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You read right, I'm a german who is looking for a specific type of classic Oldsmobile. I will come to that later, as I would like to introduce myself so you understand what brought me here. If you don’t want to, you can skip down to the last paragraph…. ! I’m not a native speaker and will probably make a grammar mistake here or there or get an expression wrong, but I will try my best!
In 1993 my grandma joined a teacher exchange program which brought her to Pearsall, Texas (1h drive southwest from San Antonio). I was 13 at that time and accompanied her for the year she was there. We desperately needed a car and my grandma had no clue how to find one or even what to look for. My knowledge of cars wasn’t much better actually. We only had a bike (with pedals :-) ) to get through the exhausting heat with 120° F for the 1st few days there, which was unbearable. So I took a ride through town to all the car dealers and spotted a car within grandmas budget. It turned out to be an Oldsmobile! My grandma bought it for about 2000$ and it didn’t let us down throughtout that year except for one time. If I recall correctly, the water cooler leaked and the engine overheated. The car was repaired (new cooler) and we were on the move again. We had wonderful trips throughout whole Texas and covered a lot of miles, I would guess at least 10-15k. We returned to Germany in 1994. To make a long story short, after finishing school, I studied engineering here in Berlin and am able to repair basically anything on cars. I’ve done motor swaps and been working on cars as a hobby for years.
I would love to own an Oldsmobile just like the one we used to have back in the 90’s.
I hope you guys could help me find out which exact model we had back then. I only have a few pictures which I inserted below. I googled a little and I think it must be Cutlass sedan from 1981 (which is also my birth year!). It had 3 vertical segments in each rear light, which seems to be heard to find. Most pictures only have 2 segments, I think those are the older models. But please correct me if I’m wrong. It has a brownish tan color (which I love) on the outside and the inside was also a dark tan color. 3 people could sit in front, as it had a fully stretched out “bench” from one side to the other. I would say it had a V8, but as I said, I had no clue about cars as a 13 year old kid, which is more than 20 years ago.
That's me in 1993 :-)
It would be great if you guys could specify the exact name of the model I am looking for. Then I can start to search for a model like that. The market for Oldsmobiles is almost nonexistent here in Europe, so I will probably have to import one from the US.
Thanks in advance for all your help and greetings from freezing Germany!
By the way, my nickname "dele" is also my calling name, forgot to mention that.
As I'm browsing through the threads here, I see that there are quite a few other guys from Europe or even Germany on this forum. Didn't expect that....
Welcome to the site, good luck in your quest. Yes we have many members from have Eurozone here. The picture shows it to be a 1980 or 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass LS 4 door sedan. http://www.autabuy.com/Vehicles/Deta...&Model=CUTLASS
That body style cutlass came out in 1980 to replace the butt-ugly 1978-79 four-door Cutlass Salon, which looked like it should have been a hatchback but wasn't. Olds made that sedan through about 1987. It would likely have had a 260 V8 under the hood, but possibly a 231 V6. I still see them on the road occasionally, albeit usually in pretty decrepit condition.
Oh, and for what it's worth, Dele, your English is excellent. I'm a community college professor and I wish more of my students could write as well as you do.
welcome,those 4 door cutlasses looked like mini 98s to me and i loved them.they could have the olds 307 (5.0 v8) too.i've slipped a 455 into more than one of those cars and talk about a sleeper!i have a friend with a couple oldsmobiles in radebeul.jc
If I'm reading Setting the Pace correctly, for 1980, if the car had a V-8, it could have been the base 260, an optional 350 gasoline-fueled, or a 350 diesel. He would probably remember if the car took diesel fuel, so the car probably had a 260 or a gasoline 350.
If it was an '81, the options were more limited as the 350 gasoline disappeared. The only V-8 options were the 260 or the 350 diesel.
Welcome & x2 on your communication skills being very good. Love your story. In my opinion, don't limit yourself by year (80 or 81). As mentioned, that body style was produced from '80 to '87 and all will give a similar driving experience. On the upside, you aren't looking for a very expensive car. On the downside, many examples you find will be worn out so have the car inspected before you buy something.
Another thing to keep in mind is that since it's not a very expensive car they often will be listed on sites like Craigslist rather than the bigger sites like EBay or Autotrader Classic. Good luck with your search.
Also, one weird thing - a lot of sellers don't actually know the names of their cars. You sometimes see these listed as Cutless or Cutlas.
To me, the '80-'87 Cutlass sedan looks a whole lot like the '76-79 Cadillac Seville. Oddly enough, Cadillac replaced that body style the year this Cutlass came out.
Also, I would be wary of cars from the northeast or upper midwest as they salt the roads in winter and rust can be a problem. Used cars from the southeast, southwest and California generally have far fewer rust issues.
Last edited by Human; January 5th, 2017 at 09:54 AM.
Welcome to the site.
I am sure you can find a low mileage example of this car if you're patient and diligent. Don't be in rush but continuously search Auto Trader, Ebay and Craigslist.
My Grandmother drove a 1970 Cutlass back in the seventies so when I found a similar 1969 Cutlass in decent condition I just had to have it. It brought back some really nice memories.
