thought. Aside from removing the sweeps, the moldings would need to have the anodizing stripped, the aluminum polished and then re-anodized and then reinstall the sweeps. I spoke with the owner and he decided to leave the originals alone as they were not all that bad.

Brian

 

Thanks for the info Brian. Some of the other Cutlass models used the wide band window sweeps as well....except mine, of course. I have the window sweeps with the thin anodized aluminum strip.

Based on your assembly description, I may have to deal with what I have and wait for a nice set to show up some day.

I'm keeping an eye on Bill's restoration and taking notes along the way.

 

Kelvin,

Here is a photo of the upper door molding for the '79 Calais/HO cars and you'll see that shape of it matches the profile of the chromed cast aluminum trim around the quarter window. I'll have to look at a Supreme model on Ebay to see what that molding looks like. If you can come up with the part number for your molding, ask your local dealer to run a national search for it just to see if anything would be sitting on a dealership shelf somewhere. You never know since it may have been used on other makes that year.

Brian

 

Welcome to the Site!!!

 

Thank's guy's. My car has the wide chrome strip on top of the door and the sweep's are in really good shape. I kinda forgot about them rubber pieces, I guess because I didn't need them. Sorry about that.
Thank's for the short cut to metro molded part's. I'm going to contact them and see what I can do. I'll be sure to let everyone know. I wasn't on here yesterday as I went out of town. I seen a Calais on my way home, It was a 79. I talked to the owner and the motor and transmission is out of it right now. But anyway, it was a factory 5 speed.?????? I'v never seen one before. Is this a rare option???? The car itself isn't in real good shape. He offered to sell it to me. Not sure what I'm going to do. Thank's for the comment's and assistance.
Bill

 

Thanks again Brian. Yes, I'm familiar with those upper door molding and the matching quarter window trim. My car doesn't have either of those, just the thin trim piece and exposed door and quarter window body lines. In fear of not finding replacements like my originals, I removed a set, like the ones in your photo, from a '79 in a salvage yard to have as spares.

I'll research the othe GM cars of this vintage and see what I can find.

Bill, during your window seal research, did you notice if anyone was selling the thin trim window sweeps?

 

Kelvin,
I found a book I had laying around. It is a "Steele Rubber Product's" catalog.
They list it for 1978 cutlass 2dr notchback. They don't specify any trim width.
They have it listed as windowfelt & Beltline kit's.
They have the same thing listed for 1977-79 -88 2dr model's
Then 1981-88 cutlass 2dr hard top.
Nothing at all for a 79. Which makes no sense to me, 78 and 79 door's were the same.
BUT THIS CATALOG IS 2010. A new catalog would probly help or call them.
They do have an internet site also, you might want to check that out.

 

I'm going to start a new thread in the major builds section.
Bill