Why I Need Your Help With My 1994 Cutlass Supreme Convertible!! Plus

[@JoelThomas-bf2ef]

This brings back fond memories of my 91 Cutlass Supreme. Such a fun car to drive.

[@ionellovidell05]

I am from Romania, a former communist country from eastern Europe. Communist regime fell in 89 and Romania became a capitalist democracy. Since 2007 we are part of the European Union and the quality of life improved significantly since then. If I remember correctly, it was year 96 and life was still tough in Romania, near the apartment building where I lived with my family there was a small garage auto shop run by a neighbour that had a brother who ran to America after communism fell, and in that year he returned to Romania to spend the summer and he brought an Oldsmobile Cutlass almost identical to this. The exterior color was the same, interior color was a burgundy, roof color, the dashboard was all electronic so I think it was the model before yours but other than that is was pretty simirar. In a closed up, poor country, full of old communist era cars, for me this was the most beautiful car ever. I was coming back from school and go to the garage just to see the that car. The neighbour would let us sit in it while he was working on other cars and sometime he would take me and the kids from the block for a ride with the top down. I am so glad you bought this car which is the most awesome car from my childhood.

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

What a great story! Thank you for sharing!!

[@Grulaz]

what happened to that 96 cutlass?

[@ionellovidell05]

@@Grulaz my neighbour's brother took it back to Anerica and when he left he said that next time he comes to Romania he will bring a 4x4 because during his stay he managed to break something to the Oldsmobiles's suspension system. The roads where in a very poor condition back then.

[@Grulaz]

@@ionellovidell05 believe me if someone in US saw a Dacia 1300 they would be just as shocked as you were when you saw that cutlass

[@ionellovidell05]

@@Grulaz I was also sometimes wondering what would americans think about our Dacia car. But this days those Dacia 1300 are collector items because after communism fell, the first thing every romnian did was to gather some money and buy a western car. Dacias back then where extremely unreliable as all cars from communist block where.

[@danielsiminski5878]

Those were AWESOME Oldsmobiles!!!!!!

[@robertvance1873]

Ebay and ROCK Auto are going to be your best friend for some of the parts

[@gerry-p9x]

Naw salvage yards and the Oldsmobile clubs best bet post on their forums for wants

[@kc0lif]

i like cutlass convertibles. that cutlass console for rear passengers wow.

[@Pingstein11]

That's in really great shape for a convertible. Amazing!

[@rickbareman2263]

Hey Mike great find can't the 80s love the convertibles good Luke on the rebuild 👍👍👍

[@douglasater]

knob on glove box is missing...also get a oem radio from salvage yard...then you can control it with factory steering wheel controls.

[@jeffshadow2407]

New Crutchfield radios also offer the steering wheel control system.

[@barovelli]

I'll tag on to the radio topic. I think the aftermarket radio needs an adaptor to use the factory antenna plug. or the above comment, find an original.

[@jeffshadow2407]

@@barovelli Crutchfield will match perfectly. I recently bought one for my 1997 Mercury Cougar. All the additional wiring is included. Just call Crutchfield first and their technicians will positively verify what you need. I did pull a rare CD/Radio out of a 1996 Thunderbird, and it would take in a CD but not play and the stations would not advance. Live and learn.

[@cabotactivities575]

mike, I had a nice 1993 cutlass surpreme coupe. It was in really good shape being a Pittsburgh driven car. It was teal blue with a gray interior. Thanks for bringing back some great memories!

[@zosblackdenali]

Congrats on the Sponsor Mike, you deserve it.

[@lirr408]

Love that car. Best of luck with it. Save Oldsmobiles.

