Okay, let's do this. For 25 years one of my favorite cars is my Olds rag top. But one thing has bothered me for a quarter of a century and that was an oil can dent right in front of the drivers seat. I finally decided to do something about it his winter. I took the hood to have it stripped since I didn't know what was under all the paint, but prior to removing it from the car I installed the hood pin retainers on the core support, bolted in a marker, drilled the pilot hole for the hole saw. I have always liked the round 1970 pins in the W-30 plastic hood. So since I was re-painting the hood anyway... So I made some steel cups from exhaust pipe I had lying around and after cutting them down to the correct height, flared the edges to look like the fibergl*** hoods. Then fit them to the hood. They are deeper at the back like the factory. I used a stud to center the pin pocket as I increased the diameter of the hole to fit the flared pockets. TIG'd them in and ground them down The hole also had to be built up on the under hood side. So I used more exhaust pipe to create what I think is a factory look. TIG's that up Welded a "lid" on it and painted the bottom of the hood. Back to the top side. My favorite pink polyester primer I blocked it 3 times and it came out flat. So I put the car in a body bag other than the tops of the front fenders. I scuffed those to 600 and they get color with the hood. The 68 has a SS fender molding at the top of the fender so a perfect place to break the paint. Sealer first then a coat of GM Ermine white down the center. Masked off some '68 Hurst Olds style hood stripes for fun and to make the car faster . Then add the Tahoe Turquoise, remove the masking from the stripe and clear coat. I spaced the stripe to match the fender stripes that you can see in my avatar. This is not a restoration car, this is a hot rod Oldsmobile. No numbers match anything, Mondello built 455, 11:1. aluminum headed 550 HP, 650 torque, TCI 400 with Hurst Dual Gate (also form a 70 442), Olds 3:55 Posi. It would make a restorer cringe. It makes me smile ear to ear. Isn't that what this place is all about? Wet sanded to 3000 Polished with wool bonnet And then foam pad I'll come back after I install the pins and chrome trim. Summers comin!
I used to race it a bit, just 1/8th mile since it doesn't have a roll bar. I broke out on this one, but it can run easily under 8. Lowest was 7.48. Not bad for a car with PDB, PS, PW, tilt, power driver seat, 8 track, factory am/fm, gauges, and a spare in the trunk trying to weigh it down. QA1's on all corners, boxed control arms, big anti sway bars, 3" pipes to the mufflers then 2.5" out the back. Those red line race tires ****ed!!! This was her normal race attire with M/T drags out back on 10 " rally's. This is her retired. senior citizen look with GM Style Steel III wheels, again 10" on the back cuz why not? The only change to this shot of the Mondello 455 is I stuck these on it last year that i sourced from our cl***ifieds. Black rugs, pearl seats, white rag top. Wood grain wheel, map light mirror, line locs on the shifter knob. If the 8 track Boston tape looks familiar it is because I had to talk @Moriarity out of one after mine broke last year. This aint no trailer queen, but that doesn't mean it isn't nice underneath. The wheel houses are caked in rubber, no rust happening here.
I owned a 67 Tahoe Turquoise RS/SS Camaro, put a white bumble bee stripe on it. I loved it. Sold it due to a divorce and when I built the Olds I knew what color to paint it. When I found it the Olds was dark forest green, black interior, black top. B O R I N G. I don't restore, I make things my own.
Thanks. I don't know if its talent or just that I lost all fear of cutting stuff up once I figured out how to put it all back together again. Either way, life, like my cars, will never be the same.
I love my Olds. She is part of the family and earned that role many times over. And it holds several sets of golf clubs in the trunk. It is my favorite golf cart. Hence the vanity plate (with 25 years of renewal stickers on it, currently). I could put a YOM plate on it and never pay a fee again but... The plate frame says "not your father's Oldsmobile" which is true unless you are my son or daughter.
