[Closed] For David Crowe about Sergio Oldsmobile vista cruiser

Don't change the bumper, Sergio! Your car is a '69 ...

so the front bumper should be exactly as on your prototype.

The 1970 cars had a different grille pattern of small rectangles and it was also a touch deeper, so the whole central part of the bumper was slightly lower. Your grille (with bold vertical bars) and bumper shape are both correct for a '69.

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And by the way, I'd love to see this model in the metallic blue with light wood trim as shown above right.
I also prefer the slightly different shaping of the wood trim at the front of the '70 version and the revised shape of the bumper ends (oh yes, and the subtler 1970 grille as well) but those are small matters of personal taste. Apart from that, it's lovely!

We need to be careful and do full research before submitting a change for a supposed error because it might be your error that shows up on a finished model.

I think David was correct on this one. Check out these pics.

The top one is the one David included in his post. It's a '69 and it has a decidedly more pronounced V-shape to the lower grille. The bottom one is the prototype. Apparently Sergio agrees.

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Thanks, John. It is difficult to see on the model and the real car.

I don't post unless I have researched and have backup.

Nice work, David.

Still some confusion here, I think (in my mind at least)

I can see from JK's pics that the way the bumper dips towards the middle on the original '69 Vista cruiser may have been SLIGHTLY exaggerated on the prototype model but there;s not a lot in it, and that dip is essentially correct for a '69.

As has already been pointed out, David's original illustration was of a 1970 car where the bumper has an absolutely level centre section running the width of the twin grilles. That dead straight line running below the grille(s) would be incorrect for a '69, where the upper edges of the bumper on either side of the raised central peak do indeed dip downwards slightly.

Not trying to get into an argument with DC here, by the way! It a matter of perception and how one interprets the images as best one can. Ah well, we shall see how it all pans out.

No issues here. I only posted the image of the 1970 to show exhaust outlets.

Try finding images online of the arse end of a specific vintage station wagon. That was selected because I could see the exhaust pipe most readily.

This may further cloud the front bumper issue. Think of the vertical pieces in the grille. To me, it appears on the prototype that the bars increase in height towards the middle and the bumper dips to accommodate that. The real car has vertical grille bars that are all the same height.

Doctor Olds said the bumper is fine but exhaust needs correction.

Who is Dr. Olds?

Dr Olds is Irving Rybicki father of the Cutlass.

Mr. Rybicki passed away in the early 2000s.

It is not possible for him to give an opinion on this modern interpretation.

And after quite a bit of searching, I find no reference to Mr. Rybicki and Oldsmobile. He took the position of Vice President of General Motors Design after Bill Mitchell retired in 1977. That is not the era we are talking about with Cutlass bumpers.