BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Streetbu]

If only he would document his progress better I could keep up.... LOL great job! I do have one question though. So you ground down and filled the holes in the fender lip. What about the backside? There will be bare spots, especially after being welded, and they will surely rust in no time. I'd hate to see such an amazing job go to waste and you have to pull it all apart for something like that.

 

[fleming442]

Those screws usually twist out from the back fairly easily (sometimes with just your fingers), but whom am I compared to the master?
Phenomenal work as always, D!!!!

 

[ssn696]

Donovan,

You're keeping my car flame lit while life drags me along past the car projects. Your posts are more inspiring than 'This Old House'. No contractors here, though... it's all D!

 

[Rktpwrd]

As always amazing work!!

Thanks John!

For sure! I've come to realize that I don't have enough years left in me to gain the skills shown here.

I understand where you’re coming from Tony, but it’s never too late to learn a new skill or try something different. If you stop learning, you stop growing, and that would be a shame. Just my opinion of course.

I couldn't remember if you'd done that side before. guess the old, crappy paint should've tuned me in!

looks great, and as others have said, I'm always amazed at how you look at things and see how they can be improved on!

Thanks Darin. GM laden these cars pretty heavy with trim back in the 80’s, and it’s kind of a shame because underneath all the extraneous stuff, the body lines were pretty sharp. I’m just doing my best to try and streamline the looks a bit without losing the essence of what made them popular when they were introduced. And if that means shaving some excessive gaudy trim, I’m completely ok with that.
😎

If only he would document his progress better I could keep up.... LOL great job! I do have one question though. So you ground down and filled the holes in the fender lip. What about the backside? There will be bare spots, especially after being welded, and they will surely rust in no time. I'd hate to see such an amazing job go to waste and you have to pull it all apart for something like that.

Good point and question, but have no fear. As with the other side that was done last year, this fender will be coming off soon too to repaint the insides as well. The large patch that’s unprotected on the backside for the marker light pretty much demands it. That repainting will protect any welded or disturbed surfaces, so we’ll be all good.

Thanks for commenting!

Those screws usually twist out from the back fairly easily (sometimes with just your fingers), but whom am I compared to the master?
Phenomenal work as always, D!!!!

Thanks Bruce, and agreed. I have had good success getting those screws out from the backside in similar circumstances in the past, but where these ones were, there was no accessing the backside with the fender still in place. And they needed to be gone toot sweet so I could keep moving forward. I’m just glad the welding a bead on the ends and using the vise grips worked as well as it did.
🙂

Appreciate the comments and feedback everybody, thanks very much!

 

[Tony1968]

Donovan I appreciate the advice and will continue to learn as I do everyday ! I don't know how old you are.... and I'm not that old really... but I'll tell you one thing... I'm really starting to forget stuff and make mistakes at a job I've been doing for decades.... Too many things on my mind which makes work dangerous... but it all has to do with a corporation that has destroyed the hospital I work at... I'm out of a job in a few weeks..(hospital closing).. First time ever I will be unemployed since the age of 16

 

[Rktpwrd]

Donovan I appreciate the advice and will continue to learn as I do everyday ! I don't know how old you are.... and I'm not that old really... but I'll tell you one thing... I'm really starting to forget stuff and make mistakes at a job I've been doing for decades.... Too many things on my mind which makes work dangerous... but it all has to do with a corporation that has destroyed the hospital I work at... I'm out of a job in a few weeks..(hospital closing).. First time ever I will be unemployed since the age of 16

Tony, I’m sorry to hear about your upcoming situation. It’s never easy facing unemployment, I can vouch for that personally. Hopefully you’ll be back and stronger than ever on the other side of it.

As far as age is concerned, you’ve got 5 years on me. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but I know how much that can affect us at our ages. I find that I don’t have the stamina and energy anymore that I had even 10 years ago. It’s tough, because mentally I don’t feel any different than I did when I was 25, yet the body just won’t take the same abuse anymore.

I’ve always been very good at compartmentalizing things, especially between work and my personal life. When I get out of the service truck and close the door at the end of the day, work stays behind with it. The work I do on my own time out in the shop is my therapy and my stress relief. I’m able to forget all the things that happened during the day, and just focus on the task at hand. At my own pace. Hopefully it’s the same for you as well.

