Is there anyone who can help me figure out What kind of Cutlass I have? I am restoring a 1976 Olds Cutlass, but there are no other emblems or anything. The car has been painted before, and on the front fenders where it says Cutlass there is a spot where it looks like the Olds emblem might have been. Can anyone help? I try to upload pics as attachments but am unable to. They are in my prolile though.

 

Maybe if you supplied the VIN# and the info on the cowl tag which you may find on the firewall

 

The taillights look like a 1977 same as my car and the rear side windows like yours i think only came on the cutlass S and the 442 That's just what i have read so could be wrong. Darin

 

I couldn't find a tag on the firewall. Here is the Vin# 3G37R6M314721. Thanks...

 

The missing part was a S in a emblem.

 

So the emblem was shaped like the Olds emblem with an S in it? Does that stand for Solan? I dont know myself. Thanks...

 

There were 5 models.
The 442, Cutlass and Cutlass S used the fastback rear with large triangular side windows.
The Salon used the fastback rear with smaller opera windows
The Cutlass Supreme used the short rear glass with opera windows.

The plain Cutlass may have been gone by '76, the F-85 was gone by then.

There were interior, front end, and tail light differences between the models too.

The S meant S, that's all. Some may say it meant Sport, but there is no basis for that statement, seeing how it could be a 4 door or have a inline six under the hood too!

 

3G37R6M314721


3 = Oldsmobile division
G = Cutlass S
37 = Coupe, 2-door hardtop
R = 350 (5.7 L) V8 engine
6 = last digit of model year (1976)
M = assembly plant (Lansing, Michigan)
314721 = production sequence number

 

Thanks for that info. At least I now know. So there is NO meaning for the S? I was at least hoping for a Solan.

 

So is the buckets and hurst automatic shifter factory? That is what made me think it was a 442.

 

I believe it is a Cutlass S. The S doesn't stand for Salon or anything. Just like the "S" in Harry S. Truman. That S didn't stand for anything, either.

I don't know about the seats or shifter.

 

A Cutlass S would've come with swivel buckets from the factory (or a bench seat). The Hurst shifter was added by somebody. You could call the S the poor man's 442, but it really doesn't matter. You could option an S exactly the same as a 442, the 442 was simply an appearance package in '76 with different grilles too.

 

There should have been a cowl tag (plate) somewhere on the car and I believe that would tell you what options the car came with. I don't know where it is on a 76 but mine is on the firewall in the engine bay by the wiper motor.

 

So somewhere down the line someone was planning on making it a 442 then most likely? The buckets do not swivel. I noticed while googeling images that some Cutlass S had the big side back window like mine with the fastback look, and laid back grill like mine, and some did not.

 

Post some pics of the buckets, I thought the recliner buckets were introduced in '77, but yours could be factory in '76. Do you have a console? I think a lot of the cars you see posted on the net are accident repairs. Body shops didn't give a hoot what kind of nose they put on a repair, as long as it bolted on. The one that made me shiver was a '73 Cutlass that got a '74 Supreme front clip.

 

Here is the pic of the console and driverside seat. Those seats were in it when I got it. I got the back seat, and door panels and interior trim from a 74 GTO.