Hello everyone. I am new to ClassicOldsmobile.com so I figured I would introduce myself. My name is Richard. I am from New Albany, IN. I have become the new owner of 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass F87 2 Door HT Coupe. I had been looking for a classic GM project car for a few months and decided on this 1972 Olds Cutlass. I Found The Cutlass, which was located in Bagdad, Ky on Louisville Craigslist. The car had been sitting for the last 8 Years. I purchased the car and had it towed home on a roll back. I plan to start working on it this spring / summer. I have taken some pictures and uploaded them to Photobucket so check them out if You would like. I am Looking forward to this project and will update Photobucket as it progresses. I am also looking forward to hearing from You all. This is my first classic car so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

http://s1092.beta.photobucket.com/us...20Door%20Coupe

 

Welcome Richard, a little air in the tires and it looked 100% better!
Ed

 

you are in the right place

 

Congrats on the car. Looking forward to seeing the work in progress photos.

By the way, I know New Albany. I have some family up there. They live in the Corydon and Memphis areas.

Welcome aboard!

 

Nice score Richard! The car looks much happier on the truck
Keep us informed of your progress.
What motor is in it?.......ummmmm dual exhausts and looks like a 70 grille?
Any more history on the car other than it sat for 8 years?
Where was it assembled ? I will stop, too many questipns

Welcome!

Ted

 

Welcome to CO and congrats on your purchase. Look forward to the pics of your resto.

 

Welcome, looks like a pretty solid car. You will find anything you need to know on this site. Lots of very knowledgable people on here for sure.
Lots of us sell parts also(me included), & can provide about any part you may need.
I am in Indianapolis & a few other guys live in Indiana also.
Good luck!

 

I thought the same thing. It looked much better out of the mud and sitting straight and level. Looks like a good project.

I like a guy who takes three dozen photos of just this process alone, including two which don't even show the car but instead just the mud tracks it left behind!

 

Nice Find ! What type of resto are you considering? Are you looking to keep everything original or personalizing to your liking?

 

Thanks Ed. Surprisingly 3 of the 4 tires were holding air. The car had sunk in the ground 3 - 4 inches from 8 years of sitting.

 

Olds442RedBeret, Thanks . I plan to start once this cold weather breaks. Will post progress. I have family in Corydon / Harrison County also. My Grandmother & Grandfather, Great Grandmother & Great Grandfather, were all born and raised there. My Relatives are Jones', Bliss', Watson, & Smiths.

 

Old Skl 69, Thanks. will have some pics soon.

 

Sammy, I felt much better also once it was on the truck. Will take more pictures as progress is made. As far as the engine goes it has a 350 Olds With a 3 speed trans. I am assuming a THM350. I haven't really fooled with it yet. I don't have much history on the car. The owner died in 2003 and his son parked it. The Vin # is 3F87M2M227080. The cowl tag reads ST 72 33287LAN481680 BDY 310 57 B PNT 462. This may answer some of Your questions. Let me know what You figure out.

 

I wondered about this and the effect of this on the condition of the chassis and particularly the floors. But from what we've seen in your photos, things look pretty solid.

 

Oldspackrat. Thanks. It looks pretty solid for its age. I will find out just how solid very soon. I am sure sitting 8 years didn't help it . At least, I saved It from further deterioration.

 

Congrats. It doesn't look bad. Hopefully the under side looks OK once you rip into it. Just as an FYI the grilles on the car look to be a '70 Supreme. A '70 mounts the grilles separately so you won't be able to make those fit too good. Good luck with it.

 

I will probably end up doing a full restoration on the car. I would like to keep it original as much as possible though. I will be doing most of the work myself. I have quite a bit of media blasting ahead of me ! Should be well worth the time & effort in the end.

 

I planned on buying new grilles, stone shields and headlight bezels. I have the nose panel, it was laying in the trunk when I purchased the car.

 

Hi, and welcome to the forum! I'm a newbie myself, having just bought my '72 442 last weekend. The car I just bought is in pretty good shape, but I've rescusitated quite a few cars and trucks over the years (my Javelin and my Corvette as examples), and I love to see that you're saving your Cutlass! I agree with the others who've said you're in the right place, I learned a lot from this forum before I bought my '72, and look forward to learning and sharing more in the future.
Best of luck with the project!
Jeff

 

Do you have a picture of the "nose panel"? I ask because that front bumper is from a 1970 car, so it's possible that "nose panel" is for a '70 too since for a '71/'72 the "nose panel" is actually part of the stone shield.

 

Welcome aboard Great score I believe your interior trim code should read 910 instead of 310 which translates to black themed interior. 57 = Baroque Gold B = Black vinyl top, which was removed at some point. Lansing build 350 4bbl the 462 is probably no right as I believe it should be a date code or an option, maybe a picture would clear it up if interested.

 

Looks like someone removed the 4bbl at some point as well, probably for better gas mileage.

