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BAT Auction and only at $1,250 for a 1973 Olds Cutlass S. Nobody really is interested in those cars. Personally, I think those cars are hideous and one of the worst GM looking car designs to come out. Thank goodness GM had the strike and kept the shorter body style going until 1972. Once 1973 hit, those cars got beat with the ugly stick.
True, the 73+ Cutlii aren't as desirable or cool as the earlier ones. I still think it's a handsome Oldsmobile though... for an economy car. Plus, that auction still has 3 days to go.
This car was for sale near me on Craigslist for a long time. He was asking 18K at first then gradually went down to 12K. I wacthed the viseo and looked over the photos, I think it looks like a good driver, but the restoration is short of a show car, if that is what you want..
This car was for sale near me on Craigslist for a long time. He was asking 18K at first then gradually went down to 12K. I wacthed the viseo and looked over the photos, I think it looks like a good driver, but the restoration is short of a show car, if that is what you want..
Yeah I saw it too, looks like a nice cruiser but not a fan of the 73-77.
Pretty comprehensive photo gallery. Undercarriage photos actually look pretty good at a glance.
Actually, it's a Western Car. Colorado location, a commenter mentioned car had indications of having spent time in Amarillo TX based on some stickers on it. Kind of a Transitional year, believe the 5 mph bumper basher standards only applied to Front bumpers for '73, and in '74 both Front and Rear were required to be 5 mph bumpers.
Obviously a fair amount of work went into it, by the seller, Frankly don't know how the BaT bidding works. Is there a Reserve?? Guy might lose his shirt, here.
There is no doubt the seller has a reserve on this car, probably much higher than bidders will go.The bidding will certainly go higher than 1250.00 there are a ton of guys that love this style and they go for much cheaper than the typical 68-72 a bodies. Hell, i see rotted out 68-72 garbage, sellers are asking thousands for ! I had a 73 many years ago and it was a great riding and driving car .Went through 7 transmissions and 3 motors before i finally sold it .( im sorry to say i beat on that car something awful feel bad to this day )Good luck to the seller and the buyer
Another thing to keep in mind is that the seller might bump the reserve $1k-$2k or more just because of COVID. It seems like the price of everything else is going up just because...
I like a 73 a lot, especially the S roofline. If this car doesn't get bid up very high i think it's really just the marginal paint job and overall lack of detail.
At least he took a ton of pictures, not trying to hide anything. Probably a nice car to drive.
I would think it would pull over $10k in the end. I really want to like these, as they seem rare now… I just can’t though… I don’t know if it’s the bumpers or sheet metal.
I think these 73-77 Cutlasses are cool and underrated, but I'm biased ( I have a 76 Cutlass S). Hopefully the right person will come along and grab it.
Chris I am with you. I saw this car on Craigslist for crazy money over and over. I do not see this car as 15 grand and more. One thing that never changes is bad bodywork and bad electrical work. It is better off to have never done anything than done wrong. Ten would be a stretch for me but hey I am old.
Well, nothing as hideous as the 1978 Olds Cutlass Salon:
This was an abomination and should never have been built.
This was an insult to the "442" name and also should have never been made. All while boasting a whopping 110 HP. Rumor has it the GM designers who designed these cars went missing and were just recently found dead in barrels in Lake Mead. Looks like GM had them executed and dropped into the lake back in the early 80's.
I just looked again and the car is still at $5,500. Again, I think it is just a good driver, you'd get compliments about it everywhere you went, but not gonna win any trophies.
Sad thing is, you guys are right. As much as I like the Colonnade cars, the cost to do a full restoration would easily exceed what the car is worth. I see these cars for sale online at classic car places for $25-40k. and six months later they are still there.
Car NEVER SOLD. Got to $6,500 and the reserve was not met. Like mentioned, these cars get no love and understandably so. They were slow, ugly and had nothing going for them. A forgotten car design era that many want to remain forgotten in the junkyards of car time.
