The “Calais” name had ultimately been used by General Motors on three different occasions, spanning from the mid-1960s through the early ’90s. It began life affixed to an entry-level Cadillac and ended up on a compact, front-wheel-drive Oldsmobile. In between those two extremes, “Calais” had been attached to what ended up being, by 1980, the most expensive (base price) model of the wildly popular A-Body notchback Cutlass coupe. For 1980, the Calais cost $25 more in base form than even the luxurious Supreme Brougham coupe.
Norma Jean Wright had been one of the original vocalists with the the hugely successful and influential band Chic, singing on both their eponymous, ’77 debut album and their “C’Est Chic” LP the following year. Their song “Le Freak”, which hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for six non-consecutive weeks from late 1978 through early-’79, remains the biggest-selling single for Atlantic Records over forty years after its release, with sales of over 7 million.
Ms. Wright went solo in ’78, eventually enjoying two Top-20 singles on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart: “Saturday” from 1978, and the song after which I’ve titled this piece, “High Society”, from 1980. The timeline of Chic’s initial, multi-format popularity concurred with the successful run of the downsized, A-Body Cutlasses, as the band charted eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (four of which made the Top-10, two of which were Number Ones) from late-’77 through the end of 1980.
When listening to the lyrics of “High Society”, they seem to mirror the ascent of the Cutlass to the top of the sales heap, from its somewhat humble beginnings in its F-85 forbear through the pinnacle of its popularity in the mid-/late-1970s. “You weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth.” The original, compact F-85 which was introduced for 1961 (from which the Cutlass would morph) got off to an inauspicious sales start, with about 76,400 sold for the the model year (against about 282,000 Chevrolet Corvairs, admittedly most of which were Monzas; 100,800 Pontiac Tempests; and 86,900 Buick Specials). By the time the formal-roofed Cutlass Supreme notchback was introduced for 1970, the Cutlass line was well on its way to becoming one of America’s favorite car lines, with 244,700 sold that year (not including 11,100 F-85s, 19,300 4-4-2s, or 34,000 long-wheelbase Vista Cruiser wagons).
“I’ve watched you climb every rung of that social ladder.” By the time the “Colonnade” models were introduced for model year ’73, sales had continued their meteoric rise, with 381,100 sold that year (plus another 24,400 Vista Cruisers). At the end of that generation for ’77, Olds Division had smashed through the One Million mark in annual sales (with roughly 1,136,000 sold), with the non-Brougham Supreme coupe alone accounting for 243,000 sales (over one-fifth of total divisional output). “Now you’re a big celebrity, VIP…”
Part of the beauty of the Cutlass line in the ’70s was that it could be tailored to many tastes and configurations – from the base model “S” for those who just wanted a Cutlass, to the high-performance “Hurst/Olds”, the increasingly tame 442, the luxurious Supreme, the even flossier Supreme Brougham, and the “Euro”-flavored Salon. “And you have taught me how to be anything that I truly, truly want to be.” Since the “Salon” name had then become attached to the base-model Cutlass for ’78, the ’78 Calais could be considered the spiritual successor to the prior year’s Salon. The ’78 Calais offered some sporty accoutrements, like bucket seats with a center console, a sports steering wheel, and a few other minor mods to its suspension and trim, including a split, chrome eggcrate grille instead of the traditional “waterfall” featured on the other notchback coupes.
“I’d like to go from poor to rich… make a switch… I’ve changed for the better.” Though Cutlass sales dipped by 14% in 1980 from the prior year in the face of the economic recession, the Cutlass line was still riding high as one of America’s favorite cars, with 485,000 Cutlasses sold that year out of about 910,300 Oldsmobiles (third among U.S. makes that year). Clearly by this point, the Cutlass had arrived – having started inconspicuously enough as a low-volume compact, and ending up a huge “celebrity” within Olds showrooms and dealers’ lots by the end of the 1970s. Our featured car is one of 26,300 Calais coupes produced for the model year.
