Crashed our 1990 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

Discussion in 'Cosmetic & Restoration' started by smparr, Sep 19, 2021.

  1. smparr

    smparr Member

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    First full rainy day of fall here in Washington....and my 17-year-old son had his first accident. He's fine but unfortunately, he did demolish the front clip of his near-mint 1990 Custom Cruiser. Came around a bend and someone was stopped to turn left and he slid into the back of them. Their SUV had only super minor damage. Does anyone have or know of any available '86-90 Custom Cruiser front-end parts? The bumper is fine but the headlight bezels, grille, grille brace, and front clip are wrecked because he went under their bumper.

    Custom Cruiser Damage.jpg Custom Cruiser Damage1.jpg Custom Cruiser Damage2.jpg
     
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  2. wagoninsane

    wagoninsane Well-Known Member

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    What a bummer! Glad everyone is alright, hope you can find the parts you need!.... Longroofs Rule!
     
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  3. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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  4. moparandfomoco

    moparandfomoco Well-Known Member

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    Aren't these Delta/Cruisers the same body-parts wise for many years? Just wondering if you found and 80 or 81 Delta 88 car - would the header panel fit?

    Looks like the bumper/valance panel is salvageable. The hood release/catch may be askew, but that may be the same for all GM B's and C's or that era.
     
  5. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    I think you are right. I think the full-size '77 to 84 wagons shared everything from the firewall forward with the '77-84 Delta 88s and 98s of the same year. Year to year, there are probably minor trim differences, but parts should still fit. Unfortunately for the OP, Olds full-size non-wagons by this time were the downsized versions, so there won't be any 1990 Delta 88 or 98 parts that will fit.

    Another quick comment here. In addition to the obvious, there is likely hidden damage as well because there always is. Before scouring the countryside trying to find parts for this car, consider looking for another car in similar condition to replace it. As nice as this '90 CC is (or was), the cost to replace might not be much different from the cost to repair.
     
  6. moparandfomoco

    moparandfomoco Well-Known Member

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    I think you'd be looking for 1980-85 Delta 88 or 1980-90 Custom Cruiser, as the 98's probably won't line up. Same for the 77-79 cars, the 80 GM B-bodies got a aero refresh, so the 77-79's won't probably line up, even though they'd probably fit.
     
  7. smparr

    smparr Member

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    Thank you, I've reached out to several places/people and am awaiting responses. I've been underneath and it appears the fenders and hood are undamaged but the braces for the front end panel are bent, the grille and bezels are busted, and the panel itself is cracked in half at the hood ornament and drivers side bezel. No bumper damage or rad/condenser. The car still drives fine. My son is talking to his tech school's body shop class to see if they want to help out for practice. Save some money with painting. The rest I'm pretty sure I can fix with parts and I actually have a lead on two NOS bezels and a a grille. I don't want to junk it, the rest of the car is in great shape and we just had a transmission rebuild done.
    Turns out, according to the OEM Oldsmobile Parts and Illustration catalogs the front end is the same part numbers for the 1980-84 98, 1985 delta 88 Royale Brougham, and 1986-90 Custom Cruiser. The 1980-84 Delta and 1980-1985 Cruiser are different with the painted wind split between the grilles.
     
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  8. moparandfomoco

    moparandfomoco Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, this doesn't seem like a "junkable" incident. I don't know what things are like in the PNW, but down here in the SW, we get those Deltas/CC's in our local you pull from time to time, with the parts that you would need. I would assume OR and CA are pretty much the same. If the braces are what I am thinking, I'd just heat them up and bend them back. I will bet you that header panel is not that difficult to replace laborwise compared to other cars.....
     
  9. smparr

    smparr Member

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    My son and I found a NOS header panel for a 1980-85 CC with the painted wind split. All the mounting is the same I would just need the two grilles. Would it be blasphemy to put an older front end on a '90? I actually kind of like the older style front end and it would match the '83 my Dad had.
     
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  10. moparandfomoco

    moparandfomoco Well-Known Member

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    I think in some of those earlier years, the header panel dips down to form a "split grille" effect - whereas the later cars have just a large grille opening with a chrome effect in the middle . I don't know for sure, but it seems you can do a little mix and match. I know in a lot of midsized 70's fords/Mercs and the like, you can actually make a Fordury or a Mord by just rejiggering the header panels and grilles and the like.
     
  11. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    Dang bud. I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm glad to hear that you have some solid leads on replacement parts.
     
  12. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    That's what happened to my '89 CP, it hit something higher than the bumper, but fortunately, another '88 was in the yard, and all the needed pieces were there. Color's just a titch off, but it'll eventually get repainted. Hop on www.row52.com, and just do searches for those sedans/wagons. That's how my friend found the '88 donor, and it was local!
     
  13. 101Volts

    101Volts Well-Known Member

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    Well, maybe you could contact Benny from Texas about parts. He scours salvage yards a lot. Dunno how exactly you could contact him, outside of commenting on one of his recent youtube videos. Here's his channel.

    https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicRideSociety/videos
     
  14. ALFATAR

    ALFATAR Active Member

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    Did you check car_parts.com?
     
  15. smparr

    smparr Member

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    I was actually able to fiberglass the header split and glue the grill back together and most of the headlight bezels so now it's not so bad for winter. [​IMG] We did get a front end panel from an '80 98 and they are the same except the bezel nuts are metal not nylon. it's burgundy so in the spring we'll put it on and get it painted to match. No reason to risk damaging the replacement parts over the winter!
     
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