72' Cutlass flat top

Hi y'all

I joined the board tonite.

Here are some pics of my "rust-or-ation"

I hope to get it ready for the big wagon meet in the NorthEast but It doesnt look like I will meet the dead line.

Here is the car when I got it 8 years ago, I put on a 442 hood and my brothers Pontiac wheels so it would pass inspection,and they don't look bad if I do say so


Here it is about a year ago when I started the resto. I took the car apart then brought it to a friends body shop to "get busy" with it.


Here you can see the rust that was under the windshield that my buddy Phil did such a great job cutting out and patching. Phil did all the cutting and patching on the car for me.






Patches put on by Phil. The metal was from used rust free quarters I bought.





Rotted lower fender mounts cut off, patched,painted, then undercoated.





Line drawn for cut off ---- rotted








More To Come

 

daaam....your a braver man than I
but its always great to see someone 'devoted' to their toy!!!

 

Ain't that the truth!

I'm a diehard to repair or build a new replacement piece. Don't want the other parts to get jealous! Could rub them the wrong way!

Nice work Dean, you'll know that car through and through!

 

Great work and Welcome.

 

Thousands of dollars later I finally got some pigment on this puppy.

MORE pics coming after the snow goes away ...

I had her towed home Monday 1/26/09 and now she sits under a car cover in the snow waiting for me to tinker this Spring with the rest of the assembly.

 

Looks Great

 

Thx!

 

Now there's a diehard salvation! That upper cowl rust must've been a bear to repair. Great work. Spring's coming soon. Gonna be a fun time putting it all back together.

 

Repairing the upper cowl was really easy ...

I paid someone else to do it.

 

It's always great to see other folks projects in progress. Great work! I hear ya about paying someone else to do it. A man has got to know his limitations, but to be honest I would attempt every aspect of my project if I had the time and money to get my "screw ups" fixed after I screwed them up. At some point I would want them done right. Keep the photos coming.

 

Wow, just amazing the work you're putting into that wagon!

 

Nice work, and nice touch adding the 4-4-2 stripes. Way back in '71 - '72 I was looking for one of these for my first station wagon, but never found one (I liked them better than the Vista Cruisers - didn't have the extra bulk and weight). Are you going to "4-4-2" the interior as well with buckets and a console?

 

I spent money that was supposed to go to restoration on the flat top on to buying a 72' VistaCruiser with only 55k miles. It was so nice and only $3,500. I bought it but then sold it a year later because even though the restoration was going to be a lot easier on the Vista, I like you wanted the flat top with 6 inch shorter wheel base. the Vista was a 3rd seat family wagon, I wanted a sporty 4-4-2 flatty.
A lot of people annoy me all the time .. they say " Do you know they made these wagons with glass roofs, called VistaCruisers"
I reply,... "No way, really? ..glass roof? You can't be serious, I NEVER knew that but it sounds really nice." .. "Wow..glass roof huh".. "Crazy".


I had the buckets and console but traded them to a local 442 parts dealer for new reproduction fenders(that didnt fit arrrrg!:banghead3 I had to trade for something else.
He has other seats/consoles in stock but he is high priced.
If I want them I can get them, but yes, it was my intention to 4-4-2 the interior even down to the glove compartment 442 badge.
I found bucket seats I like better then the low backs. I am not a fan of 442 bucket seats as far as appearence of the actual seat.
I found a seat I like better. They are high buckets from an early 90's Dodge van that match my interior, noone will recognize where they originated from, they look correct. If I put in GrandPrix or TransAm seats they will be recognized then look awkward. Unfortunatley I need one more seat. I know I can find one but I'm kinda busy.
I saw a nice 442 last month. When I looked in the interiror, it was a black bench seat that didn't look bad .. not bad at all, so I have a mint bench from a 1971 olds wagon I will dye black for now. I also have a mint correct 1972 wagon bench seat I paid $300 for that needs a button repaired before I can dye it. A rare find indeed. My wagon only has a little over 100K miles and the seat was ripped to shreds, how some seats survive at all is a miracle.
I especially was torn about changing the interior color away from brown thats why the car is yellow,I could go brown or black. I saw another wagon last month, a 1970 Chevy real nice with brown interior that killed the appearence IMHO. So I decided to go with changing to black interior. I'm glad I did.

Take care,
Homestar

 

Waiting for warm weather

Well ,I got it home a month ago, I need warm weather now to spend on detailed assembly.

thought I would share the progress ..

 

Hot mustard! It looks like its moving, standing still! Very nice with that stripe!