Hooniverse Malaise-O-Rama Weekend – A 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme


Welcome, welcome all to the Hooniverse Malaise-O-Rama Weekend Edition. Since spring is just around the corner (at least here in the Northeast, where Mother Nature played an April Fools joke in the form of snow), I decided to raid the closet for my Platform Shoes, Silk Shirt, and Plaid Bell-Bottom pants and pay tribute to the Malaise Era in the form of a Weekend Edition. I narrowed down my searches for car that defined the era, from the years 1975 to 1979, with all the gingerbread that will never be on a car again. Things like Vinyl Roofs, Velour Upholstery, Wire Wheel Covers, Opera Windows, Stand-up Hood Ornaments, Battering Ram Bumpers, Bench Seats, enormous doors, and more. Let’s start with the best selling car of 1977, this Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with only 23,000 miles on the odometer.


This car has been owned by one Michigan family for its entire 34 year life and traveled only 23K miles since new. The Cutlass Supreme Coupes were the reason that this entire Cutlass Supreme line became the best selling car for both 1976 and 1977. One of the reasons for its popularity was the fact that cer buyers were made aware that the 1978 versions were going to be downsized, and people grabbed every 77 GM midsized car they could build.

According to the eBay listing:

This car is in mint condition !!! High quality base coat / clear coat repaint in its original White. It is complimented by its mint factory tan vinyl interior and its original landau vinyl top in matching tan. The wood grain dash and door panels are in excellent original condition showing no wear. It is equipped with its famous original 350 cubic inch, V-8 engine with 2BBL carb, this car drives like just as it did as it left Detroit… 

Ice cold air conditioning Always garage kept, pampered and serviced, this car could not be in nicer original condition. This car has been refreshed, detailed and ready to drive or show. THIS CAR IS BASICALLY A TIME CAPSULE !!!


The only thing about a time capsule car is the fact that the lousy build quality was apparent. Take a look at the loose panel to the left of the steering column. This car has 13 Hours left as of this writing, and the high bid is $6,500 with an unmet reserve. See the eBay listing here. So would want to own one of the best selling cars of this era….. I’m sure you will have a great deal to say about this weekend…

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19 responses to “Hooniverse Malaise-O-Rama Weekend – A 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme”

  1.  Avatar
  2. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    "…this car drives like just as it did as it left Detroit…" – Um, I'm not sure that's a positive.
    The '76-'77 Olds and Buick coupes were smoothed out quite a bit compared to previous Colonnades, and to my eyes they're just about the best-looking cars of the entire Colonnade generation. Only the '76'-'77 Grand Prix looks better. Just for the record, Olds sold just shy of 425,000 Cutlass Supreme coupes in 1977 alone – about 100,000 more than '76. The smaller '78 Supremes sold almost as well and the '79 beat '77's record with almost 470,000 sold! With over 750,000 '76-'77 Colonnade Supreme coupes built, there are plenty of survivors to pick and choose. I'd look around for something cheaper than this.
    By the way, what's an Oldamobile?

    1. Jim Brennan Avatar
      Jim Brennan

      Oh Crap….. thought I fixed all the errors…. fixed now

      1. tonyola Avatar
        tonyola

        I know from too much painful personal experience – one should never be the sole proofreader of their own work. 🙂

    2. From_a_Buick_6 Avatar
      From_a_Buick_6

      I kinda prefer the look of the '74-'75 model better, but the styling on this is definitely cleaner. As much as I generally the baroque land yachts and "personal luxury" coupes of the mid '70s, the Cutlass was the best compromise of all the A cars, and the Supreme was the best of the lot. I wouldn't go out of my way to own one, but I'd take it over the '78-'87 model.

  3. PrawoJazdy Avatar
    PrawoJazdy

    Well… I've never met an Oldamobile I didn't like, not a huge fan of Oldsmobile though.
    Is it wrong to find that interior so inviting and more luxurious than today's offerings from Audi?

