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ATTENTION: MY '86 CUTLASS WAS STOLEN
between 6:30-7:30 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 8th 2004 FROM FAIRLAWN, OH.
Cash reward for any leads on the car or parts of it (for example, the engine is identifiable by the custom work on the intake).
Please call me at 330-388-0686 cell or your local Police or the Fairlawn Police at 330-666-8871.
Warming up the tires at Dragway 42 in West Salem, OH MORE DETAILS BELOW
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Shown to the left is the Cutlass as I purchased it - Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.
To the left is the 1986 Oldsmobile Cultass Supreme exactly as I purchased it. I paid $1,250 for the car with a 3.8 liter (231 cubic inch) V6 and 45,000 miles on the odometer. The original engine had expired, so I thought that a 461 cubic inch big block Olds, which is almost exaclty double the original engine's displacement would take it's place nicely! It is oddly optioned with bucket seats and no center console (column shift).
My goal from the beginning was to make the car as fast as I could and still have it appear as if GM could have produced it. By this I mean I wanted all the street car accessories working such as air conditioning, power steering, wipers, and a real street car suspension. I also did not want to add a roll bar because it makes ingress/egress difficult and makes the rear seats useless to passengers. Also no sumped fuel tanks and no fuel pumps behind the gas tank (a crash hazard). The car is raced on 93 or 94 octane gas, and is easy to drive until you hit the loud pedal... then some attention to steering is required.
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CLICK HERE FOR THE ENGINE AND DRIVE TRAIN PAGE This car is a rolling project, as I am always planning the next improvement. It was built as a street car that I would take to the track and race, so It keeps all its manners and A/C, power steering, etc. The 455 has gone through a couple levels of modification to get to it's present state. Until October 2002 the Cutlass had a TH400 in it with a stock 12" 1800 stall torque converter. This setup was just to get me by until I could afford the REAL street car transmission. A heavily modified TH-2004R and Yank Performance Converters "Yank 3000" 10 inch lockup converter have improved the launches and keep the engine RPM's nice and low on the highway. The car used to be horrible to drive on the interstate, but now is a dream to cruise at 70 MPH.CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE MORE SPECS!
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CLICK HERE FOR THE BODY WORK AND PAINT PAGE Over the winter of 2002-2003, I stripped the paint off of the roof, the A-pillars, the B-pillars, and the trunk lid. I also repaired some rust. This page shows the body work, including the welded in patch panel, and the primer and paint job.CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE MORE!
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How I feel right now:
I am determined to not let this incident ruin me. I will persist, I will get back in the game. It may take me some time to "get back in the saddle" if the car is a complete loss, but the best I can hope for is to get something back; anything back. On top of that, almost any part of the engine I can identify, as I did not leave ANYTHING alone. I feel I have done far more good than bad in this world, especially in the last couple years of my life where I believe I have become more positive and more giving. With that, I feel if there is a possible positive outcome, I will experience it. If there is nothing to be seen of any part of the car again, the experience will only make me stronger. Maybe if the only thing this experience does is DRIVE me to work harder to build my business quicker, then it would still be worth while. If I can use the anger from this incident and channel it into hard work, and thus increase my income, then that would be enough to give thanks to the individuals responsible for taking 5 years of blood, sweat, and tears of my life, culminated in that car that I was so proud of.
At this point, I say farewell to that car, realizing that it is now a legend to those who were lucky enough to ride and cruise in it with me. It was the perfect car. It could be driven anywhere, and got 15 MPG on the highway. I drove it to Norwalk, and ripped of low 12.6's with all the crap in the car (tools and all), with the car exactly as I drive it on the street.
If any part of the car is returned to me, I will call it a blessing, and feel thankfull. It is only my fault and foolishness that caused this loss. As such, I apologize to Matt, Ken, Brent, Karl, Mark, and Jeff, who helped me many crazy nights to build the car. I apologize for not being more disciplined in the car's care. Maybe the car's achilles heel was that is was SO easy and nice to drive on the street, that I decided to take it straight from the car show to Sunday training at work.
This is a tough point in my life right now, not just because of this incident, but also career wise I am already putting 100% into what I do. The car was great because it was basically DONE, and I had it to enjoy. Now I am left with nothing but a set of bald Drag Radials on old rims to show for it. I feel gratefull for the experience though... I enjoyed the car for roughly 14 months (minus winter storage), and in that time, I think I got more enjoyment out of it than some do in a lifetime of hot rodding. Whoever you are out there that took my car, you took part of my soul. I could not afford to have a professional engine built, so I did it my self. It took 3 tries and approximately 8 to 9 thousand dollars to get the engine right (having to re-do it twice), but I did it. I could not afford to have the car painted, so I did it myself. In February '03 I spent 12-15 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, for 4 weeks, and repainted the upper half of the car. It was not a perfect paint job, but it was mine. I could not afford a lot of professional work on the car, so everything else I did. The headers took an easy 100 hours. The crossmember. The oil cooler. The rear control arms and axle... I could go on and on.
I don't even know if anyone is reading this, but in some way it is therapudic.
Please, anyone reading this, learn from my mistakes. Think, if you KNEW someone was GOING to steal your car TOMORROW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO PREVENT IT? Do that now. Don't wait till it's too late like me. |
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