Mechanic Gets $500 Oldsmobile Back On The Road After 33 Years

Key Takeaways

• Dalton attempts to resurrect a 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass purchased for $500 but faces numerous challenges including a missing radiator and rotted frame.
• After several attempts, Dalton gets the V8 engine running but encounters issues with sparking wires and a smoking engine.
• Dalton successfully replaces steering components and can drive the Cutlass, but ultimately decides it’s not financially viable to fully restore the car.

Some barn finds are just too far gone to be able to be saved, though Dalton from the Pole Barn Garage YouTube channel was determined to try and resurrect a 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Having purchased it as part of a package deal alongside an old C4 Chevrolet Corvette, his mission was to try and get the vehicle running and driving for the first time in over two decades. He soon found that his task would be a lot more difficult than he had first anticipated.

Rotten Oldsmobile Cutlass Picked Up For Just $500

Dalton opens the video by introducing the Oldsmobile Cutlass muscle car he picked up for just $500 alongside an old Corvette, though there was a good reason for the low price. Having been off the road since 1990, he found that the radiator was missing and would have to find a replacement even if he could get the engine to fire.

Worse still, Dalton discovered that the tie rods that enable the front wheels to steer were sawn in half and the sway bar was dragging on the ground. This meant he wouldn’t be able to steer the vehicle, forcing him to think outside the box to get it into his workshop.

He had to wait a couple of days to move it due to high levels of snow on the ground, and in the meantime found that the frame was completely rotted away. This meant it would be tough to even secure new steering components to the chassis.

With the snow eventually clearing, he came up with the idea to attach a tire to the front of the Cutlass and use his truck to push it into the workshop. His plan worked, and he got the car inside, so he could start examining it further.

Old V8 Refuses To Fire After Extended Slumber

Dalton wasted no time in getting to work on the muscular Oldsmobile Cutlass, first clearing out all the debris he could from the engine bay. He then lubricated most of the moving parts to see if he could fire up the 350 ci V8 motor.

With the battery cable having been severed, he needed to splice it into the starter so that it would function. While doing this, he discovered that the floor of the Cutlass had completely rotted away. In several places, the carpet was falling through.

Source (automobile-catalog)

He then drilled out the dash-mounted key insert to access the starter switch, though he soon found it wasn’t receiving power. Having played around with the wiring connecting the battery to the alternator, Dalton checked the coil to make sure it was working as intended. Having given the okay in this area, his final job was to connect up a temporary fuel tank. He did this to prevent sucking any foreign debris into the engine by using the original tank, which hadn’t been used in 23 years.

Oldsmobile Motor Eventually Fires, But Not Without Drama

Having completed these jobs, Dalton then tried to fire up the engine. It seemed to be getting somewhere, though as a battery wire began sparking he had to abandon his attempt. He reasoned that the motor struggled to start because the battery was possibly low on charge, so he left it overnight to top it off. He also elected to change the spark plugs to see if this would improve the chance of the sleeping giant starting. Only spark plug seven looked in poor condition, though to be safe, Dalton replaced them all.

He tried cranking the engine once more, and even though it was close, it still refused to catch. Dalton checked the fuel pump and found it wasn’t working brilliantly, so he made a few small tweaks to get it running better.

The V8 finally coughed into life following this, though Dalton had to quickly switch it off again as it produced an immense amount of smoke. He and his son had to open all the doors within the workshop as it got so bad.

Outside The Box Engineering Needed To Fit Radiator

Having got the V8 running once more, Dalton then shifted his attention to getting a replacement radiator into the Cutlass to help keep the motor cool. He soon found that the mounting points for it had completely rotted away, forcing him to come up with a solution.

He settled on drilling some old license plates into the chassis to act as mounting points, an unusual idea that ended up working perfectly. Stealing a new radiator from one of his other project cars, he then spliced the connecting hoses together as he didn’t have a large enough space to fit natively.

Before starting the engine again, Dalton replaced the oil, which is one of the most important elements of keeping an engine running well. Unsurprisingly, the original fluid wasn’t in great condition, having sat unused for so long. The engine soon ran into more problems though, as it quickly lost spark and the radiator overheated.

The next day, Dalton worked out that the rotor was missing around an eighth of an inch. He thus replaced it with a new one, and the engine fired back up once more. The unit was allowed to run for a little while to try and burn off some of the debris left in the system to try and reduce the smoke.

New Steering Parts Allow Cutlass To Drive For The First Time In Two Decades

Dalton’s final objective was to replace the steering system components, so he could attempt to drive the wrecked Cutlass. He first cut away the old sway bar and tie rods, before then finding replacement parts from one of his other machines.

After getting them fitted, he then placed the temporary gas tank on the rear bench seat as he prepared to embark on his maiden voyage with the Olds. Having filled up the radiator once more, he fired up the V8 to see if he could drive it out of the workshop.

To Dalton’s delight, he was able to engage the soothing automatic transmission’s reverse gear and back the Cutlass out of the workshop. He then tested the forward gear and the brakes, with both working sufficiently.

He refused to try it on the road due to how badly the body and floor had rotted, so instead he decided to have some fun in a small field on his property. Dalton was surprised about how agile the car felt, though he was seemingly unaware of a disturbing grinding noise every time he tipped it into a corner.

Work Carried Out To Get 1968 Cutlass Moving

• Full engine lubricant replacement, including oil
• Restores battery power to the alternator, starter motor
• Replacement spark plugs
• New radiator and engine rotor fitted
• Replacement tie rods and sway bar to restore steering

Despite enjoying his first drive in the ancient Cutlass, he conceded that he wasn’t able to restore it. He noted that the replacement metal he would need to replace the floor would cost around $2500 on its own, making it not financially viable.

While disappointing to see such a beautiful machine essentially consigned to the scrap heap, it proves the point that sometimes it’s simply impossible to bring a car back from the brink having been abandoned for so long. Dalton’s Cutlass will at least live on in other examples. He explained that he would farm out some of its not-so-destroyed components to ensure others don’t meet the same fate.