Junkyard Gem: 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham Coupe

The Standard place the Oldsmobile Division’s head on the chopping block in 2004, which makes it tricky to think that the Olds Cutlass expended most of the center-to-late nineteen seventies at or close to the best of the greatest-marketing automobile charts in North The united states. In 1975 and 1976, the sharp-looking Cutlass stood proudly at #1 on the American revenue charts, dropping to #two in 1977 but with GM nonetheless shifting greater than a 50 percent-million Cuttys out of the showrooms that yr. Present-day Junkyard Gem is one of all those ’77s, a sporty Supreme Brougham Coupe that obtained wrecked in Colorado at age 44.

The Cutlass lived on the growing older 1964 A-physique system, earning it a sibling to the Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Buick Century (between some others) in 1977, and the immediate descendant of these types of muscle mass-automobile classics as the Pontiac GTO, Buick GS, and all all those insane massive-block Chevy Chevelles. Gasoline rates had stabilized a little bit, a couple of a long time soon after the 1973 oil disaster, so Americans felt extra self-confident acquiring common midsize cars instead of little Vegas, Pintos, and Colts. Of class, gasoline traces would return before long adequate, but by then the Cutlass and its shut relatives had been downsized.

I think the Cutlass was the greatest-looking of all the GM A-Human body cars of 1975-1977 in truth, it was one of the greatest-looking cars Detroit provided for the duration of the time period, and loads of automobile purchasers agreed with that evaluation back again then. It was a cozy, roomy rear-wheel-travel equipment total of tried-and-true engineering, and so its success was no surprise.

So why is this one in a Denver-area automobile graveyard? Here’s why.

It obtained strike really tricky in the remaining rear corner, bending the frame past the point of currently being really worth restoring. By the time I obtained to it, the engine and transmission ended up long gone, but most of the Cutlass Supremes obtained the optional Olds 350-cubic-inch (5.seven-liter) V8 rather than the base three.8-liter Buick V6 or the one-modest-phase-up Olds 260 V8.

Oldsmobile identified as these opulent seats the “free cushion” model, and this automobile has a pleasant blue/gold inside coloration combination.

The Brougham package obtained you… nicely, just more class.

The Cutlass obtained scaled-down in the 1978 product yr, but nonetheless retained its next-spot spot in the charts with extra than a 50 percent-million cars offered. The Cutlass Supreme survived all the way by way of 1997, with the standard Cutlass long lasting another two a long time, but it would in no way get back the revenue dominance it owned for the duration of the nineteen seventies.