[@craigwills5635]

Used to work @a Body Shop in Maryland, (Lustine!!) we had one of these in the shop brand new off the Showroom Floor. Owner didn’t have it for 24 Hours & was T-Boned that weekend. The Insurance Company wouldn’t total it & wanted it fix. Well; it here were a few problems…car was worth too much & parts were extremely hard to get. GM was like; the parts will be there when they get there. Long of the story; by the time all of the parts were in the Insurance Company could have just bought the customer another vehicle. My buddy put that car together with the quickness. We stayed there 18 hours a day, six days a week. Jeff put the car together and it was perfect. Painter came in the morning it was put together & was spraying it that night. One of the sharpest cars GM made. Sporty & somewhat practical. OH! It was stolen about a year later & was totaled. Great times with the Lustine Family.

[@kennethjennings9292]

That 303 company also has an awsome mold and mildew remover. I use it religiously when I clean my boat

[@kevindoxey]

Mr.Clean magic eraser and whitewall tire cleaner will clean that vinyl convertible top, also the seats!

[@southernslipping4225]

Congrats on almost 60k ❤

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Thank you!!

[@retrobear9367]

It's amazing how well those have aged. Id love to see some updated headlights, maybe with halo and some oem rep c5 corvette wheels. Oh! Anything out of the neighbors lately? I remember you had one Karening over the amount of cars on your property.

[@Victorm.Robinson]

Open the trunk to see if the antenna is correctly hooked up you might have to trace it all the way back to the radio just to check to see if it's hooked up directly😮😊😅

[@danielulz1640]

Mike, for the missing or broken bits and pieces, just go to the parts department of your local Oldsmobile dealer. Oh, wait, never mind.

[@roblabato]

This is taking off because its not a Mercedes BMW or a Volvo ... Finally

[@jennaemullins7612]

Those Oldsmobile Motors were pretty good back in the day

[@billbowers268]

The Cutlass is awesome !

[@byronholt4912]

The background music for the car wash was ✅✅

[@Ulford]

Great to see an American car on your channel. Love the Mercedes, Volvos and Saabs to. I love this channel, you are great.

[@James-sir]

I’m a cutlass guy and when this generation came out I had a 84 supreme and I hated this new gen but this year is now growing on me 30 yrs later

[@marcinkaczor6307]

I have had this car in sedan in 2002, when I lived 4 months in USA. This car managed to go from Wisconsin Dells to Los Angeles and back, but ended like in Blues Brothers moovie -unfortunately in scrapyard. Good memories.

[@kendallpatton6041]

Mines has a little knob that you turn to open the glove box. It looks like yours is missing the knob

[@maverickflint1991]

That is an awesome Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible.❤️

[@micahbush3877]

The cutlass is a great little car and you definitely have a rare one. Keep up the great work and great videos Mike!

[@michaelcoonce6694]

Keep in mind regal, and Grand prix are similar cars. Yes ebay will be your friend. And yes those door handles break all the time

[@rudypernas7962]

that roof looks soooo much clean love it

[@romeoalphafoxtrot9517]

Wow! She's looking great Mike! That is a sweet ride, for sure!

[@maverickflint1991]

She looks good and engine compartment too!!!😊👍

[@tommyhall2768]

Have a great weekend buddy love the ragtop buddy

[@MrPabsUk]

I still cant believe American car manufacturers mounted the seatbelts on the door, I`ve been buying salvage cars for decades, & I`ve seen many cars that have had the doors ripped off in crashes, especially small overlap crashes with parked cars & objects, even at relatively low speeds.. Can you imagine what that type of crash would do to the occupant wearing a seatbelt mounted on the door? Its SO crazy to me!

[@randyrussell4331]

My 89 olds Cutlass supreme I use to own had those silly style seat belts could not stand them got hung up on them every time trying to get out of car bad design on GM,S part🚗

[@GnatGoSplat]

That's what happens when a manufacturer cares more about saving money than saving lives. When the government mandated passive restraints, the door mounted belts could be left buckled, allowing the occupants to get in and out without unbuckling the belts, therefore qualifying as a "passive restraint". It was a way to delay installing expensive airbags.

