Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

Start with what the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is: a 2-door convertible / 2-door hardtop / 2-door notchback sedan / 4-door hardtop / 4-door notchback sedan with 330 cuin V8, built from 1965 to 1997, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer.

How it came about

The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is a mid-size car produced by Oldsmobile between 1966 and 1997. It was positioned as a premium offering at the top of the Cutlass range. It began as a trim package, developed its own roofline, and rose during the mid-1970s to become not only the most popular Oldsmobile but the highest selling model in its class.

It was produced as a rear-wheel drive two-door hardtop, sedan, and station wagon into the 1980s, and a convertible through 1972. In 1988 Oldsmobile sought to capitalize on the brand equity of the Cutlass Supreme marque by replacing it with a downsized front-wheel drive model based on the General Motors W platform. When production ended there was no direct replacement for the Cutlass Supreme, although the Intrigue introduced for 1998 was designed in size and price to replace all the Cutlass models.

The hardware

The engine is 330 cuin V8. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual / 2-speed automatic / 3-speed manual. The wheelbase is Coupe: 112.0 in / Sedan/Wagon: 116.0 in / Vista Cruiser: 121.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Family and rivals

In the Oldsmobile line-up the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme has a clear place: it handed the line to the Oldsmobile Intrigue. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ford Bronco, the Nissan Silvia, the Ford Transit. Its Oldsmobile stablemates include the Oldsmobile 442 and the Oldsmobile 88.

Owning one today

There is no federal ownership record for the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.