1984 Olds Cutlas Factory Drag Car?

[R68GTO]

Were the aluminum body panels used in production cutlasses in the mid-80's or were they added once the test car was designated for the race program? I wonder why the 1985 body test cars ended up with 1987 front ends?

[83hurstguy]

Originally Posted by R68GTO

Were the aluminum body panels used in production cutlasses in the mid-80's or were they added once the test car was designated for the race program? I wonder why the 1985 body test cars ended up with 1987 front ends?

Aluminum core supports were an assembly line '78-80 item. The '81-up didn't get them. If I remember right they require some trimming in the headlight area for the '81-up Cutlass. It's long been a popular retrofit for front end weight reduction for all G-bodies.

Aluminum hoods were production parts and were originally thought to be a diesel car item for front end weight reduction, but people reported having them on original 307 powered cars too. I had one for my old '83 H/O and it was crazy how light it was compared to the steel hood.

The aluminum deck lid could be the rarest part if that's truly aluminum... the '78-80 cars had some aluminum deck lids, but I don't know that I'm aware of an '81-up aluminum trunk.

Updating the front end of a racecar to be the current model year was popular back then, especially if you had factory backing or a potential different class you could run in. The 70 cutlass factory-backed race cars were updated to '71 and '72 front ends. Wouldn't surprise me if it was the same in the 80's.