All Original 1970 Oldsmobile Rallye 350/4-Speed

By 1970, it became clear to many pundits that if future emissions regulations didn’t kill the muscle car, high insurance rates would. Therefore, in an effort to cater to those who wanted something fun and fast but couldn’t afford the insurance rates or purchase price of the big bruisers, many brands followed Plymouth’s lead. Its Road Runner was the surprise hit of 1968, and Ford’s Cobra, Dodge’s Super Bee, Plymouth’s own Duster 340 and Oldsmobile’s Rallye 350, among others, followed. Oldsmobile’s dealer sales material stated that “the more practical horsepower rating of the Rallye 350 could obviously translate itself into insurance benefits,” but that didn’t translate to incredible sales, so finding any Rallye 350 for sale today is an uncommon pleasure. Barn Finder Curvette spotted this mostly original Rallye 350 at Ohio Corvettes and Muscle Cars in North Canton, Ohio. It’ll take a little more than the $3,252.84 Oldsmobile originally asked with the Rallye 350’s required options; that price is now $52,500.

The dealer claims that the car wears most of its original Sebring Yellow paint (I miss colors that evoked race tracks or the space race), and even considering that the Rallye 350 package required the buyer to order such options as the N10 dual exhaust system, W25 “Force-Air Fiberglass Hood,” FE2 Rallye-Sport suspension, D35 sport mirrors, and N34 Custom Sport Steering Wheel, this car is fairly well-equipped. We’ll get to that in a minute.

The standard engine was the L74 350 small-block, which was rated at 310 horsepower. In his February 1970 Motor Trend road test of a Rallye 350, however, Karl Ludvigsen said that you’re getting a stronger engine in this Cutlass S-based junior musclecar. Remember that in 1970, engines were rated in gross horsepower, meaning that they were unrestricted on a dynamometer, tuned to their absolute max. Installed in the car, with perhaps a single-exhaust system, the reality wasn’t so rosy. Because the Rallye 350 had a “Force-Air” hood and dual exhaust, the L74 acted a lot more lively than your neighbor’s Cutlass Supreme with the same engine. Ludvigsen found that the yellow Olds would accelerate to sixty in 7.7 seconds, and finish the quarter-mile in 15.4 seconds at 89 miles per hour. That was pretty good for a small-block car, but it wasn’t likely to scare any Duster 340s.

On the other hand, this example might have a chance against those giant-killing mini-Mopars. The Motor Trend test car had 3.23:1 gears and a three-speed manual, while this car was ordered with 3.91:1 gears out back, which required the G80 Anti-Spin rear axle and V01 heavy duty radiator. On top of that, the original owner ordered the rare M21 close-ratio four-speed, so in other words, this Rallye 350 was outfitted for the best possible performance—it was no poser.

Being an Ohio car, a little bit of surface rust underneath is not surprising, but it’s obvious that this Cutlass hasn’t seen many, if any, salty winters. Cars in the Great Lakes area just don’t look like this if they have.

The Rallye 350 wasn’t a huge hit, even when considering that it was introduced part way into the 1970 model year: only 3,547 were sold. Some think that the Sebring Yellow paint held it back, others think that it was the “urethane-coated” bumpers, a treatment that was similar to what Pontiac and others were doing at the same time. The seller mentions that this one was ordered without the flashy spoiler on the back, making it even more of a unicorn, as if the driveline didn’t guarantee that. While the car has some “patina” that is shown in some of the dealer’s close-up shots, it looks like a treat for fans of Oldsmobile muscle.