[@jayray8097]

Hey mike look and see if that cutlass has the correct size tires they look too small

[@jiggity76]

I know these cars very well as I own the coupe version of this. Your best bet will be junkyard cars or guys who have kept parts for them. Most of the interior and body trim pieces are no longer available unfortunately. No NOS ones anyway. Yes, you are suppose to have a cover on that lower passenger side foot well. That lower bolt for your passenger side door handle cover is NOT original. It would have had a much smaller Phillips head self tapping screw from GM. Also, your driver's door has been hacked on. You can see those 2 large holes under where your door handle mechanicals are. Someone has been there before and it's not correct anymore. Take the cover off of the passenger side to compare and I'll bet you'll see a lot of issues coming forward on your driver's door. Like what others are saying, and what I've mentioned before, you're missing the knob for the glove box. That little plastic piece...that you just threw the spare tire on...that's for the seat belt cover that comes out thru the top of the door panel. The spare tire cover has the white RPO code label on it. It will have the VIN and all the codes for all the options the car was built with. For example, code LQ1 for the 3.4 DOHC 24 VALVE V6. M13 is for the 4 speed automatic with overdrive or 4T60E. That bolt for the windshield washer bottle is incorrect. GM used black plastic push down pins to lock it down. You need 2 of them in that front part. There is suppose to be a 10 mm bolt that locks the backside of that bottle to the fender. You're missing the under hood light lens cover. Those front red plug wires if they have the firing order still marked on them in white are very rare and haven't been available from GM in years. Looks like your passenger side corner lamp is also damaged. You missed getting all the needles and leaves out of the windshield cowl area. The quarter glass window rubber sweeps are no longer available. You can retrofit ones from the 1993-2002 Camaro/Firebird and they will match up beautifully with some modification. Those pieces for those cars are still available. Again, that RPO label in the trunk will provide you with the paint code. I commend you for trying to use that lower fender body cladding piece but as you can tell now, it won't fit. The sedans and coupes use different ones, not interchangeable. You can use one from another convertible, (92-95), or one from a coupe, (92-97). ALL convertibles from 90-95 started out life as coupes and then a 3rd party cut the roofs off and added all the bracing and top with mechanism to make them into convertibles. This is why most body components will interchange between a coupe and convertible. Also, pay attention...that piece you got from the junkyard sedan doesn't even have the same style of ribs on the cladding. It doesn't match the style of ribbing on the cladding that's on your driver's door or the rest of the car. Mike, I hope you see this as I'm trying to save you a lot of headaches here. Good luck and look forward to seeing your progress.

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Great info! I’ve copied all this and put it in my notes folder about this car. Appreciate the help!!

[@jiggity76]

@@MonkeyWrenchMike No problem. Great to see you saving this convertible. It's already looking so much better and was very beautiful I'm sure when new. Did you see the production numbers I posted?

[@tz138]

The oxyclean mixes with water, apply for a few minutes, scrub, then rinse off...

[@mopargm9329]

@@jiggity76 as a restorer of 2nd gen W bodies with the 3800 and life long mechanic and worked at Bohn Pontiac westminster MD 2007 as a service tech at 17 yrs old and always loved everything about all W bodies. And thanks for all the info on a 1st gen W body and learning me some more 😃 Very valuable info

[@jiggity76]

@@mopargm9329 No problem and thank you for the kind words. I'm currently restoring 2 early W Body's that I just adore. Thru the process, I've been forced to learn a lot along the way. I own a 1991 Cutlass Supreme International Series coupe and a 1993 Grand Prix STE sedan.

[@brentgilmore3281]

OH WOW, I didn’t know the 94 was different Thant the 95. Mine had a totally different dash, door cards and various other inter pieces. I think the 95 was an interior facelift???? While your shopping, check the 95, you would like the upgrade my friend!!!!!!

[@DB-bw5fz]

All of the 94 W bodies got the newer steering column along with the driver side air bag and the newer style seat belt buckles, while retaining the rest of the interior and the automatic seatbelts from the previous years. For 95, all of them received updated interiors, along with passenger air bags. They all ditched the door mounted automatic seat belts as well…except for the Grand Prix coupe, which kept those until the end of the 1st gen W body run.

