Olds Rants & Raves

Well I finally got around to reading the article on the 71 "LSX" Cutlass referred to on the NEWS section of SX455.Com. I think it's a bit ironic that I read this just after reading the recently posted article about Bob Peter's efforts to try and get our SX cars more recognition in the Old Car Community, as well as a more realistic valuation. So what do you make of the following statement from the article about the builder (destroyer) of this once proud 71 SX:

"Not wanting to hack up a rare 442, Jeff tracked down a less-desirable Cutlass SX and got to work. "

For the life of me I cannot figure out why a "car guy" would completely destroy a limited edition, low production, fully restored, matching numbers car by performing this extreme level of customization, rather than find himself a basic plain 'ol Cutlass to begin with.

I wonder how it would be received if a guy were to take a restored, numbers matching SS396, 4-speed Chevelle and "treat" it to this same level of customization, including converting it to an automatic and dumping that 396 for an Olds 455.

I'm a firm believer in "to each his own" and "it's your car, do what you want with it", but this destruction of a nice original just makes no sense to me, especially when there are so many run-of-the-mill, plain, non-matching numbers cars still out there.

The first similar modded SX that got me riled up almost 10 years ago was Ted Greene's '70 W32 convertible that was completely modified inside and out. It started life as a sebring yellow W32 ragtop and was then totally transformed in a similar manner to the LSX car. I wished he had also picked a lesser car for that project. I attached a couple "before" pics that I saved but could not find the online article that covered the project and included a lot of pictures.
Terry

I did not know about the W32 car. Very sad. Thanks for posting images Terry.

Kevin, I forgot about this car from when I first learned about it and posted it on SX555. I came across the story jus the other day...made me very sad. I got a lot of emails from people asking me how they can trick out their SX and I always try to talk them into keeping the car as original as possible.

I wonder if SX455 should put something together to discourage modifying cars and posting it to web site. Thoughts?