jiggity76 Posted March 9, 2017 Report Share Posted March 9, 2017 I put on the u-shaped seat belt trim and cover on the driver's door of my Cutlass today and noticed that it had a chrome trim piece at the top of the door panel, where as the passenger side has a black trim piece at the top. I looked at my 89 parts car and it has black trim pieces on top of both door panels. Everything else on the 91 car is the same so I'm wondering if the driver's door panel was replaced with a newer one at some time? Also, the passenger side door does not have the screw hole drilled into it for the front side where the u-shaped trim piece mounts. It has a screw mounted in the right side tab for the u-shaped trim piece but not the left side. I used a flashlight and there is absolutely no hole in the door for the left side. Anyone have ideas on what might have happened? Why does the driver door have a chrome trim piece at the top of the panel? Why isn't there a hole for the left side screw to mount the u-shaped trim piece on the passenger door? The passenger door has the GM vin tag sticker so I think it's the original door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxie500XL Posted March 10, 2017 Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 It might have varied by trim level, rather than year. My '95 LQ1 convertible had black trim on top of the interior panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 I think my 91 International driver's door is suppose to be black like the passenger side and like my 89 International parts car. It has black trim on both doors. Did they offer chrome in certain years of Cutlass's or on certain trims like SL or something? Still trying to figure out the missing screw hole in the passenger door. Thanks for letting me know about your 95 year. I think they are all suppose to be black but maybe your right about the trim level. If anyone has a lower trim Cutlass, please let me know if it has the chrome trim. Maybe the original black trim was bad and someone replaced it with a chrome one from a different year or different trim level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Escobar Posted March 10, 2017 Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 Mine was black as well but I converted it to chrome when I found an 88 Cutlass at the yard with it. I'm not sure how it works but I'd assume the chrome ones were on base cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 Thanks Nas, that makes me feel better. Eventually I will switch it out to black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2017 Still puzzled by my 91 International doors and door panels. Here's a refresh of what I got. 91 International car driver's door. 1. Door has the hole for the interior light plunger at the bottom but is missing the actual plunger. 2. Has the manufacturing sticker on it but is badly faded and can't read. 3. Screw at the rear of the door will not line up to the screw hole mount for the door cladding (International and sport package trimmed cars) and therefor will not hold it in place. 4. Trim at the top of the door panel is chrome and not black metal like a International car is suppose to have. 5. Has the correct size black seat belt mount on upper corner of the door. 6. Has the door map pocket. 91 International car passenger door. 1. The black seat belt mount in the upper corner of the door is longer or different length compared to the driver's side. 2. Missing the door map pocket, just smooth carpet. 3. Has the correct black metal trim like a International car is suppose to have. 4. DOES NOT have the hole for the interior light plunger or the plunger itself, just smooth painted metal. 5. Has the original VIN sticker mounted on the door that matches the VIN on the windshield. 6. The screw at the rear of the door to mount the door cladding is correct. 89 International car has symmetrical parts on both doors. This includes map pockets, same size upper seat belt mounts in black, correct metal black trim next to the windows, plunger holes and actual plungers for the interior lights, and correct screw locations to hold the rear of the body cladding to the doors. So what's with all the mismatch, hodgepodge? Any one got any ideas? Update! I think my drivers door is not the original door since it has the wrong trim piece at the top of the door panel and the outside body cladding mounts are in the wrong location. I think the car might have been hit lightly in the door and someone tried to make a lesser trim door into a International one as a replacement. I checked underneath and all the factory rocker and floor pan welds do not look disturbed or damaged from a possible side impact or they did a awesome repair job. I do think the interior door panel is the original one though. The door also has the plunger for the interior lights or whatever they are at the rear bottom corner of the door but the passenger side doesn't since it's the original door. I can confirm this because Luke94vert has a almost identical car with pics posted and his driver's door does not have the plunger with just smooth sheet metal like my passenger door. Again, if someone knows anything about this please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 Update on my 91 International door/door panel question. Still trying to figure out what the plunger near the hinges and the plunger at the back bottom corner of the doors do. Anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Escobar Posted July 24, 2017 Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 Pictures help immensely, but the best thing to do would be to run a CarFax report. It would help you find out whether or not it has been an accident. I have access to autocheck by experian until the end of the week, if you want for $5 I can run your VIN and see the history report on it. Of course if a shade tree mechanic did it, it won't show up as being fixed but you may be able to put the "accident" theory to rest. The one thing I'm trying to figure out about your Intl model is when did you get it and what did the owner state about that car? It seems odd to me that it has mismatched trim but at the same time it would make sense if the car was in an accident or the previous owner tried to restore it at one point but gave up. Thanks Nas, that makes me feel better. Eventually I will switch it out to black. I have the black trim if you want it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 Thanks for the help Nas, I work today and it's 12 hours shifts. I'll get back to ya tonite when I have more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2017 Thanks to everyone who posted or PM'd me about the doors on my 91 International. This includes sean1991olds, Luke94vert, and Nas Escobar. Sorry if I repeated this but I've come to the conclusion that the drivers door was hit at some point. The underside is good, no damage to floor pans or rocker area or spot welds. Everything looks straight underneath so hopefully it was just a minor door hit. The interior door panel looks original to me but does have the wrong chrome piece at the top when it should be black. Thanks to pics from Luke94vert I can verify that the car is not suppose to have the plunger at the bottom corner of the door at all. The passenger door is correct and has no