Oldsmobile gave the Cutlass a redesign for its fourth generation, which began with the 1973 model and ran through ’77, and it utilized the General Motors A-Body known as the Colonnade platform. By 1974, the Cutlass was only two years away from becoming the best-selling American-made car, a title it achieved in ’76 and held for several model years into the eighties. Olds offered the 455 engine as an option on the fourth-generation Cutlass up until 1976, and it was the largest engine you could get in the ’73 through ’76 offerings. If you like the nostalgic look of the Colonnade body style and fancy the idea of a big block, this 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme may be worth taking a look at. The car is located in Peterson, New Jersey, and can be found here on eBay with the bidding currently resting at $9,301.
Upon first glance, something about this car’s outside appearance looked a bit odd to me, and one of the things I noticed is the paint. Granted, I’ve seen far worse patinas, but in some of the close-up photos it looks like the paint job may not be of the highest quality, or perhaps the body wasn’t fully prepped in detail before it was sprayed. The seller says that there is no Bondo that he can see, and the 29 on the car’s body tag indicates Eclipse Blue, so the color appears to be correct. The other thing is that several exterior trim pieces seem to be missing, such as the molding around the glass and the decorative pieces under the Cutlass Supreme side logos, where the holes are still present in the body where they were removed.
The good news is that just about everything else is good news! The seller says the bottom of the car looks solid, plus it has been coated, and from what we can see things down below appear to be solid and well-preserved. The floor is said to look like it’s in great shape, as is the trunk pan, and there’s a new pair of Thrush mufflers underneath. The seller mentions that the Cutlass sounds really good going down the road, and compares the exhaust noise to a tiger growl.
The interior is said to be in good shape with no tears on the seats, but there is one small tear in the headliner although it’s nothing major. Unfortunately, we don’t get a photo of the dashboard, and nothing is specifically stated about its condition. The car has a steering column shifter, but the seller throws out the idea that it would be easy to change it to a floor shifter, which would definitely add some pizazz to go between those bucket seats.
Under the hood, the seller thinks the 455 is original, and the Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission is believed to be original as well. The engine is said to run well and have plenty of get-up-and-go, with the transmission providing smooth shifting, but no word on whether or not either has ever had a rebuild. What are your thoughts on this 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme?
Car was originally Wedgewood Blue with a blue vinyl top. Is this what Wedgewood Blue looked like? Does not look natural to me
Not sure the seats are original… I thought these had the swivel buckets and it is odd to see buckets with a column shift and no console. They closely resemble the ones GM used in Firebirds of that vintage. This thing really has a cobbled-together vibe to it, not sure who would be willing to pay over $9k for it.
I agree, something is off about this car. I had a 74 with a 350 and its engine block was painted gold from the factory. There is something not right about the bucket seat, column shift and lack of a center console. It would appear to be a pieced together example.
Do your research, Oldsmobile 455’s were BLUE, Oldsmobile 350’s were GOLD.
Swivel Bucket seat were only available on the Cutlass S
Back in 1973 a buddy and I took driver’s ed.in a Cutlass! Lots of fun! The seats appear original,but although that color blue was popular,it looks like an Earl Schieb paint job!
Paterson, NJ – At one time a safe city that was home to Wright Aeronautical Corp. and a thriving silk industry. Sadly, vests made of tightly woven Kevlar fibers may now be a more appropriate thing to wear there. Other than that, I like the car. You don’t see this year very often in this condition.
Cool colonnade
I agree, this is an odd example. I had a 74 with a 350 and the engine was painted gold from the factory. The lack of a center console with buckets seats seems to be suspect. I would venture to say this is a pieced together example.
Too many seller thinks about this one for me.
Knew a guy who bracket raced one of these 25+ years ago. Stock 455 bottom end, ported/enlarged heads, Intake, Headers…etc and could easily tank the front wheels up. Torque was impressive on these Olds big blocks. But they are homely looking as can be. His was dark blue with vinyl top..
I don’t know about the paint or the interior, but to me this car has the look! It is probably nothing special, but with a little thinking outside the box it can be turned into a beast that everyone would envy. I think people are missing out on the market potential that cars like this have to offer. Just remember folks, this is a two door, not a four or more.
Many bad photos to sell a car, sellers feedback (1).
HOWIE is right there upside down pictures
right there upside down pictures
The front seats are definitely not original to the car. They look to be from a Firebird from later in the 70s. This one, being a Supreme, probably had the bench seat with the pull down center armrest. And yes, in 74 the engine blocks were a gold color. I have a 74 Supreme coupe, an all original survivor with 33 thousand miles, and back in the 80s I had another 74, a 2 door Salon in triple black. That one had the reclining bucket seats with the beautiful center console that Oldsmobile used from 73 to 77. Sure, my Supreme would look great with the Salon buckets, assuming I could find them anymore, but the existing bench seat is in such great condition I couldn’t bear to pull it out and spoil the originality…
Si the color is not original, and the interior is not original. So I guess the big question I would ask would be whether the 455 is original. He doesn’t give a VIN number to verify this. And very few of these had the 455. Most had 350s.
I think this is important because the bid is nearing $10,000, which even 2 years ago would have bought you and absolute mint low mileage original colonnade with a big block.
This looks anything but that But if it was an original big block, at least I guess you could kind of justify the high relative price.
Do your research, 455’s were BLUE, 350’s were GOLD.
The 350 was painted gold but the 455 was painted red in 1968-1969 then changed to blue in 1970 mid production year.
350 was gold but this is 455 in its correct color.
This, my friends, is what an inner-city car looks like that was painted at some inner-city body shop that specializes in painting taxis. Maaco would be a step up from this level of body and paintwork. Caveat emptor. Sadly, this appears to be a real 455 car…anemic, but still a 455.
Looks like the passenger door panel appears to be separating…