Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
On a car forum I frequent, this was found in a junkyard I think in the Maritimes - an Iraqi Taxi:
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1978-oldsmobile-cutlass-supreme
Rare to find in this sort of condition these days for sure, but I don't find this particularly appealing, especially with the worthless 260 V-8.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I hate the aftermarket wheelcovers, easily-remedied of course.
Just to be different, I'd probably like it better if it were a Salon.
Two of my high school friends had these new--'75 with V8. I was very envious. At the time I loved the styling, and they were a late launch in my memory--our dealer didn't get one at all until Feb. '75. By the end of the model year they seemed to be cranking them out. Later ones were better cars, but as usual IMO, the small details of the first year were the best-looking.
This car has the factory optional aluminum wheels, rarely seen. It's a four-speed too, with the tall trans hump the '75's had.
Those sport mirrors looked nice but were useless with those teardrop door windows in my memory--too low to be useful.
I bet I haven't seen one at all in 30 years around here, and this one's seen better days to say the least.
I know they had their issues, and in general, the bigger the engine, the more troubleprone they were. But, they were certainly lookers for the era, and showed that small cars didn't have to look ugly or downscale.
One thing the Monza had over the '75 Mustang V8 was that it was available with a four-speed.
The '75 base price was $3,900-something, I remember that....supposedly $300 more than a base Camaro. I have to say I like the Monza better, now and back then. I thought I was a sophisticated teenager then (LOL), and the Camaro and Corvette both seemed too mainstream-teen to me, LOL.
My one friend's new '75 was orange with saddle cloth interior, and the others was red with sandalwood vinyl interior. I am no longer in touch with the latter but as of a decade ago he still owned it, in storage, with I think 35K miles and it looked new. He added white-lettered tires and the factory aluminum wheels to it.
Gotta say, the later-introduced Monza Towne Coupe never did a thing for me.
Not that you buy a car like a Monza 2+2 for this, but I'd be hard-pressed to think of a car that had a more-cramped interior at the time, LOL.
I wonder what kind of performance they got out of the 350? You'd think in a car that small, it would be pretty quick. But, I think they choked it down to 125 hp when they put it in the Monza. I'd imagine it was still pretty torquey, though? The car was also no lightweight. The one in my R&T was listed at ~3200 lb curb weight, and ~3500 lb test weight (with driver and test equipment, I'm guessing?)
As for hatchback versus Town Coupe, with most cars I'd probably prefer a more formal roof, but the Town Coupe just never did it for me, either. I don't like the front-end with the round headlights. But, when they put the racier quad headlight front-end on the notchback, I don't think it looks right, either.
I think the Pontiac Sunbird looks fine either in notchback or hatchback, though. It may be because the Sunbird's nose strikes a good balance, being more rakish than the round-headlight Monza, but not as extreme as the quad headlight version.
**Edit: Well damn if someone didn't scan the actual road test in, and post it on the interwebs!
I always thought the front-end styling of the 2+2 was its sharpest styling feature.
'75 Monzas were only built at the small Ste. Therese, Quebec plant, not alongside Vegas at Lordstown. I remember a PM Owner's Survey on the cars that showed surprising positive responses about workmanship on the cars, although I think I remember that it was a pretty early survey.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
When GM redid the Bonneville/88/LeSabre for 1992, they really didn't do a whole lot for me. While they were at least more distinct from each other than the '91 and earlier models had been, the LeSabre, suddenly seemed like an old people's car, while the Bonneville was trying too hard for that boy racer look. The Olds 88 though, I thought, struck a happy middle ground between the two.
I did like the rear of the Bonneville, as it reminded me of the Avanti (tucked in at the bottom)--although whatever year the taillights became big scowls, turned me off.
My first inclination would be that Automobile-catalogue is wrong, listing the THM200 gear ratios for the '75 4.3 V8. But, the R&T road test of the '75 4.3 Monza is also showing those THM200 gear ratios.
The Olds 98 with its partial/skirted rear wheel openings always looked just a little off from rear angles, to my eye.
The Olds 98 with its partial/skirted rear wheel openings always looked just a little off from rear angles, to my eye.
