CUTLASS Here's a fun article for y'all.

[Ribbedroof]

When i started to read it yesterday, my thought was that I couldn't believe people bought almost a half-million Camrys in 2007 alone. Nothing says appliance more than the mundane Camry....almost all of which have sorta tan interiors....THAT'S what I question!

I'm currently dailying a Scion XtraBoxy for the 35 MPG, so yeah, hypocrite....except it was $500, and has a black interior.

 

[doood]

I think one of the things that folks like this guy don't know about these cars was the A/C. GM cars had the best A/C of all the cars built at the time.

A/C in my dad's '82 Malibu Wagon died within three years and he never had the money to fix it. 6 people in that thing sweating.


The article from the OP was harsh about the cars I love. Author can go frack himself.

 

[tkruger]

I may disagree with the article but I understand his possible point of view. I do not see why people buy $25,000 in options on a $20,000 car/truck, not uncommon with all the high end trucks. Why do people put $6000 wheels on a $1200 car? I may not understand it but that is me. To each their own. This article is not fact, just his opinion with the facts to support it as he sees it.

 

[olds307 and 403]

People forget Ford's were criminally bad cars and Chrysler Coporation were flakey junk from that time period. The Oldsmobile V8's were more reliable than nearly any other motor from that era. They didn't flatten cams like the sbc or start knocking like the 351M/400 at 100,000 miles. Really the nylon timing chain was the only issue at high mileage and all makes had them.

 

[old80cs]

My dad had a ‘72 Mercury Montego sedan (Pepere’s hand me down) and a ‘78 Mercury Zephyr woody wagon that he bought new. When he pulled into the driveway in 1981 with a low mileage slightly used ‘80 Cutlass Supreme in burgundy with matching cloth interior. My brothers and I were blown away at how nice it looked, drove and how comfortable a ride it gave. Not to mention the smooth running Olds 260 under the hood. Not overpowering but a damn reliable v8 by anyone’s standards. My dad loved that car, was head and shoulders above the Zephyr wagon with the 200 ci I6. And hands down, so much better looking than either of the the Mercs.

 

[303'505rollin]

I had a 79 Granada coupe and it sucked it was a soap bar with the buttcheeks hood emblem ,yellow with tannish yellow vinyl and consumed more oil than gas, good thing it was a practice car and survived long enough to get my license and then cracked a piston and smoked out the car lol. Never owned another Ford again

 

[abbey castro]

When I bought my SS in 1987, it was the only Chevy on our street. All the neighbors around our house had Olds. I never thought much of it. It was like white pickup trucks here in TX. Everybody has one.

 

[pontiac guy]

I guess I'm the only one who thought it was funny. I liked it. I grew up driving them like some other people here, and oddly enough both the cutlasses I drove and all the ones I cut up and sent across the scales were some version of Brown or tan. Yes, the 260 in my first one was indestructible. Literally. I tried. It also used so much oil I looked like James Bond trying to shake a tail. I ran anything slippery in the crankcase. Anything. I worked at an auto parts store and whatever was on the leaker pallet went down it's insatiable gullet. Trans fluid to gear lube. I overheated it a half dozen times minimum. Couldn't afford a new radiator so when it got low.... Then I got a used V6 radiator. It held water, just not enough. I drove that thing to the junkyard because I couldn't afford the tickets from the tailpipe smoke. The gas cap is on my GP today 30 years later.

All that aside, there was nothing special about it or any of the others. From strippers to loaded down. They were slow, thirsty but somehow glorious. That first Cutlass cemented my love affair with G bodies before I even was a car guy. While all my friends were building fox Mustangs and second gen Camaros I was swapping a 400 Pontiac into a mint grandma owned 79 Cutlass. It was the first car I built and the first motor. I did almost nothing right but loved every second. After innumerable cars in the intervening years and 16 in my garage right now. My 78 GP is probably my favorite with it's bone stock 301. I have faster cars, I have prettier cars but my GP makes me smile every time. The Gbody has a magic and Cutlass just had a little more. If I found a clean enough one today I'd probably recreate my first car without the mistakes because, well Cutlass.

So, I thought the article was funny. I thought it was accurate. But you will pry the shifter of my G Body from my cold dead hands and I owe it all to A POS Cutlass that wouldn't die.