[@datdudzaverage1469]

Mike you look good in that Oldsmobile, great looking car.

[@gerry-p9x]

THE GOOD OLDSGUYS

[@leviball7593]

Alex has a beautiful 442 Cutlass and he done that car justice. Big Guy I hope you restore this back like Alex you have the convertible and white put white aftermarket wheels on it JNC is a Great wheel co.

[@MrChevyman962000]

Star Brite mold and mildew cleaner from Amazon is my cleaner of choice for mold and mildew spots. Works great for the vinyl atv seats that get those same spots on them. Spray it on, let it sit for a few minutes, scrub, then rinse off.

[@yesper5882]

Mike really did a good job. We are looking for the next cooperation.

[@timgraham7071]

Love the Oldsmobile

[@CertifiedShadetree]

Where you were sticking you finger in at 5:18, there's supposed to be a knob that twists that'll open the top glove box.

[@bookoo4737]

Hey those parts on that car are Universal with a Chevy Lumina and a Chevy Beretta for as the radio you need an extension antenna they probably didn't install it because people these days don't listen to the radio by the way love your content

[@rjft7003]

I've never seen one of those Cutlass here in Europe, but definitely, the front-end looks like the 1989 Alfa Romeo SZ (Sprint Zagato) known in Italy as 'mostro' or monster. I'm enjoying every bit of this Cutlass Supreme restoration. 👍🏻

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Very cool

[@maxoklock4805]

I remember my first job as a dealer parts guy @ a Chevrolet dealership back in summer of ‘05. A guy was trying to piece one of those back together then. Most of the convertible specific trim pieces were already obsolete back then almost 20 yrs ago. 😵‍💫

[@lorddiablo8575]

Mike, for the front seats, you can go to car/auto upholstery shop and they can help you to re-mount / repair the seats.

[@rustysuperbeetle3064]

Mike, on that driver's side trim door piece, get a clip that fits for that piece and plastic weld around that lower piece to make it fit with leaving a spot for the clip to slide in and out and that should stay tight on that lower side.

[@chayden8653]

There are one of these in Montreal Missouri for $500 and its white, its currently on Facebook market place. Good parts car for you.

[@miketyler4536]

Hey Mike, the Astro Van has the same door handles as well. Its a known issue with that genre of GM, like most GM vehicles and their quirks. Be glad the white paint is not peeling. GM did a booboo with mixing manufacturers for chemicals when the painting vehicles back in the day.

[@johnlloyd9374]

I do work in a salvage yard I know we have a few I'll check the inventory tomorrow tc buddy 😊

[@leviball7593]

You and Alex should team up on these cars together would be spicy content 👍

[@chrisoliver9442]

Good presentation of the jump pack Mike !

[@Biggja22]

I'm not a convertible guy but that car is pretty rad.

[@75tranzam]

Mike, use some ArmorAll tire cleaner and shine on your engine bay. It cleans really well and adds a nice shine to the black plastics! Nice job, can’t wait to see the progress on this girl.

[@ThriftMachine]

JB Weld a washer to the lower door trim to hold the clip in place

[@michaelwyatt8030]

Hi Mike you can try some spray 9 on the top it mite work but the looks good

[@shaferlott4846]

Love your and Randy’s videos

[@steveww07]

that yesper was on PF channel in a comparison and why I purchased one and carry it daily. Rough memory but the older GMs used an antenna adapter for aftermarket radios. Perhaps they didnt have one when the installed the Alpine.

[@peterkwok9608]

Nice score Mike 😎😎👍👍Nice Cutless Supreme convertible

[@heartofdixie67]

Mike, use GOJO hand cleaner with lanolin on all your vinyl tops and convertible tops with a soft bristle brush ! Work it well and watch the dirt dissolve away ! Use pressure washer and rinse thoroughly !!! Lanolin will help condition it ! You will be amazed by the results !!! Tell Randy this too !!! 👍💯

[@andrewanderson840]

Love a good cleaning! It’s really a cool looking car, and love that’s it’s a convertible, love the vehicle

[@red58impala]

You should get some of those old wool/sheep seat covers. That would be just about period correct for the front seats. They were really popular in the late 80's early 90's, so there may be some carry over.