plunger or hole for the plunger at all and the vin matches the one on the dash/windshield area so I know it's the original door. Another clue is that the International body cladding will not line up with the screw that holds it in place at the rear inside area of the door. Someone transferred over the cladding clips on the outside of the door and didn't get it aligned properly so it's not as tight and factory as it should be. Luckily I can use the door from the 89 International parts car as it's rust free and has the correct clip and location points plus the correct black trim piece at the top of the interior panel. Thanks for offering this piece Nas but I have one! The original owner never mentioned a accident but she is elderly and may have not remembered. The CarFax report is definitely a good idea and will look into it, thank Nas. As for the plunger, a guy at work said maybe it's a dampener to help soften the closing of the door and maybe help with the opening since the handles on these cars are up on the B pillar. Seems to make sense to me but do you guys agree/disagree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 So I was peeling off the old window vent visors that were on the car from the original owner and a light bulb came on when the window chrome was revealed. The driver's door was definitely replaced at some point with a non International door from a S or SL trimmed car. I quickly called the original owner down in Oklahoma (Betty, in her late 70's) and asked if the car was ever in an accident, she replied "I don't think so but that was a long time ago". After about an hour she called me back and remembers that her late husband Walter was going to the next town over and a deer had hit the side of the car damaging the door. She remembers him coming back and seeing her poor car with a dent in the door. They had a local bodyshop fix the car but did a half ass job I think. She doesn't remember when this all happened but maybe the late 90's, early 2000's. The same shop did the crappy paint job later on and they messed that up too. Anyway, I thought I would take some pics of it and wanted to check the underside again, looks good and doesn't look like it disturbed any major body seams. Luckily, the 89 International parts car has a rust free door (seam wise) for a good donor. It's weird that the 89 car is super crusty underneath but both doors are almost perfect. I guess the International body cladding saved the seams. The mounting screws are a little rusty but not a big deal. At least the mystery is solved, was really bugging me! Drivers door with the S or SL chrome trim exposed after taking off the window vents. Car as I found it in 2015 down in Oklahoma with the window vents on it. Original passenger door with correct International window trim. Couldn't get all the window vent residue off of it yet. Original driver's door panel with the incorrect chrome beltline trim. I'm hoping this piece will be easy to replace with the correct one. Passenger door panel with correct black International beltline trim. Driver's side underbody seams, all looks good to me and non disturbed from the deer hit. 89 International parts car drivers door. I removed the cladding thinking the 91's cladding was messed up but not the case now. That reminds me, I need to get the badges off of it. It was hard to take this pic of the bottom door seam but perfect like this all the way along the door. Imp558 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 You can tell your car has been repainted at some point, none of the emblems are in the correct place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 He's not going to sleep tonight. MemphisMan, ManicMechanic and jiggity76 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 LOL! No, I'm ok Imp! Yes, it's definitely been repainted. I remember walking up to it and getting excited that it was an International car, then super excited that it had HUD. I didn't even know it had the LQ1 because the badges were in the wrong place, I've fixed all those issues now. Seeing that it was an LQ1 car was the icing on the cake! You can also tell that it's been repainted due to the poor shape of the finish and the fact they didn't pull the trim and there's overspray on the window trim everywhere. It's also missing the red stripe above the body cladding that it came with from factory. Someday, it will return again. Both DOHC badges back in the right spots, hood emblem and International badge were missing when I bought her. Imp558 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 DOHC emblems are crooked. (jus playin, it's the angle of the camera) Shouldn't it have a globe on the trunk lock or was that changed in 1991? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 DOHC emblems are crooked. (jus playin, it's the angle of the camera) Shouldn't it have a globe on the trunk lock or was that changed in 1991? LOL! I think that's the right trunk badge, I took this one off of the 89 International parts car. I used this pic for reference. This should be a 91 right? Hey, this could be my car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 Might have been 1988 only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 I've never seen that! I actually like that better. That car is sweet! You have/find the best pics Manic. Is that car the one from YouTube? ManicMechanic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 I know Calais had them too and possibly Ciera. Not sure, it's a 1988 pace car I saw for sale. Just 12,500 miles on it. He thinks just 50 were built though but there were 250 coupes and 50 convertibles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 Wow, that's incredible! A few years back I remember seeing one on CL in the Chicago area for $2000 bucks. It was solid, never driven in winter and the underside was pretty much rust free. I wish I would have bought it now. There was another one in the Kentucky or maybe Tennessee area on CL, a 5 speed car that was like $1500 or $1800. Another super solid car. 1988 Cutlass Supreme Pace Car with the 2.4 V6! The background scenery looks the same as your picture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH91rrc2nA8&t=5s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 Same car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 What a dolt. He's confused the coupes with the convertibles. jiggity76 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggity76 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 You would think they would have edited the mistakes or do another take before posting, I mean isn't he suppose to be an expert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMan Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 LOL! I think that's the right trunk badge, I took this one off of the 89 International parts car. I used this pic for reference. This should be a 91 right? Hey, this could be my car! Man, thats a sharp car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMan Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 For what it's worth, my 91 has chrome inserts on the outside weather stripping and black inserts in the inside top of the door panel. jiggity76 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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