Newb from WI..72 Cutlass S

[jturkey69]

Hey all...I have seen a couple of cars over at ClassicOldsmobile.com, and have always loved the look of updated classic iron, so I followed a couple guys over here..lol

My starting point will be a supposed 38,000 miles original 71 Cutlass S, and the direction we will go for the first year is upgrading the brakes, shocks, springs, and move on to bodywork and interior. I have seen some amazing builds in here already, and when money allows, we will take the car down to the frame. Until then, we plan on enjoying the hell out of it..my wife cant wait to drive it.

I did see a few style of rims I want to go with that remind me of a set of ADR Designs I had on another car, so that and tires will also be a focus over the winter months.

Nice to be here!
Thanks

Turkey

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to Pro-Touring.com, Turkey.

[joemac]

Welcome

[The Stickman]

Welcome to this forum. I too am over at ClassicOldsmobile. Always great to have another Olds over here.

[jturkey69]

awesome, yep im an Olds freak, and have had quite a few g-bodies, and two modern ones..an Alero and Intrigue...both modified. Im hoping to do some reading through here for some budget builds, or builds that had some budget areas, as between my wife and I we have 6 kids...so while you re-read that...know that I am currently going on layoff from Kohler Co. lol..so while the 23 bux an hour was nice....I now stay home and play Mr. Mom, while the wife wanted to get back into the working field. so tax returns, according to my wife, at least half of it, will go towards (her) Cutlass...see how she claimed it already...lol

Maybe I will get lucky, and browse the for sale section for goodies that others are getting rid of to upgrade.
Maybe I can even write a nice long winded thread on how I built my Cutlass on used parts.

Thanks for the welcome, and if your an Olds man, then perhaps you have already seen me at Olds Homecoming in Lansing for the past 7 years.

[gearheads78]

good to see you made it over here

[jturkey69]

Yes sir, I had to follow you and Aceshigh...some of the purists dont take kindly to modification..lol I could see if my car was rare, but even still, One needs to personalize their ride to make it their own.

We will be doing lots of reading on here..my wife and I are no stranger to forums, and the search button..lol

I still say we need a NWS thread..lol

[724tim]

welcome to Pro-touring.com glad to see another oldsmobile owner.

[jturkey69]

Thanks, Im just thankful that some other Olds owners have already taken the plunge. I will be soaking up as much as I can..

[1971CHEVELLE]

Welcome to the site

[Cutls67]

Hey hows it going? I am glad to see more and more Olds venturing out past the stock builds.
Stephan

[jturkey69]

Hey all,,,well we are ready to send the car in for body and paint work, and upgrade to some disc brakes. for this year we are just going to upgrade to disc, , not full blown big brakes yet, so Im currious if the ebay 4wheel disc kits are worth it for daily driver status, or just a front conversion for now? I know I will need new springs for the front and rear, and doing the front disc, I will also have to have bushings put in?....any ideas for the first year budget swap for better stopping power? I would rather use new parts rather then junkyard parts.

[nascar]

Welcome here !!!!!

[72Cutty]

Welcome from another Olds owner.

[jturkey69]

Thanks!!!...our car is getting picked up tonight, and should be back in about a month or so...cant wait!!

[jro183]

Welcome aboard.

[jturkey69]

Thanks!!...Im hoping to document everything, and add another budget build to this forum...just hard to find used parts that people want to get rid of for used prices..lol

[jocko124]

Welcome. Good 2 see more Oldsmobiles here!

[jturkey69]

Thank you!!..Im always looking to see other Oldsmobiles decked out and customized!

[jturkey69]

Well I suppose I can give some updates to what has happened since last year!..lol
Our Cutlass was picked up Feb of 2010, by what I considered a friend from highschool, and we put down 2300.00 and were told the car would be in a body shop in Bonduel,WI. I kept in contact with the guy doing the work via-emails on facebook, and phone calls. The car was supposed to be done 2nd week of April 2010, but it wasn't. We kept getting verbal and email updates when we asked, but never any proof, so finally I had had enough, and on May 1st 2010, packed up 4 of our 6 kids, and drove up north to see our car since a good friend said he thought he saw it 3 miles outside of town at a farm??? Well needless to say, I found the place where our car was, and almost immediately, my heart sank. The car was taken all apart, sitting in a broken down garage with no doors, and busted windows. Our Cutlass was full of dust, and barncat footprints all over. The guy was there as well as 3 other kids. I told him to give us our money back, and put the car back together, and we will come get it. Guy then skips town, and me and my lil brother went up there the following weekend to put the car back together, and tow it home. Fast forward to this year, and while we had it for sale for awhile on Craigslist as a project, we decided since we had already now had a 4wdb kit, and sheetmetal, paint, wheels and tires, etc. we figured we could try to give it a shot at getting it put back together..at least in a driveable state while me being on injury/layoff, and now having to go back to school for being a displaced worker.
So far we have the 4wdb kit installed that we got from Matts Classic Camaros (we are having a bit of issues with it), we settled on a set of BOSS 338 staggered 18's with Nitto NTG555 rubber, and the car is currently 20 min away at another body shop and is almost done bodywork wise. we will have to settle for primer this year as while we have the gallon of paint, we have nothing else, and not enough money to complete it. I did get some pics up on FB awhile back, but havent taken any lately...its been a bit of a project, and while the car is in the bodyshop, we have been looking at cheap alternatives to re-covering our door panels, and rear seat, and shopping on Craigslist for a decent set of buckets.

I guess this will be a very budget built wanna-be pro-touring project for a couple years while my 36 yr old butt has to go back to school for something completely different from what I have known...LMAO!

