NOTE: Semi-close to mine, but no rally wheels, pin stripes, nor not nearly as nice.
(please welcome our new Sunday COAL series contributor) After my third year of college in May of 1987 was winding to a close, the folks knew I would need a car of my own to drive. They were tired of getting me and my stuff back and forth to college. There would soon be job interviews, hopefully a job along with that, and it was just time. I was paying most of my own way for college, still Mom and Dad were generous in doing this for me and I was grateful. I was home from college for about a week, and my summer job was starting, so we had to move fast.
The exact details of how I came across this car are a bit murky. Back in those days the used car search began with casting a wide net: look around at the fringes of parking lots for For-Sale signs, asking around/ word of mouth, bulletin boards at grocery stores, and of course, the weekly classified rag, Tradin’ Times. This was the Craigslist of the day and it was available everywhere. Dad tasked me to look and report back. There was a vague mention of a Citation, but I always had a thing for the Cutlass, and I decided to start and finish there.
When we lived in Detroit (until I was six), the guy across the alley had a red Cutlass convertible. Our solidly working-class neighborhood didn’t have much interesting metal, so something that exotic left an impression on the 5-year-old me. I always just liked them from that point, still do. But with the newly introduced G-body that came out in 1978, I just liked the long hood and short trunk, it just spoke to me. And I was not alone.
Looking back, it’s amazing how a midsize car that was sold predominantly as a coupe was so popular for so long. And what was up with the Cutlass? The Monte Carlo, the Regal and the Grand Prix were all on the same platform, with the same basic body lines. It was brand management and platform sharing run amok. Sure, everybody did it (then and now), but how did GM get away with this for so long? So why was the Olds version the grand slam year in and year out versus the others? The Monte and ‘Prix were cheaper in price the Regal probably slightly more in the GM pecking order of the day. Somehow it hit the sweet spot and resonated with millions of consumers. The Cutlass had long been a sales powerhouse. The G body was the best selling car in the America in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983. 1983 was the last year a rear wheel drive car (not truck) was the number one seller.
I ended finding one on the east side of Detroit not far from the old neighborhood where we used to live that looked promising. It would have been super nice to have a “broughamy” one. For me, ideally that would have been a burgundy coupe like above, velour interior, power everything with the Olds 350 V-8. I’m sure I could’ve found one along those lines if I had more time and casted a wider net. True to form though, Dad wanted me to have a more basic version, “less to break “. And we had to move fast.
A visit was arranged. The seller had just got a new Chevy Sprint and needed to unload his 1980 Cutlass. My Dad wisely decided to bring along my brother Phil, a former GM dealership mechanic. After getting burned so bad on the Chevette, once bitten twice shy, but this one met with Phil’s approval. As it turns out, the seller and my brother knew some of the same people from the old neighborhood, and that lightened the transaction mood considerably. After a slight bit of tire kicking and mild low-balling, $1800 was exchanged and it came home.
Mine was I believe “Light Camel Metallic”, column shift and had an AM/ FM Delco radio, working air conditioning (gasp!) and a tan vinyl interior, the base Buick 231 C.I.D. V-6, and the options list stopped right there. Some rust spots were nicely masked by the paint color, but when I waxed it…it presented well. It was a huge upgrade over the Chevette. After swapping the Delco radio with an Audiovox AM-FM/Cassette Deck sourced from K-Mart so I could play R.E.M. , XTC and Husker Du tapes, I was one contented young man.
The car left absolutely no impression, positive or negative as far as driving enjoyment or vehicle dynamics were concerned. It had over-boosted, one-finger wheel turn power steering like anything above a subcompact had back then. It was floaty and compliant over the horrible (then and now) Michigan roads, and you wanted to take it slow in the corners. No worry about joyriding here. The anemic V-6 was rated at just 110 horsepower. 0-60 tests in the day showed 0-60 times of 13.6 seconds. At anything above 65-70, the anemic six really struggled, worse with the AC on. Oh….I do recall finding the front bench seat a good thing. I liked the fact that my first-ever girlfriend would sit right next to me when we went out, or I could cram six people in it. If anything, it was a very comfortable and easy to live with car.
The subsequent 2 years in my care were not good ones for the Cutlass. Out at breakfast one day on a weekend trip home that fall, a drugged-out crazy woman backed into it in while it was parked, then sped off. Months later, I got in a fender bender with a big Delta 88 in an icy parking lot and got the worse of it. The front bumper and fender were now bent down in a permanent automotive frown. I had no collision insurance thus no repair. The Cutlass soldiered on.
