Finding a classic car out in the open is always an exciting experience. However, as often the case, a classic car may look as out of place as a walker-supported grandma turning it up on the dance floor of a nightclub. Finding a ’66 T-Bird in the parking lot of an upscale shopping center that was clearly built within the last ten years is an example of this. Yet this quality wasn’t so much the case of this 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe, that I came upon last fall.
Sure, all the other vehicles around it are from after the year 2000. But take them away, and this scene on Federal Street in Boston looks about the same as it would’ve if someone had parked this Cutlass here in 1975. The building in the top right corner of the first image is Boston’s historic South Station. Across the street in this photo are three businesses, a bank, a dentist, and a photography shop, all of which could’ve existed four decades ago. That art deco-styled building across the street is the United Shoe Machinery Building.
In fact, here it is in 1975. No Cutlass Supreme, but I do spot an AMC Gremlin.
Now as for the car itself, it is indeed a love-it-or-hate-it ’74 “Colonnade” Cutlass Supreme coupe. The Cutlass had never been a weak seller, but it was this generation that catapulted the nameplate to record sales stats. It was the right car at the right time, a time which in some ways hasn’t left us.
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That is awesome. I haven’t seen one that looked this good in 20 years. And I really like it in this gray.
It’s gorgeous… These pictures kind of made my day. I love how glossy the finish is, with the reflection of those buildings. Would like to know the backstory of this car and how it has survived into 2015 in such great condition. What’s clear from these pictures is how the styling and accessories of these cars originally projected a smart, upscale image when new. And these wheel covers were some of my favorites (among wheel covers).
Would like to know the backstory of this car and how it has survived into 2015 in such great condition.
No kidding! If it turned out this was a Framingham-built car that spent its entire life in New England I’d really be impressed.
Needless to say these and their downsized A/G replacements were ubiquitous when I was growing up. The neighbor behind us had a ’74 Cutlass Salon (which he traded for a ’78 Coupe DeVille), while the neighbors across the street had a ’77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham sedan.
The answer includes a recent repaint. Note that there’s a missing side marker light at the front. Lovely, though.
Those wheelcovers are one of my favorite designs also — they are extremely hard to find. Most ’73 and newer Cutlasses I’ve run across had the Super Stocks.
Kudos to the hard-core owner of this car who chose to keep the original wheel trim.
Beside the Gremlin looks to be a Duster….
That is a Dart sport.
Someone really lowered that thing in the front! I’m guessing someone has gone through it and given it a paint job; I wonder what happened to the front driver’s cornering light.
Maybe, but I’ve learned that various camera angles , especially these close-up but wide angle cell-phone shots, can create impressions like that. Unless one sees a proper profile shot, I wouldn’t make that assumption. Which is one of the reasons I always get a full profile shot, in this case that would have meant walking across the street.
FWIW, looking at the second shot, and seeing the distances from the top of the whitewall to the bottom of the wheel opening of both wheels, I don’t see it as being lowered in front. And it would be a bit odd that someone would do that to an otherwise so original car. But then I have seen stranger things.
I usually do try to get a shot from every angle including front and back center, even if I rarely use all angles. Some days when there’s a lot of people around I’m just not in the mood to take all the strangle glances and have to give a brief explanation. Plus given where and when I shot this I was most likely hurrying to catch my train.
Also, GM cars seemed to sag a bit more in front than in back as they aged.
Part of it is that this is riding on 14″ wheels. I believe 1974 was the last year and they went to 15″ for ’75. I had a ’74 Cutlass S, and the springs were not particularly robust – they tended to sit down lower over the course of time. I put air shocks on mine to get the back up a bit (as was the style at the time).
And in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ’em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you’d say.
They went back to 14″ with the downsizing. I do wish they’d just stayed at 15″!
More likely spring sag due to old age.
What a delightful transport back in time. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Cutlass of this vintage since the late ’80s.
One of those Cutlasses from this era is where I first encountered the sweet pungent smell of marijuana. A local Billy Bob had one lit and drove by as I was walking down the road. Upon seeing this car the aroma came right back.
Is it a ’74 or a ’75? You can’t seem to make up your mind about dates.
This is a ’74. The most attractive front end of the Colonnade Cutlasses, IMHO.
The wheel covers are definitely original to 1974, and the taillights and grille are also genuine 1974 as well. In 1975 Oldsmobile added a strip of metal with the Oldsmobile rocket in the center of the taillights. Oddly enough they continued to use them on the 4-door Supremes only for 1976. The coupes had a different back end/ taillight design from the sedans until the downsized ’78’s came out.
That is real clean. When I was a kid that era of Cutlass was everywhere. I always liked them. The mailman that lived across the street from us had a light blue one with a white vinyl top.
My dad had one of these, it was a 74 with bucket seats & gear shift in the floor. I loved it when he’d floor it and it pushed you back in the seat. This was during the cb era & the antenna would lean back. I hoped he was give it to me for high school but he traded it, claimed he didn’t know I wanted it, yeah right. My 1st car in high school was a 82 Nissan Stanza. It was ahead of its time.
