Yup, there she is…my very first sweetie; a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass “S”. Of course this isn’t the exact same car; that one is long gone but she looked just like the one above with the small exception of some subtle pin striping I did along the main lines of the body.
My father had given her to me when I came back from Navy boot camp all those years ago and by the time I finished with her she had dual exhaust connected to BlackJack headers, a pair of “Hush Thrush” mufflers and an original Offenhauser 4 barrel manifold I took off an old wrecked Cutlass 442 of the same year with the original (rebuilt of course) 750 CFM “Quadra-Jet” 4 barrel carburetor. There were other miscellaneous tweaks here and there of course but I’ve forgotten most of them by now.
Since the same engine sizes were used in the 442 and the “S” models alike, the actual switchover was easy with only a minor change in the primary jets to make up for using exhaust headers instead of the original 442 exhaust manifolds (greater exhaust flow with the headers). Since the “S” and the “442″ could come with 350 and 400 cubic inch “Rocket” engines, or the record setting 455 “HO” in the rarer 442 “W-30″ editions, that wide block 350 in mine did well enough when she turned nearly 400 horsepower on the dyno at the local speed shop when I was finished with her and that was with the (mostly) stock engine.
By the way, for the younger generation who are currently driving around these small cars with 4 banger engines stuffed in them, “442″ stood for…
4 on the floor
4 barrel
2 exhaust pipes (dual exhaust)
We traveled the roads for many years together my sweetie and I, and won many road battles against those obnoxious, pushy, overly-aggressive drivers who always think they own the road. A beautiful true love affair if any young man ever had one. Then one fateful winter day in the hands of my sister, who is an excellent driver in her own right, my first love met her end on her way back from Boston during a classic Nor’easter.
Normally an excellent handling car, summer or winter, she was pushed off the highway by an out of control 4 wheel drive Jeep whose driver thought 4 wheel drive meant they could do 80 miles an hour in a raging blizzard on a snow covered highway. She ripped out her guts on a large block of cement that was covered by a huge snow drift my sister had plowed the car through in a valiant attempt to slow her down. By the time the cops arrived my sister had removed my highly expensive stereo setup, the battery and was working on removing the intake manifold and carburetor from the engine when the officer finally had to make her stop to keep her from freezing to death before she was finished.
Where my first love ended up I never did find out nor did I want to. This had all occurred while I was poking holes in the ocean on board my submarine during my time in the Cold War Naval Submarine Force and I didn’t find out until the boat had finally made home port in Norfolk, VA that following summer. I had left the car up north for safe keeping while I was out on a rather long deployment.
All I know was that my sister had recovered the car from where they took it after the accident and had it brought back to my parents place. But before she could have her mechanic friends look at it to see if the engine and drive train were repairable; my father had it towed off to the junk yard while she was at work (one of the only black marks on his record as my father). I couldn’t possibly describe my reaction when I found out I was so devastated.
And so I’ll always have a special place in my heart for that first love of mine and all the wondrous adventures we had together. And I’m always hoping she’s resting in peace rather than in pieces wherever she may be. Perhaps, when I die, we’ll go driving once more on the roads of some other place far away from here.
You never forget your first love.
My high school graduation gift was a 1968 Cutlass S, silver with a black vinyl top, auto transmission with console and bucket seats. This vehicle was given with the stipulation that I come home from college once in a while.
It wasn’t as souped up as yours, but I can say it turned out to be suprisingly great date bait.
Ah, a woman after my own heart. One heck of an automobile wasn’t it? And you’re right, seems like just about everyone liked the looks of the thing. Not your everyday Chevelle.
Of course if I still had it today I probably wouldn’t want to put gas into it.
Nice car. Would be looking cool in red.
Symbian, (Welcome!)
It was, especially with the wide white strips coming down the two raised portions of the hood.
In 1981 at 16 I bought my grandparents 1968 Cutlass with 350, 2 brl, 2 spd powerglide. In 83 I bought a 69 from a friend. The front end with headlights together is one of the meanest of all muscle car looks. I made a hybrid of the vehicles, placing the 69 hood, bumper, grille, dash, seats, steering column on to the 68. The motor in the 69 had 10.5 to 1 compression but was dust. I built the 68 (9 to 1) with a 4 brl. holley and headers. I added a hot cam which was interesting because you cannot adjust lifters on these motors. I had to file down the rocker clamps in small increments until the play was gone and then again when the cam broke in. I added a turbo 350 trans, and of course lifted the back and installed wide mags on 50s. Mufflers ranged from stock with holes punched to glasspacks to turbos. The car was orange while the grille and around headlights was painted gloss black. Hp must have been 350+. Ah the days of youth, the hood up, and 60s 70s rock. Forgot to mention the cars were 4 door!
Hey SG,
The ’69 I had was given to me by my folks when I got back from Navy boot camp. I added the 4 barrel, headers and dual exhaust myself but kept the 350 “Rocket” stock (it came stock from the factory with a high lift cam anyway) with the exception of installing a stock ram air system that came off a junked ’69 Cutlass 442 . The car already had a Turbo 400 heavy duty transmission installed at the factory by the previous owner which I loved because it was downshifted manually via a cable hooked to the gas pedal instead of being downshifted via vacuum module as with the Turbo 350. I could adjust both the throttle cable and the tranny cable on the pedal to downshift the 400 into passing gear right after the 4 barrels kicked in. I installed the original Quadrajet 4 barrel carb designed for that particular engine rather than a Holley (hard decision that one) since the secondaries were opened mechanically (the more you hit the gas the more they opened) rather than the vacuum operated double pumpers that threw the secondaries wide open all at once.
Couldn’t afford to run the thing now but I sure had a great time with her back then. Nice to see someone else enjoy one of these great cars. I actually came real close to buying a ’69 Cutlass 442 W30 but the owner decided not to sell at the last minute. I coulda’ cried.
Kirk, I still have dreams that I posess this vehicle (got rid of in 1986). Someday I would like to get a 69 again, with the high compression. I rebuilt the motor that I described as dust and it would get up awfully well with only single exhaust. And I would have liked to go with the Quadrajet and those huge secondaries. My Holley actually “ran out” before top speed, but this may have been just as well. I believe the 68 still had front drums and was hard to stop! The 10.5 compression, a cam, and a few bolt ons would have been nice. I miss that rocket racket!