What the hell is a colonnade anyway? And what’s it got to do with a car? Those were the second and third thing that popped into my head when I first saw the all-new ’73 GM mid-sized cars. The first: Holy Shit!
And that’s what came to mind again, when I first encountered this Cutlass.
GM had pulled a few surprises on me before (1970 Camaro), but these mega-big and drastically different cars were totally unexpected. In one fell swoop GM doomed the hardtop style–which it so proudly invented in 1949– to be consigned to the ash heap of history. Well, maybe just as well, as our recent CC DS makes quite clear: GM was hardly getting any better at mastering the structural challenges of that design, especially the four door versions.
For you younger readers, let me clarify: it was a very different world back than in terms of advance knowledge of redesigned cars. The makers famously tried to keep their new models under wraps, literally, until the assigned release date. Brenda Priddy was still spying on her big brother and extracting blackmail from him. Yes, there were the very occasional spy shots in Pop Science and such, but maybe I wasn’t reading them by then.
Let’s just say that the first time I laid eyes on a Colonnade Coupe was in a print ad for a Cutlass Coupe. That goes for the 1970 Camaro as well: imagine having zero idea about what the 2010 Camaro was going to look like until you saw it in an ad one day…Holy Shit indeed. The element of surprise at anything really new or different long went out of the car business.
These picture may not do full justice to just how different the new Colonnades looked and felt compared to their predecessors. But how radically different the back seat passengers felt was indisputable: like shit. Sorry, but that word just keeps popping out today.
The sloping roof line which forced your heard forward and that giant rear window to burn your neck were bad enough, and brought back memories of similarly unpleasant experiences in the old GM “bubble” hard tops of yore, except for one or two very big differences: that huge middle column (a colonnade is a series of them, btw) was right where you might just possible want to look out at the world. And the fixed rear window, which was almost totally behind one anyway, was fixed. Rather than Colonnade, how about Abu Graib?
It was all part of a plot to force everyone to by the highly optional and none too-cheap Comfortron Air Conditioner, one of the early automatic jobs with the thermostat (just like at home).
Order up enough options though, like the highly recommended 455 V8 with 250 (net) hp, automatic, AC, and and a few other goodies, and not only would the Cutlass coupe’s roof evoke the ’59 Caddy, but it would weigh about as much too (4,800 lbs). Really great timing, these bigger, fatter 1973s were: within a year of their arrival, the first energy crisis would unfold. I bet Holy Shit was said more then once at GM headquarters.
The solution: down size the engines, not the car (that would take a few more years). In 1973, the Cutlass had a 180 hp 350 V8 as standard, and the 455 was optional (and not at all uncommon). By 1976, the Chevy 250 six sporting 105 hp was now the standard engine, along with the infamous 260 cubic inch V8 (4.3 L) that trumped the six by a full five hp. Yup, the 110 hp chicken-shit Rocket. But a five-speed stick was now available, to help jack up the EPA mileage more than any real driving pleasure.
If you didn’t care about such things, the 350 and 455 were still available, although with reduced power output: 190 hp for the 455 (7.4 L) . That’s starting to scrape at the bottom of the barrel for output per displacement.
I’m quite fond of this particular example, and not just because it’s the only one of its kind still around. Colonnades are getting mighty scarce on the ground. It was a regular driver until quite recently, and it now shows off its monkey-bottom from the far end of the driveway. But it’s busted up face and general demeanor suits it well: I don’t give a shit what you think.
That word notwithstanding, that was the exact phrase I used when I first saw the 1973 GM models. I said things much worse back then, too! You’ve said all I said in the past about the death of the pillarless hardtops, and frankly, I’ve never gotten over it, as they spoiled me. Interestingly, I have never owned a hardtop – only sedans and convertibles. Go figure. Oh yeah – the doors were a mile and a half long, too! I would have to say the death of the hardtop was the deadliest sin of all!
The Collonade cars were always my favorites. The 73-74 Monte and Chevelle/Laguna were on top but the 73-77 Cutlass line was a tight second, especially the 442 and Hurst versions.
I don’t think there is a more polarized appeal of any bodystyle in the GM catalog though. It’s gained more interest lately but as recent as 1998 (when I was building my 73 Chevelle) people were either love or hate it.
File me under “totally indifferent”. While I understand how other people care about the various distinctions between the big 3′s full sizers and midsizers from this era, I can’t summon up either any interest, or any ability to tell them apart. Just another interchangeable detroit whale to me. (for reference, I was 10 in 1973)
This is the era that showed locals down under how good the locally produced cars really were. US cars of the era were bloated, gas hungry, not very fast. softly sprung and handled like a dog on lino. The end of the US vehicle export industry.
They were heavy and slow more due to emissions and safety regs not by design. The 73+ cars actually had a much improved suspension than earlier models. They may not have been as quick in a straight line but they out handled and out braked their predecessors by a great margin.
+1 they did at least have that going for them, as this C&T clip shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjQLZXgix2M
But, I really only like the Styling of the 1973 Cutlass models out of all of the Colonnades. And I just remember my dads having that melting black plastic dash that I’d always stick my hand on and get my hand stuck, and then start crying because I couldn’t free my hands (oh those days of 2 year olds riding in the front seats with no seatbelts… no this wasn’t 1965… it was 1985.)
