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This summer I had the pleasure of acquiring a 1970 Cutlass Supreme with a factory 4 speed manual transmission from the original owner. I work with the son of the original owner, which is how I found out about it. The original owner ordered it in September of ‘69 and it was assembled in the 1st week of October 1969 at the Lansing, Michigan plant. He ordered a Cutlass Supreme because the insurance premiums were much cheaper than a 442 and he also liked the notchback roofline. The Sherwood green Olds was ordered with only a few options. It has the standard 4 barrel 350 (QV code) and was optioned with the M20 4 speed transmission with hurst shifter, G91 3.23:1 open rear (SE code), PO5 Super Stock 1 wheels (all 5 are date coded), D55 center console, C08 vinyl top, and U63 AM push button radio. It has manual steering and brakes. It has the protect-o-plate, owners manual and original title. I was hoping for the window sticker or sales invoice, as well, but those were commonly discarded back in the day. Being a Lansing car, there is no build sheet. Car is numbers matching, including the carb, distributor and many other components. The radiator and alternator are the main two components the are not original. I’m very pleased to have stumbled into a great car with with a great story that I could actually afford to buy!
Last edited by 70CS4speed; Nov 7, 2018 at 08:10 AM.
Well, congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the forum. A wealth of knowledge in this forum. We like pictures, cowl tag picture etc. These people can answer a lot of questions. It's fun to see a legit Cutlass with a 4-speed.
Thanks for joining and posting.
I’ve started cleaning it up. I’ll slowly replace the parts store ignition and cooling system tune up parts with period correct items. I’ll be on the hunt I for a correct radiator and 37 amp alternator as well.
According to the GM heritage center, Oldsmobile produced 679 M20 wide ratio 4 speed equipped Cutlass Supremes and 203 M21 close ratio 4 speed equipped Supremes for the 1970 model year. Those numbers include both hardtops and convertibles. They don’t have a breakdown of how many of each. I’m curious what the survival rate is. I would love to see some of the others that are floating around out there.
According to the GM heritage center, Oldsmobile produced 679 M20 wide ratio 4 speed equipped Cutlass Supremes and 203 M21 close ratio 4 speed equipped Supremes for the 1970 model year. Those numbers include both hardtops and convertibles. They don’t have a breakdown of how many of each. I’m curious what the survival rate is. I would love to see some of the others that are floating around out there.
Wow, that is not many. I have owned one of each myself. I had one with a close ratio and 391's over 30 years ago. Gold with a gold vinyl top, buckets console gauges dual mirrors and sport suspension. Drove that for a year or two and sold it. It was pretty rusty and I bet it was parted out many years ago.391's sucked on the highway. That was a very quick car!
My second one I restored and made into the SX that never came from the factory. Was maroon with a black vinyl top, a/c buckets console. wide ratio. I painted it red, took off the vinyl top and changed the gears to 3;42. A good friend of mine still has it. In retrospect I wish I would have left it all original. I always liked the supreme body style better and liked 4 speeds. Of course they never made a 1970 supreme with a 4 speed and a 455, which was my dream.
I emailed the GM heritage center and provided the VIN, looking for whatever info they had. They provided those production numbers for 4 speed cars.
That is really cool. I did not know that type of info was available. Will you post what they sent you? would you PM me or post the email you sent to? I would like to see what they know about 4-speed Rallye 350's.
Terry, how many 350 4 speed supremes have you documented?
Pat
For 1970, about a dozen convertibles and only a couple hardtops have surfaced since I stared the registry in 2001 or so. One was actually a gold hardtop since you mentioned that you had one in rough shape. I have a few of each tracked for 1971, and maybe 20 total for 1972. I pulled the registry site down for major updates or I could look and see exactly how many, but the numbers that have turned up are pretty small, especially for 1971 and 1972 hardtops. Here's a letter about 1970 M21 convertibles that I had on the site:
For 1970, about a dozen convertibles and only a couple hardtops have surfaced since I stared the registry in 2001 or so. One was actually a gold hardtop since you mentioned that you had one in rough shape.
For 1970, about a dozen convertibles and only a couple hardtops have surfaced since I stared the registry in 2001 or so. One was actually a gold hardtop since you mentioned that you had one in rough shape. I have a few of each tracked for 1971, and maybe 20 total for 1972. I pulled the registry site down for major updates or I could look and see exactly how many, but the numbers that have turned up are pretty small, especially for 1971 and 1972 hardtops. Here's a letter about 1970 M21 convertibles that I had on the site:
Terry
I still have the part of the title from the gold one. VIN 342570m291678
The week before I purchased my V code supreme there was a green 1970 supreme convert for sale in plymouth.. M21 350 with years of winters salt rust on it.I looked at it BUT did not even bother driving it around the block... Original owner has since sold that car...
I own this one and am in the process of frame off. Luckily I have all the original parts down to the carb, manifolds, everything. Hopefully I'll have it done by 2020. Not sure how to turn it the right way
I own this one and am in the process of frame off. Luckily I have all the original parts down to the carb, manifolds, everything. Hopefully I'll have it done by 2020. Not sure how to turn it the right way
Your car is one I would love to own myself. If you ever get sick of the project in a year or two let me know.
Did your car come with the 7040253 Carb? What was the build date?
I was stoked to come across this one at MCACN this weekend in the barn finds area. Was purchased from the original owner, and is a QB-code 350/M20 with tons of paperwork and history. The owner plans to pretty much leave it alone.
(I felt vindicated by the green sport wheel cap. There was an OCA master judge milling around at MCACN as a spectator. My judging team was trying to verify whether a '71 Sienna interior would have a Sienna horn cap or black cap (like all '72 sport wheels do, regardless of interior color). I told him the 1970 sport wheels had 4-5 available horn cap colors - gold, green, blue, brown - and he said in all his years he never saw one and that they didn't have color-keyed horn caps until the later Starfire sport wheels came out. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mike the OCA master judge.... Sorry, I digress.)
Terry
Last edited by vette442; Nov 19, 2018 at 11:57 AM.
Wow, pretty much how mine looked before starting the restoration. Mine has a M21 instead of the M20 and has black int but same top, paint. Mine was a 3:91 geared car. I wonder what g/ratio this one had
Wow, pretty much how mine looked before starting the restoration. Mine has a M21 instead of the M20 and has black int but same top, paint. Mine was a 3:91 geared car. I wonder what g/ratio this one had
Steve M. was telling me he had a buddy who was restoring an identical car. This one has the SD 3:08 posi per its build sheet.
Beautiful Olds this will be a fun car.Looks great.