Coincidentally, neither Chic nor Norma Jean Wright would again enjoy the same level of commercial success with their music as during their heyday in the late ’70s. However, Ms. Wright would continue to work, both writing material recorded by other artists and also singing backup for Aretha Franklin, Madonna, C+C Music Factory, and others. Nile Rodgers, the legendary guitarist, producer and co-founding member of Chic, has never stopped working, being involved in many high-profile projects, the most recent and memorable of which was a turn in Daft Punk’s 2013 album “Random Access Memories” and the worldwide smash hit single “Get Lucky”. Just as these artists have continued to make their respective marks on the music world, the A- (and G-) Body Oldsmobile Cutlass remains beloved by many, “Living in high society” in the garages and hearts of many.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday, April 6 & 7, 2013.
This is classic Joe Dennis right here. One of your best articles yet!
I don’t like the ’80 front but I love the Calais.
Night and day, stompin’ at the Savoy… Now Le Freak is stuck in my head!
“Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” , “I Want Your Love”, and “Good Times” is stuck in my head. No other group takes me back to 1977 to 1979 like Chic.
Thanks… now “Good Times” AND “Rapper’s Delight” are stuck in my head! ;o)
Record collecting trivia – how to tell if an original Sugar Hill Records 12″ single of “Rapper’s Delight” is an early or later pressing:
On early pressings, the songwriters are identified as “S. Robinson – H. Jackson – M. Wright – G. O’Brien”, and the music publisher is shown as “Sugarhill Music Inc.”
On later pressings, the songwriters are identified as “Bernard Edwards – Nile Rodgers”, and the music publisher is shown as “Chic Music Inc.”
You can probably figure out what happened in between that prompted these changes…
(Of the songwriters on the original pressings, “S. Robinson” is Sylvia Robinson, the head of Sugar Hill Records, the mastermind behind this record, and a woman who had a very long and interesting career in the music business as both a performer and a record label owner, while the other three are the members of the Sugarhill Gang: Henry “Big Bank Hank” Jackson, Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, and Guy “Master Gee” O’Brien.)
Thanks, Will! I do like and prefer the waterfall grille on the other Cutlasses, and don’t think the eggcrate pattern here necessarily says “sportier”.
Great article and beautiful pictures as always!
Interesting post, and great pics, Mr. Dennis. My parents owned a ‘78 or ‘79 Cutlass… a 305 V8, IIRC. A creamy light tan color with the pillow-top (or whatever they called it) fabric interior.
Also enjoyed all of Nile Rodgers work, especially his collaborations with David Bowie. And yes, Le Freak will now be playing in my head, as it replaces Split Enz “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”, and “Dirty Creature” which have dominated my cranium all weekend.
Thanks, Brad. I’d say that even if Chic’s own records weren’t selling in the ’80s, Nile Rodgers’s output has been consistently great. I’ve been pleased to find out that as a producer, he’s been behind some of my favorite ’80s jams.
And we can even see the seeds of the Cutlass’ downfall in that the “sporty” Calais could be optioned with a landau top like this one has. Surely that should’ve been reserved for the Supreme Brougham and maybe the “regular” Supreme?
FWIW, the “sporty” Cutlass was the 442, not available with landau top. And so what about the Calais? It wasn’t as if suddenly, on New Years day 1980, people started watching MTV [not around til Aug ’81], and demanding black out trimmed cars.
’80 was pretty much a continuation of the late 70’s ‘album/arena rock’ era. Just as 1970 was part of the “hippie late 60’s” and 1960 was still “Grease” time.
Joseph, I love how you so often associate cars with great music,
“High Society” is a great, underrated song and I remember it well but for me, The Cars were so prevalent in my town when these cars were hot so this is one of my go-to Cutlass songs:
The Cars are great! “Panorama” (the entire album) reminds me of my ’88 Mustang, as I used to play it all the time back when I was a college sophomore. One of my two roommates during freshman year used to play “Heartbeat City” with maybe three other CD’s all the time and shockingly, I never grew to hate that album.
Drive: great car song! Though I imagine it was about more than a simple drive.
Its funny how familiarity affects your tastes. To me, the four headlight grill looks normal on a four door, but completely wrong on a coupe.
On the other hand, I love the color, and that condition is amazing for a 30 year old car in Chicago.
