The line between a genuine classic and a humdrum car can be fine. Most people wouldn’t immediately consider a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham fits into the former category, but this car deserves a closer look. Considering its age, its condition is pretty impressive. However, it is its interior trim that will leave readers talking. It needs a new home, with the seller listing it here on Craigslist in Mesa, Arizona. You could drive away in this classic by handing its owner $16,500. I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder T.J. for consistently spotting fascinating vehicles for us.
Oldsmobile introduced its Fourth Generation Cutlass in 1978, and like many of its competitors, the company downsized the new model as buyers turned their attention to smaller and more efficient vehicles. The tape measure told the story, with the 1978 model 9″ shorter, riding on a 4″ shorter wheelbase. The reductions didn’t negatively impact sales, with an overall total of 527,606 and a Supreme Brougham figure of 117,880 cars. This one presents well in a color combination of Light Camel and Medium Gold. The paint shines nicely for an unrestored survivor, and while there are some marks and scars visible in the supplied photos, the overall presentation is above average. By 1978, manufacturers had begun understanding rust prevention strategies, making this car’s lack of issues unsurprising. The glass looks spotless, and I can’t spot any problems with the trim or chrome.
In previous articles, I’ve lamented how modern manufacturers aren’t usually bold or daring with interior trim combinations. We receive the occasional splash of color, although most companies appear to have a Gray fixation. However, this Cutlass separates itself from the herd by featuring “Mojave” interior trim. That brings me to a point worth pondering. I know the company offered this and another called “Tahoe” in 1979, but I can’t find information suggesting either was available in 1978. If that’s correct, someone may have given this interior a transplant. It will be fascinating to read your feedback. If we ignore that question and assess its condition, there are no problems worth mentioning. The seat upholstery is free from wear, with the back seat in as-new condition. The carpet is spotless, the dash and pad show no UV deterioration, there is no crumbling plastic, and the faux woodgrain trim is free from wear and fading. Interior appointments include ice-cold air conditioning, cruise control, a tilt wheel, an AM/FM radio/cassette player, and an aftermarket Bluetooth stereo hidden in the glove compartment.
The dimension reductions for the 1978 Cutlass Supreme caught the buying public’s attention. However, when you place this car and a similarly-equipped predecessor on the scales, you begin to appreciate the differences. While a ’77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham weighed 3,924, the new model tipped the scales at 3,379lbs. Although the seller supplies no engine photos, this survivor features the 260ci V8 that sends 110hp to the rear wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission. The journey down the ¼ mile should take 20.3 seconds, and although that figure is hardly impressive, it is better than the ’77 model’s ET of 20.9 seconds. The newer model achieves that feat while consuming around 20% less fuel than its predecessor. The seller indicates this classic is in sound mechanical health. They claim it has a genuine 68,000 miles on its odometer, but not whether they hold verifying evidence. That factor is worth considering, as it will impact the car’s potential value. They say it runs and drives perfectly, meaning it is a turnkey proposition for its new owner.
Like many classics, this 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham is unlikely to appeal to everyone. However, it has some positive attributes worth considering. Its overall condition is reasonable for its age, and its odometer reading, if confirmed, helps its cause. The interior trim package leaves me scratching my head because my resources indicate the company didn’t introduce the “Mojave” option until 1979. If I’m wrong, I’m happy to be corrected. Can you shed some light on the subject, and if it is correct, would you consider pursuing it further?
Weren’t these nice cars, folks? I don’t care what camp you are in, and I disagree with the author, these cars appealed to everyone. I had a wagon and a 4 door, BOTH cars withstood my ex-wifes abuse( I know that’s getting old, but some guys can relate, I’m sure) After tuneups, virtually nothing else was needed for years of ( ab)use, it was one of the best cars I had. A hefty claim, but true. Accolades include, right size, good gas mileage, dependable, great heat/ac, nice seats, REAR DRIVE, I tell ya’, whatever happened to our car culture, when THIS was all that was needed. Anyone?
great interior if you have kids as they could throw up all over it and you’d never notice!
Or from the drippings from the Whopper you’re eating….while driving ! lol
You learned the BK double cheeseburger was the best to eat while driving, since the cheese coagulated enough to keep everything from escaping the bun. I had eating in the car while driving…. down to a science, since I had
to wear a tie….and you had to protect the tie/shirt/pants from grease/drippings, etc.
Could also eat while drinking a 40 oz’r of suds on the way back home after
work. With no damage done to the attire. lol
I worked for the Division back then, but I don’t remember if it was ’78 or ’79. Makes no difference, not many (if any besides this one) survived because not many were ordered. Even the dealers realized that these interior options did nothing but take America’s best selling nameplate and make it sale proof. Any dealer that did order one had it sitting on the lot for a very long time. Someone on the design staff must have come up with this while on some form of hallucinogenics.
