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.
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.