It never ceases to amaze me how folks don’t really pay attention to posted speed limit changes. Case in point, I passed this ’67 Olds Cutlass on my way to work recently, but a couple miles further on after the speed limit dropped from 70 to 55, he came roaring around me on the left, having barely slackened from the 65 or so he had been doing.
The signage on the car indicates it’s a participant in The Great Race, which made a stop in Peoria a few years ago. Maybe he was trying to average out his speed for the rally?
Likely powered by a 330 c.i.d. (5.4l) 320 hp Jetfire Rocket V8, this generation of Cutlass was a good performer and was made of top-notch materials – even at 50 years old it’s still quite eye-catching!
Related: Automotive History: The 20 MPG 400 Cubic Inch 1967 Olds Cutlass Turnpike Cruiser
The GM A body always had a “homely sister” and for 1967 I nominate the Oldsmobile – if only because the others were all so beautiful. The details on these just never worked that well for me, like the big over/under taillights and those wide-set headlights.
But is sure nice to see one out on the road.
I vote the Chevelle as least attractive.
The 67 GTO is my all time favorite car but prices for them are insane and for SS cars almost as crazy. The 442 can be had for 1/3rd the price with a very good chance it has factory AC. Before I bought my Electra I found a daily driver 64′ 442 with a Olds 350 TH350 swap for 5k. 5k buys you a rolling lightly rusted chassis for a Chevelle…..
My 65 Cutlass had much better build quality (welds, panel gaps etc..) than my brothers 68 Mustang. The one quality issue it had was the F-85 dash emblem was ever so slightly a degree or two crooked.
Seconded! All in favour…..
The Chevelle was nice but not as manly looking as the other ones. 1st gen A bodies are my favorite cars and I will probably get another Cutlass after I get the Electra a little further along. I have dreams of a pro touring 455 6spd powered Cutlass that could be done on the relative cheap.
Third and agree…
The bland Chevelle was the “Plain Jane” sister of the A-body family.
The Pontiac was the “popular girl”, but…
The Buick Skylark was the most attractive, cleanest looking, of the lineage.
Like, a Felix Unger on wheels, a muscle car/personal luxury coupe(depending on drivetrain options) for the businessman. 🙂
+1. Of the ’66-’67 GM tunnel-back intermediates, even the somewhat plain Buick Skylark was more attractive than the Olds. Pontiac with their stacked headlights were really calling the shots back then.
Agreed. It was trying too hard to ape the design of the big cars, which generally doesn’t work well. The scale is off; doesn’t look organic.
LOL, I was just thinking that this Cutlass, along with the 1970-1972, were just about the prettiest of the line, and that these were the cars that put Cutlass on the road to stardom in the 1970’s.
I’ll go along that the wide set headlights might not work for everyone, but I do really like the tail on this one, very “Oldsmobile” in terms of themes used from about 1966 through the 1980s.
I think the front end styling worked better on the Cutlass than on the big cars.
I’m with you there–the headlights don’t necessarily work but the tail design and the body sides definitely do.
The engineers did put those wide headlights to good use
dat dere cool air induction mid 60s clever style
It’s my opinion that people have this “natural” speed they want to drive at. I’ve seen them go 50 thru a 35 zone and then when the limit goes to 60 they still go 50. It may take them a few minutes before they update their brains and change their speed.
This is one of the most aggravating things about speed limits in the US. State DOTs perform studies on streets to determine the average speed of drivers – the normal, natural speed they drive. Then, they reduce that average by 10% to arrive at a speed limit number, essentially creating a speed trap situation by default everywhere. I can’t imagine anyone ever not being in a situation where they were traveling along safely, see a cop, glance down at their speedometer and realize they’re traveling 5 mph over the limit.
It really sucks because, based on that determining method, people are predestined to travel at a speed higher than the limit, or drive unnaturally slower then they normally would. Plus, it creates lot of additional revenue for local jurisdictions.
