Earlier today this olelongrooffan was out working on a project and I spotted this padded roof bearing car. I haven’t seen one of these roofs in quite some time so I meandered over and got a couple more images of it.
It sure seems to have a few miles on it and not the best of attention. I was trying to figure out what it was. Something beige that is for sure.
I walked around the to the rear of it once again and spotted this logo on the trunk. Now I did not perform very well on the logo portion of that email car game that made the circles a year or so ago so I didn’t really recognize this one.
Then I spotted this emblem. Is this really an Oldsmobile Cutlass? When the hell did this oh-so-beige Cutlass make it to the market? But this olelongrooffan has this to say about that, the above images are not of a Cutlass.
This is what a real Cutlass looks like!
By LongRoofian
No biography of the LongRoofian would be complete without [edited for length and adherence to subject matter] and your continued enjoyment of these ramblings is certainly welcome.
Antti Kautonen 
Joel Strickland 
Kamil Kaluski
Trust me this is not unique. Here in So Cal. you will see dozens of sedans with this style of trim added to their once smooth roofs. Speaking of this style of trim I have never understood it. I mean really, did you think making it look like your late model sedan is a convertible is going to truly fool anyone? Of all things to add to your car you think a faux canvas top will make it look classy? If so you really need to look around and really look at convertibles with the soft top up. In most cases they ruin the lines of the vehicle like the buttocks of a rhinoceros on top of a wedding cake would ruin the cake.
Let's be honest here, the car in question is a rebadged fifth-gen Chevy Malibu. It's not like it can be made any worse.
Ahh, it's not about making it look like a convertible, but a 'formal' sedan, i.e., a limousine, town car, or landau (small l). Leather or fabric top coverings have been common on formal cars pretty much since the dawn of the automobile.
It's just a rebadged Malibu, and a replacement for the scintillatingly exciting Olds Cutlass Ciera.
And sadly, the faux-Landau roof hasn't died a horrible death yet. Even worse, I've seen it on cars like the Nissan Maxima and Cadillac CTS, where they're horribly out of place.
Actually, this Cutlass replaced the poor-selling and unloved Achieva and you're right in that it's a '97 Malibu in Oldsmobile drag. All the sheetmetal is the same. The replacement for the Ciera was the Intrigue.
<img src="http://www.theautochannel.com/media/photos/oldsmobile/96_oldsmobile_achieva_sl_2.jpg" width=400>
I thought the Achieva was replaced by the Alero, and the Intrigue was the replacement for the Cutlass Supreme (being another W-body).Either way, having three sedans so close in size probably didn't bode well for Oldsmobile, especially when four of the six were unrelentingly mediocre.
I always believed that it directly replaced both of them (debuting for '97, where the Ciera wheezed on until the year before and the Achieva lasted a year longer). It used the updated N-body, marking it as an Achieva replacement, and was roughly the same size as both cars. It only lasted three model years, fortunately, until they could get the Alero out the door.
The Cutlass was a stopgap car because the Alero wasn't ready until '99. I still see these beige Cutlasses everywhere. I didn't realize they'd sold so many.
The ghost of Martin Landau will have his revenge in the sweetness of time.
Oh, landau roofs can get worse….much worse.
<img src="http://www.streetlegaltv.com/photos/data/547/landau1.jpg" width=500>
Wow. That actually just hurt my feelings. Wow.
You know, I don't actually hate that.
But what I really want is a Landau roof on a neo-Challenger, preferably in paisley to go for the Mod Top look. Maybe even start with a V6 car, because, why not?
A friend of mine had a '72 Cutlass Supreme with a 350 4-bbl. Another friend of ours called it the Gutless.
I was afflicted with one of these – plain vanilla '72 Cutlass, not the Supreme – with the same disappointing powertrain. But it served a 17 y.o. hoon quite well, possibly due to its strangled aspiration (vs a firebreathing & unfettered version the same lump).
This Generation only sold from '97-'99
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Cutlass
Can't improve on swine dung
I thought you were in Florida? My years of living in the Sunshine State taught me that a vinyl top can be put on EVERYTHING. I still think out of all the abominations I saw, the blue 80's Corolla with a red landau top was my favorite.
The closest I can come to that is a blue '87-'91 Camry with a different-shade-of-blue Krylon roof. That's Dracut, Massachusetts for you.
All the landau-topped monstrosities here are midsize/full-size sedans, and they're not that common – so I definitely intended to say 'don't you live in Florida?' before I saw your comment.
Was this a Volvo 142 with redneck convertible conversion? I think you're obliged to post any photographic evidence that may exist. You'll be in the company of friends, or at least amenable weirdos. Also, kludged boat top cover pix would be appreciated.
thanks, the management
I hate to break it to you – if you choose to remain in Florida, this is your future. Enjoy your days in Del Boca Vista phase III.
It's not like elsewhere is much better. Most of my elderly in-laws have similar rides, albeit without the fake 'vert roof.
Already at phase III? Yowza. They sure hustle them in and out of there.
Hey, second time this week I get to post this.
[youtube OL946vRUDJg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL946vRUDJg youtube]
When I visited Boston back in 2005, I noticed that vinyl tops seemed to be a lot more common than out here in CA. I actually started taking photos of them. This, and a Tempo that I couldn't get a shot of, were the oddest examples I saw:
<img src="http://www.ltdlx.org/albums/boston/DSCN1062_Medium.sized.jpg">
Apparently it's a Boston thing, as the Bostonian edition Cougar came with a vinyl top too.
<img src="http://www.musclecars.net/classifieds/muscle-car-images-large/1996-Mercury-Cougar-for-sale_290556032511.jpg" width=500>
<img src="http://www.coolcats.net/mn12/images/e_10bstn.jpg">
<img src="http://images2.backpage.com/imager/u/large/5273299/1987_cougar.jpg" width=500>
<img src="http://images3.backpage.com/imager/u/large/5273301/Picture_002.jpg"> width=500>
This is apparently a Northern thing. I've seen it a lot in Michigan and apparently it is big in the Northeast. The old folks from those areas just move down to Florida and bring this horrid customization practice with them.
I see a few cars with these types of tops around Atlanta, but not many, even fewer with Georgia plates.
Maybe you only want to do this to a car if you live somewhere you can only use a real convertible 3-4 months out of the year.
They don't just bring them here to South Florida. There are plenty of new-car dealers in the Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Hollywood, and Delray Beach areas that are more than happy to provide a padded landau roof on your Accord or Lexus LS.
<img src="http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/dakota-landau.jpg">
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Dakota Landau. Yes, this is only a slap-shop, but I assure you it's based on a real sighting. I saw one (but in all white) in Grandview, Missouri on two different occasions about 4-5 years ago, but wasn't able to get close enough to get a cell pic.
Is that what you get for selling 1 million slap-chop units in the associate program? Vince Schlomi almost got a jail sentence for selling the most slap chops. I'm not sure which I prefer.
I was doing at temp gig today at an auto auction when I saw a few aboninations. Among them an '04 (I think) Impalla with one (dark brown body w/ tan top), a Buick Lacross w/ one, and a few Caddy's with 'em.
I don't see the point.