Gen 1 interiors

[Z34guy]

I recall reading a WHILE back that all Gen 1 interiors are interchangeable. If this is so, could I use the interior from a Gen 1 in my gen 1.5 or is that another of the gen 1.5 unique quirks?

This is all due to curiosity.

[Night Fury]

They are not all 100% interchangeable, I can tell you that right now. 88-94 Cutlass and 95-97 cutlass interiors aren't even 100% interchangeable.

[rjOlds]

Actually a better way to characterize this is that one you get beyond what you can see, the more is actually interchangeable. That is the great beauty and curse of these cars at the same time. I have my relative low production Cutlass Convertible that has a zillion mechanical parts availble from a multitude of different cars and years. HOWEVER almost NONE of the visible stuff is interchangable except on another Cutlass. Even then as Night Fury points out, the year does make a difference.

 

For me, I can use interior parts that are the same shape from 91-94 in many cases in my interior, but the colour may not match (as I recently found out, the interior of a '91 is more red than the burgundy of my '93).

 

So as bulletproof as these cars can be, and as plentiful as the "invisible" stuff is, take REALLY good care of the other stuff, espeically when your car is one of the lower production ones. As beautiful as a Cutlass Convertible is to look at (to me) it has lots of Olds Converitble only stuff on the body and in the passenger compartment that is getting REALLY hard to source (particularly if want decent condition).

[emb1230]

It's surprising how much is interchangeable between a Gen 1.5 Lumina and a Monte Carlo, pretty much everything but the doors. Another differences is that the Lumina backseat is a little bit wider than the MC's

[rjOlds]

It's surprising how much is interchangeable between a Gen 1.5 Lumina and a Monte Carlo, pretty much everything but the doors. Another differences is that the Lumina backseat is a little bit wider than the MC's

 

Certainly in the same family (and especially body style) there will be more interchangeable parts as you found and should expect. However I was mostly talking about across the w's family lines. Not much can be shared that way cosmetically. But mechanically it is a massively different story. Almost everything under the sheemetal is up for grabs on comparably equipped cars across the GM lines.

 

As you found, there are still differences even in 2 Chevys.

[Z34guy]

It's surprising how much is interchangeable between a Gen 1.5 Lumina and a Monte Carlo, pretty much everything but the doors. Another differences is that the Lumina backseat is a little bit wider than the MC's

I don't mean between the gen 1.5's. I was thinking along swapping the dash, seats and possibly door panel from a '95-'97 CS into a gen 1.5 MC. Like I said. It was all curiosity that got me to ask this. I know most of the mechanical stuff is interchangeable with many things beyond the W-body. I never questioned that.

[rjOlds]

I figured you knew that about the mechanicals, and I was elaborating further for the benefit more of other readers who are not as familiar with these cars and I should have made that more clear. Glad to hear you have so much similarity in the cars you are looking at. Good news for you should you want to use/adapt parts.

[Z34guy]

I got thinking on this after looking at some of the '95-97 Cutlass Supreme's in the garage on the site. I noted that not only did I like the way the interior looked better, but it seemed somewhat higher quality than the one in the MC. This is all for future reference in case I do decide to go through with it.

[rjOlds]

Olds and Buick tend to have nicer interiors than Chev and Pontiac. Same way Mercury was typically better than Ford. However everyone has their preferences.