Wanted to say hello to everyone from Canada! I've been a Chevy guy my entire life and over the past year have been looking for a Chevelle to restore with my boy, but in my search I came across a 72 cutlass S that I couldn't say no to. Here are a couple pictures of me getting my new baby home.





The story behind the car is, after the original owner passed away his son decided he wanted to restore the car. All the body work was done and it was primed, the engine bay was cleaned and painted, original TH350 was rebuilt, all new brakes were installed, all new suspension and steering components and then the son lost his job and was forced to sell the car during the recession in 2007. I was drawn to the project because it is a complete car, everything that the son removed was boxed, labeled and left inside the car.

So the car was sold in 2007 to a guy who had an original rally 350 that had overheated and the block had cracked. The second owner took the 350 out of my car and put it in his 1970. He had planned to build another motor for my car and finish it but never got around to it and finally decided to sell it. Along I come and buy the car and the second owner threw in a 455 short block he had laying around, so I've decided I might as well turn the car into a W30 clone with a few little customizations I want.

Winters are cold out my way and my shop is not currently heated so the project probably wont really get under way until the spring, but the plan is to remove the body, box and powder coat the frame, it's going to need at least one floor pan replaced, and the 455 block will be getting stripped down and sent to get hot tanked and magna fluxed to make sure I've got a solid foundation to start my project.

Thanks for taking the time to read and maybe give me your two cents on the project. Looking forward to talking to all of you!

 

Welcome, nice project start! Start a rebuild thread here to keep us posted on your progress. If it were me though, unless it was rebuilt to handle it, I would consider swapping that TH350 for a TH400 which has a better chance of survival behind a healthy 455.

 

That was the plan, the rebuilt TH350 will be pulled and sold to be replaced by a built up TH400 as well as I'm looking at a big brake upgrade and some stiffer suspension to help the car handle the 450-500 hp I'm expecting to get out of the 455 once it's built the way I want it. I'm having a hard time identifying the rear end because there is heavy rust scaling and I can't read the case stamps so I will have to pull that out and clean it up once the body is off. one thing I did notice was the front of the carrier assembly is painted red. Did olds paint their 10 bolts red from the factory or is that something that would have been done after?

 

Welcome, cool project.

 

Welcome to the group... Good luck with the new Father/Son project...

 

Should make a great project! Welcome!

 

Welcome!

 

​​​​​​​
The red is from after the factory. The original 72 axle is a 10bolt 8.5 which can be built to handle any thing you throw at it

 

Ill welcome ya too. Looks like a solid project. Depth magnet the known rot areas to see if you need to go back in and correct the bondo bandits artistry. Now's the time unless you got pictures of the metal work under that primer.

Do yourself and all of us a favor and don't do a W anything clone.

When I walk up to a car at a show and its represented as one thing then I glance at the captain obvious numbers and its a poser its a let down. Whereas if its being presented as what it truly is with "unmarked" enhancements that gains my respect much more than a fake tribute or what ever the current vernacular is.

Posers have been beat into the ground.

How about keeping all the Cutlass S call outs and building a sleeper 442 W machine.

Outwardly it will appear as a regular Cutlass...which in it self is completely respectable.

Bolt on all the hard working hardware and let the guy in the opposite lane figure out why hes looking at your torque monster tail lights.

Your car do with it what you want. Just sayin the clone tribute thing is annoying.

 

Welcome! Looks like a solid project.

 

I actually really love that take on the project. Rather than trying to make it look like something high profile, make it look like a plain Jane base model cutlass until I line up with someone and blow the doors off of them. Thanks for the input!

 

Looks like a great project start. Good Luck with it.

 

Hey Matt from Niagara!

Welcome to the forum. I'm in a similar situation...snagged an Olds at an auction in November, and my son and I are making it pretty and fast! Keep the pics coming!
FYI, www.fusickautomotiveproducts.com is going to be your new fave website. They are VERY well stocked with Olds parts. I did an order on Dec 14th, and the package arrived yesterday!

Ty (From Norfolk)

 

Matt,
I also like Fusick but, their shipping costs to us here on the Canadian side is a bit much.
The UPS Store #6143 is 5 minutes over the border and you can use it as a US shipping address. Set it up online.
It may save you some money on shipping large orders.

 

Sometimes it’s nice to start with a clean slate and build the car you want without any expectations from anyone else. Sounds like your car will be a lot of fun once you get it finished!

 

Welcome aboard! Very nice project car! Another vendor that has a decent amount of Oldsmobile stuff is "Inline Tube". I think they located somewhere in Michigan.