I wish you all the best with your situation.

 

[ELCOHOLIC]

Hey everyone, welcome to the documentation of Project "Olds Cool", a(nother) 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais of mine.

First, a little about the name:
In my own quirky way, I have a bit of a soft spot for puns. Everyone thinks they're cheap and low brow humour, but I tend to appreciate the thought and intelligence that goes into a good pun.

I came up with the name "Olds Cool" several years ago out of the blue thinking about the shortened version of Oldsmobile, "Olds".

In case it's not already painfully obvious, "Olds Cool" said quickly sounds like "old school". A perfect reference to the direction and build for this car, not to mention my personal experiences. Being in my mid-forties, I tend to be somewhat "old school" myself!


As many of you are already familiar with on here, my pride and joy (and sometimes the bane of my existence) is another 1980 Olds Cutlass, affectionately referred to as "The Juggernaut".
While the 'Naut has and will continue to be the main focus of my automotive passion for the foreseeable future, after 7 or 8 years of having it off the road and missing out on a large part of the hobby, I was jonesing to get back behind the wheel of a G body again.

Browsing through the local online classifieds one evening, I came across an ad for the car. It was a white 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais 2 door coupe, and was listed for $1000 CDN obo. The pictures of the car looked remarkably good, so I figured at the very least it beared further investigation for that price.

After contacting and arranging a time to meet the seller, I went to go inspect the car. Not being my first picnic and well aware of the trouble areas on G bodies, I gave it a thorough going over. To be honest, my first impressions were pretty disappointing. While areas like the floor pans and rear framerails were good, the car had been neglected for quite some time.

The car had been poorly repainted at some point in its life, the finish was not only dull and oxidized, but every square in of it was covered in tree sap from being parked in his back yard. The driver's door had the typical sag, the vinyl roof was torn and tattered, the interior was filthy, the carpet faded almost white from the sun, headlights burnt out and so on.

Being an original Calais model tho, the car was extremely well optioned. Buckets, console, rallye pac gauges and steering wheel, air, tilt, cruise, power trunk release etc. The rallye wheels even still had all their trim rings and center caps.

Not wanting to offend the seller by not at least test driving the car, we set out for a spin. Yet more disappointments awaited here. While smooth and reliable during part-throttle cruising, opening of the fours rewarded the me with horrible surging and loud back firing through the carburetor. Hmm. Not good.

Returning to the seller's house, I reluctantly offered him my "best price".
$800, take it or leave it.
I figured I could get at least that back out of it in parts if I had to. Knowing full well that the car needed some work, the seller accepted and the deal was struck. As a bonus however, the seller included a brand new carpet kit still in the box in the trunk. A lovely parting gift I suppose!

Here is the car as it arrived at my garage that afternoon:

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Interior:
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The car pretty much screamed "old man's car", with its white wall tires, cheeseball mudflaps, body side impact strips, and fender mounted cornering lamp option. The car wasn't home 10 minutes, and the mudflaps and impact strips were outta there!

"Hmm. Maybe I can work with this "old man's car vibe" in my favour. This might make a great sleeper...!"

In addition to the somewhat rare fender mounted cornering lamp option, this car also had an Astro Roof, the first factory installed one I had ever seen on a G body. Better yet, it still worked and didn't leak!

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That's it for now guys, to be continued...

Donovan

Sweet ride.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Sweet ride.

Thank you!
It’s currently undergoing a bit of a transformation, if you haven’t already, have a quick read through the thread and see how far it’s come and some of the stuff I’ve been up against.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[ELCOHOLIC]

Thank you!
It’s currently undergoing a bit of a transformation, if you haven’t already, have a quick read through the thread and see how far it’s come and some of the stuff I’ve been up against.

Welcome to the forum.

Will do .. u keeping it sbc?

 

[ELCOHOLIC]

Thank you!
It’s currently undergoing a bit of a transformation, if you haven’t already, have a quick read through the thread and see how far it’s come and some of the stuff I’ve been up against.

Welcome to the forum.

I Seen you just picked up another one.. that's a great deal. Well worth the price. Those cars are getting more and more rare out here in California