Hooptie Dreamer’s first car was a Buick Regal Wagon, and thus his love of G-bodies was born. Imagine his excitement when we found this 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass on Craigslist in White Bluff, TN. Asking price $1,700.
Description and info
The astute (um, the ability to notice details) among you will be quick to point out that this is an A-body. Nicely spotted, smarty pants. In 1982 General Motors introduced a new front-wheel drive platform and called it the A-body. In the process the existing A-body platform was renamed the G-body. Prior to this happening, GM also made the full-size A-body smaller a few times in the 1970s, resulting in this 1979 Cutlass being more of an intermediate size. Got it? Great. Now back to the program.
This fourth generation Cutlass is of unknown mileage with a clean Tennessee title. The listing claims it was found in a barn, but it is not clear how long it has been sitting.
Exterior
It does appear to be a solid car aside from rust in the lower edge of the trunk lid, and on the passenger side quarter panel. The paint (repaint?) has peeled in a few spots, and the landau top is curling up along every edge too. Lastly, one dent is clearly visible in the passenger quarter panel.
Interior
The interior has seen better days. As expected, there is a lot of mold and mildew from sitting. The factory soft velour goodness on the seats has been worn smooth, and the carpet matted with grime. Nearly every plastic part such as the dash, door cards, and even the steering wheel is cracked. Gravity is attempting to pull the headliner down as well. It’s not all bad though. This ride has power seats, windows and door locks.
Drivetrain
According to the listing there is a complete V8 under the hood, which means it is either 305 or 350 cubic inches. The transmission is an automatic; most likely a turbo-hydromatic 350. This is a pretty standard combo, and one with a lot of aftermarket support.
Making plans
For once we have plenty of budget to work with, and parts are relatively cheap, so we would probably try to make this zip down the drag strip faster than we can wolf down our donuts. Ok maybe not that fast on the $3,300 available to spend. A quick scan of Summit Racing’s site shows that we could source new heads, a cam, intake manifold, carburetor, ignition controller, distributor, and a shift kit with money left over for brakes and tires. And maybe another couple dozen donuts if we source some used go fast goodies.
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