tj78_

Ok so here's the deal...

I currently have an 87 corvette. I love the car, but with a growing family, it just doesnt get used as much as i would like... I've have a few vettes of this generation and like thier balance of performance/ maintainance cost ( self work)/ mpg/reliability/ and handling.
I started looking at cars with 4 seats and am drawn to early 70's muscle. This is when I discovered the lines of the 71/72 cutlass / 442 which I love. Aggressive, long nose, wide rear stance, fastback, awesome front clip etc. I figure it should cost a little less to get into than a chevelle and be a bit more unique... for as rare as chevelles are it seems like there are tons of them at shows..

The usage I expect to get out of my car is fridays to work, ice-cream with the family, errands on the weekends and possibly a long trip in the summer for a family vacation here and there. (1000+ miles) Most likely is upstate NY to OBX NC. I'd prob also start attending some local weekly informal car shows.

I know this is an Olds forum so I expect some bias ( NO!?!?!) but would this be a bad move? Am I going to be dissapointed with the maintanance needs, gas consumption and poor handling? Are the majorinty of people going to tell me I'm not gonna want to take my family 700 miles from home in a 40 y/o car? I imagine cars came a long way from 1970 to the 1987 vette I drove down there ( pre baby)

Can anyone make a comparison for me?
I've searched on here, but it's hard to find anything relating to this comparison.

Thanks in advance, I'm looking foward to all of your opinions!

Tj

halfmoontrail

I think the advantages might outweigh the disadvantages, but it is a close call.

As an example, I have a similar car to your vette, an 87 Trans Am GTA. It is my daily driver, very reliable and fun to drive, and about 18 mpg. I wouldn't hesitate to drive it 1000 miles.

I also have more than a handful of 70-72 Cutlasses/442. VERY reliable, comfortable ride, great brakes, and great power, sound and looks...but about 10 mpg on average, more maintenance, and I would be nervous about a 300 mile trip.

From a value perspective, the Cutlasses are better than your C4. Unfortunately the C4 prices are still falling, while good 70-72 Cutlass (or 442 is even better) prices have stabilized and seem to be moving back up again.

Steve

72 cutlass455

Oldsmobile for many years were very good cars there engines were so loved that many got very upset, when one year gm tried to replace them with there 350 engine. 1k a year is not any thing for a 70's cutlass. They do like the fuel. They will not handle as well as your vet. These were yuppy cars in their day. If you get a car with the 350 and the two barrel carb you should see the best gas milage from it. Although gas milage is mostly determined by the gas pedal activation device(your foot). So good luck and hope you find a nice one for your trips.

lshlsh2

I never had any reliability issues with my 71 convertible. I'm sure if you want one to handle and preform like your vette you can do lots of upgrades. All it takes is money and time.

My car is very comfortable on the highway at 65-70mph for trips.
Larry

tj78_

Thanks for the advice.

Side dilemma is i'd love to get one with a 425 or 455.... i wonder what mpg i could get out of a 455 with a gm tbi unit on top... i feel like with a 350 and the right set-up i could get toward 20 mpg but idk how much that's gonna hurt performance when i want it...

Steve- why do you say very reliable and then say you would hesitate on a trip voer 300 miles?

hookem horns

I went through a similar delimma when looking for a "fun" weekend car. Here's what my short list included and guess which one I picked?

68-72 Cutlass vert's - Always a favorite from my youth balancing performance and style. Great parts/support and DIY friendly. Perfect "cruiser" choice for doing the things you describe which is very similar to what I wanted out of my "toy". Brings more smiles to my face and everyone I meet than anything else I considered.

C4 - great hp/$ but did not care for the interior style/quality, especially the early ones. Kept finding more reasons to not like than like the car, just not a 'vette guy in the end.

80's 911 - I may get blacklisted here, but best driver's car ever if that's the deciding factor. Did a ride-along on a track with a DE instructor and wow! Surprisingly reliable and sturdy, but $$$ when things do go wrong. Still want one someday.

halfmoontrail

I know it sounds inconsistent, and it probably is.

By "very reliable" I am comparing to other old cars (GM and others). I have found that my Cutlasses always start even after long periods of sitting; not necessarily so for my other vintage cars (Triumph, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, others).

That said, I believe overall reliabilty and safety had a major improvement throughout the auto industry in the mid-80's. Whereas my Cutlasses may be fine for a long trip, there is always a leak or a drip, or heavy traffic, or weather factors...all adding up to more comfort, peace of mind, and safety with a newer car.