Be permanently thankful you don’t live in the state if Victoria, Australia. The limits are pretty low to begin with. In any side street it is 31mph, 37mph on feeder roads, 50mph on four lane-type roads, 62mph on freeways with a few country sectors of 68mph. If it’s school time, even near a school the limit is 24mph. There are hundreds of cameras, fixed and mobile, everywhere. So far, not so (modern) unusual.
The real problem is that you can and will be booked for any more than 3MPH OVER. Ask me (and probably 80% of drivers here) how I know. Whilst some it is justified, for eg school zones, it leads to a lot of bad driving on freeways and open roads. Want to use this long flat unoccupied stretch to overtake that double-trailer smelly truck doing 50-55 in a 62 zone? Hit 77mph as you do, and you’ve just lost your licence. Apart from very rare examples, there is no legal basis for challenge in court ( it is called an “absolute liability” offence).
If it was enforced with discretion, and not in places where no danger lurks, it would be hard to complain. But it sure isn’t.
Believe me, if there’ a speed change here, you slow!
I thought the State of Victoria got a good beating related to those speed cameras due to a motorist being unfairly ticketed for supposedly doing warp speed in a 1975 Datsun 120Y and shut down their camera program. Did they bring it back up?
In my area the City of Baltimore was forced to shut down their camera enforcement program for several years due to the fall out due to a speed camera(and the people that are supposed to over see the program) giving a speeding ticket to a mazda that was clearly shown in the ticket pictures to be not only not speeding but stopped for a red light the whole time.
Unfortunately, no. They replaced an entire sequence of cameras on the one road where the brave little 120Y was supposedly hitting nearly 100mph and changed the inspection/maintenance procedures. Later, they introduced a “Speed Camera Commissioner”, independent, blah blah yawn – a rubber stamp office. Far too much State revenue dependent on them, I’m afraid.
Yeah I hear you about some people having a natural speed. For my mother in law that is 40mph. Thankfully she avoids the freeway like a plague. But she regularly goes 40mph through our neighborhood and then complains about our cranky neighbors who give her dirty looks and make motions for her to slow down when they are out walking, riding bikes ect. Then she gets out on the local road with a 50mph limit and quickly gets a big back log of cars that want to go faster than 40.
What bugs me is people who don’t slow down going through little country towns. I used to live in a hamlet with an 80km/h limit, and it was awful trying to turn out of my street with traffic whizzing around the corner and down the hill at 100 plus.
And in complete contradiction of my post above, I was one of those whizzing people till the camera regime arrived about 15 years ago, perhaps not continuing at 100km/h, but probably 90 or more. Like everyone, I just did not pay detailed attention to limits, and I WAS a danger to hamlet-dwelling Old Pete. So the regime is partly, perhaps wholly justified; Victoria has a low crash rate. It just needs more flexibility. (And let’s face it, it does make a lot of driving a bit dull!)
I don’t think there are enough stickers on that ’67 Cutlass. NEED MORE STICKERS!! 😀
Appearance-wise, I think they are average-looking. I wish they were a little more attractive to my eye but I don’t find the Olds to be ugly, either.
Average-looking is a good descriptor. I think the issue might be that the larger, full-size Oldsmobiles the F-85/Cutlass was aping weren’t ‘all-that’ to begin with. It’s sort of like the good-looking intermediate Pontiacs of the same years that copied the look of the very nice larger Pontiacs.
I find the Cutlass to be quite attractive. Something a little interesting was offered on 1967 Cutlass two-doors called the Turnpike Cruiser package. It had a detuned 2-bbl 4-4-2 400 engine with 300 hp, Turbo-Hydramatic, heavy duty suspension, and a extra-low-numerical, long-legged rear axle. This seems to be a one year only option for the Cutlass. Oh, you could also order this dandy gauge package.
Me too.
Its a very masculine design in Supreme 442 form.
