Greetings from SCREECH.ws!

NOTICE: Sorry guys, this post kinda turned into a bit of a bandwidth nightmare. I hope none of you are using 56k modems anymore.

Hey all! I've been a huge fan of the '73-'77s since I was a kid (doesn't seem all that long ago, but alas... ). I have a website designed to showcase the '73-'77 A-body platform (http://www.screech.ws) that I have yet to populate with the amount of content that I intended, but it'll get there.

One of the cars my dad had when I was learning to drive was a 1976 Buick Century Custom, 350 2bbl. My dad did pretty much all of his own repair/maintenance work on his cars, so I got some wrenching experience even before I could drive. My first car was a 1976 Monte Carlo, red with white interior - purchased from the original family. It was pretty beat by the time I got it, but it was a great car for the few years I had it. I had to change the cam in the 305 as it lost the rear lobes. I also nestled a 4bbl on top. Man did those secondaries spend a lot of time wide open. Right before the car came off the road for the last time I took it to the drag strip. It only pulled an 18.2 @ 82 or something like that, but it was a fun night.


My next A was my brother's first car, a 1976 Cutlass Supreme. He slipped a 2.41 posi axle under the back and a '78 Olds 403ci between the fenders. I bought the car straight out of the body shop, so it was showcar worthy for a few of years until the poor job the body shop did started to become evident.




Back in 2000 I had an employee from Playing Mantis email me when he found my site. He was heading up the addition of a '76/'77 Cutlass to their Super 70s lineup at that time. I ended up providing him all the measurements and specs for my Cutlass to help them design the '76/'77 Cutlass Supreme diecast. As a special thank you he did a replica of my car as the first release (It was part of the Classic Gold release 16 if I recall correctly). He even had my website address put on the back window of it like I had on my Cutlass!








The car ran a best of 16.2 @ 84mph like that. After a year of cruising it with the 403 I decided to up the ante a bit. A freshly rebuilt 468ci bigblock Chevy engine replaced the 403, backed with a TH400 with a shift kit. The Olds then did 1320' in 14.1 @ 100mph. It made the car stand out a little more at the cruise nights, too.


The next upgrade was a '73 Monte rear axle with 4.10 gears, a posi carrier, and the rear disc brake setup from a '79 Trans Am. This dropped almost another whole second off the quarter-mile time and added a couple mile per hour through the traps, for a best of 13.2 @ 102mph.


I purchased a brand new T-56 and McLeod components from D&D Performance in Michigan to install a manual transmission into the Cutlass using the pedals and hardware from a '74 GMC Sprint. This installation hasn't happened yet, and now the engine in the Cutlass is destined for another project (see below). Whether or not I will install the 6 speed before I part the Cutlass up remains to be seen.

My most recent acquisition is a 1976 Buick Century Free Spirit Indy 500 Pace Car Replicar. My brother purchased it from the second owner over a decade ago. The body was pretty bad. He started doing some body work, but it never really progressed, and the car ended up spending over a dozen years sitting. The car is complete and the engine, believe it or not, STILL RUNS, though the transmission seems to have lost all forward gears. However, the body is so far gone that the car is going to be just a parts car for me. I intend to acquire a '76 or '77 Century Special (which had the "fastback" rear window, like the Chevelle, Lemans, or Cutlass 442) and build my own alternative version of a Replicar. Perhaps diehard Buick fans will call it a "bastardized" car that I'm planning and go so far as to berate me for even thinking it, but the car is beyond recovery as it is, and there doesn't seem to be any companies that offer aftermarket body panels for the Buicks. I'm basically looking to build the Buick with the 468ci from my Olds, along with the 4.10 posi, disc brake equipped Monte rear end, and the T-56 6 speed manual transmission. The spoiler, interior, power options (windows, locks, trunk release) and hopefully the Hurst Hatch T-roofs from the Replicar will be installed on the Special. I'd also be looking to add keyless entry.

For the body, I'm contemplating doing a reversed color scheme from the original Pace Car. The body will be black, and the decals will be orange and silver. Whatever was black in the decals on the original will be silver. I did a very fast mock-up to see whether I even liked the idea, but it's rather poor quality so I'm kinda timid about posting it.

I'd be using the FULL decal package that was used on the two actual Pace Cars, not the package the was on the Replicars offered to the public which stopped at the eagle on the door. Here's what the decal package looked like on the car I have when it came from the dealership:


...and here's a picture of one of the actual Pace Cars:


So that's about where I'm at with my A's. And besides the above I also play with the '82-'96 FWD GM A-bodies and the van built on that chassis, the '90-'96 U-van, as is evidenced by my signature. I'm just starting on installing a 4.9L Cadillac V8 into my '95 Trans Sport van, and I have an '89 Ciera International Series coupe that will be getting a Celebrity 5 speed setup with a 300HP Northstar DOHC V8.

I will do my best to pop by often, and I look forward to yackin' with some of you about your rides. Thanks for having me.

Welcome! Nice collection!

Welcome aboard.

welcome aboard.

Thanks very much, guys! 77mali, I gotta say, I love the pic of the '73 BM Chevelle you've got as your avatar. I did a quick Google search as I hadn't seen that pic before and saw where that article was posted on the forum here. Definitely one of the cars I need to compile as much info/pics for my site as possible.

SCREECH wrote:Thanks very much, guys! 77mali, I gotta say, I love the pic of the '73 BM Chevelle you've got as your avatar. I did a quick Google search as I hadn't seen that pic before and saw where that article was posted on the forum here. Definitely one of the cars I need to compile as much info/pics for my site as possible.

1 of 1 Baldwin Motion car. I'd like a clone someday :-). There are a couple threads on here about that car. She's been on e-bay, someone here has more pics. It's a masterpiece.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard Screech Nice to see more and more peeps coming in here !!!

dig the buick pics.welcome. want a 455??? lol

Welcome,
That is a rare project you hare there. Be shure to post pictures as you get it fixed up.

Thanks Graham