By the later 1970s, the vision was clear: cars had become huge, radically underpowered sleds of fluffy interiors and padded roofs. The Malaise Era and the Brougham epoch were at their peak. Once-potent model names were now sad sacks of their former selves. Performance was more or less limited to tape stripes, and those that still had some semblance of teeth left were either finding loopholes (Dodge trucks), still being ran by the inmates of the asylum (Pontiac’s performance side) or were relying on top-dog horsepower for sales (Corvette). 
Now look at this 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass. For a 1977 anything, it looks…clean. No vinyl or padded diaper roof. No heavy trimming or chrome outside of the mandated railroad ties front and rear. An interior that looks comfortable without being a disco den. Small wonder that the Cutlass lineup sold as well as it did in the 1970s, isn’t it? This is a 403-powered car that has seen some upgrades, like FiTech fuel injection, QA1 suspension pieces, a Hurst “his and hers” shifter, and some other tweaks and tricks that keep the big A-body a happy camper on the roads. All in a really decent color that just looks right for a Cutlass…not too showy, nice and mature.
I think this is one of the most decent looking model of the malaise area . And must be a nice cruiser with the upgrades .
My buddy had a 1976 Cutlass when we were young, was a pretty cool car.
Thank you for not calling the 403 a big block; it had the same deck height as the Olds 350, along with the same main bearing journal diameter. And stroke, as long as I’m at it! A tidbit many don’t know, or realize, is that the 403 has a 4.351″ bore, bigger than most big-blocks of the era, even the big-bore Buick 455 at 4.3125″. Ford’s 429 & 460 beat it at 4.36″. Even beat the Cad 472 & 500 with 4.3″ bores. I know, they aren’t that much difference, but the 403 was doing with a “shorter-than-Chevy-350″ stroke of 3.385”! If it wasn’t for the “weight-saving” windowed main webs, you could throw a forged crank from a 330 in it and rev the piss out of it!
403 was a torque monster.
Darn tough engine. Most 77-79 Trans Am\’s had the 403 Olds.