The other thing I remember is the back seat, even as a child didn’t seem that much roomier than our Camaro. When we looked at replacing it with a 1990 Lumina I felt like I was in a family room with all that space. So much space that I sat on the back floor playing with my hot wheels during the test drive.
True. For such big cars, GM knew how to make them handle. GMs of this era had a real substantial edge over the competition in that regard.
If I recall correctly, Motor Trend chose the 1973 Monte Carlo as its “Car of the Year” based largely on its much-improved handling.
Both the Pontiac Grand Am and Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon were early attempts to incorporate some of the elements of European sports sedans – more subdued but upscale upholstery, better handling, comfy bucket seats – into a regular Detroit family sedan.
From the vantage point of 2011, we all wonder “What was GM thinking?”. In the fall of 1972, when these cars debuted, the competition was the Ford Torino/Mercury Montego, Plymouth Satellite/Sebring/Dodge Coronet/Charger and AMC Matador. Compare a Colonnade car to any of those, and you will see why the GM entries were a huge success. Only the Fords were really competitive in any way. The Chrysler and AMC intermediates, in particular, looked very old and tired parked next to the new GM offerings. In my hometown, it seemed as though the only people who bought Chrysler or AMC intermediates were rather old people who bought them because of brand loyalty, not because those cars were really sharp or desirable.
In 1972 Ford introduced larger (bloated), plusher, more softly sprung Torinos and Montegos with body-on-frame construction. The Ford offerings were designed in the belief that buyers would be stepping out of full-size cars into something a little smaller and less expensive. The goal was to give buyers the ride and amenities of the big boats in a smaller (for the times) package. And it worked – the Torino outsold the Chevelle/Malibu for the first time since the latter debuted in 1964. Today collectors revere GM’s 1968-72 A-bodies, but they were looking a little tired by 1972.
The 1973 GM intermediates fought back this challenge from Ford, and pretty much destroyed the Chrysler intermediate offerings in the process.
The GM intermediates were popular right up until their final model year. In 1977, the Cutlass Supreme was the second-best selling car in the country, right behind the all-new, downsized Chevrolet Impala/Caprice.
It’s also worth noting that the Colonnade cars were originally scheduled to be introduced as 1972 models. The bitter UAW strike in the fall of 1970 pushed back the introduction of these cars by a year.
As I kid, I remember being awed by these cars. They seemed so different and new. And, to a 10-year-old in 1972, “new” was definitely better. They made everything else seem old hat. In particular the Olds Cutlass Supreme/Salon and Pontiac Grand Am were really sharp in my eyes. I would have thought that I’d died and gone to heaven if my dad had rolled up in one of those cars instead of our 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 Holiday sedan. I didn’t even care about the lack of rolldown rear windows on the coupes, because I knew that, if my dad did spring for the Olds or the Pontiac, it would also have air conditioning…which was still a big status symbol in early 1970s smalltown Pennsylvania. So I’d really be in heaven!
(The ironic thing is that our next new car DID have air conditioning. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a 1973 Gremlin! Perhaps that’s why I’m not so hard on the Colonnades!)
I just knew, from reading Motor Trend, that those cars were great, because they handled better than a typical Detroit car…of course, neither I, nor my friends, had any idea of what “handling” really meant. If Motor Trend said so, that was enough for us!
Never mind the relative quality of the Colonnade cars to that 1967 Olds!
Thank you; I was a bit pressed for time today, and am going to spread my thoughts on the Colonnades over the three of them, but you summed it up perfectly.
And yes, like you, I was awed to, even if I was ten years older. They were just so startlingly different. I was a bit perplexed as to where GM was going in this Super-Sized direction…what was going to be next?
The Honda Accord.
“Geeber” has the best info here. Sure, the Colonnades were not true muscle cars, but they sold well and have their own cult following.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention – now that you brought back another sad memory that ticked me off was the horrible body-leading work done to the fixed side glass surround as you so lovely pointed out on the rear 3/4 close-up shot of the rear side glass! Thanks a lot – again!
I seem to remember seeing in some obscure “Catalog of American Cars” (or something like that) a reference to a “Mileage Maker” option for the LeSabare coupe that shared a platform with this car. It was supposed to be a 3.8V6 model with a three speed auto and a 2.10 rear-end! That had to be dog slow around town.
You’re probably referring to the Buick Century Special. The V6 wasn’t available in the LeSabre until the downsized ’77 model appeared.
No, Buick released a V6 B body LeSabre late in 1976, just to say ’20 mpg highway’. But was slow as molasses,
While the Colonnade style kicked off with the ’73 model year, the pictured version above is actually a ’76 Cutlass S, but with a Supreme trunk tacked on. This was the first year of the rectangular headlamps and the S model with a waterfall grill.
By 1976, the Cutlass line was the undisputed king of the sales hill and top of the Colonnade heap.
