1968-69 Oldsmobile Cutlass: Was this a peak moment for GM styling?

(EXPANDED FROM 7/16/2021)

The Oldsmobile Cutlass tends to receive less attention than General Motors’ other three 1968-69 mid-sized cars. This is unfortunate because the Cutlass was arguably the cleanest of the bunch.

Let’s go a step further. While one might point to the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette and Buick Riviera as among the top cars to come out of GM’s design studios under the tenure of William Mitchell, I would propose that the 1968-69 mid-sized cars represented a peak moment for higher-volume models. And with the exception of the second-generation F-Body pony cars, the caliber of GM’s designs began to decline with the onset of the 1970s.

GM’s 1968 mid-sized cars pioneered the ‘fuselage’ look

Like the rest of GM’s mid-sized cars, the 1968 Cutlass adopted what the Chrysler Corporation would later call “fuselage” styling. The mid-sized Oldsmobile followed in the footsteps of the 1966 Toronado, which was one of the first U.S. cars to pioneer this design approach whereby the side sheetmetal curved in a continuous arc into the greenhouse like an airplane’s fuselage.

Also see ‘1966 Oldsmobile Toronado: Just another shiny thing from General Motors’

This was in contrast to the American automobile’s traditional “two-box” shape, where the greenhouse sat inboard of rear-quarter fender “shoulders.” As with the Toronado, the uninterrupted side curvature of GM’s mid-sized cars was accentuated by giving two-door hardtops and coupes semi-fastback rooflines.

1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass S

1968 Oldmobile Cutlass convertible
In order to give the Oldsmobile Cutlass’s two-door hardtop and coupe a semi-fastback roofline, the convertible appears to use a different trunk lid to accommodate its more notchback shape (Automotive History Preservation Society).

Another one of GM’s design innovations for 1968 mid-sized cars was cutting four inches of wheelbase from two-door models. Although this reduced rear-seat room, it gave GM cars greater long-hood, short-deck proportions than its competition. In time, the rest of the mid-sized field would follow GM’s lead.

1968 Oldmobile Cutlass convertible back seat
Like the rest of GM’s mid-sized two-door models, the Cutlass had a 112-inch wheelbase. That was only one inch more than the compact Chevy II and four-to-five inches less than Ford and Chrysler’s mid-sized two-door models.

Cutlass adopted an exceptionally rounded shape

Of GM’s four mid-sized offerings, the Cutlass arguably pushed the fuselage look the farthest by adopting exceptionally rounded contours. Body sides displayed a pronounced curve that was unusually free of busy-looking creases.

1968 Oldsmobile 442 side stripe

1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
The double-creased wheel openings were relatively naked on the 4-4-2, but the Cutlass Supreme had a silver band and the Vista Cruiser wagon added a band of woodgrain on top of that (Old Car Brochures).

The exaggerated wheel flares added lovely highlights to the body sides without looking ponderous as they did on the 1966-68 Toronado.

Former GM designer Dick Ruzzin (2013) quite rightly argued that the 1968 Cutlass had “softer and more subtle surfaces” than the original Toronado — and would have been a “more sophisticated design solution” for the latter car. That sounds reasonable to me if the Toronado had maintained its unusually wide track relative to the body.

1968 Oldsmobile 442

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado
The 1968-69 Oldsmobile Cutlass and its high-end performance model, the 4-4-2, look less muscular than the first-generation Toronado because its tires are smaller and farther inboard of the body sides.

The Cutlass’s front and rear styling amplified the body-side curvature. The bumpers elegantly arched outward to create a somewhat more tapered shape than GM’s other mid-sized cars. This served to make the Cutlass look smaller than it actually was, but it also ruled the bumpers close to useless.

1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
The silver band that wrapped around the wheel openings of the Cutlass Supreme anticipated the body cladding of contemporary crossover vehicles, which makes the tires look bigger than they actually are (Old Car Brochures).

The 1970 AMC Hornet came the closest of any other American car to mimicking the Cutlass’s side styling. Head designer Richard Teague was able to work with a clean sheet of paper in redesigning AMC’s compacts, so he took the fuselage shape a step further. The Hornet’s greenhouse and rocker panel curved more sharply inward than on the Cutlass, and the A-pillar and side windows were more flush with the body-side curvature.

1971 AMC Hornet SC:360
AMC could give its Hornet a more aggressive stance than the 4-4-2 because it had a more fuselage-shaped body. However, the AMC’s rounded sides clashed with the upright shape of the front and rear (Old Car Advertisements).

‘Wide-eyed’ headlights represented a rare deviation

One of the most distinctive Cutlass styling features from 1967-68 were the “wide-eyed” headlights. These represented a rare deviation from the standard industry practice of grouping quad headlights close together. Here Oldsmobile reached back to an approach it used in 1959.

1959 Oldsmobile

1967 Oldsmobile 442

1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Custom

1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible
After using wide-eyed headlights in 1959 (top image), they reappeared in 1967 on all Oldsmobiles (middle two images). However, they only stuck around for 1968 on mid-sized cars (Automotive History Preservation Society).

The wide-eyed look didn’t work as well on the big 1967 Oldsmobiles as it did on the mid-sized cars. Part of the problem was the “lobster claw” fender ridges, which gave the Eighty-Eights and Ninety-Eights a rather bulky appearance. In addition, the space between the headlights was too wide relative the center grille. This really didn’t work — particularly for luxury cars — so for 1968 Oldsmobile reverted to a more conventional look.