I, on the other hand, see the quad headlights as the first improvement to the 78 model which I always found just a little off. When they went to the more aero front and narrow vertical taillights the model reached its peak. The early models always looked smaller than the later ones did, which of course they were not.
Yes. I’ve always pondered how the 78-80’s appeared smaller than those with the aero extensions. The initial cars were just too stubby with that heavy bumper, and the later ones had much more grace in their lines, with the incorporation of smoother lines and a little Endura detailing – front and back, similar to the differences between a mid seventies colonnade Chevelle/LeMans and a Laguna/Grand Am. The later details in the front end and tail completed the car.
JP, I actually prefer the 1978 – ’80 Cutlass coupe over the ’81+ restyle. There are so many things I like about these – the taillamp clusters, that kickup on the rear quarter panel… For me, something got lost in the restyle, though I do like the shovel-nose look up front.
About the quad versus dual headlights, it’s a push for me. I think the quads make these look more sophisticated, but also a bit busier. I like both looks.
I love CC Jukebox and you make an excellent association here. The big trade magazine in the jukebox industry was Cashbox, and boy did Oldsmobile fill cashboxes with these Cutlasses. The complete opposite of the “one hit wonder” that was so common in pop music.
I had never looked up production figures on the 1961 F-85 and had no idea it was the least popular of all the Y bodies. That may have been the least popular model either of my parents ever bought. No wonder I saw so few others when we had ours.
By 1980, I saw cars like this one as a disco throwback that no longer fit the lean-and-mean lifestyle of the era. Out of control inflation, America held hostage to Iran, a malaise US president, things weren’t working. Cars need to be efficient boxes with FWD, 4 cylinder engines and manual transmission. The Japanese were dominating the affordable car market and disco was dead.
And so was what this car represented. Although GM downsized, as did the other American manufacturers, they still thought the market wanted smaller broughams. Detroit stylists just didn’t catch on to the new aesthetics. If you wanted to replace your Cutlass Supreme from 1974, why would you want the same thing, but less of it?
Perhaps you were still listening to disco in 1980, but I was listening to punk, so cars like this one represented everything that was wrong with the world in 1980. My spiked green hair, pierced ear, and Doc Martens weren’t interested in this throwback pimping itself out to yuppies.
Perspective is a funny thing. I, on the other hand, identified with some older buyers and was a hopeless Mopar fanboi. These were the unattainable – the basic specs of what Chrysler was turning out in the form of LeBarons and Cordobas yet buyers flocked to the Cutlass (to the extent anyone flocked to anything with rwd in 1980) while completely ignoring the freshly restyled cars in Dodge and ChryPly showrooms.
Yes, they were very “last-decade” but they completely owned the demographic to whom that sort of car still appealed.
Perhaps this success was a good part of GM’s eventual downfall. When buyers ignored Chrysler’s freshly restyled rwd stuff, the company doubled down on the L and K platforms and came up with “the Cutlass of the 80s” in the minivan. GM did not get kicked in the teeth by buyers and therefore saw little reason to change course.
FWIW, the RWD Cutlass line was still a big seller until 1986, quite a few years past 1980. Turned out that buyers did want “the same thing, but less of it.” And A/G bodies are now more collectable and desired than the whale-ish Colonnades.
I have no recollection of this particular Cutlass front end – they seemed to have two or three different Cutlass grilles every year during this era. I had to look online to remind myself what Cutlass Calais grilles looked like each year – the eggcrate non-waterfall grille didn’t appear until ’79; the ’78 did have a vertical-bar waterfall grille but a different design than the Supreme. I wonder why they even bothered with the Calais though – a Supreme with bucket seats was almost the same thing.
There are few record producers whose work I can instantly pick out as easily as Nile Rodgers – “Get Lucky” sounds exactly like a Chic song, only with Pharrell singing. I so love the work he did for Madonna, David Bowie, and the B-52’s, also all huge hits. The real oddball in his production/songwriting discography is an album by Johnny Mathis that was recorded in 1980 but went unreleased until last year. I have no idea how those two crossed paths, but I’m glad they did…
I am total agreement with all of this. When I was researching what differentiated a Calais from a Supreme or CSB, I was a bit surprised just by how little it was.