Most were Supreme models with the Landau roof (let me be the first to invoke that word!) that was typically a different color or shade than the rest of the car.
At the time. these cars were the elegant definition and creator of the personal luxury category…and they owned it.
The subsequent Cordoba’s or Torino Elite’s couldn’t hold a candle.
You’re getting ahead of the CCCCC game: the Supreme Landau is yet to come.
don’t forget the Opera windows.
Colonnade, landau roof’s, opera windows, red velour…ugh!
What the hell is a colonnade anyway?
)
Sounds like the name of a citrus-flavored laxative to me. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist. After all, the word “sh!t” appears 6 times in this article.
Actually Colonade (typo in the fifth paragraph) is the horrible electrolyte stuff they make you drink gallons of before you get a colonoscopy.
I couldn’t resist either, must be the chicken wire. What’s the point of that chicken wire grille anyway? Not very functional. I think he’s making a statement.
what a magnificent old bruiser!
My offsprung took one look at this car and was astonished. He could not believe what passed for “mid size” in the outrageous 70′s. Imagine his surprise when I told him that this car was the Toyota Camry of its day – The “must have” status symbol for two car suburbia. And Olds sold a LOT of these. IIRC , they led the sales charts for like 5-6 years running. It would have been hard to go more than a mile in any direction in the mid 70′s without seeing half a dozen of these in all manner of trim , hauling around young (and not so young) families. Olds found the sweet spot in the market in those years- Just upstream enough from Chevy to ask (and get) enough of a premium to make some serious coin on what was a permutation of the GM mid size “A”body,but no cannabilization even further upstream. I believe that this is when GM got fat and happy and began to lose its grip on the vast middle of the market.
Make mine a Cutlass Salon with styled steel wheels and a half vinyl roof…
I hate these cars. The Cutlass is probably the best of the lot and not a bad looking car before the quad headlight facelift for ’76. The Supreme looked better, with its more formal roofline and opera windows; The base Colonnade roofline is awful and looks out of place with the ’76-’77 car’s boxier flanks.
I maintain that the ’73 A-bodys were the all time worst redesign ever. But look at the competition: The ’71-’78 Mopars were barely competitive with the old A-body, and the ’72-’76 Torino was cramped, woozy-handling rustbucket.
To me, the worst redesign ever was the all-new 1986 E-Body cars (Eldorado/Seville, Riviera and Toronado). The second worst was the 1988 W-Body cars, which replaced the old rear-wheel-drive coupes and sedans with new front-wheel-drive models.
Both of those redesigns resulted in a major drop in sales for the new cars.
In particular, the sales decline for the new E-Bodies was catastrophic, and pretty much wiped GM out of the luxury market. The W-Bodies guaranteed that first Ford, and then Honda and Toyota, would dominate the mid-size family sedan segment.
I used to hate Colonnades. For some reason, some of them have grown on me. Not so much the Cutlasses though, which at any trim level seem to be uncomfortably trying to split the difference between sports and luxury. I’ll take a 1973-74 Buick Century Gran Sport any day.
I thought these were the coolest cars ever. Especially the Cutlass Supreme. Of course, I was 10 years old at the time and my favorite shirt was this 100% polyester shirt that had a sunset screen across it.
I owned a ’76 Supreme, but I’ll wait for your expose.
The bungie cord holding down the deck lid just makes the car. I also like the screen installed in front, cheaper than another grille. The next cash for clunkers run should bring this baby out for a trade in.
“Really great timing, these bigger, fatter 1973s were: within months of their arrival, the first energy crisis would unfold….”
No! It was a whole year later in October 1973, not 1972. GM’s mid sized cars sold great in 1973. And, these cars didn’t get hurt as bad as the big cars in 1974. Back then full sized cars were ‘bread and butter’ and plants had to be shut down as buyers rushed to smaller cars. The Cutlass Supreme still sold OK in 74-75, from big car trade ins.
Point is back in the day, GM’s intermediate size 73-77′s were a huge hit. Olds dealers wanted to keep the larger A/G body past 1978, in fact.
We just sold our 1975 Buick Regal Collonade last month. I loved these cars. My neighbor was a top female ( unheard of in 1976) at Murphy Olds in Hamburg NY. She had a 76 CS as a demo car. Her mom bought it and her brother bought a 76 Cutlass S, of which is still parked behind the chicken coupe on their farm in Eden, NY. I had a 77 442 in the 80s and to this day, still dream of that car. I’m so surprised at the car shows how many “experts” ask me “What the hell is a Colonnade?” I can only tell the difference between a 77 by the all rectangular AC vents vs the rectangle and circular ones of the 76 and sloped grill of the 76 vs squared off grills of the 77 S model.442 model excluded. Awesome writing, Paul. I’m a CC addict.
Funny how you mention the secrecy surrounding new cars back then in 71 my father was one of a tour group hosted by GM and the NZ govt to view the new 71 HQ Holdens and they were left with their cameras through the whole time on a promise not to develop the films untill the cars were released for sale, yeah I knew what they looked like before any other kiwi kid had seen one and the first wagon in the country was in our driveway quite exciting at the time.