BAT Auction and only at $1,250 for a 1973 Olds Cutlass S. Nobody really is interested in those cars. Personally, I think those cars are hideous and one of the worst GM looking car designs to come out. Thank goodness GM had the strike and kept the shorter body style going until 1972. Once 1973 hit, those cars got beat with the ugly stick.
In the description, I noticed that "master cylinder" has been replaced by the author with "Primary brake cylinder". Just like on those real estate TV shows, master bedroom has been replaced with "primary bedroom/bathroom". Gotta love these politically correct people who force changes in our language in a futile attempt at assuaging their own irrational guilt.
Funny that we can assign a value of $6500 to that car when a similarly equipped '72 in comparable condition might go for three times that.
Is the '73 a bargain or is the '72 overpriced ... or a little of both?
Definitely not a bargain on the 73. As mentioned, that bodystyle of car is not well liked and there really is no demand for it. One almost never see's them come across the auction block at Mecum or BJ. There is a reason for that. Nobody really wants those cars.
I have had two 72 Cutlass Supreme convertibles in my lifetime. They were great cars and easy to maintain. They were just 350/350 drivelines. I have had my 75 Hurst Olds since October. I was considering buying an 83 Hurst Olds and the 75 came along. This car handles a lot better than either of the 72's did. It has a 455 smog motor in it and highway gears and it will cruise at 80-90 all day long as long as you stop for gas. I used to think these cars had little appeal but I love this car. Granted it is a Hurst and they only made a little over 2,500 of them in 75. I have only seem one other one and that was in the early 80's. I get lots of compliments on the car so I think there are people that like them. I really don't give a damn if anybody else likes it. It is my car and my wife and I both enjoy this car.
I have had two 72 Cutlass Supreme convertibles in my lifetime. They were great cars and easy to maintain. They were just 350/350 drivelines. I have had my 75 Hurst Olds since October. I was considering buying an 83 Hurst Olds and the 75 came along. This car handles a lot better than either of the 72's did. It has a 455 smog motor in it and highway gears and it will cruise at 80-90 all day long as long as you stop for gas. I used to think these cars had little appeal but I love this car. Granted it is a Hurst and they only made a little over 2,500 of them in 75. I have only seem one other one and that was in the early 80's. I get lots of compliments on the car so I think there are people that like them. I really don't give a damn if anybody else likes it. It is my car and my wife and I both enjoy this car.
The 350 Olds was one of the most reliable engines put out in the 70's. Not as much fun as the 455 but the 350 would outlive the 455. Detuned the smog 455 would live longer as it wouldn't stress out the bottom end as much as the higher HP versions did.
If you enjoy driving it, then that's all that matters. These cars were built to drive and life is short not to enjoy driving them.
Out of the four new 1973 GM Colonnade style A-bodies, the Cutlass hands down looked the best, borrowing some of the styling cues from earlier models.
The W-46 equipped 1973 H/O was nice looking and had ‘performance‘ to boot.
The later Colonnades did not look as nice due to the ‘heavier’ 5-mph front bumper and new for 1974 5-mph rear bumper.
Though the NASCAR slant nose did look good. Too bad Hurst did not get the opportunity to build the planned 1977 H/O due to Oldsmobile not being able to supply sufficient cars.
Well, now we know what the reserve was, around $9k. I think he will have a hard time getting that price. Maybe $5k tops for a car like this unless he finds someone emotionally tied with this bodystyle who is willing to overpay for a car.
The funny thing is, I see 73-77 Cutlasses for sale on classic cars sites for 20-40 thousand all the time, and I just can't believe they are selling for that much. Most of the ones I see at those prices are Supremes, but I have seen 76-77 442s for 15-30. Some car dealer has a 77 442 with the 260 V8/five speed combo up right now for about 20K. My 76 Cutlass S has the 260/automatic and while it has been a reliable car, it can barely get out of its own way on a hill. I can't imagine the 5 speed is much better, though it would be more fun to drive. I think the Colonnade cars deserve more love than they get, but I like that the prices aren't too high, so guys like me can drive them.
