New member, returning to my roots

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dgmeadows

Greasemonkey
Mar 29, 2017
181
558
93
Georgia
I've lurked here off an on for a while, but the urge to return to my G Body roots has gotten stronger, so I am spending a good bit of time re-educating myself about the car I loved in my teens and early 20's, as I am seriously contemplating getting another.

My avatar has a partial pic of the 1979 Olds Cutlass Calais my Dad was cool and generous enough to give me as my first car when I turned 16 in 1984. I can't figure out how to make it a complete pic, so I will try to add the full pic to the thread. Metallic brown, stripe delete, camel interior, 305 V8, T-Tops (Cars & Concepts). While my Dad was not a mechanic, my grandfather and great uncles on my Mom's side were all mechanics at various GM dealerships in and on the east side of Atlanta in the 50's - early 70's. Due to their influence, my taste always leaned to GM's, and particularly to the "other brands" - Olds, Buick, and Pontiac. I have nothing against Chevys, Fords or Mopars (I actually own 2 Dodge trucks now), but from a body style perspective, the Cutlass, Regal, Gran Sport, Lemans, Firebird, GTO and Grand Prix always appealed to me more.

While my brother beat up and switched out numerous cars over his first 5 years of driving (Dodge step side, 1980 Celica GT, Buick Regal, Honda Prelude, etc.) I drove my '79 Calais from 1984 to 1993, all through high school and college, but as I was preparing to get married, it was clear that I could not keep up with the maintenance my old Cutlass was going to need. While the motor was still strong, and the transmission was even better as we had upgraded to a THM350 rather than rebuilding the stock (which I believe was a THM200) at about 170K miles, suspension parts and steering linkages were failing, the headliner and interior needed work, the ubiquitous dash cracks had appeared, and my focus was on finishing school and getting married, so I gave up my old friend for something more practical.

I've regretted it often over the years, especially when I see another G-Body on the road. A guy where I live now has an early 80's Regal GN in pristine shape. It always brings a smile when I see it on the road. My oldest is finishing high school (private school, more expensive than in-state college) and I am starting to see some breathing room in the bank account, so I am seriously contemplating the purchase of another 1978 - 1980 Cutlass in the near future. This site seems to be one of the most informative and accurate that I have found, so I look forward to learning more from the members here.
 
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L.A.X-RATED

Royal Smart Person
Aug 25, 2010
1,387
385
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when you are ready i have a excellent cond 1980 cutlass bucket/console/tach car with original 305/350 trans with only 43,000 original miles id ship to you for 5k.
 
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ed1948

Royal Smart Person
Aug 6, 2016
1,286
1,613
113
Quinte West, Ontario
Welcome back to the G Body world. Great first post.
 
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pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,390
113
Kitchener, Ontario
Awesome first post and welcome to the forum. Don't take too long to purchase a G body cause the prices on these cars are on the rise.
 
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dgmeadows

Greasemonkey
Mar 29, 2017
181
558
93
Georgia
Trying to post the full pic of my former 79 Cutlass Calais.

The pic is actually a photo of a poster sized photo the father of my high school girlfriend took in 1986 and had framed for me as a birthday present. I was often late to pick her up because I was washing, waxing, or otherwise doing something with the car, so he often joked that I loved the car more than his daughter.
FB_IMG_1490877754051~2.jpg
 
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dgmeadows

Greasemonkey
Mar 29, 2017
181
558
93
Georgia
when you are ready i have a excellent cond 1980 cutlass bucket/console/tach car with original 305/350 trans with only 43,000 original miles id ship to you for 5k.

I'd certainly like to hear more about it and see some pics. Can you send by PM and we can follow up ?
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
7,979
18,672
113
Spring, Texas
I'd certainly like to hear more about it and see some pics. Can you send by PM and we can follow up ?
Jose (L.A.X.-RATED) is in the southwest so I'm sure his car is rust free. I've bought parts from him several times and all of them have been good experiences.

Welcome to the site from Houston. Great first post and that was a beautiful first car. Good luck with the search. A few words of advice. Hold out for the best car you can find. First, find a clean rust free body. Second find one with a nice interior if you can afford to have both. The mechanical stuff is the easy part so I would suggest overlooking a tired suspension or engine. You want to be able to tinker with it anyways, right?
 
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kalidromos13

Master Mechanic
Oct 12, 2016
363
435
63
Palmdale, CA
78-80 A/G-Bodies are my favorite cars hands down. I have a 79 cutlass, search my posts to see it. It was my first car.
Welcome to the forum and good luck on your search! Like PontiacGP said, they're slowly rising in price so now is the time to get one!!
 
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Opie Knievel

Rum Fueled Midnight Mechanic and Moderator
Sep 6, 2010
1,512
1,859
113
Brodhead, Kentucky
Welcome to the forum and welcome back to G Bodies! There are a lot of us on here who have a "wish I hadn't sold it" story. Your Cutlass looked pretty nice.

I agree with Jared (Texas82GP), find the best condition body, frame and interior that you can. These cars are getting harder to find and the prices are going up. Engine swaps aren't that hard but finding body and interior parts can be really difficult sometimes.

What kind of plans do you have for the car when you find one?

Good luck on your search. Keep us posted on your progress.
 
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Longroof79

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
G-Body of the Month
Oct 14, 2008
12,156
9,762
113
Gainesville, Fl
I may as well jump on the bandwagon as well....welcome aboard! .
I agree... finding the best example that you can possibly buy, will absolutely be in your best interest.. rather than purchasing a car with rust and body/ paint issues. Factor in paint, interior, etc. You'll see that starting out with a nice clean original turnkey car is the ultimate way to go.
You can always accomplish mechanical upgrades as you go.

Nice intro, btw. Good luck in your search.
 
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