Leo_Claudia

Vertigo, thanks for the heads up, I talked to the guy in Roswell, very knowlegable, interesting guy who didn't mind taking 45 mins to talk to me, gave me a few ideas that changed my whole perspective on the thing even. Which kind of ties in to the things you were saying Ron_of_Chicago, ultimately, everybody in the hobby has opinions & biases, expressed or not, & pretty much no matter what one does or has, they prob shouldn't spend too much time trying to please everybody, since it's never going to happen. Your idea about the experienced painters is/was dead-on Ron, & it's where I needed to look. & whether it's orig paint or not, I'm just going to do this thing the way I'd orig. planned, & fully expect to hear the same comments/opinions (or not) that I've always experienced. & hey edzoldz, nice to meet you! Your 442 sounds very neet, I'd love to see it/go for a ride in it. You don't have it on cardomain or anything, do you? (There's a nice '78 there - http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2187846 ). Do you 'show' it? As regards bodystyle labels, I like 'fastback' & think it's a general, but most correct name for what distinguishes it from the other Cutlasses/body styling designs, maybe also 'notchback' applies, as it was used to designate Novas & Vega fastbacks w/a trunk. Slopeback also works, I guess. Have you ever seen the matchbox car 'Flat Out 442'? I picked one up at a garage-sale many years back, it's pretty beat up, but I'd love to sport some of the body mods that car has. I've seen a T-type Century with a factory spoiler that looks similar to the one on it. Thanks everybody again, I guess I'm off to 'build my masterpiece' (lol)

Again, Steve, thank you so much for the time & effort you've put into this thread. I'm pretty sure we're on 'the same page' about this car in general, now. & especially if it's not been hit/paint is orig., the right thing to do will be to carefully garage & preserve it 'as is'. I'm def. not a rich individual, but I sure am & have been an Olds fan all my life. & oh yeah, it's a swan to me, I snapped this car up as fast as I could. I'm guessing that you're not often near Atlanta, so I'll do what I can to find a seasoned, certified appraiser, answer this question about the paint, put the car to sleep, & get on finding another (2dr) Salon (or even Century fastback, for that matter), that I can justify hacking up for my devious devices <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Thanks again Mr Moskowitz, & best of luck & good fortune in everything you do. Leo & Claudia

Heck, you're prob the guy I'm looking for Steve. I've prob failed (at length even) to be clear & express myself well. The dollar-value of the car is not my bottom line. & as you've said, whether it's 4k or 104k miles a monkey could tell us. & right or wrong, for me, the issue is authenticity - originality. I'm absolutely convinced it's 4375 miles, but if that paint is orig, the thing to do w/it might be to put it in a plastic bag. Or sell it to someone who would do that, even if I lose money. Or donate it to a museum at the end of my days (w/4375 miles). Out of respect for the car & Oldsmobile & for my own honor. For some crazy reason, for me, the paint is the sticking point, the paint is almost perfect, but if it's not factory paint, I might as well put my 500 hp bigblock in it & track/street/show it. Maybe there's alot more of this type of car (old, plus super low miles, plus garaged & orig) in the world than I'd think, but I'm not seein em. It's not a '68 all-orig W-30 Hurst/olds vert w/4k miles, but it's not a '75 4dr 4k mile ltd that's never seen a garage either (Not to rag on ford, a person could just as easily have inserted '4dr valiant' w/the rest of that description). If only you were close to GA or me to PA, I'd pay 'your' price to look at the thing, do you ever get near Atl in your travels? & maybe you're right, esp about how an experienced appraiser would be qualified. I'd trust you. & again, it's not about the dollar value of the car. A few years back I was talking to an older ex-marine Packard-restorer-guy (he had a 190? Stutz in his shop too) about buying this 67 Cutlass he had for the same thing, to transplant my drivetrain into & he told me & I quote, 'I'd rather have a sister in a Whore house than to sell this Cutlass to a hot rodder'. It hurt my feelings at the time a little, but over the years I've tried real hard to understand his perspective on the thing, & I'm sure I have more respect, esp today, for Olds than he did. Heck, I prob got more respect for olds than GM does. Anyway, thanks again Steve for the time you've spent w/me on this issue, you're prob quite a busy man with much more important matters to attend, but thank you. I'm just trying to do 'the right thing'.