Great article about the Turnpike Cruiser:
http://www.oldsmobility.com/old/carlife_apr67.htm
Turns out Olds was way ahead of the curve on this – look at all the new cars today with engines tuned for high torque down low so they can loaf along efficiently. Of course modern technology has given them turbocharged tiny engines, 120 cid engines that make the power of the TC’s 400 cid engine.
If you’re going to link, how about searching from our archives first? We covered the Turnpike Cruiser here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/almost-forgotten-the-20-mpg-400-cubic-inch-1967-olds-cutlass-turnpike-cruiser/
Which I even linked at the end… (c:
I have a Turnpike Cruiser, and it has this gauge package! It was called the “Rocket Rally Pack”
did you keep the stock carb and air cleaner set up?
I agree with those who say the Chevelle is the weak 67 GM intermediate. The Olds actually carries it’s design cues through 66 to 68 models while the only car that doesn’t is the Chevy.
My problem with interstate speed limits is that they often seem to drop anywhere from 5 to 15 mph for no discernable reason.
As far as in town speed limits go, I live on a not all that wide residential street. The local authorities have finally lowered the speed limit from 30 to 15 mph around my street…but not my street. And my street is a sort of short cut in this area between 2 business areas.
Luckily, I haven’t seen any lately, but there used to be a few cars every few months that “impaired” drivers had driven into late at night.
I’ve been thinking about it, and I reckon the Chevelle’s front end is a bit too short for the rest of the body. Needs a couple of inches more wheelbase.
He should have slowed down, but out of interest were you driving when you took the photo and what are your local road rules about operating devices while driving?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this as well. To be curt, I cannot believe how self unaware this post is. To state “It never ceases to amaze me how folks don’t really pay attention” regarding aspects of driving while said author is snapping photos away behind the wheel is absurd. Yes, where he is, it’s not lawful to be using a phone if the connection is not wireless. If it was an actual camera used, my disapproval, while not illegal, is increased twofold. Let’s call the spade a spade here, thank you…
I actually bothered to look up our laws on this, and could find nothing that prohibits taking a photo while driving, with exception of within 500′ of an emergency scene (accident, etc.). Can’t use wireless devices while driving, of course (my vehicles all have hands-free). There’s some ambiguity as to whether a smartphone being used strictly in camera mode is allowed or not, but a point-n-shoot doesn’t appear to be prohibited.
I think that Oldslowmobile looks just fine .
It’s Conservative in design as is/was right and proper for it’s market segment .
-Nate
Not knowing my US models nearly well enough, I too think it a fine-looking piece, certainly an Olds for sure.
“Oldslowmobile”. You’re at it again. I do like it. Free for use, or have you licensed it through JP Cavanaugh Law already?
Take it away Justy .
-Nate
Between my Waze app and my radar detector, I have traveled ticket free for a few years now despite those revenue generating speed limit changes. Waze lets you know where the photo radar and red light cameras are and people post reports of where the police are hiding or are visible. You’ll see a string of police icons on the app when there is a speed trap. It warns you when you are within a half mile of any icon, even road hazards. It’s indispensable on the Interstate. And my detector screens out the collision avoidance junk on newer cars that sends out K band. That crap used to set off my old detector so much I ignored it. You have to wonder if being around a microwave generating device like that will eventually give you cancer, right? And there’s two of those in the cars so equipped.
They’ve saved my (ahem) bacon quite a few times!
Interesting that this car has the blacked out upper taillight/trunk lid trim of the 442, with a regular Cutlass front clip.
While I agree that the styling on the Cutlass for ’67 is the most awkward of all the A Body cousins, it’s amazing what lowering the car a bit and pushing the wheels out toward the edge of the body can do for it
I bet they are trying to slow down, but the drum brakes will not let them. /humor.
My 65 Cutlass had drums all around and were good for one slow down from 70mph after that they faded quickly so you might be right LOL
front discs were optional in 1967