Well crafted! Good to see some love for the Oldsmobile camp. Always a Starfire/98 guy myself but I love the 68 Cutl***
I knew a gearhead several years ago who told me that the fastest street car he’d ever ridden in was a 1968 442 with a 455 and 4:88 gears. He said it wouldn’t top end for long but it got there real quick! This was a p***enger seat experience of course, and the p***enger seat always produces more excitement than the driver’s seat. This guy had owned some fast cars too so I know he was being honest. The last ride I knew that he owned was a 9 second street car, but that was at least fifteen years ago.
It's fast in a straight line, but even with dual adjustable QA1's coil overs in all 4 corners, you don't want to take all that into a corner. And the shift to second doesn't just chirp the tires, it roasts them, and then you have to steer out of a posi slide at speed. I love that car.
Love the color and the signature Bandit details. My high school car was that color. Brings back good memories.
Did you see the tahoe turquoise 67 camaro at the spring cl***ic? Nice car. Mine has a bit more green in the hue. Works nice with the pearl seats. She is getting a bit ragged here and there. 26 year old soft tops tend to do that but still a good 5 footer. I think God takes away our hearing and eyesight as we get older so we are happier with our cars. Mine have less rattles this year.
Wow, H/O. What a car. Feel free to toss up a pic of that thing. Sometimes I have wished mine was rare or special, but then again, I wouldn't have kicked it in the sack for 25 years if it was a 6 figure car. Years ago I drove it to the beach for Rod Run and it poured on the way down. Had to wash it at the coin op wash. The ***** before me used the brush to wipe the sand off his car evidently. Had to polish it when I got home...with a $550 burn out ticket and a reckless driving ticket. We set drinks on it, mix ****tails in the trunk at cruises, drag race, street race, burn out competions (always put the top up before one of those when you have white seats). Kick the tires and light the fires! Yeah, it's the perfect car.
Well that first paint job did not match for ****! I did a spray out but no bueno. I sanded it back down and tried a few more colors and finally found one that works. A bit darker but same hue. This is the only place where the color meet, at the top of the doors. Not bad. I also changed the color of the stripe to match the one on the fenders. But I screwed that up as well. I turned on my heater in the morning to warm the garage. The heater is hanging over the Olds. The fan only comes on when the thermostat triggers it. It wasn't running when I started the clear coat so I didn't think about turning it off. Yep! The heater came on and blew **** all over the wet clear. Insert cursing here. I managed to save the clear over the turquoise with a lot of sanding and polishing but the white stripes had to be masked back off and reshot today. They turned out nice and I corrected a few minor issues while I was at it. The broad strip is 3" wide and I thought it looked too wide across the back of the hood, so I narrowed it to 2" back there. Looks cool. Tomorrow a little scuff and polish on the stripe and I can put the car back together. It's OT but it's cool! I am glad we have this forum so you all don't think I'm just sitting around drinking.
Brings back an ugly memory! When I was in high school I had an older friend paint my 57, well guess where my other friend and I were when he was painting......yep, upstairs playing pool.
I could have lived without the re-paint but I am happy with it now. I had a picky friend stop by last night and he said he was having trouble finding fault with it so I guess I p***ed muster. I'll post a pic later with it all back together. Those chrome vents are murder on my back reaching across the fenders trying to nut them down. 25 years ago I took the squirter hoses/nozzles off the car when I painted it and never put them back. I still have them (where, is another matter) so I thought I would finally re-install them.
More work done today as I wrap up this off season, off topic, project. Installed and wired the hood light, new insulation blanket, pin retainers, washer bottle... The M/T covers I bought off our cl***ifieds and polished/painted look good on the aluminum headed 455. All of that brake line is for the line locs, I made it look like a factory option. Hung the proportioning valve off one side of the booster and used the same bracket on the other side to hang the line loc. Covered the lines in gravel guard because I like it. Hood pins installed and locked. Totally an Olds mod that should have been an option. Same with my new go fast stripe, I like it! Red, white and teal! This is the car all cleaned up, mean looking "day two" Olds. Every spring I put it on the lift to detail it and wipe out the red plastic inner fenders with paint thinner to keep them clean...it's an Olds thing. This is a driver, never a show car. My floor will never come clean.
You ever thought of bolting on a dual snorkel air cleaner with the air ducts that run from under the front bumper too the air cleaner?????..... That = more power...
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