The General’s Oldsmobile Division was once a convertible powerhouse, with five ragtop models on three different platforms just in 1966 alone. By the 1990s, though, just one Olds-vertible remained: the Cutlass Supreme. Here’s a rare example of the final Oldsmobile convertible model, found in a Denver self-service car graveyard a few months ago.
The 1990-1995 Cutlass Supreme was the only production W-Body convertible, and it was inspired by the handbuilt Indianapolis 500 pace cars of 1988.
There’s a certain type of older car guy who feels very strongly about “the last convertible” and the weeping bald eagles that scream its name while circling Mount Suribachi, but none of those guys agree on what that car was (the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado is a popular choice). Whatever they say, the ’66 Olds convertibles sure looked great!
Did the final Oldsmobile convertible look great? Because it would have cost too much to redesign the W-Body’s doors to move the outside handles from the B pillars to somewhere lower down, the workaround was to leave the handles there and add a rollbar-ish hoop.
This worked, from a mechanical standpoint, and the hoop gave backseat passengers something to hang onto while standing up and screaming at pedestrians. Sales were pretty good.
Four-seat convertibles were surprisingly popular during the 1990s, and the Cutlass Supreme had big, comfy rear seats. This car competed for sales …
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Author: Murilee Martin