 

Thank You Jeff, Congrats on Your Cutlass 442. Before I purchased my car I was trying to determine which of the cutlass models it was and this site was what helped me identify it as an F87 Hard Top 2 Door Coupe. I was a bit confused with the different models ; Sports Coupe, Cutlass S, Cutlass HT & 442. In my search I seen a vast wealth of knowledge on this site. It's good to see so many people who have a common interest and so much invaluable knowledge all in one place. This is a great site and cant wait to get started on restoring my cutlass.

 

I'm not a big fan of the 2 Bbl Carburetors and had wondered if it was stock. I was going to put a 4 Bbl Quadrajet on it but would need an intake manifold ( I think ) to mount a 4 Bbl.

 

I will take a picture of it and post it to the Photobucket page tomorrow. Someone else mentioned 70' Grilles. I was told by the owner that his dad had a 70' 442 at some point in time. I noticed on the sticker on the glove box it says 442 which added to the confusion when I was trying to figure out which model it was. My question is would the 1972 hood be the same as a 1970 ? Does the nose panel on a 70 attach to the hood or on the car ? I was looking at the stone shields and noticed it was built in to the sheild.

 

Thank You GAOldsman. Glad to part of the club. I still have a little cleaning to do on the cowl tag as some of the numbers weren't very legible. Will work on that tomorrow. Will take a picture and upload it to the Photobucket page.

 

Welcome to C.O!
Glad to see you've decided to restore a nice classic. I looked at your photobucket album and was impressed with the overall shape of the car - all things considering.

There are a few things that you'll need to address if this is going to be a stock restoration.
* the grills are from a 1970 CS
* the front bumper is also from a 1970 Cutlass
* mirrors are aftermarket - not original

Good thing is there are LOTS of 1970-72 Cutlass parts being produced from numerous vendors now. Including complete interior.


You VIN translates like this:
3 - Oldsmobile Division of GM
F - Cutlass (base model)
87 - Holiday Coupe
M - 350 4bbl V8 - 200 hp with N10 dual exhaust
2 - 1972 production year
M - Lansing Manufacture
227080 - Production sequence at Lansing.

ST 72 33287LAN481680 BDY 310 57 B PNT 462
Your cowl tag translates:
ST72 - 1972 model year
3 - Oldsmobile
32 - Cutlass (actually it's a 3200 series car)
87 - Holiday coupe
LAN - Lansing production
481680 - Fisher body works assigned body number (not related to VIN)
TRM 310 - Most likely this should be 910 - black interior
PNT 57 B - lower body color Baroque Gold, Upper: black vinyl roof
462 -??? Most likely this is by a rivet and hard to read completely? Should be 04 and a letter like A B C D or E. That indicates the build month/week. My car was built at Lansing in April of 72 and is body 442387. Based on that I'd suggest your number/letter is likely 04 D - 4th week of April 1972.

The stoneshield you found in the trunk - if it's a one piece molding that looks like this pic, it's proper for the car.

You'll need the proper grills for 72 to restore it. Just an FYI, the Cutlass, Cutlass S grills are getting harder to find. If you decide to 'clone' it into a 442 that's not really a big deal if you represent it that way. 1972 is the easiest to clone, and it also allowed almost all the Cutlass models to be badged that way. In 72 however it's wrong to have a 442 emblem on the glove box.

 

Welcome, nice project. If you are going to switch back the front to 1972 I may be interested in buying the 70 Grilles. I remember I aprx 10-12 years ago one of the aftermarket venders put a picture of a 71 or 72 convertible with a 70 oai hood on it. They some how cut the grilles and made it all fit but it was wrong. I thought if they use this pic as a example their stuff I surely won't buy from them....!! anyway, lots of stuff was done back in the day. Good luck w/ the car.

 

Your hood looks right for the car. The 70 hood is a little more rounded toward the front where the stone shield would mount. Get a new bumper which in 71-72 has round parking lamps instead of square and some new grills and your in business! Also the stone shield Allan showed you. Good luck, nice project!

 

Darryl, you're correct - the hood is the right one specifically for a 72 Cutlass S. The faux grills really make it look nicer than the plain hoods. If you look carefully at the Photobucket pics, you'll see it's also the proper hood for AC cars. The non AC cars in 72 had vent piercings by the rear reveal trim. 71 models had piercings at the back regardless of AC or non AC. Strange little production change that makes no sense.

 

looks good!

 

Welcome!

Looks like a nice car to start with, as long as it's still got a floor.

One word of correction, if I may, though:
I noticed you typed "F87" three times, including in your user name.

Olds didn't make an F-87, they made an F-85, and since your VIN reads "3F87" it's a '72 Cutlass Holiday Coupe, and not a '72 F-85 Holiday Coupe, which would read "3D87" if they had made one (I believe the F-85 was only available as a post that year, and not a hardtop).

Good luck - it'll be great to watch your progress!

