1975 was a good year for Oldsmobile - look and see for yourself

[trinacriabob]

This is the year the Cutlass Supreme really began to take off.  (The "rocket" took off even faster and higher in 1976.) The cleaning up of the grille and the insertion of the Olds logo in the rear lamps, among other things, really made it stand out with consumers.

This color was unmistakably 1975.  I forgot what it was called.  The Schwinn bicycle metallic blue that year was called Spectre Blue Metallic.  This is one good looking vehicle.  But then, people who order cars don't always know what they're doing.

Here are a couple of misses:  the body side moldings are too wide, the white letter tires are obnoxious (a thin whitewall would have worked better), and, most of all, it has a black interior when a darker blue was available that year in the swivel bucket seats with reversible (vinyl/cloth) cushions.

Kudos for the fully metallic rally wheels, as opposed to body colored ones.  I can't tell if it's a 350 or a 260 based on the size of the air cleaner.  It is not air conditioned, based on the always open vanes in the circular vents.  This would make it a backyard mechanic's dream.

Compared to the '73 and '74, this '75 is more of a beauty when it is seen driving off in the end

This is a Cutlass Salon of the same year.  This was the top of the line in 1975.  The Brougham came the following year, bringing Ninety Eight and Toronado level interior seating to what was then the mid-size in Olds' lineup. 

The misses here are the obvious lack of the hood ornament and the windsplit moulding, white letter tires that don't go with any Cutlass except a 4-4-2, the choice of vinyl seats over cloth seats in a Salon, the metallic steering wheel over the Salon's thicker padded steering wheel, and the cheapness of getting black seat belts when popping for the top of the line.

The pluses here are the color combo - this was Persimmon Metallic and, with the white landau and the tan seats, it's exactly how I would have ordered one.  This one is a 350 V8, per the legible air cleaner decal.  It is also air conditioned.

Make America great again?  Perhaps if and when we could return to having cars like this.  

If you ever have, you'll never forget them.

[oldshurst442]

455

(that is all I want to say)  

 

[trinacriabob]

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

455

(that is all I want to say)  

You spotted my mistake!  Yes, after looking at the vid again, the Salon coupe has a 455 V8.  It said it in writing and it has the rumbling dual exhaust.

Now I don't know what the first Supreme has.  It shows dual exhaust.  Olds 350 V8s (stock) had single exhaust.

The one thing I am not crazy about is how all these owners have traded in the stock exhaust note of the Olds V8 that is pleasing to the ear for a rumbling one.

A 455 means that you can't pass up gas stations too easily.  Not for me.

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by trinacriabob

[oldshurst442]

Well...a 1970s V8 (and prior years)  was not a thrifty affair in ANY displacement.  While an Olds 350 is a damn fine engine, an Olds 455 is a mighty one.  Despite being choked up with catalytics, those 455s (from Pontiac and Buick too) still had healthy torque figures to melt the tires. Therefore, if I was a 47 year old restauranteur in the mid 1970s (as I am now in 2020), I think I would have had a version of that Cutlass (Hurst or 442 or Supreme) with a 455  lugging my family around.   

I would have tried to buy a Trans Am with a 455 as well as my "me" car.