So here’s the deal: I was intending to find yet another Rough Start budget find while searching through the Yakima, Washington Craigslist page. I entered my usual inputs: owner only, must have picture, older than 1993 in this particular case, and…go. For the most part, Yakima offers up trucks a-plenty and cars that most people wouldn’t think twice about that have some age on them. A Mercury Tracer wagon that looked decent enough. A Honda Civic sportback wagon thing that some JDM fan would adore. A 1977 Buick Skylark in primer black on Auto Drags, so you know it’s quick. But this ad stuck out at me for one reason: $3,000, two Oldsmobiles, take your pick.
So let’s look at our two options. Both of them are Colonnade-era Cutlass-based machines. The green car is a 1976 Oldsmobile 442. The giveaways are the large quarter window and the bent and angled nose cone…and we doubt that someone went to the trouble of faking a 1976 442. The wire wheels we could do without and the paint needs some work. The other car is a Cutlass Supreme, a 1976 or 1977 model if we had to guess. We’re banking on a square nose cone up front, and we bet the interior is as red as the vinyl top.
There is exactly zero information in the advertisements, but both cars look like they can be easy runners. We’re banking on both being 350-powered machines (it’s the most likely option) and we’d expect minimal rust issues, though the Cutlass Supreme has a higher chance due to the roof treatment. Both cars can be done up within the Rough Start budget, so which one would you pay three bills for?
Craigslist Link: Two 1970s Oldsmobiles, Pick One
the green one in a heartbeat
Your banking on 350’s but you could get a nasty surprise with 260’s!!! Either way, that would easily be cured with a 455.
swap the wheels from the white to the green one & I’d go 1K if the 442 was real & had the console & buckets……
I like the angled nose cone – and lower probability of a rusted out roof – on the green 442.
Cale Yarborough tribute build
Ditto!
Crusher.
The green one. I missed out one recently that was a 260 5 speed version with a good price. Thought it could be a great daily driver.
Off of the pictures only, green. Never really been a fan of vinyl tops, and I like the look of it better. In reality it would be whichever was he most solid.