1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible - The Basket Handle

We can probably blame Chrysler's LeBaron convertible of 1980's infamy for Oldsmobile coming with a convertible Cutlass Supreme for 1990. Our subject here is a model year 1993 "Cutty" convertible I found on Facebook Marketplace with just 138K on its thirty-year-old analog ticker, asking price $3,000. That ask knocked down from $4,000. Something's too good to be true here. This makes my stomach hurt too much for me to inquire about it. 

Oldsmobile's Cutlass Supreme and corporate siblings Buick Regal, Pontiac Grand Prix and later Chevrolet Lumina were all new for 1988 and were built on GM's new front-wheel-drive GM10 chassis or platform. Prior to 1988, they were all rear-wheel-drivers. Oldsmobile was the only division to offer a convertible GM10. 

There's not enough ribbon in my figurative typewriter to split hairs over what went wrong with the GM10's (aka W-body). As far as I'm concerned, much went right as I had five of them from 1990 through most recently and adored them all. Google "GM10" or "W-body" to get your chalice's worth of hyperbole about them. The Good, The Bad and the Indifferent. If you read carefully through the lines, you'll find much of the issues with them wasn't the cars themselves but circumstances surrounding them. Namely, foreign competition. 

GM10\W-body fan I am, I never warmed up to these odd little ducklings. Actually, they're not so little. Roughly 200-inches stem to stern and some 72-inches wide, their footprint is actually larger than the cars they replaced and a lamb's tail or two from the same size as the lordly 1964-1972 models. In fact, these cars were the first "upsizing" of a model GM introduced after 1977. Happy Days were, at least as far as I was concerned, back again. 

My time spent behind the wheel of one was pleasant enough. Amply if not softly sprung with more than ample scoot from its 3100 V6 but it was hardly sporty. Not that it was intended to be a rocket. It was a boulevard cruiser with all of the foibles inherent in most convertibles. Particularly domestic drop tops. 

Aside from the car looking lumpy with the top up, the oddest or biggest foible about them is what appears to be a roll bar - that's not a roll bar. It's so Oldsmobile didn't have to come up with a separate door handle design because on GM10 coupes the handles were in the B-pillar; they were phased out with subsequent updates. That hoop offers no structural support or roll over protection and if they didn't cap it off it would look even more bizarre. Might also be a safety hazard for folks getting into and out of the vehicle. 

Oldsmobile pulled the plug on the Cutlass convertible after 1995 replacing what was once the best-selling nameplate in America for model year 1997 with a lightly disguised Chevrolet Malibu sedan. That last Cutty went to cornfield after 1999, the entire Oldsmobile division following suit after 2004. 

1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme - You Had to Be There

Might be hard to believe now, and had I not "been there" I might find it hard to believe as well, but the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe was extremely popular in the 1980's. So much so that they commanded a premium as used cars. That "premium" one of the reasons why I ended up with a 1982 Buick Riviera back in the day instead of a Cutlass, Pontiac Grand Prix or Chevrolet Monte Carlo. I found this '82 Cutlass on Facebook Marketplace recently for sale near my home here in Cleveland, Ohio. Asking price a seemingly reasonable $1,500. Well, reasonable for this day and age. 

Ad said it starts with jump and runs and drives although the brakes are shot. Appears rust free, though. That's a plus. Note she sits low on the driver's front; busted spring? Bent spindle? Best to trailer this back to the triple wide. I'd also want a good look underneath. The mud-caked tires tell me this was sitting in a field for a while. Again, remarkable that it has little to no rust. On the body anyway. Cars up here on the "North Coast" can appear perfectly find above deck; you get under them and they can resemble the Titanic in its current state. 

This interior appears to have all the charm of dirty underwear. Someone else's dirty tidy-whities while I'm at it. Bet it smells like an old wet dog and cigarettes. The dog smell easier to rid than cigarette stench. Seats will clean up but the door panels or what some refer to as "cards" will need replacing. Parts are available online, what isn't these days? But finding a perfect match is going to be a tough putt. This is atypically optioned for the era, too - meaning weird. Tilt and power driver seat yet crank windows? 

Not that it matters since the engine's probably going in the dumpster anyway but the poster of the ad claims this has an Oldsmobile 307-cubic inch V-8. Certainly no powerhouse but it could be worse. It could have Oldsmobile's 260-cubic inch V-8 that begat the 307, a Buick V-6 or worse yet, an Oldsmobile Diesel. Again, you'd be making this into what you'd want it to be anyway. Who's up for an "LS swap?" 

GM updated their 1978 vintage intermediate coupes for 1981; the four-door sedans and the wagons they left the same. The refresh on these coupes did wonders for them although, through my foggy goggles, they're still too narrow compared to how long they are. Just as well since by the time these came to market, the style and fashion conscious were beginning to look elsewhere to make their "statements". 

GM apparently didn't get the memo or decided not to pay attention to it when they introduced the front-wheel-drive replacements for these cars in 1988 as they came in only as coupes. Of course coupe lover me didn't have an issue with it. 

These things certainly still have their fans, though. I went back to find it a day or so later to possibly inquire about it and I couldn't find it. Just as well as this would be a tough putt to get past the wife. Rough examples like this some of the last "old school" cars that are still dirt cheap to buy, well, when they look like this, and buyers can turn them into anything they want.