Also see ‘1965-68 GM big cars: The end of different strokes’

Designers quite rightly stuck with wide-eyed headlights on the redesigned 1968 mid-sized cars. They came off quite well — arguably even better than in 1967. However, for 1969 the Cutlass reverted back to a conventional headlight placement and received a more upright fascia that set the tone for the nameplate throughout the brougham era. Of course, the Cutlass went on to great success in the 1970s . . . but something was lost in the transition.

1969 Oldsmobile 442

1972 Oldsmobile 442
In 1969 the Cutlass was the only GM mid-sized car that received a facelift (top image). The wide-eyed headlights were replaced with a more upright — and conservative — fascia that didn’t change much through 1972 (Old Car Brochures).

GM was at its peak in differentiating brands

The 1968-69 Cutlass was also impressive because of how well it was differentiated styling-wise from the nameplate’s three mid-sized siblings. Here the contrast with GM’s smaller competitors was stark. Whereas GM gave each of its entries unique sheetmetal, both Ford and Chrysler saved money by sharing door sheetmetal.

1968 Plymouth Satellite

1968 Dodge Coronet 500
Chrysler’s mid-sized Plymouth Satellite (top image) and Dodge Coronet looked the most similar (Old Car Brochures).

GM began to invest heavily in differentiating the styling of its mid-sized cars in 1964. The 1967 GM ad below shows how creative the automaker was in varying the placement of basic parts such as headlights and turn signals.

For example, the Chevrolet Chevelle’s headlights were positioned inboard while the Buick Skylark GS’s were pushed to the corners; the Pontiac GTO’s were stacked while the Oldsmobile 4-4-2’s were wide eyed.

1967 General Motors ad
Giving distinctive personas to GM’s four mid-sized entries was an unusually difficult challenge because, unlike the automaker’s big cars, they shared the same wheelbase and greenhouses. Click on ad to enlarge (Old Car Advertisements).

For 1968-69 GM’s mid-sized cars were even better differentiated. For example, the Chevrolet Chevelle received a “raccoon face” front end whereas the Buick Skylark was distinguished by a W-shaped fascia, a side sweepsphere and a fair amount of chrome. Meanwhile, for 1968 Pontiac got rid of stacked headlights but adopted strongly vertical front fender edges, a donut front bumper and Jaguaresque coke-bottle side curvature.

1968 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS

1968 Buick GS

1968 Pontiac GTO
GM’s 1968 four mid-sized entries had unique sheetmetal and rear-quarter-window shapes on two-door models. Pictured (from top) is a Chevrolet Chevelle, Buick Skylark and Pontiac GTO (Automotive History Preservation Society).

I would imagine that a goodly number of car enthusiasts might rank the 1968-69 Oldsmobile’s styling behind one or more of GM’s other mid-sized cars. Others may prefer the more angular lines of their 1966-67 predecessors. That’s entirely fine — and do share why in the comment thread below.

Also see ‘General Motors trumped Ford’s 1962 foray into mid-sized cars’

My main goal is to draw attention to a moment when GM’s emphasis on styling really worked to its advantage. One reason why is that the quality of the styling was top notch. However, equally important was that GM didn’t cut corners cost-wise by sharing door sheetmetal or even rear-quarter windows on two-door models.

NOTES:

This article was originally posted July 16, 2021 and expanded on Aug. 4, 2023. Dimensions, prices and other product specifications were from the Automobile Catalog (2023), John Gunnell (2002) and auto editors of Consumer Guide (1993, 2006).

Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.


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7 Comments

  1. No. The G.M. stying peak ended for the most paet in 1866, especially with Oldsmobile until 1971.

  2. I’m not sure why design enthusiast seem to always favor the a rounded smoothed out style as being more appealing.
    Yet most people don’t admire igloos or own round faced watches. The most beautiful buildings and highly crafted watches are ornate with linear detail. The same can be argued for automotive design. In my mind the compact wedged shaped GM G-bodies of 1981-1988 and full sized Olds\Buick C-bodies of 1980-1984 very well executed.
    I’m sure I’m in the minority with car enthusiast but I don’t believe I am with the casual onlooker.

  3. Have to agree completely with you, Steve. This generation Cutlass is highly underrated and is indeed, one of the best looking cars GM ever built, most notably the coupes. The lines are clean and uncluttered and as you point out, if the stance had been slightly wider, they would have been even better looking (but then Pontiac could not have claimed “wide-track” as a unique feature).

  4. Thank you. I appreciate your point of view here. IMO the Olds Cutlass of 68-72 was the best looking line of coupes,sedans,wagon at GM. I owned a 69 Vista Cruiser and loved its looks. I finally let it go in 1984 and still miss it sometimes. It looked great all the way around, especially those vista windows!

  5. I would like to expand on the thought that General Motors’ styling leadership leaked in 1966. Bill Mitchell was at his peak in 1965 and 1966. The 1965-1966 B-and C-bodies were fantastic and the 1966 A-body refreshed styling were distinguished in their own right. The 1967 full-size G.M. cars were clumsily reimagined, especially the Oldsmobiles, only to be cleaned up in 1968. While the 1968 A-bodies were different, only the Cutlass and the Tempest / LeMans / G.T.O. were styled in a memorable way. I realize that personal taste is an individual preference, and your opinions and mileage probably vary.

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