Arthur Lever
Rochester, NY
1969 Oldsmobile
Cutlass Supreme
This is my project-
a 1969 Cutlass Supreme with an interesting history.
I am 14 and a
student at Dake Jr. High School. Four years ago I
made a deal with my father (Glenn). If I stay on
high honor roll, I can have a car funded by my dad.
But if the grades drop, the car goes away until the
next report card. Well, four years later after many
report cards that just squeaked by with an A average
I was looking for cars all around the US.
I had days when I
swore by Chevelles or GTO’s, but in the long run I
was in love with the flowing bodylines, aggressive
nose and rocket power of the Olds Cutlass and 442.
(My dad, however, will not allow the 455 in the
442.) I made phone calls to sellers in places as
far away as Vermont and North Carolina. It seemed a
common theme that it is easy to find 70’s or 71’s
but what I was in search of was a 69’ Cutlass.
Almost every day
during this search, we drove by a blue 69 Cutlass!
You may have even seen it; it was parked in a
driveway on the west side of Culver just north of
Titus Ave. I joked I would get it one day, and even
referred to it as my car. Well one day after
picking up my father’s 2000 Z-28, we decided to see
if the Cutlass was for sale. We pulled into the
driveway; I was surprised to see what bad shape the
car was really in. From a distance it had looked so
nice. The rear bumper was falling off, an exhaust
pipe had been duct taped together and the front,
which could not be seen from the road—Well, take a
look at the pictures.
When the guy came
out and fought the hood into an upright position I
laid my eyes on what I like to call a true piece of
art just in minor disrepair. As it turns out the car
had been sitting in that very spot for 10 years and
who knows the last time it ran? But wouldn’t you
know it the very next day it sat in our driveway
along with almost 40 years worth of assorted parts.
The deconstruction
began immediately. The first job was to catalog and
store the spare parts and assess the damage. The car
has a surprisingly clean undercarriage with merely
surface rust. The interior is completely shot; who
would have thought that ten years under the sun was
bad for a car? The body is pretty straight except
for the paint. The previous owner had it painted at
BOCES. It is a terrible job involving some drips and
some popping bondo.
The engine is
really the first order of business and getting it to
run is my main goal. The oil was drained and
replaced with fresh 10W-40. Next, the distributor
cap and wires were removed so the plugs could be
removed followed by a shot of wd-40 in the
cylinders. Then the old Rochester Carburetor was
taken of to be cleaned and rebuilt. Next, the
coolant system went under the knife. It was drained
and hoses were removed.
That’s all that I
have done in the first 3 weeks of ownership. The
process has taken a while with school. But summer is
coming soon and I hope to make bigger strides.
