(first posted 2/15/2021) How can it be that America’s most popular car for years on end has been totally shunned by CC? My deepest apologies indeed. Maybe I was just unconsciously saving all my Cutlass shots for their new home here? And I do have an almost complete collection covering every generation, except for the first two. Damn; why did I let that pristine ’62 convertible get away? I will dig one up somehow; just give me a couple of weeks. Then we’ll do one or two per week (not every day like with the Lincolns; that was a little too intense). Patience, please…
Cutlass, from best seller to the point where GM was trying to sell everything with the Cutlass name on it except toothpaste. One of the great collapses of a name plate and then a brand of automobile. (Scuse me, (sniff) I’ve something in my eye.)
Chevrolet did a similar treatment with the iconic Impala name at it’s relaunch. Don’t recall the year (mid-90’s) when the Impala replaced the Lumina (?) and was advertised as nostalgia…with images of classic Impala’s interspersed.
I remember thinking, this fwd Impala has no relation to the ’60 bat winged version and this marketing tack and commercial is bogus. No thanks GM.
Back to the Cutlass, I can still hear in my mind the distinct exhaust note of an idling Olds. My brother had a ’69 that had incredible torque, where spinning the wheels at a green light was a regular occurance. And that unique, Olds rocket sound. As identifiable as the Chrysler starters of the same era.
Look forward to the Cutlass series Paul.
I look forward to some CC Cutlass stories. That ’67 looks like a good place to start.
I wonder if any of the people who made the decisions at Oldsmobile in the 90s ever looked backed at what the Cutlass brand once was and asked themselves “how did we ever end up in this mess?”. My Dad worked at the local Chev-Olds emporium for a period in the 70s and his only complaint with Cutlasses was that they made bad company car/demos. People kept buying them before he could get a chance to enjoy them.
Good luck with the new site.