And I love that “Get Lucky” does, indeed, sound just like a Chic song brought into this decade. Only a few bars in, there is no mistaking who is playing that guitar. I put that song on a mix-CD that summer (2013) that included a bunch of ’70s-era dance floor gems, and it blended in seamlessly.
I’m so glad you do what you do here, Joseph, because I’m 99% clueless about popular culture and music from about 1975 on. Especially after we got married and started having kids.
So thanks for enlightening me on what I missed; for better or for worse. 🙂
Haha!! Paul, thanks for letting me. Admit it, not all of the songs I’ve posted about are terrible. 🙂
Same here. When kids started coming in ’77 the lifestyle change was rapid and drastic: no more funny ciggies, no more hanging about in dance clubs in Bowie wannabe attire. The music and cars followed suit, reflecting the change and rapidly segue-ing from Iggy Pop to Sinatra and Coltrane, and small-ish Euro cars to big Chryslers and Olds (for safety, or at least what we thought was safety, at the time). Kids: fast track to adulthood.
Love the idea of relating of musical themes to the evolution of a car, Joseph, just brilliant!
Roger A.
Roger, thank you so much. Unlike many CC readers and contributors, I’ve never wrenched on a car before and have limited technical knowledge apart from what I can research. When coming up with a premise for an essay for CC, I try to write about what I actually do know about and tie it all in with some aspect(s) of a car. It’s fun to do. 🙂
Even though my musical taste is pre MTV rock `n roll, I never even knew this particular Olds Calais even existed.
Great post! Love the car and the music references. This is an especially fine Calais, both for its top-notch condition and the fact that it’s equipped with the optional moonroof. That was the single most expensive option on the list for the Cutlass–I’ll have to check the exact 1980 price, but I think it was ~$1,000 ($3,235 adjusted).
I have fond memories of a 1980 Calais that belonged to the father of a girl I dated for a while in high school. It was triple black with the 5.0 V8, with the t-tops and cast aluminum wheels, as well as essentially every comfort and convenience option on offer. The Calais was a stylish and comfortable car, a particularly nice Cutlass at a time when any Cutlass (except the Aerobacks) was considered to be a “nice” car.
It has been decades since I’ve driven a Cutlass, but I did drive this ’80 Calais back-in-the-day. Memory is fuzzy, but nothing about it really stood out–it was pleasant and benign–quick enough, predictable handling–sort of like what a Toyota Avalon or Camry delivers today. My mother had an ’83 Cutlass Supreme 4-door sedan, also with the 5.0 V8 (but no handling package like the set-up that was standard on the Calais), and I can’t recall that they really drove all that differently. They were just the proverbial “upscale” American cars, stylish, semi-luxurious, competent and reliable, the Calais being quite a bit more rare and ever-so-slightly slightly “sporty.”
(I’ll try this comment again, as the last one got “eaten”. LOL)
GN, thank you so much. I share your impression of these having had an upscale, “winner” image. It’s a shame how Olds squandered the equity of the Cutlass model name by putting it on so many cars. The final “Cutlibu”, while not a bad looking car, had none of the effortless panache of these Cutlass personal luxury coupes.
And $3,000 for a power moonroof sounds crazy! Wow.
I did a quick and dirty edit of this Cutty at work, don’t have time to pretty it up. I was never crazy about the large amount of metal ahead of the front wheel(s), which was an annoying trend that started in the mid to late 70’s. I’ve long wanted to see what it would have looked like with a wheelbase stretch.
Now I know.
That metallic sky blue was to the Olds Cutlass (for many years) as orange is to the current/recent Subaru XV Crosstrek: easy to assume that’s the only colour.
It wasn’t, of course, but it sure seemed like some giant percentage of Cutlasses, roughly ’73-’83, were that colour.
Here’s one that wasn’t, and with export lights:
I’m so glad our U.S. models didn’t get the amber turn signals, but now that I think about it, I am surprised the “Euro” themed Cutlasses over the years never got them. I suppose the wiring / harness / whatever was completely different with the amber blinkers than with the all-red units used here in the States.
I also liked that the ’78 units had the little Oldsmobile “rocket” logos on them.