[QUOTE=jaunty75;980439]If I'm reading Setting the Pace correctly, for 1980, if the car had a V-8, it could have been the base 260, an optional 350 gasoline-fueled, or a 350 diesel. He would probably remember if the car took diesel fuel, so the car probably had a 260 or a gasoline 350.
If it was an '81, the options were more limited as the 350 gasoline disappeared. The only V-8 options were the 260 or the 350 diesel
that's right,the 307 didn't come in those cutlasses until 83 or 84
... It had 3 vertical segments in each rear light, which seems to be heard to find. Most pictures only have 2 segments, I think those are the older models. But please correct me if I’m wrong. It has a brownish tan color (which I love) on the outside and the inside was also a dark tan color. 3 people could sit in front, as it had a fully stretched out “bench” from one side to the other. I would say it had a V8, but as I said, I had no clue about cars as a 13 year old kid, which is more than 20 years ago.
Alright guys, thanks for the warm welcome! Seems like a nice community....
So as it seems, I have to look for the model years 80 and 81. The brochures posted above seem to show pretty different cars grille-wise. The grille and "single headlight" style of the 80 model seems more familiar to me than the twin headlight of the 81 model. I will try and find a picture of the car we had with the front on it. But I'm pretty sure it was a 1980 model by looking at the pictures. And I actually like the 80 design more, looks more "oldschool".
It definetely wasn't a diesel engine. A V8 is highly probable in Texas, I heard V8's driving everywhere. Here in Germany we mostly have and had these tiny motors with 1,4 liters or even less.... LOL. But hey, they still can go fast on the Autobahn.
Can someone name the color of the car on the pictures I posted and maybe even the interior color name. Or are there brochures on this forum I could look at, I couldnt find any...
Oh btw, if you guys ever have any questions on BMW from the late 80's up to about 2000, I have pretty good knowledge on them in all kinds of matters. I (currently) own a few of them and do all the work myself. The e34 series is my favorite. If you want to, I can tell you which ones I got. Quite an extensive list of cars in the family right now, as we are all into cars.
It's on page 11. The puristic Cutlass Sedan in the base configuration. Thats the one we used to have in exactly that "camel tan" interior in vinyl. That stuff got really hot in the Texas sun, I can remember that we used to burn ourselves and sometimes had to put wet towels on the seats... AC was probably not working, can't remember.
The LS sedan (posted by "jaunty75", thanks for that) already has the separated driver seat which we definetely didn't have.
On page 27 are all available colors in a row. Which color did we have (looking at the pictures I posted)? LIGHT camel metallic or MEDIUM camel metallic?
So the motor could only have been a 260 or 305, given it had a V8 as an option. A 260 would be satisfying for me, I've got other cars if I want to go fast. This car can be a total cruiser. We had an automatic in the 90's, the shifter was next to the steering wheel, cool feature I had never seen before.
Welcome to C.O. Dele, and good luck chasing your dream.It's hard to identify colors on a computer screen, but I believe it was Medium Camel Metallic (code 63)! I may be able to find the real DuPont Color Chip book on Monday, and I will check it out. I was in the used car business during the '80's and sold many '80 Oldsmobiles. That color was very popular.
Larry
Welcome to C.O. Dele, and good luck chasing your dream.It's hard to identify colors on a computer screen, but I believe it was Medium Camel Metallic (code 63)! I may be able to find the real DuPont Color Chip book on Monday, and I will check it out. I was in the used car business during the '80's and sold many '80 Oldsmobiles. That color was very popular.
Larry
Yes, that's the car in the right color I would say.
Where do you guys look for cars? When I go to the craigslist-page, I have to specify which region I want to search in. I can't possibly go through all the regions separately, that would take forever. Is there a simpler way to get more results....
The 80-81 Cutlass Sedan seems to be kind of rare, or am I just not able to find them?
All the cars that have been posted in this thread are other models from the "wrong" year or higher models.
As I see it, the sedan was the base model, which was probably built in high quantities. On the other hand, those models tend to be not well kept before it doesn't make sense to invest in those I guess.
Thanks, those were 2 results I also got after using user KVPs search suggestion. They are also both LS version,the basic sedan didn't show up at all. Seems like the market is pretty much non-existent for that specific model. Oh boy!
Does anybody know of somebody (personally) who is selling one of these?
Although I do have PLENTY of time so there is no need for rushing. But it would raise my mood to see at least one up for sale and see where sale prices will be heading...
Just responded to your other post, got one for you, a (darker) 1980 LS for $4,950. Country Classic Cars.com (618)-635-7056. It looks quite good but WATCH the frames on these cars, especially from the front of the rear wheel wells on back to where they meet up with the body attachment and the rear bumper. Any decaying rust there, BEWARE. If you see that the car is junk and it's unsafe. For under $150 you can have a service go out & look at the car for you and I'd highly recommend that.
January 5th, 2017, 07:41 AM
Newbie from Germany looking for a Cutlass
! I’m not a native speaker and will probably make a grammar mistake here or there or get an expression wrong, but I will try my best!
AC was probably not working, can't remember.