Steve

OLD SKL 69

The reliability of Olds motors, in my experience, is excellent. I recently drove mine to GM Carlisle (300 miles one way - about 800 on the trip altogether) and it performed flawlessly.

Mine had only been driven 3000 miles since 1980, but I was not concerned about it because I went over everything since I bought it 2 years ago. Fluid changes, routine maintenance, good tires and they are good to go. Most of these old cars, when properly maintained and taken care of, can be driven anywhere.

I averaged 18-20mpg on the trip with a 350 4bbl and 2.56 rear gear. Even got stuck in traffic around NYC for 2 hours and it did not overheat, even with the A/C on. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that it also has flowmasters so it sounded great going down the road at 75-80mph. My new car sure doesn't sound or look as good.

My vote would be to go for an Olds, but then again maybe I am biased.

tj78_

Im thinking if i make this jump, I should be able to trade or buy/sell and end up even up. Clean driver 87 vette for a clean driver 71 or 72 Cutlass S. All I'll loose is 2-3 feet of garage space

Agreed?

I love the idea of keeping my car and picking up a cheaper project and doing a full resto over the next year or two, but realistically i just don't see having the time or money for it... and aside from that I really don't have the space for another car because apparently my wife thinks it is not OK to have a rusted up old car sitting in the back yard... And of course there's the whole instant gratification thing....

joe_padavano

This has to be the first time I've ever seen the words "rare" and "Chevelle" in the same sentence!

tj78_

well they must be rare for the price they command right???

nofiveo

IMHO, the Corvette is nothing but a half ton chevy pickup with a little police package Caprice sprinkled on for taste. They ride terrible, are hard to get in and out of and you can't fit anything bigger than a coleman cooler in the front seat without being cramped. The Cutlass has plenty of room for suspension upgrades, springs, control arms, sway bars etc to give it a sporty ride if that what you like. If i ever decided to put FI on my Cutlass, I'd look into the setups by Demon. The GM TBI units are pretty outdated.. if you're gonna do it, make it something you can tune yourself on a laptop.

tj78_

Wow. Beautiful car nofiveo.

hookem horns

Just my opinion, but don't get too hung up on gas mileage if it's a weekend car. Assuming you drive it 2500 mi/yr, extra gas between 12mpg and 20mpg is about $300 at today's prices. OD trans or FI might make sense if the car needs them anyway but can't justify just for mileage. As said above, stock is pretty reliable as classics go.

455man

When I was in college I drove my Yellow Cutlass everywhere. I put about 20k miles on it a year. You can make these cars reliable. Fuel injection would help. You can make them get decent gas mileage also. My 350 motor got 20mpg with a 2.78 gear. An overdrive and fuel injection would help that out. And as far as power...I googled the 87 Vette and it shows it was pushing 240hp/345 torque at a 15.1 1/4 mile time. That would be very easy for an olds 350.

tj78_

yea i guess i shouldnt say power so much as torque.. i like the low torque that i have in the vette... of course i would LOVE it if i had that torque AND it didn't fall on its face as RPM went up...

I agree that level of hp is feasible/easy in the 350 olds, but really the the HP/weight ratio or 0-60 that i'd rather not go lower on... The same 240/345 would be hard pressed to move att that extra steel of a cutlass the same way. I've ran the numbers before but i can't rememeber what they were now.. maybe 300 ish HP ...

Im leaning toward an eventual BB torque beast. just don't want to price myself out of driving it

this thread is makign me wanna take the leap mroe and more!

the safety aspect does concern me a little... having the whole family in an old car.. idk..

tj78_

hmm.... so just to make sure i don't make a decision i regret i think i should find a cutlass to drive before i sell my car...

any chances there's someone on here in upstate NY that feels like taking me for a joyride???

JimMorrisonFan67

What was the manufacturers estimated MPG for a 1972 Cutlass. Our car is getting about 12mg and was wondering if that was far off from what is supposed to be. Our car seems not to be running as smoothly as it should..the car shimmeys at idle..we had the carb rebuilt already. Hubby thinking its a vac. problem. I wish we had a good olds mechanic around us that could troubleshoot it for us...

