My Olds adventure started in February 1992. I was 22 and starting college, hardly the time to be looking for a restoration project. As fate would have it, it found me, a 1970 Cutlass Supreme convertible. Kim, a girl I worked with told me her father Steve had a Cutlass and wanted to sell it to the right person. Not wanting to let someone else beat me to the punch, I made arrangements to look at the car right away. Steve�s mother had purchased the Cutlass from the original owner in 1985 who bought the car from an Olds dealer in Louisville, Kentucky. Steve�s mother, wife and daughter drove the car for three years before parking it in 1987. He had ambitions of restoring the Cutlass some day, but never got around to it. The first time I laid eyes on it, I knew this was going to be MY Olds. It was sitting in his backyard, up on cinder blocks under a cheap green car cover that had long been any help to the car. Although the Olds hadn�t been started for almost five years, a fresh battery and a splash of gas down the carburetor is all it took to fire her right up. A price was agreed upon, and I picked up my Cutlass the following weekend. It was a very straight and solid example with only the typical rust in the front fenders and behind the rear wheels. All the parts were there, but the ol� Cutlass was showing her age with 186,000 miles on the clock. Because I�m the anxious type, I started dis-assembling and cataloging parts a couple of weeks later. I made the decision that I was going to restore my Cutlass to a mostly stock appearance, but build it the way I wanted, because it�s quite possible I�ll die owning this one! I soon found out that being a college freshman sure didn�t leave much time for a project of this size. I completed the restoration of the front suspension, frame and firewall, and then reinstalled the freshly overhauled original 350 4bbl engine and TH-350 transmission. As a matter of necessity, the car was put into storage in September 1993, so I could complete college.
Fast forward to June 1998. I am now a college graduate, and also an Airframe & Powerplant technician. (Aircraft mechanic). It was time to get busy on that convertible! I pulled it back out of storage and installed the new stock dual exhaust, finished restoring the rear axle, fuel tank and remainder of the undercarriage. Then the interior was stripped, and the dash, convertible top mechanism, and glass were all removed. The Olds was now ready to be trailered to a friend�s bodyshop. A bit of luck (but I like to think of it as planning) was actually employed during this six-year project. New front fenders and rear quarters were purchased from GM in 1993, and six months later they were discontinued. After I found that out, it made the five years I stored/moved the boxes from garage to garage worth it. The new sheet-metal was installed on the car as was a reproduction ram air hood and rear wing.
Following the application of the white hood panels and pinstripping, many coats of blue pearl basecoat were applied. Then a PPG clearcoat was sprayed over the entire body which resulted in a very smooth shiny finish. The date is now July 1999, and the Cutlass is loaded back on the trailer and taken back to my shop. The refurbished chrome, top frame/hydraulics, dash and new interior are all reinstalled. The Olds was then trailered once again (boy, I�ll sure be glad when I can actually drive my car!) to the top shop where a new white top was put on.
As you may have figured out, I did most all the work myself, with the exception of the body/paintwork and some upholstery. I finished my Cutlass one week before the 2001 Oldsmobile Nationals in Denver. I made the maiden voyage 40 miles to the Denver Tech Center without a hitch. For all my efforts I was rewarded with a 1st place.
The summer of 2005, I had fun driving my '70 Cutlass along with my brother and his '73 442 and my dad and his '54 Super 88 to the Olds Nationals in Seattle. I once again captured a first place award. The trip out to Seattle and back to Denver was made with no mechanical problems.
The following is a list of options that were installed on my 1970 Cutlass convertible:
Build date: 1st week of November 1969 - Lansing, Michigan
Olds Rocket 350 4bbl
TH-350 Transmission
3.08 rear axle
Air conditioning
Power steering
Power brakes
Power windows
Night watch (headlight delay)
AM/FM radio w/rear seat speaker
Sport steering wheel
Interior hood lock
OAI fiberglass hood
Factory rear wing
Tic Toc Tach & gauges