The next summer, on a weekend road trip, I started smelling burning rubber under the hook, and switched the AC off. The air-conditioning compressor seized. My father, angry that I had broken it somehow, thought if we just banged it with a hammer repeatedly it would somehow un-seize it (it didn’t). It was awfully hot in there on a 90-degree day with vinyl seats. The main redeeming feature of the car was now gone.
It also had oil leak (or burned oil or both) and you had to faithfully check the oil and sometimes I didn’t. One day I heard a strange ticking from the engine and the oil lamp gently flickered on. I pulled off in Portland, Michigan and had to dump in 4 quarts. Not a good sign. By this time, it was a hooptee, and it had barely 90,000 miles on it. The car seemed to be dying a slow death. By comparison, it’s amazing nowadays how with routine basic maintenance you can get years of good service out of any brand even at high mileage.
But I owe the Cutlass a debt of gratitude. It got me through college, and was the car that took me home, literally penniless, from my last semester of college and into my first year in the working world. I do not recall a time it left me stranded except at the end. About six months into my first job, it started running rough with a serious misfire. The mechanic diagnosed it as mass electrical gremlins and maladies and it would take time and money to diagnose it, much less fix it.
We decided to throw in the towel. I just needed something a little more reliable, presentable, and less hooptee-ish as I was wearing a suit to work every day. This was still in the Yuppie, Dress for Success era. Dad sold it quickly for 600 bucks to a wide-eyed high school kid from Farmington Hills who said he was going to make it into a hot rod. The deal always was that it was Dad’s car and then any proceeds from the sale were his. Fair enough. Time to get a reliable daily driver and the rite of passage for a recent college graduate: a new car.
I never had one of these, but my aunt had an ’81. Comfortable car to ride in. But being in Northwest Indiana it rusted out very quickly. By 1990 it was a shell that still ran well. I and a neighbor that had an ’83 in the 90’s and it stayed looking good. Luck of the draw I guess. I had a ’79 Grand Prix and an ’84 Regal which were similar, and both were nice driving cars. Nice story. Tell us about getting your new car next.
I purchased a new 78 Cutlass Salon Brougham with a 260 V8, bucket seats, console & a sport steering wheel. It was the camel tan color like yours. Mine looked just like the one in the attached photo except it was a 2 door. I added white letter tires, a bigger front sway bar & a rear sway bar. The sway bars really improved the driving experience. The 260 was a boat anchor & mileage was not great. The body style was not popular (most hated it) but it certainly did get a lot of attention. I guess that’s why I purchased a 79 Buick Century Turbo Coupe 11 years ago. I always like the body style.
My 79 Century Turbo Coupe.
I have to believe there are too many of these in existence nowadays. I like it very much.
Too many?
think it was meant to be “aren’t too many”…
The original owner gave me a letter he got from Buick that was in response to his letter that he sent them in April 1981. They built a total of 61 Buick Century Turbo Coupes in 1979,
Mine looked like this except it was a two door.
We had 4 door versions of these for Company cars when I was at J.I. Case in Racine, Wi. One trip in one of these V6, floaty sloths was enough to convince me to drive my own car on business trips.
To me, these were everything a car SHOULD NOT be….yukk!
Yet later I bought a used 81 4 dr with the dreaded diesel….:( I guess I was INHALING to many diesel fumes at Case?? My wallet ultimately paid the price, despite its extended, 100% warranty. DFO
This is a nice Cutlass coupe who got a better use than this one in the 1990 French-Canadian movie “Ding & Dong, le film” where the main protagonists Ding & Dong performed by local comedians Serge Thériault and Claude Meunier act like stuntmen but take the wrong turn.
When I was working at Grumman on Long Island NY in the early 1970s it seemed like every other person had an Olds Cutlass V8 (the other people had VWs) and most of those Cutlasses were two doors. I understood the appeal; I would have enjoyed getting one myself had they been a bit less costly. Accordingly, I got a poor man’s Cutlass – a 1971 Duster. To use a phrase mentioned in a reply to an earlier post: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
“… I liked the fact that my first-ever girlfriend would sit right next to me when we went out …”
Indeed, it was a very special and warm feeling when a girl would slide over a big bench seat to sit next to me as I drove. Bucket seats, seat belts, center consoles, and floor shifts have pretty much made this silent mating ritual a thing of the past. Of course in a type 1 Beetle, the driver and the front seat passenger were very close anyway, even if there were no romantic attachments involved.
I also paid for my college education while living at home. It has always been a point of pride in my life, a sign that you can handle complicated and expensive endeavors while still quite young.
Why was the Cutlass flavor of the G-body ice cream shop the most popular one? Is it because it was the smoothest to feel? The best value? Maybe just the most refreshing? Who knows? It certainly made Mr. G. Motors, the ice cream man, a lot of money.
