Thank you for approving our membership to Classic Oldsmobile.com! My wife of 40 years, Pudge, and I recently purchased a 1969 Cutlass S convertible. This is the first drop top we have owned and the first "project" car Pudge picked. Pudge chose to name the car Catie Cutlass and came up with the personalized plate Catie will wear as well. Catie is Palomino Gold (63) with a gold interior and white top. Catie still has her original (130,000 mile) power-train of a 350 2 bbl carb, 3 spd auto, and a 12 bolt highway geared single wheel drive rear end. Previous owners have added Accel/Petronic ignition components, Edelbrock intake, and Holley 650 (?) 4 bbl carb. The engine, trans., and rear end have not been rebuilt but they perform very well as is. I have encountered difficulty with the complete decode of the cowl tag. VIN decode was easy. As with all project cars, Catie has an abundance of "little" things to address to make her completely ours, which is exactly what we wanted at our mutual youthful age of 63. We welcomed Catie to our home with the intention of keeping her 20 footer appearance, but you know how that goes.
Our only previous Olds was the "one that got away". A 1972 Cutlass 442 W-30 that we purchased back in the fall of 1982. W-30 received a partial frame off restoration at that time. Alas, we were young and without the income, space, or desire to drive W-30 through our challenging North Dakota winters. So W-30 was sold and is reported to be alive and well in Wyoming. We look forward to an enjoyable future with Classic Oldsmobile. Photos of Catie and W-30 will come your way in the near future if that would be OK with you. Thanks again. Craig and Pudge

 

Welcome to the best Olds site going! There are lots of people here that have '68 and '69 A-body Oldsmobiles and the expertise on this site is nothing short of phenomenal. Post some pics when you get the chance. Post a pic of your trim tag and folks here will decode it for you. But most importantly - ENJOY!

Randy C.

'68 4-4-2 convertible
'69 4-4-2 convertible

 

Thanks for your kind welcome sir! Will do on the pics of W-30 and Catie. Same-same of the trim tag. Should I post the pics as a continuance of this "thread" or risk picking the appropriate category elsewhere on the site?

 

Welcome to the site, look forward to the pictures.

 

Welcome to the group... Without a doubt you will be pleased with the amount of information available to overcome just about any problems you may encounter on your project...

 

You could post your trim tag either on this thread or perhaps in general discussion. Either way you'll get the answers!

Randy C.

 

Thanks Randy! Well here goes. I will attempt to post about ten photos of Catie. I am not a computer literate character, so don't lay down any greenbacks on this long shot. I will include a photo of Catie's trim tag, so if anyone could be so kind as to decode the tag, well, that would be great! Catie still wears the previous owner's plate, so I blocked it out to protect his anonymity. Please, no offense intended. It is kind of chilly up here in the NoDak, hence the garage shots. Well, here we go. 3 - 2 - 1 - Blast of with the Rocket 88........

 

Randy,
I forgot to resize the pics attached to my earlier reply, so we will give 'er another shot. This time I will do it on a seperate post. Craig

 

Well, a wise man once said, " The second try is a charm". Resized the photos of Catie. My apologies to administration for my foul up on the earlier attempt to post the pics. A photo of Catie's trim tag is enclosed. If anyone would be so kind as to decode the tag, that would be great! I hope everyone will enjoy the pics. Thanks for the warm welcome to the site. So here we go for the second try. Craig

 

Wow nice looking ride! Whats up with those back seat belts? They keep the kids locked in tight i guess.

 

We never know what tomorrow may bring, so we will now post some pics of our first Olds project. We named her "W-30" 'cause that is what she is. We bought W-30 in November of 1982 and completed a partial frame off rebuild in the early spring of 1983. Tons of stories to go with this one. 1972 442 W-30, 455, 4 spd, 4:11 posi rear end, power steering, manual brakes, bench seat, under-dash factory 8-track, factory Magnum 500 wheels, and no other options. The original owner blew up the engine and replaced it with a generic rebuild 455. Factory aluminum intake was cracked when we bought the car, so it was replaced with a wrecking yard '71 Vista Cruiser steel intake. This was a budget build as Pudge and I were just getting started with our careers. My friend's assistance was invaluable with our project. Finances for the project were limited so we could not afford to rechrome both bumpers, so they got sandblasted, straightened, and painted body color. At the time, I did not like the W-30 stripe package, so we changed it. We sold W-30 in the late fall of 1983 as we could not afford storage and we needed a more "practical" second car to make it through the brutal NoDak winters. The fellow we purchased W-30 from has stayed in touch with us and recently informed us that W-30 is alive and well in Wyoming. W-30 truly was the "one that got away". Hope everyone enjoys the pics. Craig

 

Steverw, Thanks man, you got that nail hammered right on the head. The fellow we bought Catie from a few weeks ago installed the three "4 point" safety harnesses for his children. He has one son age 8 and twin girls age 6. He said they worked great, the kids loved them, and his wife was really happy that the kids were safely secured. This was his wife's daily driver in the "good" months up here. In all the car shows that we have attended over the past 42 years, this is the first time I have ever seen these fighter jet safety harnesses in the back seat of a drop top. Gives new credence to the term Rocket 88. Haha........ Stay safe man, Craig

 

Very nice car, love the color.