72' Cutlass flat top

Thanks!.. it's 2003 VW Bug.. they are everywhere.

... and the only car this shade of yellow.

I needed a shade just right and I was able to stare at that color a lot and picture how it would look on the wagon.

I changed my mind on the color no less than 100 times before settling on it.
Even right before I painted the car I changed my mind away from this yellow but I had already purchased 2 quarts for the jams, so I said 'Eh!" ..I'll just go for it. Yellow it will be.

Then I had to fight off my friends that insisted on black stripes.

 

I know how you feel. I like the VW pearlish lime green, in that New Beetle lineup. You made a great choice for the car.

 

did you abandon the 442 hood?......

btw
they made wagons like yours with a glass roof

i think the were called Vista Cruisers













:banana:

ha ha ....could resit the Vista line

nice car!

and i didn't know the flat roof cars were shorter!

 

I ran out of shop time ,they wanted it out of the shop, the 442 hood needs some work. Its on the TO DO list for sure!

I had to choose , I had 2 wagons.
I spent money I saved towards restoration of the flat top and bought this 72 Vista cruiser, It was sooooo nice only 55,000 miles.
Mint interior not even a scratch.
Little old lady form BarHarbor Maine passed away it was hers.
No A/C though.

I wanted a 442 clone wagon and could not bring myself to
ruin the Vista.
I knew the flat top would not get restored by anyone.
3 of the doors were as badly rotted as the dogleg you see here.
The tailgate was ruined and rotted.
The good points were it had 100K miles on her and the motor only 40K miles. The body was strait (for the most part)



I sold the Vista for what I paid for it.
It went to Florida to the man I got my Olds parts from.
It had a leak somewhere and the floors got soaked for a few months( I lost storage) .. the man did as I asked with the car.
He removed the seats and rug and had the rug pressure washed and floor inspected.It went to the right person.
After thousands of dollars spent on the flattop I almost wish I did the cheaper thing, but I loved the flat top more.
( And it has A/C)





I put 442 wheels on it. Came with original hub caps and white walls.




(The front seat is not ripped at all, that is the key on the seat)






HERE I was experimenting with electrical tape to see what stripes would look like. (I have to confirm if I like something by actually seeing it for myself and stepping back for a long look)

 

Good tips Homestar, on the trial stripes. Love your work ethic. I admit I would have had the queezies if mine had that much rust on the doglegs. On Fairmont wagons (unibody), that's a critical spot. Although there are aftermarket subframes now for the Fox Mustangs that could reinforce that on the Fairmonts.

 

When I was looking for one of these, I did not like the rear door / quarter panel 'arch' (that you have outlined in red here). I thought it was a much cleaner look to have the 'arch' taken out with a little custom body work. Just my own personal preference........

Nice to see the wagon coming along.
Marshall

 

The 1968 and 1969 do not have the arch. Buy one of those.

 

I found a nice one on ebay.

I does look snazzy.

Remember 68's and 69's dont have 2 way tail gates. They just fold down.
Thats why the rear bumpers are different too, you can notice if comparing side by side ,there is no cut out for the step to get in.


I luv flat tops!!!

 

Yeah - I saw that ad last night. Very nice. Priced reasonable, too.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/olds...3147912QQsspagenameZRSSQ3aBQ3aSRCHQ3aUSQ3a101

 

That is a dang nice lookin Olds, would be even better if when they painted it, the fixed the rust in the dash behind the windshield.

 

Blackfoot , I never noticed your post regarding the windshield rust.
All the rust including the winshiled area was cut out and patched with new metal.
The picture with the sign " UNDER CONSTRUCTION" shows the after picture ,unfortunatley the sign blocked some of it, the patchs were professional
at will out live the car.

 

Restoration Update 11/14/2010

Hi all,
Here's pics from today.
It's coming along but still I have at least fifty things to do to it.

I can finally pull it in and out of the garage instead of pushing it all the time.:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

The grill assy only has 2 screws just holding it there for the pics.

The motor from the 77K 4-dr donor car runs nice.
I'm back on track from a engine rust over it suffered from letting it sit under a tarp for a year and a half.
PS, The camera doesn't do the car justice.

The top picture shows the yellow as it looks now, it's nice..

The bottom photos the car looks faded, but it's not.
She's a beauty in the sun!:banana:

 

Dam, that looks great man!!:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Looks really good. I like the stripes.
Chadwa

 

Lookin good

Hey keep up the hard work, Its really lookin good! I like that yellow paint with the white stripe. very sharp lookin wagon!