I prefer cars (especially mine) as uncrunched as possible, and amber turn signals do a significantly better job than red ones of keeping cars out of crashes, so I prefer amber turn signals. Yes, the wiring harness needs to be different.
Here, lemme scare ya with another pic:
Are those little round reflectors stock?
There’s no retroreflector built into the export taillamps, hence the ones on the bumper. They’re the size and shape they are because in the ’70s that was a requirement in Japan. Somewhere on a hard drive not readily accessible at the moment I have pics of other cars with ’em, including a Mercedes W116.
“Until 1984, the deluxe Cutlass Supreme model was known as the Cutlass Calais. When the Calais nameplate moved to its own [N body] platform in 1985, the top Supreme was renamed to Cutlass Salon.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Cutlass
So, the Cutlass Salon name did make a small comeback, after the Aeroback bodies flopped in sales.
Redemption for “Salon”! I like that.
The neat thing about this piece is how there is a parallel between Cutlass and the neighborhood it was photographed in. Just as the Cutlass took off and diversified with a multitude of models by the end of the 1970’s, Edgewater in Chicago began to experience a rebirth of sorts, with high rise expansion and many various groups locating into the formerly predominant Swedish population. Pride from the residents drove Chicago to recognize and designate Edgewater it’s own separate community from Uptown in 1980, the same year the Cutlass was a best seller, and Census data revealed newly reformed Edgewater to now be the most densely populated neighborhood in Chicago. Unlike the Cutlass, however, Edgewater did not fade into irrelevance and to this day is still a thriving community. Great article, Joseph.
Cjiguy, thank you so much for this. Maybe my evening reading will include some Edgewater history! I really need to buy a book.
> Since the “Salon” name had then become attached to the base-model Cutlass for ’78
I’m not sure that’s accurate. Wasn’t Salon the name for the aeroback sedan version of the downsized Cutlass? Maybe that was the base sedan model, because there were also Salon Broughams.
The ’78-’79 Salons were indeed the base model; the Cutlass Salon Broughams were actually the fastback counterparts to the Cutlass Supreme notchback coupe, not the Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe which had a plusher interior with button-tufted loose-cushion seats that every proper Brougham should have 🙂
When the aeroback sedan was axed in 1980 in favor of the new notchback sedans, you could finally get a proper Brougham interior in a four-door Cutlass, although it was simply called “Cutlass Brougham” that year. It had to wait until 1981 to become the Cutlass Supreme Brougham. Confusing, yes.
When I was kid in the early 90’s, one of our neighbors had one of these in this color, but it was one of the later model facelifted ones. It exploded in the wee hours of the morning. I never knew what the cause of the explosion was as I was only 8 or 9 years old at the time, but I clearly remember the explosion and watching the firefighters put out the fire.
That’s terrifying. I saw a mid-’70s Ford Country Squire spontaneously catch on fire in a mall parking lot, once, but have never witnessed a car exploding!
Well I didn’t witness the actual explosion but I do remember hearing it of course; it woke everyone up out of there sleep. But I did witness the car burning up though. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like that other than on television so of course it was awesome to my 8 year old self.
Many apologies Joseph for not commenting sooner today. I usually spot when you post a new article in the morning, but it was a very busy day for me.
Great stuff as usual! And an excellent analogy. Your wealth of pop culture knowledge is what fuels these fascinating comparisons. I agree wholehearted with your thoughts here. The Norma Jean Wright story always reminded me of Bonnie Pointer. Bonnie Pointer left her sisters and the security of being in a family group, going solo in the late 70s. Sadly, she had her one and only Top 40 hit in 1979 with “Heaven Must Have Sent You” which reached #11. And #8 on the Disco chart. Of course her sisters Anita, Ruth and June in the The Pointer Sisters broke out with ‘Fire’ in 1979. And they never looked back.
A small correction! Bonnie did have one other top 40 hit. Her follow up to “Heaven Must Have Sent You” was a remake of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”. Which just touched the ‘Forty’ at #40.
Beautiful photos BTW!
