This Kinda Gets Me

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Stoopud, I agree. However, I do compliment nicely done imports, etc. (not Donks tho, just on technical grounds!). I have no issue with a well thought out Sentra or Civic and will probably consider one for my next build. As for the "Traditionalists", I say screw 'em! They have a lot of money to play with or have owned the car forever. Otherwise, they would never be able to afford to build a car that goes for $10k as a rusty hulk. Yes, the older models sometimes have better stock drivetrains, but how many of them still have all original parts? Plus, what's the difference between a 307/ Powerglide car and a 305/ TH200 car? Neither has an engine or trans that is likely to stay where it was put by the factory if someone rebuilds their car. It all comes down to snobbery and I can't stand snobbery. Plus, most "Car Show" types don't even have a cool car to begin with, and love to deride you for being different when all they have is a beige, 4 cylinder Camry with a lease payment. Either that, or you have the losers who buy completed cars to drive to shows every week. They have no sweat equity in them, just checkbook equity. I would MUCH rather associate with a kid in a home built, ratty Civic than a guy who doesn't turn his own wrenches and owns a perfect, shop built Chevelle. I have more in common with the guy in the Civic. Plus, I have no respect for people who don't build their
own cars. My Cutlass is far from perfect, but at least it is all my own work.


BTW, for a truly cool car show where you would get noticed, check out the "Concours d Lemons". No snobbery allowed, and it is mostly made up of cars that the establishment loves to hate. It's tounge in cheek and all in good fun. They even have "Worst in Show" as the top honor! No one gets turned down for entry based on year, make, model, etc. I could even enter my Frontier in the "Soul Sucking Japanese Appliance" category! However, I would rather have a Communistically awesome car like a Soviet made Zaporpzhetz 968 to enter. It's one of my favorite bad cars and it likely would be the only ZAZ in the US! (Plus, I would qualify to win the "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Medal for Most Glorious Achievement in Transportative Advancement for Use Upon Billiard-Smooth Highways as Are Uniformly to Be Found Inside Workers' Paradise")http://www.concoursdlemons.com/index.html

 

[Minion1186]

85cb is right though,80s cars werent cadillacs,quality wise,engine wise they were dependable,workaday 140-180 horsepower 5.0 litre's and 2004r trans could last a while,if properly maintained.I just had a experience with how 80s cars had cons,it was night and I was getting in my cutlass and as I sat down,my arm hit the 'cutlass salon' door panel trim,this potmetal or plastic trim piece on the door snapped in half,now my drivers door reads salon instead of cutlass salon,I was pissed just because I have 80 of the same trim pieces and not one pair of cutlass salon anything,gm screwed up using potmetal instead of good hearty metal,like the factory center caps,POTMETAL thats why they pit so easily,the plastic/potmetal trim,plastic bezels and the grilles (especially).I believe gm should have just whent the extra mile and used decent quality metal,would have made a difference in my opinion.And it sucks parts availbility wise too,only a handful of parts (cutlass) are being reproduced,NOS charges up the *ss and the gears are the worst of it,7.5s are weak enough and highway gears are just terrible,anyone can admit that,if there was one thing they should have done is at least reproduced some 7.5 inch 373 gears,it hard enough finding 26 spline anything,along with an afforadable 8.5 with sturdy 373s.But since this thread is about how people look at your ride,I can only imagine what people would say when I get a beater cutlass,my salon is almost a cherry being its a fairly new paint job,tires and original interior and a rebuilt engine.In fact when most people come up to me,they ask what engine and I tell them a 307,thats been rebuilt,bored 40 over,ported heads,rebuilt carb and painted mopar red,the people always question "why go through thousands of dollars over a 307 smog engine(and why mopar red???)"and this engine isnt even that powerful,like maybe 200 hp I call it a H/O 307 because with all the damn mods,it basically is,but truth is I dont know and I think I ever will.Its a great engine still great on gas and all and I plan on using it on an 84 cutlass I may plan on getting(fat chance,because i dont have a job,its not really for sale,just vacant in a field and no engine).

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I agree about the trim pieces. They are the bane of my existence! For grilles, I just clean them up as best I can, and black out most of them to hide the crappy wasted plasti-chrome. I wish someone reproduced this stuff though. I know I can get the plastic rechromed, but it is far from cheap.

For gearing, there is a little known secret to a big improvement for little cash. High altitude V6 cars sometimes came with optional 3.23 geared rearends. (I think the option code is GU4.) These can usually be had quite inexpensively. I paid $50 for mine and it made a HUGE difference! Plus, it is not so radical that it destroys fuel economy. In fact, my car actually gained city fuel economy with this gear. It's now better than it was with the V6. So, my advice is to find one of these cars and just pull the whole axle assembly. It is much easier to swap out the whole thing than just the gears, and typically can be done in about an hour if the bolts are not heavily rusted. Oh, and my rearend came out of a 1983 Regal 4 door with the 231 V6/TH200c combo.