Me too. A low-cut wheel opening is bad enough (LOL), but that car looked like the regular wheel opening was just cut straight across at the top with a horizontal line.
https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/388816098916852/?ref=share_attachment
P.S. It appears to be a later-in-the-run version, without the visible interior filling-in of the prior year's big triangular quarter window.
The assembly quality just looks horrible to me...the big gap around the decklid, and how the rear filler doesn't seem to align correctly with the rear quarter panels. And, those tail lights just really look ill-fitting to me. I can see what they were trying to do though...a nod to the 3-across Chevy staple, just small and on the cheap.
But, except for the rear view, I think it's attractive from just about every other angle. And yeah, it looks like it's in great shape, and a decent price.
Some of the comments are interesting, with some people defending the Colonade and saying GM ruined it for '78, while others are saying the '78's were so much better. I wonder if modern audiences simply do not understand that, given the automotive climate of the time, a car like the '73-77 Colonade simply would not have been viable, for much longer. Even if the buyers wanted them, fuel economy regulations would have made it almost impossible to keep building them after maybe 1979. And in the '80 recession year, they would have been slaughtered.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Small thing, but I wasn't crazy about them recycling that '71 and '72 "Chevelle" script in the rear.
The round lights looked so right on the '73, but as I usually think, after that they changed stuff just to change it.
With my cheap-*** tablet, I can't figure a way to post a pic from that ad, but I think the best angle is the clean side styling. I've always liked the five-slot Rally Wheels too.
My guess is that car will sell in a reasonably short period of time at that asking price.
I think that trim piece fills out the rear end better, and the way the trunk lid is squared off, and comes down to meet it, all the seams and various parts just seem less chaotically applied than the '74. I'd hardly call it a work of art, but it doesn't bother me. When these cars downsized for '78 though, I think Chevy really did them a service by making the taillights extend all the way inward to the license plate. With the silver trim, they do still look a bit unfinished.
Using my work computer now....here's the angle I especially like on that '74:
RE.: The ad's comments--you know I'd like a '78 Malibu Classic, but I'd have to be very specific about equipment. If it didn't have the 50/50 split front seat with center armrests, and the optional gauge package, I wouldn't want the car. In the '73-77's, I'll say I'm more forgiving in what I can like and not.
RH mirror on that '74--I have to say, the only RH mirrors I remember from the factory on Chevys of that era are the body-colored Sport Mirrors. I'm guessing that chrome mirror was available through the parts department and was added.
On my friend's parents' '76 Malibu Classic sedan, with the same front seating, I remember that lower tuck-and-roll section, you could really feel in your lower back. I liked that at the time.
You could only get it painted blue as above, or white:
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
But, maybe by then carpeting down there was becoming passé? Around 2002, Dodge did decontent the Intrepid a bit, and the carpeted door panels was one of the things they jettisoned
I thought it looked especially sharp with a plain, non-vinyl roof. And it's nice that it was a true hardtop.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
There are two high school tassles hanging from the inside mirror, as was custom. One says "72" and the other "94", which makes me think this is someone's Dad's car.
My '66 Studebaker Cruiser has a large lower-carpeted section on each door panel.
Saw a blue and white 55 Chevy sedan on the road today, a 67 Camaro SS convertible (easy, as it had YOM plates), an amusingly 70s green MB W123, 70s VW bus, Mk II Golf, couple of 50s-60s GM or Chevy pickups, very clean 80s Tercel 4x4 wagon, big maybe 72 Mercury coupe at a used car lot.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
I thought the first-gen Solara was pretty nice. Not too flashy, but still good looking in a conservative sort of way. But the second one just seemed too lumpy and rounded off, and was a victim of that era where they liked to over-exaggerate the headlights and taillights.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
The elastic-y vinyl map pockets on the interior door panels of this car are still amazingly intact. Wasn't unusual to see them all stretched out from people overstuffing them for a number of years.
Too bad the exterior of this car is so shot. I can only imagine the underneath.
As a seventeen-year-old, I loved the V8 sounds in my friends' Monzas, coming from a size car I'd only heard four-cylinder rumblings from previously.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav