While not stated specifically, this 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass appears to be the very common Supreme variant, one of only 186K knocked out by GM’s mid-tier division in the Bicentennial year of 1976 – that’s a huge number! The seller states, “Car is NOT a concourse show car BUT is a great ” Driver ” Quality Old Car.” I’m down with that and it does look great! Calling Port Charlotte, Florida home, this one of the best sellers of all time is available, here on eBay for a BIN price of $12,995.
Cutlasses came in several trim levels in ’76, with the Supreme Brougham on top, followed by the Salon, then the standard Supreme, and finally, the curved-nose Cutlass S bringing up the markers. And yes, the venerable 442, based on the Cutlass S coupe, was still in the lineup. With a mileage recording of 31K miles, though not authenticated, this Olds appears to be in fabulous condition. The deep finish looks like code 37, “Mahogany” and it presents beautifully under the contrasting beige vinyl Landau top. Good to see is the soundness of the five MPH bumper fillers – they’re often in shards after the passage of 49 years. Rounding out the presentation are Oldsmobile rally wheels – always a welcome inclusion.
The 1970s marked a time when GM started consolidating engines, with things like “Chevymobiles” appearing—Oldsmobiles with Chevrolet engines. I believe the combining started somewhere around 1977, but that’s not the case here, as this Olds is sporting a “Rocket Power” 170 net HP Oldsmobile 350 CI V8 engine attached to a Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission. The seller adds, “Car Runs Excellent, Shifts Good, Brakes Good, Steers Good.”
Inside, we’re treated to a color matching, optional vinyl-covered, bucket seat interior, complete with a center console. The upholstery looks to be in fine nick and no obvious wear is noted. The listing states, “Interior is super clean and nice, has swivel seat…” with those swivelers being a popular Colonnade (’73-’77) feature across all four GM division’s A-body cars. It’s safe to say that the entire environment requires no attention.
Oldsmobile had the tiger by the tail 49 years ago and it is still hard for me to fathom their complete unraveling as they’ve been gone now for a long twenty-one years. One of the mantras of marketing is, “Give the people what they want” and Oldsmobile did a thorough job of that for many years. Gone? Yes. Forgotten? No. I like this car, how about you?
One of the best car Oldsmobile made. This one looks to be in decent shape, is well equipped, and fairly priced. Wish I was in the market, I would definitely be looking closer.
This is one of the Y76 Special Edtion cars. Some were regional cars, but I don’t see any badges on this one. The chrome sport mirrors, Cutlass Supreme square nose and the Supreme quarter windows are the clues.
I have touched two of these, both dilapidated, in this same colors as this. One had an “Ole” B piller badge, written in cursive (remember cursive?). The other was a “GMO” for Gallant Men of Olds”. One of them had a stainless 2-3″ band around roof…
This car has the 350 4bbl, buckets, console, A/C and tilt (plus front and rear bumper guards for good measure). I might have to had the Supreme wheel opening moldings if it was in my garage. A good build on a somewhat unique car.
Big Fun: what is a y76 option? Could you clarify? I thought the wide roof band was a piece added to a Hurst car. I’ve owned about 20 of the mid 70’s cutlasses (still own 2) but I never looked at brochures, bought them used & for daily use, excellent reliability. This car is an “S” which is the fastback, see red colored S side emblem/badge on this car’s fender. Thinking nose piece replaced unless you could clarify what the y76 bits are. Looks like someone adapted the supreme quarter window to car? The sport mirrors were optional on all models, though I realize they added them to certain packages. rsvp
The “Ole’ ” was for Oldsmobile Limited Edtion. Here is a link for all to view – plese bookmark for future enjoyment!
https://y76cutlass.com/
Thanks!
Big Fun: wow, never heard of these, so this car is an “S” with the Y76 option package; good for someone who likes the fastback but also likes the small side window & waterfall grille. I’m an east coaster but I may have had a Bostonian or Virginian, or Classic; the website mentions them but no pics of these or what they consist of. It does note site under construction. I do recall I had one or 2 cutlasses that had the rocket emblem on the vinyl roof, I’ll have to check my photo album. Thanks for the link!
I had a 76 cutlas black with black vinyl and black interior with the 350 I Loved that car drove it 160000 miles and it still didn’t burn oil.
The only reason I finally got rid of it was the NY salt ate it up.
My bro had a 77 Salon. Dark blue ext light blue vinyl top, Two tone blue interior. Small 8 (260?). Gorgeous cars. Nice ride. Colonades were great for the time.
Nice car terrible color,to bad it isn’t black,white,burgundy or something!
Maybe silver? We could use more of those.
Why couldn’t it be a Brougham with the funky cloth seats? I love those. I had a 76 Cutlass Brougham with a 350, automatic and A/C and it remains one of my favorite cars of the approximately 30 I have owned.
Still have my ’76 Brougham. Love it!
IDK about unraveling. They had pretty good sales. GM decided to keep Buick/Cadillac/Chevy/Pontiac and then kill off Pontiac. There was the Saturn experiment too. It’s a shame. Olds was the oldest American car company. Its sales weren’t worse than some brands that stick around today. The thing is, badge engineering killed it. Pontiac too. Leave it to business propeller heads to mess things up.
Parents had a black Oldsmobile cutlass supreme brougham with the funky patterned cloth seats. T-tops. 1976. Loaded. Great car. Good driver, comfortable as hell. Liked it so much, they bought another one, a 76 Salon, in the early 80’s. I inherited that for graduation in 85, drove the bejesus out of it, until someone T boned me in 91. Great car as well. That one had the swivel bucket seats which were AWESOME
I had a 76 and then a 77 both of them truly superlative cars. Would take either of them again over any of today’s junk. Definitely two of the better cars I ever had.
I had a 76 Cutlass Salon. Silver with burgundy high back buckets. Loaded with Hurst Hatches. Had to sell it in 1979 to help with college tuition. Sold it a guy my girlfriend knew. He destroyed it. Of the 60 plus cars I’ve owned, including two Corvettes, two GTOs, 77 Grand Prix with Hurst Hatches and 88 Monte Carlo SS, I want that Cutlass back. Super comfy and very reliable.
In todays world of fantasy pricing this one isn’t so bad
I think you are correct, this one is gone already
I had a 75 (silver w/ full vinyl top, red cloth interior) and a 76 (black w/ t-tops, tan vinyl interior)…both Salon’s and my mom owned a 77 Brougham (silver, landau vinyl top, black velour interior). All 3 absolutely beautiful cars! In looking at this one, I have a question about the grille. My 76 had a different grille than this one. This one has what looks to be a 77 grille. Maybe I missed it in the comments but is that because this one is an ‘S’? Just curious.
JimmyJam: the 76 and 77 Waterfall grilles are slightly different, I admit I don’t know the nuance, someone commenting on Barn finds explained it on another car’s post. This S is supposed to have 76 Supreme grilles and header housing because it has the Y76 package, perhaps this car or your car’s grilles got damaged and replaced with a newer one.