[@JohnWayne-o9g]

Mean green works Awesome get it at Dollar General

[@teknowil]

I wish i had the money , you could drive it back to south of Little Rock and put it in my garage lol

[@jaredmcbride3118]

Great car and video! If you ever want to part ways with it let me know lol. I need another older project. The wife made me sell the 2 I recently had

[@christopherholloway8102]

I had a teacher who had this generation curls convertible in white on white like this one. I graduated in 1991, so it was a 90 or 91. Great car. I hope you find the parts for this one. I’d love to see it looking sharp again.

[@fatwithmoney8953]

Looking nice

[@badcorgis]

There are plastic lug nut covers that go on all of the lug nuts as well. I believe they were painted plastic silver covers that screwed onto the actual lug nuts.

[@kevinjohnson1958]

I would definitely try to dye the seats first, I would even have a go at repairing that driver seat.

[@a-dub]

Great video! Looks like with a lot of little parts, you'll have an amazing car! Hopefully, you can find them! Maybe Alex with Legit Street Cars would have some connections in Chicago?

[@tmoz1228]

Mike try the resolve heavy pet traffic on a little spot on the top! Then do the whole thing! It probably will remove the rest and doesn't require alot of scrubbing. I've fixed alot of things with it that you wouldn't believe! Never had an issue with changed color or anything!

[@chriscreekmore210]

Cool car looks so much better already I'm excited to see the progress

[@rudypernas7962]

looking good mike now you can take lola to the beach cruse around keep up the good job and yes does cars are very good

[@GnatGoSplat]

I owned a triple black 94 convertible from 2000-16. It's been out of sight, out of mind ever since, till your videos remind me of it and now I'm feeling nostalgic and missing it! As you learned, sedans and coupes share NO external body parts. The glovebox knob is missing on yours. It rotates clockwise to open. You might be able to stick something in there and rotate. 94 convertibles are typically prewired for HUD, should you want to add it. You'd need the HUD unit, dash pad, and height control that goes in the cubby under the cig lighter jack. The door handle cover in the jamb is convertible-specific and a hardtop coupe one will not fit, at least not without modification. Interior door handle trim and lock button can come from any coupe back to '88 and up to '94.

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Great info, thx!

[@DB-bw5fz]

Also to keep in mind….the cutlass in particular underwent a bit of a facelift in 92…so not only are the external body parts different between the coupes and sedans….some are also different between the 88-91 and the 92-97 cutlass coupes.

[@GnatGoSplat]

@@DB-bw5fz True, but most 88-91 sheetmetal can work on a 92-97, hood being the exception. The plastic cladding definitely won't work because it's very different aesthetically.

[@DB-bw5fz]

@@GnatGoSplat Front fenders are different as well due to the mini quad head lights on the 92-97. The door skins might work…but the doors are convertible specific anyways. Maybe the trunk lid and rear quarters are the same?

[@GnatGoSplat]

@@DB-bw5fz Front fenders are different, but only behind the corner lamps. I believe it's just slightly different and the fender would need a little bit of modding to the sheetmetal there to fit. The rest of the fender is the same, the lights are shorter because the bumper goes up higher. At least, that's what I seem to recall when I had the corner lamps pulled off both my 89 and 94 at the same time to compare. Yes, doors are convertible specific, but 90-91 doors should fit a 92-97. Trunk lid is definitely the same, my 89 has the newer trunk lid with inner holes for the lip spoiler. Quarters should be the same, but I believe convertible specific.

[@randydaubert4553]

My favorite car you've had.

