Flickr user PShoar has posted quite a few photos to the Curbside Classic Cohort lately, including this pristine 1978 Cutlass Salon. He spotted it near Columbus, Ohio.
We’ve trod the Aeroback ground before, where we soundly panned this car’s awkard styling (CC here). But check out the wide whitewall tires with which this Aeroback is shod. They don’t suddenly make this car beautiful – but they do somehow strangely work, where they’d just look ridiculous on any other contemporary sedan.
How bad is an original design when these tires and wheels don’t make it worse?
Also, is it just me – or does this car have way too much front overhang? I am used to seeing that on 70s Ford products, but am just noticing it here.
Too much overhang on both ends, I’d say. Push the wheels closer to the ends and you’d be closer to the proportions of a Citation, which always seemed like a better-resolved version of the “roachback”(c) theme.
(c) Zackman
Sorry those wheels and tires ‘do’ make it worse… imho This is one of the nails in Oldsmobile’s coffin…
Check out any GM G-body — they all have the same front overhang.
Strange for a RWD car….
For a 70s RWD car maybe. Most of the post-downsized RWD cars I can think of have similarly long front overhangs though, at least compared to the area between the wheel opening and door, which was likely result of the increased packaging efficiency.
That’s an ugly brute compared to the 6os Cutlass
Arghhh! A Roachback©! Kill it with fire…
I must be one of the very few who like whitewall tires – THIN whitewalls, that is. Those were a symbol of class so many years ago, and admittedly, few if any cars would look good with them nowadays.
Raised white-letter tires are really nice, too. Had them on our 1992 LeBaron.
©Zackman
I liked whitewalls, especially when the thin style debuted in late 61/early 62. I thought they were the epitome of cool at the time and still like them today. My other favorite style was the thin whitewall outlined with red – my Dad’s 65 T-Bird came with these tires and they looked fantastic.
count me in the white-wall liking group.
I’d even go out on a limb and say that I think your Impala would look good with thin white walls or red striped tired.
“I’d even go out on a limb and say that I think your Impala would look good with thin white walls or red striped tires.”
Hmmm…I like the way you think! Me too…
As I recall, the my Ftaher’s new 1972 Chevy Concours (Chevelle) wagon came from the factory with twin whitewalls. The stripes covered the same real estate on the tire as other white walls, but instead of a 3/4″ wide stripe, there were 2 matching pin stripes.
Here’s a link, for those interested:
http://www.widewhitetires.com/BFG-J78-15.jpg
Of course, once the tires were worn out, the tire shop mounted standard white walls. Dad could have gotten the correct tires, but they were special order and not worth the hassle.
Whitewalls started to shrink dramatically for 1961 and within a few years they were about 3/4″ inch. The late 60s introduced the multistripe tire like that is described above that lasted through the bias era. Radial whites crept back up to 1″ to 1.3″ especially on luxury vehicles in the mid 70s until the mid 80s then dropped back down to 3/4 then to 1/2 and eventually was replaced by blackwalls in future redesigns. Ford’s Panther cars were among the last with whitewalls standard although thin whitewalls were available on several cars.
When I reshoed my 93 Century wagon (with the woodgrain HAS to have whitewalls to complement the white paint) I had to order them online and were delivered to the installer. They were not particularly expensive around $70 per tire, but most places do not keep them instock anymore.
Go with a set of Vogue Tyres, with the white/gold
I, too, find the whitewalls on this particular car strangely alluring…
Silly Cutlass Salon, Thick whitewalls are for pimps!
Full-width white sidewalls: The automotive counterpart of shoe spats: http://lapetitcoterie.blogspot.com/2010_05_09_archive.html
In a semi-public building somewhere in Tucson, there’s an old group photo featuring a Series 1 XKE with these on its wire wheels. Someone should’ve been taken behind the woodshed for such public indecency.
I always thought that generation of GM intermediates were decently styled, even while I was a Ford chauvinist.
Early E-type press photos did have wide whites, they were at the tail end of still being in style, remember the E-type came out in 1960.