    1. tonyola Avatar
      tonyola

      GM were masters of making cheap stuff look expensive from a distance. Just don't examine too closely…

    2. Jim Brennan Avatar
      Jim Brennan

      Very funny….

  4. west_coaster Avatar
    west_coaster

    This is just equipped wrong, that's all. In high school, a buddy's dad had that same car, but with bucket seats and the color-keyed Olds rally wheels (or whatever catchy name GM had assigned to them).
    Okay, it was metallic orange with white vinyl interior (with orange contrasting pieces), but somehow that seemed okay in '77. Nevertheless, it looked so much better than the "grandma" trim shown here with the wheel covers and bench seat.

  5. 42fords Avatar
    42fords

    I took my driving test in my mom’s 77 Vista Cruiser wagon Cutlass. White with a blue interior, and woodgrain siding outlined in chrome! With a 350 and a 4bbl it wasn’t bad by the standards of the day. The bench seat was great for dating and we would double and triple date with all that interior space. I eventually learned how to change the starter in 25 minutes.

  6. From_a_Buick_6 Avatar
    From_a_Buick_6

    It also probably didn't hurt that the Cutlass was just as big as the downsized '77 Delta 88, but cheaper. I'll bet GM sold quite a few intermediates to customers drawn in by the hot new fullsize cars that way.
    And for as well-executed as the '77 big cars were, the '78-'80 A-bodies just sucked. The facelifted '81 coupes aren't bad, but the sedans were cheap and never looked right.

  7. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    Hey, in 1977 the Cutlass was the top-selling model in the US. These things were everywhere.

  8. Mad_Hungarian Avatar
    Mad_Hungarian

    File this one under Stupid eBay Seller Tricks. How long would it take to reattach that panel properly on the left side of the dash?

  9. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    That is a big ass gas gauge. I bet you can watch it move.

    1. Black Steelies Avatar

      I bet it's mechanical. Every turn or hill and it dips to E, haha.

  10. Black Steelies Avatar

    Call me crazy but this is one of my favorite malaise body styles. My favorite bit has to be the waterfall grill, but the body has a consistent design reminiscent of the first gen Monte.
    The tough thing as many pointed out is finding one equipped properly, they were all different and they made a boatload. The cloth seats had the coolest patterned fabric, t-tops could be had and are always awesome, mag wheels came with most Supreme models, and I rather prefer the half vinyl top to break up the monotony of the roof and a console shifter just because.

  11. Age_of_Aerostar Avatar
    Age_of_Aerostar

    This is one where things just start looking cheap to me.
    Could you come up with a cheaper looking steering wheel? And 2 gauges, surrounded in plain plastic? This one is not doing it for me, at least not compared to the others from the awesome Malaise-O-Rama weekend that I missed.
    Good job guys, I wish I had been able to be online during the weekend to participate in the conversations.
    Oh, but I do give bonus points for the grille that has the 90deg bend up to the hood, and also for the dual lap vents!

  12. Fordlandau Avatar
    Fordlandau

    I love the enoooormous dash board ..with nothing in it ..huge coffin shaped airvents.. a giant fuel gauge, which was probaly wildly inaccurate, teamed with the "safety spedometer" maxing out at 85 mph.. the idea being drivers are so dumb that 55 will look really fast !! Manual window winders !!!

  13. Igozoom Avatar
    Igozoom

    My mom had a ’77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham 2-door that actually looked a lot nicer than this one, IMO. The exterior color was called “Buckskin Brown” (Gold) with a tan interior. The Brougham seats were plush, pillowed velour/cloth and the door panels were trimmed partially in matching cloth. It had the 350 V8 4-barrel, power windows/locks, cruise control, tilt and even the Delco AM/FM 8-track. It had the Olds Rallye wheels (insets painted to match the body color) and White-Letter tires, which gave it a much sportier look than the interior.
    The ’77 replace a ’73 Cutlass Supreme (base) 2-door (Black w/ Black vinyl buckets). We had the ’77 until she ordered a new ’86 Cutlass Supreme 2-door (Medium Gray with Maroon velour, 307 V8). But the ’77 was always my favorite.