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The slantback Cutlasses--not a fan of the big graphics, but I've often thought I could enjoy a Salon Brougham two-door, Super Stock wheels, 305 engine. I'd prefer one over the same year Supreme, just for more rarity, plus I like the round wheel openings. There's hardly any of those cars around in stock condition.
A female college friend of mine, who I'm still friends with, lived in room 442 of her dorm and wanted a 442 with big graphics like the above car, or maybe a '76-77. Her Dad bought her a '68 442. She was actually disappointed at the time! Amazingly, she still has the car and is slowly getting it restored although it was still a solid, presentable car.
On my '81, it was definitely called 'Jade'--both light and dark.
EDIT: I went to the brochure...it was called 'Jade Green' and 'Light Jade Green', and the interior color was called 'Jade'--a pleasant light turquoise.
I will say, the brochure makes it seem that the light jade green was on bottom and the jade green was on top, but on the cars, it was the opposite. I never liked on '82's and later, the dark colors were on top and the light colors, below--at least on Monte Carlos.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
I guess they did this to give it a little bit of cachet, over a Malibu or Monte Carlo with a 305, which was only offered as a 2-bbl in 1978, and with 145 hp. And, you could get a 4-speed stick with the 305 in the 442.
So maybe, with the 305, 4-speed, and hopefully they offered a quicker axle ratio, a 442 might have still been kind of fun?
I guess the one to have though, was that Hurst/W30 or whatever they called it package on the formal-roof Cutlass Supreme coupe, for '79. It used an Olds 350! From what I read, Olds did some trickery with that one. Apparently in those days, if they built fewer than 2500 examples of a car/engine combo, and the engine had already been certified by the EPA in another car, it didn't have to get re-certified for the low-volume car. So, Olds simply took the 350 they used in the bigger cars, put it in the fairly light Cutlass Supreme coupe, and ran of 2499 examples.
That car came back for 1980, but I think this time it was simply called "442", so the 442 at least had somewhat of a return to glory. But with rising gas prices, fuel shortages, and recession looming over the country, it was pretty scarce.
The previous '73-75 Grand Am wasn't necessarily a powerhouse either, unless you ordered the right engine, but at least they always started with a 400 as the base engine.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
The '74 actually outsold the larger '73 GTO, despite '74 being a recession year. I suspect though, that the '73 Grand Am had also siphoned off a lot of GTO sales. I seem to recall reading that the main reason the Nova-based GTO ended was that GM made a decision to start putting Buick 350s in the Venturas instead of Pontiac 350s to save on production costs. And by '75 there was nothing even remotely resembling performance in a Buick 350, so it probably wasn't cost-effective.
Too bad, really, because I think a GTO based on the '75 restyle could have looked pretty sharp. Too bad they didn't go the other way, using Pontiac 350s in the Apollos and Skylarks.
I tried looking in the Pontiac brochures to verify that the Buick 350 was used, but in '75-76 they were pretty sparse when it came to engine descriptions. For '77, they mention the Pontiac 301-2bbl being "the V8 option", but in CA/High-altitude areas it was a "350-4bbl". They don't say whose 350-4bbl, but by that time most likely Chevy. Pontiac and Buick V8s got banned in CA starting in '77, and I don't think they were putting Olds 350s in any X-body (even an Omega) by '77.
As for pricing, a base LeMans coupe started at $3768, $3916 for the Sport Coupe, and $4330 for the Grand LeMans. Now I think the Grand LeMans is worth the price jump, because it gave you the ritzier exterior (although I prefer the grille inserts of the base model/Sport Coupe), the Grand Prix dashboard, upgraded door panels (if they're not the '75 Grand Am door panels, they're extremely close) nicer seats, and probably a few other details I'm missing. But I just don't see the value of the Sport Coupe, versus the base.
As for the Grand Am, it probably made sense when it was still on the drawing board. The Grand Prix could be personal luxury, a market that was starting to take off. The LeMans/Grand LeMans could be the mass market. And the Grand Am could be, for lack of a better word, "luxury performance" In fact, I think the name originally was supposed to imply "Grand Prix Luxury with Trans Am Performance" Maybe they figured that the Grand Am would appeal to a buyer that wanted the luxury of a Grand Prix, but in a more youthful, less conservative wrapping.
But, by the time the Colonades hit the market for '73, it seemed like the Grand Prix was where it was at. It sold 153,889 units, whereas the Grand Am only moved 34,445 coupes and 8691 sedans. The mass-market LeMans lineup was good for about 203,000 units, and that includes the 4806 GTOs built that year.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I guess the Century didn't really change. They had cleaned it up a bit for '80, when it went to the formal roof. And I guess the Cutlass sedan didn't change either, although didn't they start using the quad headlight setup on the Brougham sedans and wagons for '81, and single headlights for the cheaper sedan and wagon?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
One thing that might have helped with the range of motion was that the window was attached to the forward part of the window frame, whereas many cars of that era attached it to the back of the window frame, or the spacer between the roll down glass and the stationary. So that might have allowed it to roll down a bit further.