- Eric

 

Thank You Allen. I am going to clean up the cowl tag a little better and take a picture of it. Some of the numbers were a guess due to the junk built up on the plate. I thought the grills looked out of place and thought maybe they were missing some trim or something. Not really looking to make it a 442 clone. Just want to restore it back to original and with the exception of paint. On the glove box I believe they were swapped at some point in time. I will take a picture of that also. I am surprised You are calling it a Holiday Coupe. I thought G87 was the Holiday Coupe. Or is the 3G87 the Cutlass S Holiday Coupe ?

 

[QUOTE=MDchanic;515463]Welcome!

Looks like a nice car to start with, as long as it's still got a floor.

One word of correction, if I may, though:
I noticed you typed "F87" three times, including in your user name.

Olds didn't make an F-87, they made an F-85, and since your VIN reads "3F87" it's a '72 Cutlass Holiday Coupe, and not a '72 F-85 Holiday Coupe, which would read "3D87" if they had made one (I believe the F-85 was only available as a post that year, and not a hardtop).

Good luck - it'll be great to watch your progress!

- Eric[/QUOTE

I know 1972 was a weird Year for olds so maybe so maybe thats where the f87 surfaced. The title reads F87 on the model the VIN claims 3f87. I think I will let Allen or someone else chime in on this subject.

 

The fact that the VIN has the sequence F87 in it doesn't mean the car is an "Oldsmobile F-87". As Allan decoded it for you, in the VIN, the F is just a character referring to the base model while the 87 is just a code for the body style.

If it says F-87 on the title as in "Oldsmobile F-87" or "Oldsmobile F-87 Cutlass" or something like that, then the title is wrong, which can happen. I had a title once with a mistake in the VIN that took a bit of going around to get corrected.

Olds produced only one body style of the F-85 (non-Cutlass) for 1972, and it was a four-door sedan called a Town Sedan. Only 3,792 F-85's were made in 1972, making it the lowest-production A-body Oldsmobile that year.

I'm curious. How was 1972 a weird year for Olds? I know that the UAW strike against GM in the fall of 1970 delayed the introduction of the redesigned Cutlass by one model year from 1972 to 1973. The redesign was supposed to follow by one year the redesign of the larger cars, which occurred in 1971.

It's ironic I suppose, but it's because of that strike that we, today, have one additional year (1972) of collectible Cutlasses, including one additional year of the Cutlass convertible from that era. The convertible disappeared in '73 and didn't reappear until the 1990s.

 

I assumed the "F87" was a reference to the 3F87 VIN, not the model name. Unfortunately, mistakes the the DMV on title documents are all too common.

 

There have been plenty of times information got mixed up due to hard to read cowl tags, so I look forward to anything you find in better detail.

The reason I called it a Holiday Coupe is because that's the body style for the car.
F simply refers to the 'trim' level. For your car it's the base model.
G refers to the Cutlass S
J refers to the Cutlass Supreme

Note: the Cutlass and Cutlass S body styles used exactly the same parts. The only real distinguishing factors was the interior trim appointment and the exterior body moldings selected by Olds to identify the various model line ups. Cutlass Supreme used the same front but different roof line and rear quarter panels. The interior trim was also upgraded as it represented the top model of the Cutlass series of cars.

87 refers to the series - which is the Holiday Coupe. In those days the term "holiday" simply meant that there were no frames around the door glass. If your car had been manufactured as such it would be referred to as a 'post' car and would have a VIN that starts out 3F77

Your question" Or is the 3G87 the Cutlass S Holiday Coupe ?" is both a question and correct answer at the same time.

I'm not sure but I think your documentation might have gotten mixed up by the VIN. Your VIN does start off 3F87, but that only represents the factory method of identifying their various production standards. The original emblems on the 72 Cutlass (base) would simply be 'Cutlass'. As Eric and Jaunty pointed out the only f85 cars produced in 72 were 4 door Town Sedans.

Just an information tidbit. In 1972 even the 3F87 could have been ordered with the 442 appearance and handling option. However, if it was the molding package would be different, the car would be badged as a 442 and the hood/body/deck would all have received a special trim striping package.

 

Alright, well I just cant keep up with all the responses and questions for this post. I appreciate everyone's suggestions ,comments, and expertise. I don't even know If I am responding to people correctly. Lol. In the last 10 years of DIY projects I have seen plenty of forums on the net and this is the first one I have ever joined. I am very unfamiliar with the forums to say the least. Anyways, I had some time over the weekend and pulled the seats and carpet. I found what I was dreading all along. The front floor pans are rusted through. The trunk was covered with carpet that was wet and caused the trunk floor to rot. I have uploaded some more pictures to the Photobucket album. Please check them out if You would like .

http://s1092.beta.photobucket.com/us...20Door%20Coupe

 

None of the photobucket links in the three posts above work. At least, they didn't for me. I just get a "we cannot find the page you requested" error from photobucket.

 

Try this link. It did the same thing to me. The link in the first post works. They recently changed photobucket on me. I don't know how it looks for users who do not have an account. I currently have the beta page and would rather have my old theme back.

Also, I just uploaded a video of the car running for those interested.


http://s1092.beta.photobucket.com/us...20Door%20Coupe