Yeah my little Hillman was dressed in WW for earls court 1959, not a fan of em sorry.
Wikipedia has an interesting explanation for whitewall tires; originally, there was a technical rationale for them. Only later did they become a matter of fashion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewall_tire
Carbon black, that’s fascinating. Thanks!
1961, but the point remains.
The Eldorado Brougham of 1957 was one of the first (if not the first) car to display thin whitewall tires. It was part of the cache of the car in addition to the unique wheels.
I believe you are right, it was the first to sport the thin white walls. If I remember, the tire on the 57-58 Brougham was also the tire that eventually became the “wide oval” performance tire on the muscle cars of the 60’s
The car is very well-kept given its age and location. I cannot say that I am terribly surprised to see this, Oldsmobiles have always been popular with the demographic that this type of treatment is popular with. Part of the reason that the RWD Cutlass sedan continued all the way to 1987 was because of its popularlity, not only with older folks in general, but certain urban demographics. Oldsmobiles are often known as the ‘poor man’s pimp car’ it is no surprise that Delta 88 convertibles are the most popular cars from the 70s to customize. Since a huge part of Oldsmobiles loyal buyer pool were working class people, often in urban areas (of all kinds), when they began to redesign their cars in the late 80s, it alienated this group and they moved on to other brands. We noticed this change by 1990 when the 80s cars began to be traded in and Oldsmobile’s then marketing campaign was to push away from the traditional buying pool. So there we are, maybe a bit controversial post but just an opinion from my vantage point at the time.
Just say it, Ghetto Cruiser. A certain demographic buys them used to give the illusion of wealth like the original owner had (more so of the Cadillac brand). Yucky Yucky Yucky.
Not always completely pertains to one ethnic group and not always old cars either. Rims and dress up kits are popular with new cars as well just with a certain crowd. But yes, I get your point such things add a certain ‘feel good’ property to a car that is otherwise unloved. The Chrysler LH sedans, especially the 2005+ 300, is very popular for such adornment for those able to afford it. I have even seem them done up like faux-Bentleys.
“they’d just look ridiculous on any other contemporary sedan.”
Nope, look ridiculous here as well!
If the Caprices are donks, boxes and bubbles, whats the nickname for one of these?
Cheese?
Pie?
Doorstop?
This must upset all those decent folk who drive the Volvos and Camrys in the background…..
They don’t merit a nickname…only B-body Chevies merit that kind of affection…
Though “doorstop” has a ring to it, and that Aeroback makes it plausible.
Funky monkey.
I prefer a car to have wheels and tires that look like what came from the factory. These are WAY too wide and are not doing the car any favors. They look like something you’d put on a 1958 Oldsmobile, not a 1978. Whether you like the aeroback (or any of the midsize GM styling of the era) has nothing to do with the atrociousness of these tires on the car. I happen to like the aerobacks, and love the notchback coupes of this year.
I’m not a huge fan of the G-bodies, but I do kind of like the Aerobacks.
This particular car was actually called an A-body. The G-body designation came in 1982 when the FWD A-bodies (Celebrity, Century, etc.) came out. Although it is common to see all 78-88 intermediate RWD called G simply out of convenience. At the dealer, the fastback sedans sold reasonably well, it was the fastback coupes that were particularly unpopular, especially since the formal coupe was also available (no formal sedan was available 78-79).
The picture below was taken in 2005. The object of the picture was the rusty Toyota but if you look at the left corner you see about a 1980 Olds Cutlass Sedan DIESEL. In Alaska, 25 years later!
Yes, I’ve got a buddy that’s had a string of A/G bodies, starting with a 78 El Camino, 79, Elky, an ’80 and an ’82, an ’83 Malibu wagon, and now an 84 Monte Carlo SS. I just call it a G because I’ve owned two 73-77 A-bodies and an 86 FWD A-body.
Yeah, those wheels are particularly awful, especially when you consider that one of the things Olds got right with these cars were the painted Super Stocks that were available.
+1. I would like this car with color-keyed Super Stocks and thin whitewalls!