I also seem to recall something called a "Tape Drive" window lift mechanism. I'm not sure how exactly it worked, but I'm getting this mental image of something like heavy-duty VCR tape with slots in it, that connects to the window crank, or power window motor. I wonder if those were more compact than the typical lift mechanisms that older cars had?
Those X-bodies seemed revolutionary, almost futuristic, when they first arrived. Almost as if they were too good to be true...
As for performance, it seems to me they should have done pretty well for the time, thanks to their light weight. I'm sure a 4-cyl Citation would be quicker than a '79 Nova with the 250 inline 6. I'd think that the 2.8 would be quicker than the 305 in a Nova, if not the 350. But, Consumer Guide mentioned this, with regards to an '80 Volare they tested...
"An available 318-inch V8 provided 120 horsepower, good for a Consumer Guide-reported 14.1 second 0-60 run, a solid second slower than a V6-equipped Citation."
So that would imply that the Citation with the 2.8 did 0-60 in 13.1? Seems to me it should have been quicker than that, but I guess that just goes to show that mathematical estimations don't always play out as expected in the real world!
**Edit: Sure enough, here's Consumer Guide's 1980 Citation test: https://blog.consumerguide.com/1980-chevrolet-citation-review/
Wow, 0-60 in 13.1 seconds, and that's with a 4-speed stick and somewhat aggressive-by-1980-standards 2.84:1 gearing. It still doesn't add up, though, in my mind. That Omega that C&D tested against the 1981 Malibu had a 110 hp 3.8 and 3-speed automatic (I couldn't find mention of the axle ratio though) and they managed 11.3. Of course, C&D and those buff rags often massage quicker times out of a car than Consumer Guide/Reports/etc do, but still...
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
IMHO, GM often had very appealing car lines, and often seemed to be the first to try new packaging, new technology, etc., as we know sometimes with not-great long-term results. Still, what else was out there comparable to the X-cars for space utilization, choice of models and engines, etc.? Nothing I can think of.
Ford and Chrysler, I think, often benefitted from GM trying something new and seeing how it all fared a couple years before introducing their similar-concept cars...at least through the late '70's/early '80's.
RE.: "Morning sickness" in the rack-and-pinion--my '85 Celebrity, built in May, still had that issue, out of regular warranty. My dealer paid half. After that, I saw a letter in Consumer Reports where a woman said her dealer paid 100% of hers outside of warranty. I photocopied that letter and mailed it to my dealer's Service Manager, asking how I differed from that lady. I got a check in the mail for what I'd paid earlier, no letter or anything.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
at least with the 85, the part you used was big and spread out. and if you got stopped for going faster than that, you could honestly say you had no clue how fast you were going!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
In the 60s, it seems the standard was 120.
My rental Ford Edge has a 160. Not gonna happen. I bet it’s tire limited at some much lower number.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
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but for some reason, our RDX does not offer speedo as one of the options you can display. Seems odd to me.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/gm-x-cars-chevrolet-citation-oldsmobile-buick-pontiac-photos-history/
I had an '88 LeBaron turbo coupe with a digital speedometer. It had three digits to account for kph, but I can't remember if it still topped out at 85 on mph. Anyway, I do remember one time, taking Grandmom to the doctor in it, and going a bit above 60, switching it to metric, so it was reading a bit over 100. I said "hey Grandmom, look how fast we're going!" She had a fit! I think I even said something like "Doesn't feel like it, does it!" or something along the lines of what Clark Griswold might say.
Anyway, when I showed her that it was just the metric setting, she still wasn't convinced, and kept complaining until I put it back to MPH.
Now that I think about it, didn't some cars, like in the late 90's/early 00's, simply have one set of numbers on the analogue dash, and if you switched between MPH and KPH the needle would simply jump? So if you were doing 60 mph, but then pressed the button for metric, it would jump to around 100? I'm thinking my '00 Park Avenue was like this, but I can't remember. That might actually explain though, why some speedos went up to overly optimistic numbers like 140 or 160, because the same scale had to accommodate both MPH and KPH?
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
https://jalopnik.com/for-3-950-could-this-1981-chevy-citation-x-11-prove-t-1793654075
I did that to my wife in my Grand Marquis
Yes on the Analog speedometer. It was certainly a GM product but can’t remember which one. Maybe the Impala.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Nice bonus for me is the turquoise Studebaker Avanti in the video.
Boy, back when having a Chevy dealership was gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXRgfHVch-0