In 1977, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was the number-one selling car in America, and the nicely equipped Cutlass Supreme accounted for three-quarters of the total.
In the auto industry, there’s power in a name: Cougar, Camry, LTD. Sometimes a model name simply catches fire with the American car-buying public for reasons that are never fully identified or understood. There’s no better example than the Oldsmobile Cutlass. First seen on a GM Motorama show car in 1954, the Cutlass badge was next applied to an upscale version of the F-85 compact in 1961, and as the F-85/Cutlass grew into an intermediate, Cutlass sales grew as well. (See a more complete history of the Cutlass emblem here.)
As the personal-luxury coupe market blossomed in the 1970s, Oldsmobile seemed to have just the right mix of features, styling, and pricing for the Motor City’s hottest segment, and that’s when sales really took off. In 1973, the first year for Colonnade styling on the GM intermediates, Cutlass volume exceeded 400,000 cars, a 35 percent increase. In 1977, Oldsmobile produced more than one million cars, becoming the first GM division other than Chevrolet to achieve that feat. That was largely on the strength of the Cutlass, which sold 632,742 units—the best-selling car in the United States that year.
Cutlass Supreme four-door Sedan
When we peel those numbers back a little, we find that of the four trim levels—Cutlass S, Cutlass Supreme, Supreme Brougham, and Cutlass Salon—the Supreme and Supreme Brougham took the lion’s share of the total: nearly three-quarters of the total volume. The Supreme two-door coupe was by far the most popular at nearly 243, 000 units, while the Supreme Brougham found 124,000 buyers. While the Supreme lineup included a four-door sedan, its sales trailed the coupe’s by a fair distance: around 38,000 Supremes and 17,000 Supreme Broughams. Clearly, it was the coupe that captured the minds and the pocketbooks of the American public.
Cutlass Supreme Coupe (left) and Supreme Brougham Coupe interiors
Both the Supreme and the Supreme Brougham offered a V8, automatic transmission, power steering, and power front disc brakes as standard equipment. While the Supreme’s cabin (above) was actually somewhat restrained, the Brougham went full ’70s velour with pillow-style seat cushions, extra faux woodgrain, and deep-pile carpeting for an extra $299 ($4,969 vs. $4,670). Notable options included power windows, T-tops, and swivel bucket seats. Nearly 90 percent of the Supreme buyers chose air conditioning, a $456 extra.
When GM’s A-body cars were downsized for 1978, the Cutlass Supreme continued to perform well on the market, but not quite at the same level. Oldsmobile would enjoy several more million-car seasons, though for the Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme, 1977 proved to be the peak year. But Oldsmobile continued to recognize the power of the name, as a Cutlass in some form remained in the Olds lineup through 1999.
The classic example of how you can overuse a name to death. 28 years later Oldsmobile is history.
The sale mix clearly demonstrates the failure of the 4-door colonnade styling.
I still don’t understand how the Cutlass became America’s most popular car. But I know that giving almost every Oldsmobile some variation of the Cutlass name is what took the bloom off the rose. It was a handsome car but I didn’t see anything that made it stand out above the rest.
The only GM car I’ve owned was a 1971 Cutlass S. I didn’t need it and hardly ever drove it but a friend was getting rid of it and it was in nice shape. I don’t remember why or when it left the fleet but I had four cars at that point and it was the least interesting or useful. The ex had a converted diesel Cutlass when I met her.
The PLC stage was raging at the time, and everyone was adding luxury touches to even their mundane models (Mustang II Ghia? Monza’s with vinyl roofs?). When I started college in the mid-70s the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix were all the rage.
I owned 6 of these . Really reliable & comfortable cars. Some were bought for $50 & used as beater winter cars in rust prone Montreal .
Not a single one ever failed to deliver. 350 V8 & Th350 were unbeatable & in the day a spare transmission could be had all day for $50.
One of the factors seldom mentioned about the 1976-77 Cutlass Supreme coupes is that the basic body shell is identical to that of the 1976-77 Buick Regal coupes (the only differences were in the front clip and the rear bumper and trim, but, at that point, the Buick and Oldsmobile engines hadn’t been made virtually identical). Again, it’s an intangible that made the Cutlass a raging success while the Regal sat on the back burner at Buick stores. And, as mentioned above, Oldsmobile made the same mistake with the Cutlass brand that Chrysler did later with New Yorker and Fifth Avenue…
I’d gander to say that by that time Buick was getting the reputation as an “old people’s car”, whereas the Olds was still considered “sophisticated sporty”. You’re absolutely right, the Regal was nearly identical…my grandmother’s last car was a full-zoot Regal coupe. Compared to the Cutlass, though, it appeared to be more formal….