Some Googling confirms the Mojave and Tahoe interiors were indeed first offered for model year ’79, but this could be one of those cases where a new car got titled for the year it was purchased rather than model year — i.e., a model-year ’79 purchased in late ’78 and titled as a ’78.
The model year and the title go by the VIN, not the calendar.
dont rely 100% on google. These were offered in 78 and 79. The difference between the 78 and 79 is : 78 carpeting is gold, 79 is black. 78 seat buttons are square and chrome, 79 are round and black. i have had a 79, and currently own a 78.
It’s a nice car *but* I am pretty sure the interior was swapped in. That “Mojave” interior wasn’t available until 1979, and that I definitely a 1978 model (header panel, taillights, front and rear bumper) all indicate that. Also, the tan carpet and lower door carpet just seem off. All of the one’s I’ve seen (and the photos) would have black carpet and door panel carpet. Not knocking the car, but something points to it not being original.
Our 78 has the identical interior. It was never swapped out.
Pillow seats miss those!!!
Double ditto to bring back pillow seats! I have my eye out for a used Lincoln Continental…they have comfy front leather pillow seats. I like the Olds….IMHO navy blue accents over the camel or navy blue primary with gold accents would look better.
This car does have 78 tail lights as they had the rocket symbol in them. I had a 79 and put the 78 tail lights in just for the rocket symbols. That little 260 of mine took a beating but had 205k on the clock and was still running great. Agree with Howard, as long as you did a tune up on these which wasn’t much they ran great. Biggest problem was the water pump which usually had to be done on an annual basis. Was a great riding and comfortable car
When did we start using the English word “clock”???? Glad you guys don’t use bonnet for hood!!! At least not yet.
Sometimes, there’s a reason for rarity.
There are quite a few of these. 78 was the most popular year for them. I have one of the Mojave interiors in a parts car. If you look through some of the Facebook pages that focus on the 78-80 Cutlass community, there is a lot of people who like them.
Man! I wish I had the money for this one! I love these cars and that interior is soo cool IMHO!
Despite what records have been found, those interior options were installed in 78 MY, I have seen several back in the day and owned one with Mojave. 78s are easily distinguished by the tail lights with the rocket in the centers.
Love those 80s wild interior option packages, so cool and unique. Amazing the interior looks this nice still.
I wish it had more options, like a moonroof, T Tops and PW and PL. I think the wire wheel covers are wrong for this year, if you want authenticity. Saw this interior once on a showroom floor, marked special. I was there for some time before it was sold. I had a 77 and then went to 79 Monte Carlo. Can’t beat this platform.
those are correct wheel covers for 1978
I like a Bro-Ham, wait…scratch that, that doesn’t sound right.
It seems like the border should be something other than blue. That just doesn’t look right in a brown car although I might like it in a dark blue car.
thats actually just faded black
When I saw the picture of the interior I tasted my dinner again
Absolutely no one EVER transplanted this interior into another car! But I would take it being an A and later G body fan!
And people made fun of AMC for ugly interiors……
The Mojave trim was offered in 78 and 79. The subtle differences are in 78 the buttons on the seats were square with chrome edge, while 79 they were round. 1978 came with gold carpeting on floor and lower doors , 1979 had black carpeting
I almost got killed in one of these cars when a former friend gave me a ride home from his sisters place to his home where my car was parked. It was a 1978 Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe. White with a medium green interior , and matching green vinyl top. At one point he was speeding, and we were coming up to an L intersection. As I went to grab the wheel, he turned the wheel at the last minute. The car spun 180 degrees, and we ended up in the opposite direction/lane before it stopped, without flipping over. This was before stability control. This was a great, well designed/balanced car. Thank you GM!
I worked at a very successful Olds dealer from 1977 to 1981, while attending Penn State University. We had a tan 79 come in one day with the Mojave interior. I thought it was butt ugly, but like every other Cutlass, it sold in a matter of days. These were very good cars with few problems, mostly drivability issues until they had a few thousand miles on them. Change the oil, filter, gas filter, coolant, trans fluid and keep the front end greased and we never saw them for major repairs. Today, I work at a Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge dealer. All we do is fix problems, water leaks, transmissions, engines, broken exhaust manifold bolts, the list goes on. Total garbage.
My mom had a black 78 cutlass with a 260 v8. 20 seconds in the quarter mile downhill with a tail wind! They destroyed the olds 350 with an under bore, horrible carburator, aluminum manifold with steel gaskets that might make 30,000 miles. GMs 200 metric Problamatic transmission! The paint was horrible on these cars. I owned a few of these myself, great cars if you change out the drive train and repaint. But watch out for rear bumper and frame rot. Inner and outer bumpers trapped snow and salt and rusted out. Also door bushings wear out quickly on these two door.
