First Olds... Great Classic Car
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03-11-2009 | 11:15 AM
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First Olds... Great Classic Car
Hello all... I'm PhillyDude, from Philly, dude. I've driven antique and vintage cars virtually my whole life, and last night I picked up my latest ride...
1990 Cutlass Ciera SL, Maple Red/MapleRed, with 72,500 original miles on the odometer. Belonged to the proverbial little old lady (first owner), who sold it to a neighbor when she became too frail to drive. The neighbor (second owner) drove it less than five miles a day to work, and sold it to me in IMMACULATE condition. The original window sticker and pre-delivery dealer inspection sheet were stuffed inside the owners manual. This info reveals that the car was delivered on 3/1/90... will have to look up the VIN codes at some point to get more details.
Interior is virtually perfect, with the expected slight fade and wear in the velour (no rips or "thin" spots). Ashtrays and glovebox and console are clean as new, all switches and lights are functional, and the only flaws I can find are a slight indentation in the headliner the size of a half dollar, a small mark on one of the back seats the size of a quarter (which will probably come out with cleaning), and a little "wiggle" in the driver's side door control panel (where your knee would hit it as you drive).. probably not worth disassembling the door panel to fix it. Six-way power driver's seat, power passenger backrest, stock AM/FM/Cassette, no cracks in dashboard.
Automatic transmission with overdrive, engine compartment is clean, car runs smooth and quiet, with new PA inspection and emissions, new tires all the way around. Slight "clunk" when shifting from park to reverse, but I don't know the car well enough to know if that's a typical sound or not. Will probably have a quick transmisson check performed to see what's up... any input on that would be appreciated. Otherwise in perfect mechanical condition as far as I can tell, with plenty of "get up and go" since the engine is still fairly fresh. Have driven it in the suburban neighborhood where I live and on the interstate highway to get to work, and in the city where my office is located, and it handles as I expected it would from my pre-purchase research (kind of like piloting a small boat LOL).
One wire-look hubcap is missing the center insert piece, and a second one has a faded emblem. I expect eBay or my local hubcapper will be a source for replacing these. Two small imperfections in the body: she scraped the passenger side rear fender/wheelwell area, crinkling the wheel well trim ring and crumpling the fender a little. She had the area painted with primer to keep it from rusting, but I will have it repaired professionally in the near future. Also at some point, she cracked the lower valance under the grill/bumper on the driver's side, which someone repaired with a panel from behind and pop-rivets through to hold it together. This repair was painted to match the car, so it is barely visible unless you are looking for it. Black paint is faded on the tops of the wiper blades and on the door pillars; a quick shot with a spray can this weekend will bring those areas back to life. I'll probably have the windows tinted, and will look at replacing the factory sound system so I can have CD/MP3 capability and better quality speakers. A keyless remote/alarm/starter might also be in the future for this car.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, especially considering that it cost me less than the TV set in my living room, and the Cutlasss is now my daily driver, which has allowed me to put antique tags on the 1984 Chevy Cavalier Convertible that I have been restoring for the past year (and unfortunately also using as a daily driver until now, rolling the odometer up to 83k since buying it with 72k last March). I also have a 2000 Harley Sportster which I built to look like the original '57 Sportster and has won numerous awards and been featured in magazines and calendars over the years.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to poking around the archives, learning more about my first Olds, and getting to know the cast of characters here. Thanks for reading.
1990 Cutlass Ciera SL, Maple Red/MapleRed, with 72,500 original miles on the odometer. Belonged to the proverbial little old lady (first owner), who sold it to a neighbor when she became too frail to drive. The neighbor (second owner) drove it less than five miles a day to work, and sold it to me in IMMACULATE condition. The original window sticker and pre-delivery dealer inspection sheet were stuffed inside the owners manual. This info reveals that the car was delivered on 3/1/90... will have to look up the VIN codes at some point to get more details.
Interior is virtually perfect, with the expected slight fade and wear in the velour (no rips or "thin" spots). Ashtrays and glovebox and console are clean as new, all switches and lights are functional, and the only flaws I can find are a slight indentation in the headliner the size of a half dollar, a small mark on one of the back seats the size of a quarter (which will probably come out with cleaning), and a little "wiggle" in the driver's side door control panel (where your knee would hit it as you drive).. probably not worth disassembling the door panel to fix it. Six-way power driver's seat, power passenger backrest, stock AM/FM/Cassette, no cracks in dashboard.
Automatic transmission with overdrive, engine compartment is clean, car runs smooth and quiet, with new PA inspection and emissions, new tires all the way around. Slight "clunk" when shifting from park to reverse, but I don't know the car well enough to know if that's a typical sound or not. Will probably have a quick transmisson check performed to see what's up... any input on that would be appreciated. Otherwise in perfect mechanical condition as far as I can tell, with plenty of "get up and go" since the engine is still fairly fresh. Have driven it in the suburban neighborhood where I live and on the interstate highway to get to work, and in the city where my office is located, and it handles as I expected it would from my pre-purchase research (kind of like piloting a small boat LOL).
One wire-look hubcap is missing the center insert piece, and a second one has a faded emblem. I expect eBay or my local hubcapper will be a source for replacing these. Two small imperfections in the body: she scraped the passenger side rear fender/wheelwell area, crinkling the wheel well trim ring and crumpling the fender a little. She had the area painted with primer to keep it from rusting, but I will have it repaired professionally in the near future. Also at some point, she cracked the lower valance under the grill/bumper on the driver's side, which someone repaired with a panel from behind and pop-rivets through to hold it together. This repair was painted to match the car, so it is barely visible unless you are looking for it. Black paint is faded on the tops of the wiper blades and on the door pillars; a quick shot with a spray can this weekend will bring those areas back to life. I'll probably have the windows tinted, and will look at replacing the factory sound system so I can have CD/MP3 capability and better quality speakers. A keyless remote/alarm/starter might also be in the future for this car.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, especially considering that it cost me less than the TV set in my living room, and the Cutlasss is now my daily driver, which has allowed me to put antique tags on the 1984 Chevy Cavalier Convertible that I have been restoring for the past year (and unfortunately also using as a daily driver until now, rolling the odometer up to 83k since buying it with 72k last March). I also have a 2000 Harley Sportster which I built to look like the original '57 Sportster and has won numerous awards and been featured in magazines and calendars over the years.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to poking around the archives, learning more about my first Olds, and getting to know the cast of characters here. Thanks for reading.
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