Custom Cruisers seem to be popping up fairly regularly around here. I do NOT know anything about it, the pictures are terrible and don't show much, and they are over the one-hour-away limit that I use to justify my interest (e.g. "But honey, it's just TWENTY minutes from here!").

http://lansing.craigslist.org/cto/2181551215.html

Seems complete, and it looks as if it has at least a fighting chance of being decent once cleaned up. If you want to pay me to inspect it for you, cool. Otherwise I'm just letting this one slide as I have nowhere to park it if I wanted it, anyway...





Drew

 

Nice deal. I got mine for $700 in July. I'd love to find a grey interior from a Ninety-Eight sedan and swap it out...

 

I would love to trade my caprice wagon for a custom cruiser but it will be hard to find one in as good shape as my caprice.

 

Thanks Drew! Looks cool...who knows what it'd be like up close or with a Start and Test Drive....tempting...tempting...but I'd better 'cool it!' for now!

 

If you're talking about a 1977-1990 Caprice wagon, the sheet metal from the firewall back is identical on both. You can bolt a Custom Cruiser front end onto a Caprice with no problems. You can also swap the dashboards if you care. Note that it must be a Custom Cruiser nose. The Olds sedan fenders are different and do not swap.

 

I can only speak for my own year's Olds (1989), but in comparing all four wagon variants (actually five if you count both Buicks) I've found that--again, I can only speak for my own car--the Chevy and Pontiac models did not have some of the stainless trim pieces the Olds and Buicks did.

[The large brushed-metal C-pillar-to-"wayback"-side window trim piece is one I'm pretty sure isn't on a Caprice.]

You'll also have to change over things like badges, the front bumper (the turn signals are rectangles integrated into the lower half of the bumper near its corners, which I think they're not on Chevys) and tail lamps (they have an Oldsmobile "rocket" molded into the plastic), all of which is going to cost you more--in money and headaches--than just buying an Oldsmobile in the first place.

[And you'll have a no-questions VIN, proper title and registration documents, the right owner's manual... ]

 

I am having a huge hassle right now changing my 'basic' Olds Custom Cruiser into a wood-paneled version. The clips are hard to find, I've gotten lots of used ones, but with riveting them to the body lots are shattering, am still 40 short. I can't even begin to think about changing a Caprice into a CC.

 

It's a 1989 Caprice. I just think the name "Custom Cruiser" sounds cooler than caprice wagon.

I would like to change the engine out as well so I can use it to pull my camper. Last summer I used it a few times but it was extremely gutless when pulling up a hill. I live right next to the Niagara Escarpment and I can barely make it up the hill to my house.
My plan is to get this car so I can drive to the West Coast with the trailer without any issues.

 

Did you find a good source for the wood grain?

 

These clips are common and should still be in the Au-Ve-Co catalog.

http://www.auveco.com/

Also, you should not be riveting the clips, particularly if you are using aluminum pop rivets on steel body panels. The holes are a water leak and the aluminum in contact with steel will cause galvanic corrosion, leading to more rust. The factory used welded-on studs that the plastic clips snapped onto. These studs are easily installed using a stud welder gun.

To clarify what I posted above, the sheet metal is identical on the B-body wagons aft of the firewall. The nose from any one of them will bolt on and the body lines will match up. The trim will not match up - it's unique to each model. Frankly, my Caprice body will become the donor for the Custom Cruiser, since the Caprice is straighter. Similarly, these cars came with engines from each of GM's divisions. Any one bolts into any other one with simply the correct frame mounts.

 

After removing a ton of snow from her today I got VERY familiar with her trim. There's a LOT of it, of course, and I don't know what's specific to the "woodies" (other than the horizontal "strip" of trim that marks the "top" of the side and rear woodgrain applique), but I'm betting that you're wishing that the previous owner had just paid the damn $385 to add the wood even if they weren't going to go with the whole "package" that included it...

Drew

 

You've got it! About to go over to body shop to see if they go the clips in. I got all the trim from a 1982 donor CC in Ohio this summer- pulled all the trim off that I needed. Can't wait to get it added. I think I notice it more than anyone, bu ge motorheads know what's missing. Taking it toScottsdale on Saturday for the AZ Olds Meet...

 

[quote=joe_padavano;254401]These clips are common and should still be in the Au-Ve-Co catalog.

http://www.auveco.com/

Also, you should not be riveting the clips, particularly if you are using aluminum pop rivets on steel body panels. The holes are a water leak and the aluminum in contact with steel will cause galvanic corrosion, leading to more rust. The factory used welded-on studs that the plastic clips snapped onto. These studs are easily installed using a stud welder gun.

Not too worried about the possibility of corrosion. I between the very low humidity and less the 2" of average annual rainfall, and the fact that they are painting around the opening, it's not too likely that any corrosion will occur.