Is there such a thing as a 62 F-85 convertible?

[bauertime]

I have a 1962 Cutlass convertible and the only thing that makes my car a Cutlass is the two front finder badges. Everything else suggest it is a basic f-85. It has a bench seat, ugly plan steering wheel, a f-85 badge on the dash, column sifter, huge tall air cleaner, a plan hood ( no spear), it also has separate letters spelling oldsmobile across the back, instead one piece of chrome. Its like they just stuck those Cutlass badges on the finders and said it’s a Cutlass now. My mother bought it used in 1963.

[jensenracing77]

In 62, a Cutlass had to have buckets and a 4 bbl carburetor. It does sound like your car was an f-85 with the Cutlass emblems added.

[Jim Noel]

Yes. 1962 was the first year for a convertible in the F-85 line up. There were 3,660 F-85 and 9,898 Cutlass convertibles produced in 1962. As you thought, from your description, your car is an F-85. If you look at the firewall/cowl I.D. tag an F-85 is model 62-3067 and the Cutlass is 62-3167. All F-85 models were 62-30XX and Cutlass was 62-31XX.

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[Mike B]

When trying to confirm accuracy in older vehicles, check out oldcarbrochures.com, a subsidiary of the old car manual project site. Every brochure (almost) that you could ever want to see, about almost any make of car. A great resource. Also a great time waster…. careful!

[bauertime]

Don’t worry in the late 70’s my mother bought a 62 Jetfire without the turbo on it. So I was restoring the rusted out convertible at the time and figured it would be a good idea to strip the Jetfire of its neat interior and hood for my convertible and scrap the rest of it. After all if the top goes down the price goes up, right? Well that didn’t work out as planed. So now I have convertible with a neat Jetfire hood and console, that has replaced floors and 10 ponds of bondo throughout the body. I parked it in 1986 do to low oil pressure after rebuilding the motor twice, I drove it and constantly work on it for almost 10 years. It still setting in my carport with a cover on it. I don’t want to sale it yet, since I went to kindergarten in it. I love these cars but they really have a lot of problems. Before the internet all you had was Hemmings to find parts.

[bauertime]

I checked the I.D tag and it is a 62-3067 number. I find it hard to believe that someone put the emblems on it before 1963. The local millionaire bought it new and traded it in within a year. I guess the car dealer could have put them on for a better sale price. But I bet there are others like mine with the Cutlass emblems on it with the 62-3067 number. I’m pretty sure I saw a hard top in the junk yard with f-85 on the dash and Cutlass on the finders once years ago.

[joe_padavano]

The 1962 Chassis Service Manual tells you exactly what you have. Series 3067 is an F85 Sports Convertible. Series 3167 would be a Cutlass Convertible. It’s entirely possible that at some time in the last SIXTY years, someone replaced the front sheet metal (likely due to an accident) and the fenders they got were from a Cutlass.

[bauertime]

The car has been in my family since it was a year old. It has never been wrecked. I think it was special ordered from the factory.

[joe_padavano]

Yeah, every one-of-none car has a “special order” story…

The F-85 convertible did not have the Cutlass emblems nor did it have the stainless “spear” down the side. This photo is an F-85 convertible. Note the small chrome piece at the front of the front fender as the only side trim. This car also has a bench seat. My friend Scott also has an F-85 convertible that was originally a bench seat car also (it now has buckets) and it also has that front fender trim and no Cutlass emblems.

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[bauertime]

Mine has all the normal side trim. All mine was missing was the hood spear. It has all the other chrome. I’ve never seen one look that bear before.

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