[@mopargm9329]

Also damn I love your seats and interior! She will turn out great. I restore 2nd gen W bodies with the 3800 and love my current 04 dale Jr supercharged I will keep for the rest of my life. I'm 35 and bought my 1st 01 Monte SS Highsport and built that up. I'm a lifelong mechanic also and worked as a service tech for Bohn Pontiac in Westminster MD back in 2007 when I was 17 and I swear by these cars. This is my 5th 6th gen Monte, 2 GTPs and a GP GT, 2 impalas one being an ex police 9C1 and SS SC. I will keep buying and restoring these for the rest of my days. Love W bodies!!

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Very cool! Thanks for watching!!

[@desert_garage76]

I like that style of cutlass but never seen a convertible

[@OtherSarah2]

Mike, you *should* have a cover over that under-footwell fusebox. Check with vehcor's Scott's Grand Am emporium for a spare -- it's a GM, so they should interchange. Check that broken lower door piece for a part number. Cutlasses back then were, IIRC, similar to the Impala/Malibu and similar GMs more so than they were to other Olds models -- did Buick have a ragtop that year? Is there a good upholstery shop in Tulsa? (Call Santa!!!) For that driver's door panel -- step one, slip a flat basketball or football in there and inflate it slowly. It might pop out! (This is how I fixed a 1982 Suburban door after I fell off my Honda XL into it and put in a dent.) The other thing you might do is make friends with somebody who has a 3-d printer...

[@toguro1009]

Couple things Mike, I hope you watched Alex’s vid on the timing belt, that front dogleg motor mount looked not-so-fresh, and the pine needles on the vents.

[@JeredtheShy]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how many little plastic panels and such can be found for this car on Rock Auto. Not a shill, just a customer. It's the place to start.

[@Oyvind88]

Great car and video😄

[@chriss.9441]

One more subscriber and view closer to Legit Street Cars. You got this

[@arsinoeivlostprincess4228]

Alex was hawking a leather clean and care product that might help those seats. A bunch of videos back. It seemed to work very well.

[@roydavis2242]

I owned a much older Culass Supreme convertible (1965) and was fun. It wasn't a "family" cars so I sold it. I have a product to try. It's called Release® and was designed for and used by the airline industry.

[@melvinhall586]

Use Ajax. For. Top. Will. Clean. Up. So. Good

[@TinoGutierrez-h6m]

Are you going to do a tune up on it? If so, would love to see a video of a tune up on a 3.4 liter.

[@theturtle2121]

Try some SoftScrub on the vinyl top.

[@robertvance1873]

Mike I would get some Bleche White and a few Mr Clean Pads that's what I have seen a lot of people use to clean convertible tops.

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Great advice!

[@matthewcady2181]

​@@MonkeyWrenchMike Rmr-86 is a great mold and mildew stain remover.

[@1crustyoldmsgtretired870]

Don't forget to fix the janky LH headlight ! It's cleaning up really nice.

[@rudypernas7962]

hey Mike I hope you do a video polishing it so u can bring that paint back almost like it was

[@ThriftMachine]

Cost to completely re upholstery my Recaros was $500 for both in boat vinyl, maybe do that

[@elbarto4394]

Right on time 😊

[@locotrucker46]

That is one cool car! I love it!

[@nicholasz1]

You can see with fishing wire - the seats - as long as the fabric is in good shape. Remove the seat cover fro the foam and try to re-sew it if not ripped. Is practically free. Just the Labour

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Great idea!

[@Ron-h4l]

Nice car Mike 🤙

[@stevec8610]

Hey Mike I need that car when you’re done with it I had the exact car in high school same colors and all loved it

[@barrymarcus6877]

going to look at a black 94 with 104,000 miles next week.

[@stevenroyce8643]

Beautiful car Mike. They don't make them like that anymore.

[@quasar3210]

It’s been a ton of years, but for some reason i feel like the glove box had like a knob you made like a half-turn and is likely what is snapped off. I definitely remember the button in the center under that lid

[@VinnieSignorelli]

Mike try HAARTZ ragtop cleaner. I’m a convertible top engineer for 20 years now and that’s what we use on our production line.

[@MonkeyWrenchMike]

Thanks!! I’ll give it a shot!