Just picked up a 72 cutlass and the previous owner ripped out the original guage cluster and installed some nice auto meter guages in their place. It once had a bench seat , auto on the column, bench seat and stock radio. It also had a 2 bbl carb as well as a green interior.

Gone are those and now it has a 4 bbl, dual exhaust , a mostly black interior with a green dash , bucket seats and an auto on the floor. All in all I like the changes and will keep most and improve on the others. Will do something with the gauge cluster that at least nods to the stock set. The bluetooth radio is not bad and will probably replace some of the parts on the interior. Definetly change the headlight bezels to real 72 looking and not 71.But thats just me.

So what do you have? Just curious .

 

The headlight bezel difference is just 72 is painted black whereas 71 is polished stainless.

My car is fairly stock appearing but has some aftermarket and other year parts. The interior is as it left the factory with the exception of an aftermarket radio, amp under the seat, kick panel speakers up front, 6x9 boxes in back, tach stuffed into the clock opening, and a gauge trio under the dash/above the console.

Underhood is a rebuilt 350 with a Performer RPM intake, headers, QuadraJet carb, and GM HEI distributor. The rearend is a '68 O-Type 3.23 limited slip.

 

bud

mines slightly modified but mostly stock appearing, ive assembled my car w mostly GM parts swapped my blue dash to black, bought a mostly original 71 bucket seat interior as my car had none, im in the process of putting in a black headliner the original blue one was tattered. changed all the suspension bushings and springs and ball joints, add 1.25" fr and 1"rr sway bars a 3:42 posi and the rr frame braces as well as the fr fender braces....then replaced the orignal 350 w rebuilt 455,

for the most part my car looks original but a purist would recognise some 71-72 and after market parts mixed in.

BTW the 71-72 headlights bezels are the same except the 72 surrounds are black while the 71 is natural aluminum. The dash can be recolored w SEM vinyl die but taking the dash ouot is a big job.

one feature that my friends like to raz me about is the mediocre 20 year old backyard paint job, its all 1 color but only has a moderate shine and plenty of chips etc, i think its perfect i drive it anywhere and dont worry about dings etc

Dean

 

That's interesting about the bezels. I had wondered about it. I also forgot the shift kit and 3:42 rear end. I understand about the dash and might do what you did eventually.

 

My line of thinking is build the car you want, not a car the manufacturer intended you to have. I have a moderately heavy background with road and drag race cars so that's the direction I usually lean towards. The car I'm building for myself now will be a strip car with some street manners. From a distance it will look fairly unassuming aside from the ride height and wheel/tire combo. The interior will still have the factory panels and dash, but that's where the similarities end. My intended purpose is to have a fairly quick car that will be able to run Rocky mountain Race week without major issues yet be clean and aesthetically pleasing enough to take to car shows.

I think what makes this hobby so great is that everybody has their own ideas of what a car should be.

 

For me it depends on the car.

I really don't enjoy taking however long it takes and spending however much money it required to build or restore a car, only to take it to a show and see at least one or more that looks exactly like it.

On my wife's car (avatar) being that it was a very clean original and complete car, and the fact that it was for her, the car became an exercise in restraint. Yes, I shaved the emblems and trunk lock, and made up a factory appearing set of skirts for it, and lowered it a little bit. But it's basically a clean cruiser mostly stock vehicle. Yet when I take it somewhere, it stands out simply because it's a big boat Olds. If there happens to be another one or two there, it still stands out because of the subtle changes we did.

On another non-Olds car that I have, it was a wreck, when I got it. It was also a garden variety model and not a rare limited production vehicle. So I felt the sky was the limit and in the 38+ years I've had it, have left no part untouched. The result is a truly 1 of 1 vehicle that no one second guesses who it belongs to. It is also a polar opposite when it is compared to the Olds Vert.

So we have a clean and comfy cruiser that the whole family can go out it, and I also have my bright, loud and obnoxious hot rod, that satisfies that urge whenever the mood hits.

 

My late brother's 1972 Cutlass Supreme has been sitting in a machinery shed since 1985. It is in original condition with 46K miles. I am in the (slow) process of trying to get it running. My plan is to keep it stock and replace/rebuild parts as needed to get it road worthy. It came from the factory with a single exhaust which I eventually will replace with an "OE" dual exhaust. The only "non-original" items (other than maintenance parts) at this time are 15" SSIII wheels (off his 1975 CS).