Whitewall tires are way too much trouble for a geezer like me to keep clean. And, I’d have to do that, since I have a really bad case of clean-car OCD.
Bon Ami cleanser and a green scrubby, good stress relief in my book. 🙂
I walk 51/2 miles over windy Iowa country roads at 5 a.m. every day. I don’t know how well that relieves stress, but it does take my mind off other things. Especially in winter.
Uphill both ways…
Oh, you’re familiar with Iowa one-room country schoolhouses are ya?
Ehh, fellow Corn Cob! It’s so windy I need my ears covered even in summer (with ear pods [headphones]). Waiting for 40+ degrees to begin again! Foot of new snowcover doesn’t help! Ugh!
I do find that detailing a car is a stress-reliever and very enjoyable, but cleaning whitewalls can be frustrating. I can never seem to get them perfect, and they sometimes seem to turn yellow again when they dry. I usually use steel wool or SOS pads with various cleaners.
Am i the only user of Wesley’s Bleech White? There has been a bottle (or a can) in the garage Since I got my first car.
I like Westley’s as well. However I have found that any regular cleaner plus a good SOS pad or bristle will usually do the trick.
IMO, steel wool is a little too abrasive, Chris – you’re scratching the surface in a way that accelerates the yellowing. Try a “heavy duty” Scotchbrite with some gritty cleanser?
Thanks for the tip I’ve used SOS pads more than steel wool, and they seem to be about the right amount of abrasiveness, but you may be right about it being too much. I’ve actually not had great luck with Westley’s myself. In fact, I used it on the white bead trim on a rubber bumper molding (something seen commonly on cars of this era — this car has it, if you look closely), and on one car, it caused that trim to turn a horrible orange that I basically had to sand to minimize! Sometimes weird chemical reactions happen with these products. Anyway, I may be doing something wrong, but I found whatever is in SOS pads to be much more effective than Westley’s.
My Wesleys method was to spray, let it sit for a minute or two, then dip a scrub brush into a bucket of water and scrub just a bit. Then rinse. This always worked quite well on tires. If I had some really grungy whitewalls, it might need a second application. You do have to be careful using it on other things – I tried it on some white-lettered floor mats back in the 70s, and the Wesleys tried to take some of the color off of the mats.
Yeah, I shy away from bleach on anything remotely porous. Bon Ami is gritty but chemically very mild.
I remember tire salesmen trying to convince me to accept whitewalls when I was a teenager. “We’ll just turn the whitewalls in, so people can’t see them.” I refused such tires altogether, thinking that if I rolled my car over on its lid and died, the last thing I wanted was the additional shame of people seeing I’d been driving on hidden whitewalls all along.
LOL, you really thought whitewalls were that bad? Honestly, when I was a teenager, they barely crossed my mind. I think most cars I saw had them and it just seemed normal. I think I thought a car would have looked very plain without them. But things changed quickly as the ’80s progressed. Recently, I’ve wondered about how whitewalls would look on my 1979 Honda Accord. I’ve seen period photos with them, but most of the Honda literature from the period shows blackwalls. In any case, I don’t think whitewalls in that size are available any more. I’m not your average car aficionado, though — I even like whitewalls on Camaro Berlinettas and other “sporty” cars!
I got my license in December of 1985. H-rated, 70 series tires that vastly upgraded performance over radial substitutes for the letter series bias plies of the past were just becoming common. Car and Driver was holding almost annual tire tests, informing readers that tires were the biggest determinants of performance of any part on a car. Considering that the difference between the least and most powerful car in the early ’80 wasn’t much more than 100%, this made tires a big deal indeed. When Ford reintroduced and suped up the ‘5.0’ 302 Mustang, it made 157 hp. The pedestrian 2.3 Mustang made about 90 hp. Compare that to today, when a 160 hp Focus fills the role of the 4 cylinder Mustang and a 662 hp Shelby fills the role of the 5.0GT. The days when handing dictated pace are past us, as electronics have taken over for driver skill and speed has become a function of credit. Back in the 80s though, we were all about dynamics and talent. Tires were more important than what zip code you were born in.