I’ll say that they’re ugly, but people still think they’re awesome because they’re old and rare. They sold a ton of these, yes, but not many are left at all. $6500 will be a bargain by the end of the decade (had it sold for that price). The blue chip stuff is too expensive these days and the market for it is getting older and dying off. Market substitution by younger folks will make these “unwanted” cars more desirable—I was born in 1991 and I’ll say most of my generation doesn’t care about horsepower and numbers and muscle car pedigree. We just like what’s left of the cool old stuff because there’s just too little of it left to be picky about it. My ‘73 Vista Cruiser gets a lot of attention (its not nice or a show car, but people go completely nuts) and it’s objectively an ugly land yacht. Yet considering the undrivable garbage I’m seeing on marketplace and Craigslist selling (yes, selling, not just the asking prices) for 2x-3x what I paid for this turnkey 1-owner wagon, I’m gonna come out on top when it’s time to get rid of it. I’d be buying the Collonades while I could.
Also, they have awesome Nascar history. What’s not to like about that?
I’ll say that they’re ugly, but people still think they’re awesome because they’re old and rare. They sold a ton of these, yes, but not many are left at all. $6500 will be a bargain by the end of the decade (had it sold for that price). The blue chip stuff is too expensive these days and the market for it is getting older and dying off. Market substitution by younger folks will make these “unwanted” cars more desirable—I was born in 1991 and I’ll say most of my generation doesn’t care about horsepower and numbers and muscle car pedigree. We just like what’s left of the cool old stuff because there’s just too little of it left to be picky about it. My ‘73 Vista Cruiser gets a lot of attention (its not nice or a show car, but people go completely nuts) and it’s objectively an ugly land yacht. Yet considering the undrivable garbage I’m seeing on marketplace and Craigslist selling (yes, selling, not just the asking prices) for 2x-3x what I paid for this turnkey 1-owner wagon, I’m gonna come out on top when it’s time to get rid of it. I’d be buying the Collonades while I could.
Also, they have awesome Nascar history. What’s not to like about that?
I’ll say that they’re ugly, but people still think they’re awesome because they’re old and rare. They sold a ton of these, yes, but not many are left at all. $6500 will be a bargain by the end of the decade (had it sold for that price). The blue chip stuff is too expensive these days and the market for it is getting older and dying off. Market substitution by younger folks will make these “unwanted” cars more desirable—I was born in 1991 and I’ll say most of my generation doesn’t care about horsepower and numbers and muscle car pedigree. We just like what’s left of the cool old stuff because there’s just too little of it left to be picky about it. My ‘73 Vista Cruiser gets a lot of attention (its not nice or a show car, but people go completely nuts) and it’s objectively an ugly land yacht. Yet considering the undrivable garbage I’m seeing on marketplace and Craigslist selling (yes, selling, not just the asking prices) for 2x-3x what I paid for this turnkey 1-owner wagon, I’m gonna come out on top when it’s time to get rid of it. I’d be buying the Collonades while I could.<br /><br />Also, they have awesome Nascar history. What’s not to like about that?
I love the body styles of these years. I like the way the grill wraps all the way under the front end and the bumper is a separate piece on the '73s. I like the body lines, too. The '76 and '77 models are nice and clean, and should be appreciated, as well. The dashes are cool, too. Supremes are the way to go for these years, though. I tried to not like my '78 Brougham and '84 Supreme, but I ended up loving those, too.
I started thinking about this and although I don't have any production figures at hand, I believe they made more '73-7 A-bodies than '68-'72s. So how come you see so many '68-'72s and hardly any colonnades?
I had a 73 back in the late 70 early 80’s as my high school car. I have a soft spot for those body styles. Didn’t lose often. That thing was heavy but it was fast for the day. Had a cam, intake and carb , headers and 4:11 gears.
My friends dad was not to happy about the stripes that stayed in front of his house for months!
Plus, that auction still has 3 days to go.
