Greetings all. My name is Rob, and I am currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan. I have been here for the last 4 years, and will finally get home to my car back in the states next month. I bought a 1970 Olds Cutlass about a year before coming here, and have missed it ever since.

It has been in the shop for the last year (They are taking their time/cheap rate). I stumbled across this page, and thought it would be a great place to gather information as I begin to fully restore my car.

I did gather great information regarding the stripes that the Cutlass should have depending upon their model. For that, I am not including any stripes on my car when it gets painted this month. For some reason the guy I bought it off of had the stripes on the trunk and hood. My car is neither a 442, pace car, or hurst so I decided to not get any stripes.

I look forward to stoping back from time to time to see what's going on.

See ya around,
Rob

 

Welcome to the site... A lot of good info here. Also I was stationed at Okinawa, Japan back in the mid 80's....

 

Good stuff. I am sure it is much different now, but it's still this little island. I am ready for Wal-Mart.

Anyone have a recommendation for a new carberator?

 

I have no recommendations for a carb, I'm sure somebody on this site will chime in. Is the engine built up or stock ?

 

From my understanding, it is pretty much built up from the original. I don't think any major components were placed on it though. I know it has an aftermarket carb on it now, but it is beginning to fail. I was wondering if any one brand is better than another. It def needs to be 4 barrel of course...

 

I would use a stock Quadrajet, they work well if rebuilt correctly.

Semper Fi.

 

Welcome aboard Thank you for your service

 

When you get back in country take and send some pictures. You'll find lots of help on this site.

Thanks for your service

 

I was born in Okinawa in December 1953, I'd love to see the place, we left in March '54. Love to see pics of your car when you get back here too.

 

Hey guys. I have a few pictures of my car on my profile. I am not sure how to load them into the thread or to post a picture to the left like you all have. The size of the picture has limited me to load more into the folder on my profile, but will work on adjusting those later.

Born in Okinawa 90customcruiser. That is very interesting. Are you Okinawan, or were here shortly after the war?

I never heard of a Quadrajet. I will have to look into that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ah, interesting enough, the Quadrajet is a GM product they produced up until the 1990 or so. Thanks for the education lesson. I am sure that is what the car had at one point. It now has a edelbrock carb that the guy before me put on when he rebuilt the engine. Before I left 4 years ago, I noticed that it wasn't working to it's full potential.

Plus, I want to get a new "shinny" one.... =)

 

OldsCutlass70, I was born to American parents in Dec. '53, our dad was stationed over there from about 1947 to 1953, he was from New York state, and our mom was from Virginia. I know you say your Olds is over here, but just for the record, is there any good American iron presently in Okinawa? I'll check your profile to see your car.

 

Mainly skylines and STIs... No iron love here at all. A buddy brought his chevelle here, but paid for it due to the island weather. Plenty of salt to rust the car...

 

Welcome to CO

 

Welcome, good to have ya here.

 

Thanks OldsCutlass70, that figures about the salt. We had a '51 Mercury there from maybe late '50 until we left in March '54. That car spent the rest of its life with us in at least three snow states, and was traded off seven months after we moved here in Florida. I got a look at your pics, great car!

 

Nice to see you've already been welcomed aboard by some of the guys!
Nice looking car. I assume you're keeping the color black?

 

Thanks all. I am keeping her black. More pics to follow.

 

The avatar (pic to the left and under username) has to be within a certain size limit. However you can add one here > User CP as well as change your signature and all sorts of stuff there too

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Welcome to CO you will find lots of great info and help here.
Like everyone says post picks when you get home.
I spent a tour at Camp Shields way back in the late 80's. "Can Do"!
Thank you for your service.

 

Good old Camp Shields. I am happy to come accross people with the same love for the car, and traveled to the same area. I really wasn't expecting to find anyone that has been here, let alone born in Okinawa on this site. Four years here is plenty enough. It's time to get home to my baby that I have missed so dearly!

I posted a few pictures in my album that my brother took last week. It still has some work left, but the shop is finishing up the sanding and priming. It should be painted in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for your comment.

 

I copied this over to this thread so we don't hijack Dee's thread, ok?Looked at your profile album and it's showing some nice progress. The side shot of the car shows the Cutlass S badging quite clearly. The engine looks like a 350 with some nice bling to it? Is the engine an original 2 or 4bbl?

