Oldsmobile Cutlass

Start with what the Oldsmobile Cutlass is: a 4-door Sedan (car) / sedan / 2-door coupe / 2-door hardtop (Jetfire only) / 2-door convertible / 4-door station wagon with 215 cuin Rockette V8, built from 1961 to 1999, 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 was a series of automobiles produced by the General Motors' Oldsmobile division between 1961 and 1999. At its introduction, the Cutlass was Oldsmobile's entry-level model; it began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greatest success as a body-on-frame intermediate. The Cutlass was named after Vought F7U Cutlass, as well as the type of sword, which was common during the Age of Sail. Introduced as the top trim level in Oldsmobile's compact F-85 Series, the Cutlass evolved into a distinct series of its own, spawning numerous variants.

These included the 4-4-2 muscle car in 1964, the upscale Cutlass Supreme in 1966, the high-performance Hurst/Olds in 1968, and the Vista Cruiser station wagon. By the 1980s, Oldsmobile was using the Cutlass as a sub-marque, with numerous vehicle lines bearing the name simultaneously. The compact Cutlass Calais, midsize Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Cruiser station wagon, and flagship midsize Cutlass Supreme were among the models available during this time. In the 1990s, Oldsmobile began moving away from its traditional model lines, with other legacy vehicle nameplates like the 98 and 88 being discontinued in 1996 and 1999, respectively. The Cutlass name was likewise retired in 1999 in favor of the all-new Oldsmobile Alero, ending nearly 40 years of continuous Cutlass production.

The hardware

The engine is 215 cuin Rockette V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Drive goes through a 3-speed Manual transmission / manual / 4-speed manual / 3-speed Roto Hydramatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 112 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 has a clear place: it handed the line to the Oldsmobile Intrigue; the factory was Lansing, Michigan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Jaguar E-Type, the Volvo P1800, the Ferrari 250 GTO. Its Oldsmobile stablemates include the Oldsmobile 442 and the Oldsmobile 88.

Owning one today

There is no federal ownership record for the Oldsmobile Cutlass — 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.