“Why was the Cutlass flavor of the G-body ice cream shop the most popular one?”
I cannot help but think that the Cutlass of 1970-76 had an awful lot to do with it. That car was immensely popular and there were undoubtedly many happy owners who kept buying new ones. Success creates success. The Cutlass became the bedrock of middle class success as the Impala had been in the 60s and the Accord and Camry became in the 90s.
It is like JP said
But also it was being sold at a time where folks were more brand loyal. A person that bought and Olds was more likely to replace it with another Olds. It is true that the G-Body (or A-Body as it was known by until 1982 with the advent of the FWD Cutlass etc) all sort of looked the same but Oldsmobile buyers were looking for the Oldsmobile Rocket badging.
There was a fiasco at GM in the late 1970’s when Oldsmobile Cutlass owners discovered that their Cutlass did not have a Oldsmobile engine in it and instead had a Chevy engine in it.
This also took place on the full size Olds models. I worked at a Texaco pumping gas and changing oil while in high school, and we had a customer who drove a 78-79 Delta 88 and he would make sure and tell us the the blankety-blank factory dropped a Chevy engine in his car when he thought he paid for an Olds V8. How he missed it when he purchased the car I’m not sure, but apparenlty a lot of people did. This guy was none too happy and made sure to tell us to look up Chevy part numbers for his Olds.
The early versions of these cars were a real basket of contradictions. They were attractive inside and out but with tremendously unsatisfying drivetrains and reliabilty that seemed to splatter all over the graph.
However, late in the car’s run, maybe 1986 or 87, I rented one on a business trip. It had the 307 V8 and made me think that GM had finally figured out what the car was supposed to be. I remember it as a really pleasant cruiser that I could be happy with.
This old Motor Week review does a nice job of demonstrating many of your points:
Great story Carlsberg66, we look forward to reading about your next car!
I have a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass f85 I am restoring, 2 door hardtop.
The environmental firm I worked for in the early 1980s had a 1978 Cutlass four-door slantback with a V6 as a company car. I took it for trips around Florida on several occasions. The car was utterly forgettable to drive but it did the job. I felt the styling of the slantback was interesting – better than the slightly porky-looking notchback sedan that came along in 1980.
I have written at length about the foreign car culture in my area, since the 1950’s. Yes, I grew up with Lloyds and Borgwards and fintail Merc’s in our neighborhood. And as I and my peers bought cars, we had Alfas and original Minis and Lotus Cortinas. But we were outliers, and these 2 door Cutlasses were EVERYWHERE in California for many years. I never understood how within a few years the most popular car (non-pickup) went from 2 door personal luxury coupe to 4 door Camcord to crossover, for the same basic personal, family and commute transportation tasks.
Referencing the lead photo, I can’t remember the last time I saw a daily driven car with the unnatural high gloss of fresh Armor-All on their tires. It used to be a very common sight in the 1970s and 1980s, and I know they introduced a low gloss version, but how many people put Armour-All on tires any more? It was a finishing touch for many owners detailing their cars back then
It’s funny, I am so used to the two headlight Cutlass introduced in 1978, that I am struck by the 1980 four headlight version. They must be rare today.
The 1980 Cutlass Supremes sold fairly well, considering the recession and oil crisis. Weren’t “rare” when new/late models.
Many were from old big car trade ins, or some didn’t like the 1980 T-Bird/Cougar?
Great write-up on this and the Chevette (I missed that one last week). These Cutlass’ were everywhere and now you hardly see them. It’s too bad it was a 231 powered car, a V8 (one of the 5.0L’s) was so much satisfying. The key to getting a good driving late 70’s and 80’s GM RWD cars was in the suspension and driveline options. Like the B-bodies, the base suspensions on these cars were marshmallow soft with zero driving dynamics. You need to get one of the optional suspensions to make these cars engaging to drive. And a V8, other than the 260, was also mandatory (for me). The V8’s got decent mileage if tuned correctly, and were far more durable over the long run. We were lucky up here in Canada that we got LG4 305 powered A/G-bodies with fully mechanical carbs (other than a few exceptions) until 1987. These cars were actually reasonably peppy and great on fuel with an OD transmission. In my opinion they were a better overall powertrain than a 307 Olds with a E4MC.
I worked on dozens of these in the mid-90s. Most were reaching the end of their service life, which neatly fit the demographic of young people interested in buying hopped-up stereo systems and car alarms. I could probably describe from memory the procedure of disassembling the dash and speaker locations—as well as using a Dremel tool to hack the factory “knobber” radio location into a rectangular, DIN-sized hole. The trunk was substantial, and I built many a subwoofer box to render it almost useless for cargo.
