1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass - Double Whammy

 

GM's 1981 reboot of their 1978 A body coupes transformed the formerly bizarre (Monte Carlo and Grand Prix)  to drab (Cutlass and Regal) mid size two door sedans into handsome (if not all very similar) looking automobiles. Even if the homogenization was deliberate, there were many parts interchangeable between the cars, GM hit the aesthetic jackpot. Even if it was very hard to tell a Cutlass from a Monte Carlo. The four door versions  of these cars soldiered on in their interminably boring 1978 interactions until the last one passed in oblivion after 1987. You think telling a Grand Prix from a Regal was hard, try telling a Cutlass sedan from Regal sedan.

 

 

For 1981, Cutlass got this new "jaw" out front and a svelte new tail as well. Subtle as the changes were, especially compared to the goofy Monte Carlo and to a lesser extent the Grand Prix, the Cutlass was transformed into a handsome automobile. Even in base "stripper" mode like our subject here.

 

 

Alas, while coupes sold very well in the 70's, by 1981 the plug was out of the tub. "Tastemakers" on the coasts had all but stopped buying American cars in general and coupes in particular and had moved onto more expensive makes and models from Europe and to some degree Asia. The Yuppie movement was taking over. Growing up in Nassau County, New York, I'd see some of these (rarely brand new) on the working class South Shore where I grew up  but I'd be hard pressed to believe anyone on the tonier North Shore would be seen in one. This car was the working class hero's ride.  

 

 

This car, unfortunately, has the double whammy of a 260 V-8 (at least it's not the Olds 350 diesel) and the infamous THM 200 or "Metric" transmission.  Metric transmissions burned up with freakish regularity leading to recalls and lawsuits and wouldn't you know it? This car's Metric is busted - thus the modest asking price of just $2800. Nothing a Chevy crate engine and a 700R4 couldn't cure, though. Anyone got an engine crane and tranny jack they can loan me?

  

 

Oldsmobile put these cars to pasture in 1989 and replaced them with the front wheel drive (no hump) GM-10 Cutlass. The GM-10 Cutlass actually debuted in 1988 but Olds put the word "Classic" on the last of these. Classic indeed. The rest, as they say, is history.