Daniel, thank you – and also for these great links! The Con Funk Shun song is one I’m not familiar with, but it’s (also) great. Yes – Post-Disco has become one of my favorite musical genres, lately. Memories of watching “Soul Train” on Saturday mornings as a young kid in the early ’80s…
I do feel for Bonnie Pointer, and also Kathy Sledge. I feel like Norma Jean Wright should have been much bigger than she was. Also off her one and only album, “I Like Love” is as good as anything Chic was putting out.
Thankfully, there was no acrimony between Ms. Wright and Chic, as Rodgers (obviously) produced her “Norma Jean” album. It’s great to see that she, and the other two original Chic vocalists, Alfa Anderson and Luci Martin, occasionally tour together. 🙂
Slightly off topic from cars, but I want to credit you Joseph for reintroducing my interest in post 1979-1980 disco inspired artists. When many groups were still exploring the genre, and put out some outstanding music. One group that especially impressed me, and definitely ‘Chic’ inspired, “Unlimited Touch’. ‘I Hear Music In The Streets’ from 1981, being one of their best.
I was also a big funk fan, and your topics had me searching for old favourites. And like disco, I liked how the genre matured, post 1979. I was a big Con Funk Shun fan, and enjoyed their sophisticated Earth, Wind and Fire like sound.
This is just fantastic.
I didn’t realize until now this was a separate model from the Cutlass Supreme. They looked ao similar IMO… at least to 8 year old me. I always associated the Calais with the N body.
In 1979-81 I was driving a Ford Fiesta and listening to punk, new wave and some good ‘60’s and ‘70’s rock that would now be considered “classic”. Sure, there were lots of Cutlasses on the road, just like there was Chic on the radio, but not really my thing. I did like “No Parking on the Dance Floor” by Midnight Star a few years later, but I think the Cutlass nameplate was already going FWD by then.
Right across the street from Metropolis Coffee. I wanna latte.
Postscript to my reply comment above, I’ve been introduced here to music never experienced at the time… amazing what 10 years of 2 AM kiddie feedings and diaper sessions will do to a music education. Re-entry to that world came around 1992 only as a product of co-experiencing the music of a next generation, and if not for that, Nirvana and Snoop might have remained terra incognita. Thanks for an opportunity to really experience post-disco music (as a proto-punk I tuned disco out completely!) for the 1st time! Good stuff!
Weren’t those once marketed as “opera windows” in the back? Sounds classy, but it was cramped back there.
I’m glad Joe shared this on his Facebook feed, because for whatever reason these Best of 2019 posts are not showing up in my RSS feed/feed reader. I wonder why that is; other rerun posts do show up in my feed reader.
Other re-run posts do show up? I thought I remember hearing that they didn’t. Hmm.
Hey all… 1st off, wishing a Happy & healthy New Year to everyone. now, AFA this post goes, i don’t know how i missed it the first time up, but i just caught the Dealer tag on the deck lid and i know you guys all love details, stories and… detailed stories 😁 anyhow, RN, I’m literally in the middle of moving and working alot of overtime, but i promise to try my best to come back by the end of this weekend to write about all things related that surfaced upon seeing this Olds and the dealer tag that i’m certain many would enjoy reading here… most especially GN, JD and any Chicago-land peeps 🙂 so… stay tuned. and, once again… all the best to you & your’s in the new year (and decade ahead 🙂 Mark~
This post makes me anxious to pull out my 1987 Cutlass coupe. About 8 years ago I purchased my friends 1979 yellow Calais with white bucket seats and door panel trim and camel colored steering wheel and dash. It was a clean southern car with zero rust with just a hair over 100K miles and with a nice smooth running 260 V8. I did the usual tricks with slightly larger jets and a bit more base and advance timing and she ran a lot better and would easily keep up with traffic.
One thing to point out about these Calais cars was that they actually offered 2 suspension packages and 2 tire size choices. Base models came with front and rear sway bars but the std springs computer selected for the engine that was under hood. V6 cars got the softest ones and diesels got the firmest cargo coil setups. Tire size was P195/75R14. One could then move up to the FE2 firm ride and handling package which firmed up the springs and bushings and the steering ratio was altered. Moving up to the optional P205/70R14 tires completed the handling upgrade and this was the way to get a great handling A/G body.