The VIN you listed identifies the car as a 1970 Cutlass S Holiday coupe. The letter E means it was built in Linden, New Jersey.

 

As Allan states, you have a "S" Holiday Coupe, confirmed by the VIN. The pic I posted here shows the roofline and rear quarters that give the '70-72 Supreme their body style differences, as opposed to the fastback design of the "S" and 442.

 

Hey Dan, I thought you sold that car!

Dee, you can clearly see how the quarter panel and roof line is different with the CS as Dan pointed out. Some folks will call your design "Fastback" because of the long rear window slope and curved quarter panel; the CS is also referred to as 'Notchback" because of the more squared off quarter glass and rear window roofline.

 

Thanks guys for the info. I am happy the VIN matches up to what it actually is. More interesting is that I am from New Jersey. I bought the car from a mechanic in Tennessee. His wife lost her job, and he needed the money. He was heartbroken selling it, but I could tell he needed to at the time.

I do not have that hard top like that. Is that the difference between the Supreme verse the Fastback? So my car is a Fastback "S" I suppose, and not a Supreme right?

I just got pictures today with some of the paint work. Please let me know what you think. The carb that is on it is an Edelbrock 4 bbl. It needs to be changed out, because I was having some issue with it 4 years ago before I got stationed here.

Thanks again guys for your comments. I am truly learning more and more about the car in general which means a lot to me.
Sequence at that factory.

 

Thanks for your service. I was there '68-71. Remember Highway 1 very well.

 

Basically for hardtops that's the difference. You have a Cutlass S Holiday coupe (or fastback coupe) just like mine. BTW, the S stands for 'Sports'. Fair number of people don't seem to know that.

Don't get side tracked with Cutlass Supreme ok? There were several models of CS - The Hardtop Holiday (notchback) coupe, Convertible, and CS Holiday 4 door sedan. All you have to remember is you have a Cutlass S, not CS

BTW I see you've got the painted shell in your avatar now. Please post some full size on the thread for all to see.

 

Sports. That is very interesting also. Basically, I have a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass "Sports" Holiday coupe.

I use to have a 77 Cutlass Supreme, but didn't know what made them apart.

By the way, your car is very clean! Great looking! I had a question in regards to the stripe that goes down the side. My car had a metal strip with the S, but I see you have a painted strip and have seen it on many others. Is there a difference, or is it simply a prefrence?

I have attached the 4 pictures my brother sent me today with the paint being applied.

 

Exactly!

Originally my car had the body side molding too, but I elected to remove it because I liked the idea of a stripe on the sides and it was NEVER going to be a daily driver going to parking malls and getting all dinged up again. Here's the thing about the stripe. I had it installed as a decal in case I ever wanted to go to all silver again. I had a local company (Supergraphics) install it. The stripe is technically wrong for my car. Why? Because that stripe was reserved for W30 cars. W29 cars had a different set of 3 stripes all together. So in my case I put it on because I really like the look. It can be off the car any time I want in about 3 hours. I'd do it all over again given the choice - todays graphics are sooooo much better than back in 86 when I had that done.

Your car is coming together nicely. Only thing I don't like about black is trying to keep it clean. I'm sure you're all too familiar with that story....

 

Thanks for the info. I am not sure if I am going to get the metal molding back on it or not. I might keep it solid, with no stripes, but I really enjoy the painted or like you mentioned decal stripes.

Black is a love hate relationship.

 

"Hey Dan, I thought you sold that car!" I did, but the photos remain!

 

Totally understand what you mean. When it's clean it's gorgeous. Keeping the swirls, fading and dust off is a nightmare. Remember Gino Vanelli? (Black Cars - look better in the shade)

re: the side molding. Did the shop remove the metal pins that hold the molding clips? If they did the only way you'd have to put the molding back on now is with 2 sided tape.

 

It appears by looking at the painted pictures that were taken a few days ago that he did remove the brackets. It looks smooth as can be, and I doubt he was planning on putting them back on. The side molding itself wasnt in the best shape, so he probally thought it would be best to remove them in all.

I might down the road put the 2 sided tape stripes on, but I am kinda enjoying the smooth solid look (at least for now).