Hello from northern IL

Hello and thanks for having me. My name is Rick and I own a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme that I will be restoring. This is the first G body I will be building and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been a bodyman and mid tier mechanic for about 20 years off and on and currently work at a restoration shop part time doing the aforementioned along with a lot of welding and fabrication. Even though I’ve worked in the field I’ve never fallen in love with or built my own car, but I saw this Cutlass rotting away in our storage yard and I knew she was the one. I’ve trailered her to my house and cleaned the hell out of her. I ordered the Fischer body manual for 1980 and will begin the full dismantle during this cold northern IL winter after I’m done with motorcycle building and customer jobs.

Thank you all very much I’m also very excited to build this one. The frame is solid so I will be cleaning it up and coating it. The body is overall pretty good but needs some love, the worst of which is the front section of the floor pans. Thankfully I’m not new to these types of repairs and feel confident in taking them on. The car was being set up for a BB but it came with no engine or trans, originally a factory 3.8L but not going to go that route. I can grab a 5.3L LS with trans and computer/wiring out of the shop I work at it if I want but I’m also partial to small blocks as I tend to enjoy the old school charm they offer.

Interesting enough my good friends uncle bought this car new in Chicago in 80’, in fact his mom went to prom in it. The original owner gave it to his brother in the 90’s and he held onto it until the early 2000’s when he decided to do a build with his best friend who unfortunately passed away. The car has sat for quite awhile since then unfinished in various outdoor storage facilities until it landed in our storage fence. It sat for about 2 years by us. The owner was way behind on ambition and storage fees so I started bugging the boss and him relentlessly to sell this car that was rotting away, finally he budged and I immediately got her out of storage, cleaned up, and safely stored at my house.

Hello all, I haven’t posted in a few months as I’m currently working my *ss off, but none the less squeezing in some hours on the 80’ cutlass whenever I can, mostly procuring a drivetrain and getting everything in my garage for the winter ahead. I snagged up a Gen 3 5.3L with 4L60E and all accessories for a song from a buddy, both on the bench for full rebuilds. I’ve never done an LS swap but I’ve rebuilt LS motors and everything thus far is pretty straight forward with installing it in my cutlass. Cherry picker is at the shop and always have a back up plan lol, I ended up doing a full tire deflate and a lot of praying but got her off without destroying anything. I’ve got one front RH bumper filler moulding to find, 22502540 RH, which from my reading looks like a 1 year part? Been chasing my tail on that one but it’ll show up eventually in a search. Hope everyone is well.