455man

This thread might help.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post443654

gearheads78

I would run away from the C4 while you still can. Seems every time I get one in the shop if it not a engine / transmission part its been discontinued or near impossible to get. Its some sort of expensive electrical part most of the time.

oldsmoboogie

As far as reliability goes any car can be reliable if you maintain it correctly and have good parts on it. I drive my car on 2 road trips a year covering 1000 miles in 4 days without hiccup. I even drive it to the dragstrip 40 miles each way and beat the crap out of it so dont be scared to put some miles on a 40 yr old car. Just make sure the suspension and brakes are in good working order and use quality parts. Sway bars and good shocks are affordable and a good start on a nice handleing car. A mild 350 with a 2004r trans and a 3.50 gear would be a great compromise to power and mpg and remember olds are all about torque! I wouldnt trade my olds for anything! You wont reget it

69 Ragtop

Wow. I agree that there isn't much room in them, and I don't expect these beasts to be well-received on the Cutlass forum, but this statement is not fair to the best-handling American car for its time -- so good, in fact, that they were outlawed from SCCA competition (because all they did was win) and had to race against their own kind in the Corvette Challenge series.

jpc647

The Cutlass, I don't care what you do is not going to handle like it's on rails, as the vette will. That being said, if you want a car to take the family out in, are you really going to need that handling? Do you really want to whip around an on ramp at 80mph with the family? Probably not.

I have a 72 Cutlass. The only times I had problems were my own fault. I was too lazy to replace the water pump when I knew it was bad. It let go and I broke down. I chose not to replace my voltage regulator when I knew it was going bad, and it quit one day. Sure fluke things happen, but they happen to any car. The module in the HEI ignition can fail at any moment, but the coil pack on your vette can do the same. Preventative maintenance. Plain and Simple.

My transmission seeps out of the speedometer seal, and I have a small leak out of the distributor(oil). I'm not about to rip the trans apart at the moment, so I keep a quart of each fluid in the trunk as a precaution. If my Cutlass breaks down, with a simple socket set and a screwdriver I'm likely to be able to fix it. The Vette, probably not without a laptop and scantool. My Cutlass has a 3.33 rear end gear, not sure of rebuild or not, but i'll lay down 111 feet of rubber, and mixed driving I can get around 17-18 mpg. Driving carefully.

Old cars are for the tinkering type. If you don't want to play with the car on a weekend to make it better, to change it, or fix small problems as they arise, don't do it. But if you are even slightly mechanically inclined and know your way around a tool box, it's a great hobby. Something like a fuel filter in the wrong location can cause you a month of Sundays tinkering to fix a problem, trying to adjust one thing or another. But my time is free, and it's fun to fix my own stuff.

Just my 2 cents. My everyday car is faster and handles better than my Oldsmobile. It bothers me a bit, but they are fun in different ways.

sammy

I take my family for rides all the time. Ice cream, to the lake, after work treats...
The 455 is driven usually on short trips, whereas the 350 2bbl we tend to use for farther distances...Fun, reliable and comfortable cars to drive, I think they are a great choice that will not beat up your wallet too badly, depending on how far you want to go...My 2cents...good luck with your choice

vette442

Wow. I'm a long-term owner of nice examples of the C4,'70-72 455 Oldsmobiles and the 1/2 ton Chevy truck. (current fleet in my signature, but there have been other Stingrays and C4s and many other 68-72 Oldsmobiles).

Which one is much closer to being a 1/2 ton Chevy truck in all respects? It's not the C4.

Terry

droptopron

They are two different cars with their own strengths & weaknesses. When I 1st started looking for a hobby car I was sure I was buyinbg a C3 and road tested one. I really liked it but started thinking about the same factors you have listed. Test drive and Olds but keep in mind that there are plenty of things that can be done to mitigate its short comings. If you plan for it to be a family cruiser look for things like power disc brakes & working A/C. My car has power front discs, a slightly larger front sway bar, a rear bar with boxed control arms & a rebuilt steering bix with a slightly faster ratio and I am really happy with how it feels.

Nilsson

QUOTE=joe_padavano;307930]This has to be the first time I've ever seen the words "rare" and "Chevelle" in the same sentence![/QUOTE]


And 99.9% are the even more rare SS model. I see so many SS Chevelles I want to puke.

allyolds68

Considering that this thread is a year old and tj78_ hasn't posted since, I think he probably decided on something besides an Olds

brown7373

I think it all depends on how good the Olds is, or how good you make it. Redo the brakes, top to bottom, unless they are perfect already. How sound is the engine> Is it set up to be street driven or raced at the track?

I too drive my 72 Cutlass Convertible 350 2 to 3 times a year 500-700 miles in 4 days. I also have a 1970 Bonneville Convertible (different car but same idea) that I have driven to Hershey PA from south Florida 5 different times, about 2500 miles in 8 or 9 days, plus numerous vacations to the mountains of North Carolina. Never a problem I couldn't handle. These were VERY reliable cars when new and continue to be if you maintain them.