I always liked that color combination on luxury cars. I did not remember the paint jobs being that good in 74.
Yes, not a very common colour for the Cutlass’ of that era. I wonder if it’s a repaint.
Nice car , nice pictures .
My GF’s Dad had one of these the first year they came out , an interesting yellow color I liked .
Boston , they have pot holes there the size if YUGOS so it might be beaten to death , not lowered .
-Nate
Someone really loves this Olds. I haven’t seen a Colonnade looking this good since the ’70s, and it’s just about the handsomest one I’ve ever laid eyes on. The color certainly makes the car.
Brendan,
Did you get to talk to the owner of the Cutlass?
I have extensive experience with the G-body generation (1978-87) that followed the Colonnades. My godfather bought his Cutlass Supreme brand-new in ’78 and kept it running for over 20 years until a death in the family prompted him to park it in the garage, where it’s been for about 13 years. Its 260 V-8 was a lackadaisical performer but very reliable and durable – in fact, I don’t think that motor has been rebuilt. What I remember most about it was its smooth, comfortable ride and those long heavy doors. I remember that Cutlass well because I rode in it every weekend.
Unfortunately I did not. I was heading back to South Station to catch the commuter rail, and happened to just come across this Cutlass on my normal walking route. I didn’t have time to stick around long enough to take any more than these three pictures either.
Maybe cars of this era are rare in Boston and other places where salt turns cars into piles of brown flakes; but here in California (and, I venture to guess, in Eugene OR) they are seen running around frequently. The vast majority are not in this kind of condition, but restorations are becoming more common as these reach their fourth decade.
Bulletproof, easy-to-fix mechanicals, and the legality of running them without their smog gear after a certain age, help a lot.
This car has received a lot of love! I would not doubt that the owner was waiting for a cornering light to turn up, or that he hadn’t reinstalled it yet after the repaint.
Wonderful color, really nice. Could you still get the 455 engine by 1974? I recall my Uncle having a 73 Omega with that engine and it literally growled in idle…
This car is a perfect illustration of why “personal coupes” ruled the 1970’s. It was/still is elegant & sporty looking all at the same time, but not too ostentatious.
Two people in the front bucket or fold down armrest bench seat and one person sprawled across the back seat enjoyed an “almost” luxury interior of high quality vinyl and lots of sound deadening.
Oldsmobile’s 350 “Rocket” V8 engine and 3 speed TurboHydramatic transmission gave more than adequate grunt with a smooth, torquey power flow and almost imperceptible part throttle down and upshifts. The Factory Air Conditioning in this car was about as good as it got in that time period.
True, it was not very space efficient, the paint and interior parts failed early, if one didn’t keep the fan clutch and cooling system up to grade it over-heated and burnt valves. It’s automatic transmission was known more for it’s smooth shifting than longevity.
But as a new or near new car the above issues were not a problem. This car reeked of middle class/upper middle class mobility and optimistic hope for the future.
Simply beautiful!
Here’s one:
And here’s a 455:
The flat fronts on these make them ’75s, don’t they?
I’d never noticed how the front flattened out between ’74 and ’75. Learn something every day…and a nice spotting detail!
I liked the ’76-’77 Supreme/Salon version a little better, after the coupes lost the fender ‘jowls’. ’76 was also the last year for the 455.
My step mom had a 74 Supreme for 8 years. Excellent car. That 4 bbl Olds 350 had much more grunt than the 2bbl Pontiac 350 in my Mom’s 74 Lux LeMans sedan.
I don’t believe this color to be original. These were ubiquitous around here, but don’t ever recall a dark gray one. I think Chrysler was the only one doing a dark gray in 73-74, because I loved that color, which was pretty rare then. That said, this car looks great in this color.
I found one site that lists colors offered by Oldsmobile in 1973 and 1974. The color known as “silver taupe” is the closest match. But it seems to be a shade lighter than the color of this car.
I didn’t take much thought to it, but the minor peeling on the front bumper and clip yet with no rust or other corrosion likely suggests repainting at some point. In any case it’s a pretty decent paint job that could fool me, especially with the red paint stripes. It’s comforting to know that this is somebody’s idea of “customization”, not wacky colors, deep-tint windows, extra chrome, and aftermarket rims.
I KNEW this place looked familiar, by the plates font…. Good ole MA. I live about an hour or so away from Boston.
My grandma had a 76 Olds Cutlass Supreme(blue w a black vinyl top)….that got rid of the vinyl top in favor of the smoother all metal roof when repainted in Metallic Sky Blue.
A great find! These cars don’t even turn much at car shows around here. And I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen a Cutlass Supreme of this generation in metallic gray.
Possibly a re-spray in a non-factory color?
On my monitor; the color looks like the shade Chrysler used on Concords and LHS models of the mid 1990’s?
Isn’t this a GM ‘Greatest Hit’? While the mid-seventies Cutlass doesn’t thrill me any (I liked the preceding and following years much better), it’s easy to see why GM sold a lot of them.
