Hi everyone,

I just joined the forum last evening, at the recommendation of my son - Michael. He recently joined too - under the name 1976CSB455.

Michael just purchased a very clean, low mileage, all original 1976 Cutlass Supreme Brougham, with a rare optional 455. I posted a few pics. for him last night. The car is coming from California, and is expected to arrive within the next two weeks.

I have been an Oldsmobile fan since I was a kid in the 1960s, and have very fond memories of the Rallye 350, Hurst Olds, and 442. I remember going into Olds dealers with my dad - looking at these wonderful cars when they were new.

In 1975, I was 20-years old, and had been looking for a car at the time. My dad - a barber - told me about one of his customers (a school teacher) who had “one of those yellow Olds Cutlass Rallye 350s” for sale. Even at time, my dad realized that this was a very rare car, and one that I should seriously consider buying.

The car had about 45,000 miles on it, and I ended up purchasing it for $1500. It had the Hurst Dual-Gate shifter.

Here is a scanned picture that was taken during the summer of 1975. In it are my mother, my brother (in the baseball uniform), and me.

PaulsRallye350.jpg

I have a few other pics. that I will post in the future.


Due to the gas crunch, and rising fuel prices of the mid to late 1970s, I sold the car to my dad, and purchased a new Dodge Colt - that was much better on gas

In 1982, my dad was in need of money and sold the car. I was just starting a family at the time and, unfortunately, did not have the financial resources to buy it from him.

I wouldn’t mind finding another one some day, and I know that the prices are pretty steep – especially for original, unmolested specimens.

It's great to be here, and I look forward to learning more about Oldsmobiles - while also sharing some of my experiences.

 

Awesome! Love the nostalgia....it's gotta hurt looking at that picture!

 

Welcome to the site, ya gotta love those back in the day pics, thanks for sharing

 

Welcome to our site. I remember your son's posts about his car. Glad to see both of you here.

 

Welcome to the site, Ah memorys, I do remember the hair

 

Thanks very much for the welcome Dan.

My son lives about 450 miles from me, and this gives us another way to keep in touch with each other.

I live about 90 minutes from Seven Springs, and we're planning to attend the 2009 Oldsmobile Nationals this summer.

Take care,

Paul

 

Thanks very much citcapp! You're right - the hair! My dad was a barber, and he wasn't too happy

 

Welcome aboard. Well, at least your t-shirt matches the car. I think that's very stylish.

 

Thanks Eric!

I remember quite vividly - the exhilaration – when I first drove that car. It was very smooth and quick – and just sounded so good! My previous car was a 1967 Mustang with a 200 cu. in. straight six with a three on the floor. That car was a bit rough riding – but it was a fun to drive (really kept you on your toes). I got rid of it because the body rusted-out.

I live near Pittsburgh – where the winters can be pretty rough on cars. It wasn’t uncommon to see cars with rusted-through body panels – only after a couple winters. This was especially evident on the 1960s and 70s Fords (Ford was making their own steel at the time, and QC was oretty lackluster). Imagine if cars rusted-out like that today

 

Thanks ent72olds!

It hurts a bit to look at that picture, but it also brings back some great memories. I remember taking my mother for rides and scaring the daylights out of her - as I slapped through the right side of that dual-gate

 

Ah, memories of 5 of us and a cooler being crammed into a 66 289 4 speed fastback Stang. The rear seat is like riding on a wagon.
I saw my buddy at a high school reunion a few weeks back and he's still got the thing.

 

Thanks Jamesbo!

I don't think it was deliberate though.

I only owned two-shirts at the time. The other was blue

 

Welcome. Hey man, that pic is super groovy, 2 cool.
20 in '75?, me too, next year our ages and year born will be the same.

I wore gas station uniforms or at least the shirt at all times, it was like wearing colors back then.
A lot of car guys uniform at that time and for a long time before was jeans and a black pocket T-shirt with a pack of smokes rolled up in the sleeve, preferably Camel straights, you didn't have to smoke them.
If you were really cool you rolled a carton of cig's up in your sleeve.

 

welcome. nice ride...hope you find another.

 

Thanks very much!

1955 was a great year - wasn't it? .

Just think - in 2008, we celebrated our 35th high school class reunion

In addition to a 1970 Rallye 350, I wouldn't mind someday picking up an Olds from my birth year.

 

Thanks very much for the welcome csstrx!

This seems to a great forum with some very nice folks

 

Welcome,
I bet there was some Bachman turner overdrive blaring on radio. Cool pic.

 

welcome to the site. hopefully you will be able to let us know about your newest Olds sooner than later. I remember 1975 really well cause it was my first real car a 1966 Impala SS. My dad used to cut my hair ( he was military ) and finally let me grow it however long I wanted when I turned 16 , I never cut it fo 3 years

 

Oh yes there was! BTO, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, Robin Trower, plus many, many more.

I ended installing an aftermarket 8-Track too!

What a great time for cars & music

 

Thanks wolfman 98! Three-years without a haircut!! Man, I bet it was pretty long

 

my first car was a rallye 350. i luckily still have it. i restored it in 1999. i got the car in 1990.

 

WOW - That's great!

Post some pics. when you have a chance.

Thanks,

Paul

 

good evening to all..glad to be here ...hope to have plenty of questions for the grooup...looking to keep my 66 L-69 all original..thansk mark

 

Here's a couple more scanned pics. of my Rallye 350. These were taken in the summer of 1975.

That's my dad's 1970 Pontiac Catalina in the background.

Rallye350in1975A.jpg
Rallye350in1975.jpg

 

i see that yours had yellow bumper bolts. some people don't believe it but some had the stainless caped bolts. there is nothing that determined if a car got them. i was told by a man that worked the plant where they were made, that they ran out of painted bolts a couple times while building these cars and they just used the stainless caped bolts in there place. i can not confirm that his story was true but i do know that some were not yellow.

 

I'm sure that you're right. In fact, I remember seeing an original Rallye 350 in Ohio during the late 1970s that had stainless capped bolts. At the time, I thought the guy may have changed them - but why? It makes sense that, like most companies, GM used whatever parts they had in stock - as long as they were the same size.

Thanks