I recall these often having a tail-dragging stance due to worn-out suspension, along with very frequent rust around the rear fenders. These were also built during GM’s “rear bumper will rust off the car” days, so it was quite common to see them bumperless or sporting a 2×6.
I really did like the styling of these cars, so working on the occasional preserved granny-mobile was a treat. In good condition they were pleasant to drive, though woefully underpowered even then (most seemed to have the gutless 260). At least once I had a chance to work on a Hurst Olds with the Lightning Rods shift package. Kinda neat, though not that impressive in operation.
This is yet another car that was absolutely thick on the streets 25 years ago, yet seems to have mostly disappeared. Oddly enough, I see way more El Caminos of this era than any other body style these days.
Good COAL. Thanks!
We had a 78 Supreme Coupe (260) and a 86 5.0L Brougham coupe. Nice cars-
comfy for road trips. Polar opposite of the 83 and 91 T-Birds also owned during this time period.
” So why was the Olds version the grand slam year in and year out versus the others?”
Because the Cutlass name was used for the whole Olds mid-size line, not just the 2 doors. Chevy had Chevelle/Malibu, to go along with Monte Carlo, and Pontiac had LeMans, then mid-size Bonneville to go with Grand Prix.
Not all Cutlasses built/sold were Supreme Brougham coupes. Go to Old Car Brochures, and see all the various Cutlass trim levels offered each year from 1970 to 1987, and even a car fan can get confused.
“How did GM get away with this for so long?”
They did a good job of brand differentiation since the 1920’s, and got them to #1. Then, in 1970s/80s “bean counting” days, the big idea was “let’s water the brands down to save $$$”. And we know how that worked out!
Everybody loves a Cutlass. The sales statistics don’t lie. It got me to thinking, just how many Cutlasses did my folks and relatives buy? I’m not gonna even count friends.
Mom, mid-70s: green ‘68 Cutlass S coupe
Stepdad Moe, late 70s: burgundy ‘67 Cutlass 442 coupe; also, early 80s: green ‘73 Cutlass S coupe
Stepdad Bill, 90s: green ‘71 Cutlasss Supreme coupe
Aunt Jimme, mid-80s: silver ‘84 Cutlass Supreme coupe
Aunt Gloria, late-80s: blue ‘84 Cutlass Supreme sedan
Aunt Linda, early-80s: brown ‘81 Cutlass Supreme coupe; also, late-80s: ‘87 blue Cutlass Supreme coupe
Sister Shirley, early-80s: ‘73 silver Cutlass S coupe (her 1st car); also, late ‘80s: blue ‘77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe
That’s a lot of Cutlasses. I couldn’t help but notice, no one seemed interested in an ‘88 up fwd Cutlass. Who could blame them?
I still have one and if anything they were far from forgettable. Having owned close to 20 G-bodies over the years it’s quite amazing to me the different personalities each conveyed. My current one is a 1987 coupe in two tone blue with all the goodies that could be had in these cars- full gauge pkg, F41, 307/OD, bucket seats/console, alloy wheels on white letter tires, A/C and some power options. It even got the upgraded 3.08 rear axle in place of the std 2.56.
Also owned were a:
1979 yellow Calais coupe with white bucket seat interior and 260 V8
1981 light blue 4 door LS with 231 V6
1981 tan coupe with 260 V8 and bucket seats
1982 white 4 door with blue interior with a 305
1983 brown Brougham coupe with 307
1984 medium blue brougham coupe with 231 V6 and F-41
1985 Gold base coupe with 307 (left to me by Grandpa)
1987 base two tone clue coupe with 307/OD and buckets (current Summer ride)
The rest were Pontiacs or Buicks
I had a ’78 Cutlass Supreme coupe w/260 V8 when I was in college. Great highway car, HORRIBLE around town. It had the acceleration of a fully loaded school bus going uphill and it got the same mileage as the bus would get. The back end was squirrely as hell and would NOT stay planted on the road if there was the slightest hint of moisture. 3 sp. automatic tranny was programmed to get up to 3rd gear ASAP and stay there no matter how far down you pushed the accelerator as you came out of a corner in a residential neighborhood. I just started forcing it into second with the column shift thing. It was ready to throw a rod at 54,000 miles, so my dad paid to have it rebuilt. A couple of years later, driving home after graduation, the AC compressor froze up and then within six months it was pretty much dead. I donated it. I couldn’t imagine looking someone in the face and selling it to them knowing how much of a POS and a death trap it was.
The gold one is identical to the 80 my in-laws owned when we got married. 260 v8 was a slug but ran 250,000 miles before the Ohio tin worm did it in