[jturkey69]

46819
How it looked when we traded a big ATV for it.

other pics are of the Zoomies that will go on it..(still need some pipes to extend and turn up)
How we found our Cutlass in a drafty garage by the supposed body man
last pic is of test fitting the new shoes..lol

its not much, but its a start for us to at least drive and enjoy it.

[deejai35]

Wow, sorry to hear about the misfortunes with the car. Its a shame that stuff like that happens. I just bought my 72 Cutlass S earlier this year. I've got saddle bronze metallic as well. Nice.

[jturkey69]

Thanks!!..The Cutlass was brought up every couple of weeks about what we should do with it, and finally my wife said, "screw it...were gonna build it to drive" We are getting a killer deal on the rust repair, and if we can find a way to shoot the paint, it will be 2007 Corvette Atomic Orange Pearl, with the whole lower bodyline down black, and all chrome except window trim black...should look cool....our idea was inspired by a few cars...one was a bullrun 69 chevelle, and the other was a pro-touring lime green 70 chevelle.

[The Stickman]

Thanks!!..The Cutlass was brought up every couple of weeks about what we should do with it, and finally my wife said, "screw it...were gonna build it to drive" We are getting a killer deal on the rust repair, and if we can find a way to shoot the paint, it will be 2007 Corvette Atomic Orange Pearl, with the whole lower bodyline down black, and all chrome except window trim black...should look cool....our idea was inspired by a few cars...one was a bullrun 69 chevelle, and the other was a pro-touring lime green 70 chevelle.


Good to hear the incident hasn't dampened your spirits.

[jturkey69]

Good to hear the incident hasn't dampened your spirits.

Thanks Stickman..after we realized it was the most reliable car out of the 3 we own, things kinda fell into place...lolher 97 maxima 5spd, and my 94 caprice wagon both had issues where we had to drive the cutlass with loose fenders, and mis-aligned doors a few times...

loved your build on the battle cruiser...didnt you do alot of that in an apartment complex parking lot?

[The Stickman]

Thanks Stickman..after we realized it was the most reliable car out of the 3 we own, things kinda fell into place...lolher 97 maxima 5spd, and my 94 caprice wagon both had issues where we had to drive the cutlass with loose fenders, and mis-aligned doors a few times...

loved your build on the battle cruiser...didnt you do alot of that in an apartment complex parking lot?

Thanx. In the parking lot, not really. This complex has rather large garages (of which I have 2) on the bottom floor. Main reason I live here. So most of the work is either in the garage or infront of it. Unless it's my hauler then the lot is really the only place it fits. The landlord is very cool about it.

[rudyt5000]

car is looking good...I just started stripping some surface rust on mine...slowly but surely getting it ready for primer sealer for now. I also have a layoff so might as well put time into my cutlass as well.

[jturkey69]

car is looking good...I just started stripping some surface rust on mine...slowly but surely getting it ready for primer sealer for now. I also have a layoff so might as well put time into my cutlass as well.
we should be getting the car back by the end of this week, or beggining of next week with it all in sealer and primer with all bodywork completed. Im hoping they stay true to their quote, but will be happy im sure once the car is back here so I can do more work on it. latest lil hobby my wife started is african cichlid fish tanks!...lol I need the therapy only a muscle car can offer!

[jturkey69]

minor update..car is in primer, and we ran out of funds to have it blocked sanded and painted...I posted an ad on craigslist, and everyone wanted waaay to much to paint it, so I will be learning how to align the doors and panels, and block sanding..ugh..lol. I did figure out my brake issue which seemed like the brake booster pin was .100 to long or something, so at least that issue is put to rest for now..the body shop that did the car did a ****ty job in many areas, and didnt follow my instructions of not hanging a whole 1/4 skin. I wanted to follow what the guys on V8TV did with their project S71 Cutlass 1/4's...sigh...this car has just been one heartache after another. but there is an upside....wife says she will not sell it..lol..and our girls love it!....heres a few pics for now.

[rudyt5000]

Glad to see your car is coming along...I think were both in the same boat and I'm so jealous that you are almost done with body. Yeah when I got this car I knew I was going to do as much work as I can myself but that's the only way I would have it. Seems like you can't really trust most people nowadays doing body work and all. A bunch of my buddies have their projects being done by somebody else and it either takes too long or they just screw them over with the shady work. I know I ain't no professional but this car is going to be driven hard and hopefully everyday so my paint won't have to be the best but so far I think mine is a pretty decent budget build so far thanks to harbor freight. Most my money has been in the wheels n tires and ebay has been awesome so far too. I guess we'll have to keep up with each other's car since they might be fraternal twins lol.

[jturkey69]

Other then the year 71..(im not sure why I couldnt change my typo for the title of this thread) our cars are headed in the same direction, and prolly going to be somewhat road worthy at the same time..lol! Now that the weather is warming up, its time to get it off jackstands, clean the accumulated crap resting all over the top and hood, and take some action. See it helps when there is someone that has the same car, going through the same motions, on a budget, with the end result being a daily drivable car. So by you updating your thread, you have given me some much needed motivation! Plus after flying out to South Carolina a few weeks ago to buy wife her new replacement daily driver to replace her old Nissan Maxima. So after driving the car back, and goping through all the warm states, and seeing the nice cars on the road was also some motivation! So Thanks! Long live the budget Cutlass's!!!:cheers:

[jturkey69]

Time to revisit an oooooold thread..lol..will update soon. Thanks to the Olds owners on this site for rekindling my desire to get this going again!

[deejai35]

Not sure why I didn’t comment before, but that looks great! I had been thinking about Atomic Orange since I bought the car. Do you have any other pictures?