Just because something is rare doesn’t make it desirable. This hideous interior is a perfect example, and it is not correct for the 1978. I would bet someone added it. Additionaly, the 260 ci was the most pathetic engine Oldsmobile ever offered. Nothing could be done to improve it, which I replaced the one I had with a ’76 350 ci Olds, a direct drop in. I could have dropped in my 403, but it was at home in my ’77. The TH 200 transmission used behind the 260 ci engine was also a bad joke. Thankfully the TH 350 was also a direct bolt in replacement.
Nothing about a ’78 with a 260 ci engine and a TH 200 transmission made it worth more than $2,000, and that’s if it a body and interior in very good condition, only requiring an engine and transmission swap to make the car a good daily driver.
Ah GM. Here’s a WAG on my end. Granted, I am no expert but I have seen late model year builds with the next years options. Seen it throw show judges off their game to the point of looking through the Build Sheet. I personally had a ’93 Z/71 Chevy in a color that wasn’t stock until ’95 on the GMC. I know the truck hadn’t been painted because I had to have some typical KY truck rust patched. That plus there was no paint code on the data plate tell me it was ordered.
Sorry, but if this interior were offered in the 1978 model year, there had to be factory documentation to enable it to be ordered. Unless the buyer had a time machine, how would they even know such an interior was available if there weren’t documents to show it? How did the factory build it without paperwork? The “anything was possible” justification is BS. Every time Olds made a mid-year change, there was ample factory documentation. At the end of the 1967 model year, Olds built about 750 330 motors using block and head castings from the 1968 350. There was a three page service bulletin documenting this, along with notations in the parts book. In 1971 Olds changed from the die cast water neck to the cast iron neck. This change was accompanied by an engineering order to document it. I’ve got copies of these and others. An assembly line doesn’t work if people can randomly install parts. As for your issue with colors, GM had several RPO codes for special paint colors. These are also well documented, and could include colors from other divisions and even outside of GM. This is how cars were painted Mary Kay pink or Yellow Cab orange. If the vehicle came with a special order color, the cowl tag would at least show this, if not the WAxxxx paint code for the special color.
Odd that our 78 had the identical interior. Bought new. Also have seen a 78 at the Olds show with the same interior, and based on the comments here other 78s exist as well with this fabric.
just because you cant find it on the internet doesnt mean it doesnt exist. As i and others have previously stated these were offered in 78 and 79. Sure when you google Mojave an ad for the 79 interior shows up. I have personally seen 3 of these, and also a bunch on web. most are 78. The difference in 78 and 79 is as stated above – 78 has the gold carpet and door pull, 79 is all black. 78 has the square buttons on seats, 79 are round. I own a 78 – Factory original untouched 32K miles.
Additionally, if you ordered this interior you only had a few paint options. Black with dark gold pinstripe, Camel Tan with Black or dark gold pinstripe, The above two tone color, and maybe white.
Just because something is rare doesn’t mean it’s desirable, and this is the perfect example. There’s a reason why it’s rare!
My wife and I had the same car in silver with red bucket seats and console interior. I painted the dark brown on this car dark grey on ours and pinstriped it in red. It was a really nice car that gave us years of service
Sorry to Burst any bubbles. But that is not a true 1978 Cutlass Supreme Brougham. It is missing the factory clock on the dash. It is missing the vinyl quarter top with trim. It is also missing the Factory Painted Steel mag wheels with center caps and beauty rings.
Sorry to burst bubble but the three options you described were just that- OPTIONS. These cars, brougham or just Supreme could be had with or without depending on boxes checked while ordering
That is completely incorrect. I have a window sticker that says otherwise as well as the car.
My father a GM retiree ordered Through the Tech center in Warren Mi a 1978 Cutlass Supreme Brougham Black with black vinyl top gold pinstripe Mojave interior with black carpet rallye wheels lettered tires 260 V8 auto trans with a positraction rear PW & PL great car . It kind had a W-30 look. Wish I had it now, I’m sure all the negative commenters about the Mojave interior own something or like something that another may think is hideous. Too Bad.
Thanks for writing about my Olds! Life’s been busy and the Craigslist ad expired. I just reinstated the ad-however the link is new: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/d/mesa-oldsmobile-cutlass-supreme-brougham/7603397210.html
If you have any questions about the Olds please let me know.
I lived in Rocklin CA and in 1978 I bought that exact new car with that fantastic interior. Over the years I never saw another until now. It was a great car.