I have a 72 cutlass supreme. at least it has a j in the vin so that is what I believe I have. someone made a 442 clone out of it. my question is how does every one feel about leaving the 442 grille on it if I restore everything else back to original. I really like this grille better than the one on the supreme. any thoughts?

 

It's not yours unless you build it... Do what you like and how you want it to be and be happy with the finished product. I like the 442 grills better also

 

The grills you have on the car in your pic are 72 supreme grills. Someone just took off the supreme emblem and put on the 442. The ones in my pic are from a 72 442.

Personally I don't care for 72 grills unless it's a 442 grill. I don't like how they stick out as compared to the previous years. But that's just me personally, it's you car you do what you want and what you think looks good.

 

Another pic.

 

JMO but the '72 Supreme grilles (the ones on your car now) are the least desirable of the body style's run from '70-72. I would run '72 442 grilles with either no emblem or a cutlass emblem.

 

so the supreme's were just not sunk in like on mine?

 

There were three different grille styles used in the 1972 model year.

Cutlass Supreme and Vista Cruiser (and H/O):



442:



All other Cutlii:

 

I like my grille so ill stay with that thank you for the pics

 

x2

 

The only Cutlass grill that was 'sunk in' or recessed in 72 was the 442. That was a styling change from 71 when all the grills were recessed. That's also why your rad support has those raised surfaces where the grill height forced a modification.

The CS HT's were not offered as W29 packages (which included the 442 appearance package) but the 72 CS verts were.

No doubt you'll get a few people who will point out the incorrect badging of the grill, but if you want to keep it that way - no problem. If you want to put it back to original? There are literally tons of those front Oldsmobile script emblems floating around as used or new parts. Even though your car is a CS, the script will only say Oldsmobile on the grill. You should also have individual letters on the deck lid that spell out O L D S M O B I L E, and the side script on the car will just say Cutlass. The glove box emblem will say Cutlass Supreme.

 

FYI the 72 HO used the supreme grill but w a black and silver color scheme like the 442 has. I like the 72 supreme grill, but the HO colors pick it up a notch IMHO t

 

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