Thanks Ron & Steve. In one pic in the imagecave set another Salon (w/a rough body) can be seen, & that's my proof that I come by my love of Salons honestly <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I've always been a fastback fan, really. My (esp Olds) friends have called it 'the uglyback' 'duckbill' 'ducka$$' 'uglyduck', & there's prob others I forget &/or can't repeat, but I always laughed w/them & never particularly held it against them. It was a 3 year, low production volume model of Cutlass, & I never thought I'd see even a restorable one again, then this '79 came along. On another note, my Wife & I are a team, but the forum wouldn't let me put a '&' symbol in our screenname, & yep, I'm guessing you'll always be talking to Leo (good guess guys)& sorry if there was any confusion. I didn't buy it from the orig owner, who's passed away, & thus I can't verify much about it. There's all kinds of evidence pointing to that the miles are orig, I can't find that it's ever been hit. The one issue I'm having is the paint, there's a run in it low on one side, not a big run, but a run. I have no idea if the factory put any out w/runs (either this model or in it's era in general). With a weak magnet in a sock, I can't find any bondo, exc at the quarter welds & I guess that's normal. There's no tape marks I can find anywhere & grill bolts & bumper bolts & body plates & door rubber & other moldings all look to never have been removed & in fact, are all perf 'as new' condition, consistant w/the 4k miles, garaged always description I got from the seller. & there's no exceptions, the whole car's this way. But there's that 10 inch run. My mech buddy, who's pretty seasoned & a smart guy, says it's been painted. He's backed off that a bit as time's gone by & we've looked more & closer at the car & this is what got me here. I figure if I can find someone who is an expert in this era of Olds, esp as regards the myrad nuances of how (well) they were constructed back then, that this person would be the one to have look at the car & I was thinking that this would maybe be the place to find him (or her). As undesirable as this car was, it is 27 years old, how many 4k mile 1979 anythings are around? I bought it intending to swap in the drivetrain from my other Salon which includes a Mondello built 1966 Toro 425/THM400/'65 12bolt, etc. (at 2800 lbs, my '80 might have been ugly, but it was pretty darned quick too, often much to my A-body Olds buddies' chagrin). But the more I look at this car, the more I get to thinking that maybe I shouldn't 'hack' it up, esp if the paint is orig, etc. Thus my dilemma. If it's orig., it has to be some rare 'survivor' & while I'm sure I have all the real-antique-car guys & gals laughing at me, Olds is now gone forever & maybe I should decide carefully out of respect for all kinds of things. & Steve, while I thank you for your advice, I'm just absolutely convinced that the last thing this car deserves is to be evaluated by some run-of-the-mill appraiser. I'm just hoping for something much more definitive. Again, much thanks everybody, I'm thinking somebody here knows somebody who knows somebody who was actually 'there, then' & 'actually knows this stuff'.... Leo

Not even a welcome for a newbee... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> oh well. Maybe a pic(s) would help. http://usera.imagecave.com/Fastback/ Thanks everybody.

I'm new to AACA & OCA & this is my first post. I have been an Olds owner/fan forever, & recently I came into ownership of a 1979 Cutlass Salon that's looking to be an almost all orig (only tires, battery & oil & now gas tank looks to be non-orig). Story goes it was bought for cash, driven 3 months then parked in a garage till now. It looks & smells like a brand new car. Not even a door ding. Oh yeah, odometer reads 4,375. What I'd like some advice about, is who would I talk to that's highly qualified (esp GM/Olds) about appraising & judging & authenticating this car. I live in GA, if that matters. Thanks in advance, any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Leo & Claudia