1970 Olds Cutlass S restored to assembly line with all options
by Jeff Barnes
There isn’t anything particularly rare about Ron Beasley’s 1970 Olds Cutlass S. It’s not a convertible or a 442. But what’s impressive is that it’s been restored to just-off-of-the-assembly-line condition and he’s found every single option available to the car, including the sampler 8-track tape and the child seat.
Beasley wanted a Cutlass like he had in college, but a high-school friend had a triple-gold (exterior/top/interior) version that he always wanted and that’s the color the restoration took.
The Cutlass options include the rare “Rim Blower” horn, allowing the driver to honk wherever his hands are positioned on the steering wheel. Offered through dealers, most new car owners didn’t want to wait for it to be installed.
After rounding up all of his accessories, Beasley tracked down their 1970 part numbers and prices and had them listed on a replicated window sticker. “I almost went blind tracking everything down on the Internet,” he said.
He even found the “holy grail” of 1970 Olds factory options: a child seat. “It was the hardest thing to find,” Beasley said. “It was the first year they offered one and it’s pretty crude – there was no padding for it and you put the seat belt around it. I ended up paying $400 just to have it, but I wanted this to be the most loaded Cutlass out there.”
The Olds 8-track sampler…
… and its playlist.
The difference probably comes down to little stickers and stamps. Besides being a fantastic restoration, the triple-gold Cutlass is detailed with all of the factory marks and tags that Beasley could replicate. “It was tedious finding where they all went,” he said. “I found out where the stickers went on the springs, the shocks, the frame – everywhere. I figured if I was going to do it, I’d do it right.” He even went to the trouble of finding out what a City of Omaha inspection sticker looked like in 1970 and had that replicated for the front window.
Beasley and his daughter took the car to Des Moines for the 2012 Oldsmobile Nationals and won first place among 1970 Olds Cutlasses and the next day won “Best of Class.”
Beasley rarely takes it out and has added only 91 miles to the 98,000 on the odometer. He admits to some fear of taking it out on the road, a situation that was a little too real when a tire blew out on the trailer carrying it to the Des Moines meet.
Another sticker!
