My Daily Driver



Home	Features	Articles	Daily Drives	Rear View	Driveway	Directory	Showcase	Classifieds	Store	Games

by Steve Ragusa
Copyright (c), 2003, Steve Ragusa -- All Rights Reserved

'86 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon

I bought this car in August of 2002 to be my daily driver. It's dark metallic blue with a blue cloth interior. It is very well optioned, and includes power windows and locks, air conditioning, reclining bucket seats, Astroroof, 307 V8, 200-4R automatic, F41 suspension, and a 2.56 posi rear. It also includes the RallyPac gauge cluster, 442-style blacked-out trim around the headlights and grilles, and 14" versions of the 442's SSIII wheels. Another thing I really liked about my Salon is that it does not have a vinyl top.

I installed the Kenwood CD player that was left over from my Sebring convertible, and did a full tuneup with new wires, cap and rotor, fuel filter, plugs, and greased the frontend. Jim and I replaced the worn-out original carb with one from a junked '86 Cutlass and added a K&N air filter from the same donor vehicle.

The only bad part about the car was the interior. The previous owner had a dog, so there was fur stuck everywhere (ugh!). My wife loathed the car and would not even get into it, so I started the first stage of its restification.

I pulled the seats and center console out so I could vacuum and shampoo the carpet. Then I disassembled the console and thoroughly cleaned it with Armor All Cleaner (great stuff!). I also swapped in some new dash trim, cleaned out the vents, and restored the instrument cluster with new bulbs and some silver trim paint. While I was in there, I decided to fix the erratic tach too. My Cutlass also received a 3rd brake light from an '87 Monte Carlo LS since the original top cover had melted.

Cutlass Interior

Here she is all cleaned up.

To get it ready for the next part of its restification, my buddy Jim and I swapped out the rusted and peeling orginal hood for a clean junkyard piece, and I also changed out the torn rear bumper cover.

The Salon's Paintjob

Like I mentioned before, my wife hated the car when I bought it. I already have one "old" car - my '85 Monte Carlo SS- so she thought I was crazy to get another one. I, however, saw the potential beneath the dog fur and severely lacquer-checked paint. I wanted the car to look good, but I'm on a budget, so that led me to Maaco. A friend of mine recommended that I try one he dealt with and after speaking with the owner, I decided to have it painted there. He was willing to work with me, and I was very impressed by the job they had done on a few cars sitting in the garage.

I removed the hood trim, fenderwell trim, headlight bezels and grilles, and then delivered the car. Once they got it, they stripped most of it to bare metal and re-primed it since the original paint was useless as a base. I also had them repair the dents in the front fenders, remove the pinstripes and most of the emblems, and fill the holes in the front bumper cover where the Oldsmobile script was.

The Salon was repainted in a urethane version of its original dark metallic blue. I opted for the four-year warranty paint to ensure a great shine, but they told me with proper maintainence, there's no reason this paintjob won't last for many years. I'm very happy with the job they did!

[1] [2] [3] [4]

The Restification Is Complete!

Well, Saturday Nov. 30th was still warm enough to work on the car, so after a morning of junkyard hunting, I finished bolting all the trim onto my Cutlass. I had cleaned and repainted the black parts of the grilles and headlight bezels during the week, so they only needed to be screwed back in place. I still needed to clean the wheelwell moldings up, so they were hit with Blue Magic Metal Polish, and then attached to the car with new stainless-steel sheetmetal screws I bought at the hardware store. These have a 1/4" socket fitting on top, so they'll be much easier to remove if they ever need to come off again.

The C-pillar scripts and door emblems are now gone, along with the pinstripes. The only emblems left are the Calais hood ornament (pirated from a FWD Ciera) and the Oldsmobile badge around the trunk lock.

I can't leave a car totally stock...too boring for me. So, I got a great deal on this used Italian Nardi wood steering wheel. Since the turnsignal switch in the column needed to be replaced, it was a perfect time to swap the wheel too. My friend Jim has become the GM column guru now. He's had these damn things apart so many times now, he could probably do it in his sleep.

I also trashed the stock seatbelt holder and added the loops from an '86 Camaro. I dyed them dark blue to match the interior. Now we won't get strangled by the belts. The fender braces are out of an early 80's G-body Bonneville. They bolt right on in place of the stock spindly wire "braces" that come on the car originally. The only thing I had to do was move the coolant tank over. The brace on the driver's side clears the washer tank and battery with no trouble. They did make the car tighter over bumps, and the car handles better too. I like 'em!

page loaded in 0.062 seconds