It really hit the brougham sweet-spot for those buyers with some sort of aspiration (yet modest means) and was perfect for its time, with this one being a particularly fine example. It’s too bad Oldsmobile decided to dilute the Cutlass name, spreading it over damn near every other product line to increase sales.
Cutlasses sold well during gas crisis, as big car buyers traded in for them. To some, these were ‘as small a car as I will get’.
I don’t recall seeing that dark gray on a Cutlass of that era but it certainly looks beautiful. My Mom’s 1979 Riviera was a similar gray. It definitely is a classy color for any vehicle, very understated elegance.
And here’s a later one.
1976-77
There is a lot of 1979-85 ElDorado in the 76-77 Cutlass Supreme Coupe, as this picture above reminds me.
I’ve always found it amazing how extensively the more rectangular front end and flat lower body sides of the later years changed the overall look of the car. I’m sure a there were some people who believed the ’76s to be “all new”.
I like these later ones with the waterfall grill and square headlights.
Very nice car and one I would love to own and drive, though the Pontiac Grand Prix has always been my favorite among this type of car.
At that time, I used to get Olds Cutlasses as company cars. I liked the looks of the ’73 and thought the big bumpers on the ’74 were no improvement, although this one looks very nice. I don’t know if my ’73 was unusual, but the driver’s side window on the coupe had problems staying properly aligned.
The ’74 of course was a major pain in the ass because it was the first year of seatbelt interlock, a safety feature that wasn’t properly thought out. The car wouldn’t start unless the belts were engaged. Two problems with that. First, I’m sure I’m not the only person who starts the car first and then buckles up. It lets the engine warm up for a minute and it gets either the heat or AC working that much sooner. Second, If I bought a half gallon of milk and put it on the passenger seat, I had to buckle the milk in too, or I couldn’t take the car home.
I changed every year, so I don’t know how reliable they were, but I do know I haven’t seen one in years and years, so I’m guessing they had their problems.
What a nice car this is. I’m happy to see it kept in original visual condition. I don’t think this Olds has been lowered. The Cutlass Supreme came standard with the 350 V8 with 4 barrel carburetor. It also rode on 14 inch rims. I owned a 1975 Buick Century Colonade Coupe which had a similar ride height from new. I do remember that it rode on G78 15 Generals. My first car with radial tires. My Buick had a 350 with 2 barrel and got 18mpg. I couldn’t help but check a source of Oldsmobile data. This car’s shipping weight was 3998 pounds. Quite a heavy car. Olds produced 172,360 Cutlass Supreme Coupes. Nearly 50,000 more than all other ’74 Cutlass models combined. I did the math because I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t see any reference to build locations specific to Cutlass models. My ’64 Dynamic 88 was purchased new by a couple in New Haven, Conn. It was built in Linden, N.J. It may be possible that this Cutlass also came from there. Sorry I cheated, guys, but I am a bit of an Olds fan.
Nice Cutlass Supreme although I prefer the 1976-77 front end’s and the taillights more, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who prefers the 1976-77 Cutlass Supreme/Salon’s and I still see a good number of these cars on the road today.
When I was in school every boy lusted after a Firebird or Trans-AM, every girl wanted a Cutlass! Demographics sure have changed, Kids in high school now would not notice a Pontiac and might not even REMEMBER any Oldsmobile! If they want a car at all it’s just gonna be a buzzy little “tuner” thing. Sigh………….
My uncle had a green 1974 just like this but with the spiffier Olds rally wheels and a white vinyl interior that he and his wife kept spotless. That car lasted them well into the late 80’s and it often took trips to Florida. The 350 4 BBL V8 was a super strong torque engine and lasted well over 200K with nary an issue other than the usual maintenance items. It seemed so much better of a car than most other Ford and Chryslers at the time which all seemed to suffer stalling and drivability issues, horrible rusting out of the fenders and bumpers and floors etc. Even in the 80’s there green Olds always seemed like it was in very nice shape and knowing my uncle they kept it washed on a regular basis.
I wouldn’t say no to a nice low mileage bucket seat, rally wheel example but it would have to be a 1976-77 model.
More than anything else , this comment worries me : ” If they want a car at all ” .
-Nate
That’s the new reality. Teenagers are waiting longer to get their licenses, or choosing to forgo driving entirely, in record numbers. Lots more get licensed but have no interest in owning a car, instead choosing options like zipcar. Especially in the larger cities and in more liberal-leaning areas, *not* owning a car is a point of pride.
Yet another factor in the ultimate commoditization of the automobile.
These cars were everywhere. They were disco Danny Terrio fever cars. Dancing hair stylists loved them with white interior and vinyl roof in matching white.
This has a serious carefully optioned frugally to personal tastes look about it.
Those taillights at a different angle wouldn’t be out of place on a Chrysler 300.
I thought they were OK back in the day. And I like them even better now. That sure is a fine example for its age.
My mom bought a 76 Cutlass S 4 door brand spanking new, and it still had the scalloped lower sides…did the coupes get the straight-line lower trim, but the sedans did not, or was that a difference between the Supreme and the “el-cheapo” S model? My mom’s car also had the steering wheel one would expect to see in the Omega, not the normal Cutlass wheel.