I think that I was the only guy in the world that had whitewalls (small) and wire caps on my 84 Camaro. I thought it gave the car a classic XKE look, (at least I did)
I don’t know about the 80s Camaros, but some of the early Camaros did look good in whitewalls and wire wheels.
I don’t get all the hate on this body style. I’ve always found it relatively graceful, and well-proportioned like all the other G-bodies. Someone’s gotta stick up for these things, might as well be me 🙂 I do agree that the Citation executes the same theme with, in some ways, better proportions, but this platform does the longer-lower-wider bit better.
Well, I tend to judge a car based on its success or failure against in its intended marketplace not necessarily whether I woul buy one or not. That is how I can give credit to a Toyota Corolla even though I would never get caught dead in one. With that said, the Cutlasses (RWD) had about a 20 year good run when they were on top of the world. The fastback sedans were poo poo’d but they did not sell all that bad considering but the formal coupes were far more popular than the fastback coupes. Coupes were still outselling sedans then in many car lines and the Cutlass was considered a personal luxury coupe (even a cheap one) and fastbacks were not part of the equation. People did not buy Cutlasses for their space efficiencies as much as Citation buyers did. I agree, I do not see where the ill-proportions come from the cars actually have less overhang on average than many cars of the era.
That car is in amazing condition!
White walls are a nice addition, but this, along with the wheels, just scream wannabe baller or something. I’m actually surprised that the owner didn’t jack it up and put 20’s on it. That unfortunate fate met my 1987 Cutlass several years after I sold it. I wanted to cry. Seriously.
I understand.
Am I the only person who finds the aeroback cutlass, dare I say, attractive?
You are definitely not the only one. I think it looks delicate and beautiful. Sure at the time I probably would have thumbed my nose up at it, but these days almost anything that doesn’t look like a blob on wheels is a welcome sight to my sore eyes.
Far from it. I’ve always liked these cars. The fatal flaw was the fact that they were sedans and not hatchbacks…
Ugh…the Honda Crosstour’s grandma.
Best description of the day!
+1!
Gee,
I think its very nice. Bad mouthing 80’s cars is so 90’s… Now is the time for bad-mouthing 00’s cars!
Don’t worry, there’s plenty to go around.
That’s nice ! Imo this boxy Cutlass is 10 times better than any modern car…!
Back in the day, I never gave cars like this 78 Olds a second glance. As I’ve commented before on other ho hum cars, these cars look great to me today. The WWW’s only add to the classic status of the vehicle.
A nice car for cruise night.
Thanks I agree,
My mom’s ’76 Sedan De Ville always had Vogue whitewalls on it. They made it ride smooth as glass!
Wow guys! Thanks for including my cohort upload!
I had no idea what GM was thinking on this one…?WTF?! moments yes. why this shape for a cutlass salon. it does not look high end enough sincerely
then the seville adapted something similar …or was it the same roofline/body as seville used 80=85
always made me wonder.
this started the wrong moves oldsmobile threw their budget at.; sad that its not here to see if it could be competitive…
without pontiac to cramp its mid style
Someone just bought this this afternoon for $2800. 1979 Buick Century Sedan 86K original but looks more like 25K.
Until end of last year I owned a 78 Cutlass Salon in Germany. They are extremely rare and for me it was my first US-Oldtimer. It actually rode really well and I liked the design, as it is somewhat different to all the mainstream cars. I paid 2,750€ fpr it and sold it last year for 4,100€. Since it had some engine problems and various other problems I didn´t lose or made money with it.
I miss the car, because I felt great driving it, such a smooth ride. In Germany Oldsmobile is not well known and this Ghetto image doesn not apply here 🙂
You can find pictures here: http://www.us-cars-forum.de/featured-us-car/0210-1978-oldsmobile-cutlass-salon.php
Very nice, and thank you for the link!
If you are a fan of American Brougham type autos, and are a user of Facebook, please feel free to come visit The Brougham Society.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBroughamSociety/