Junkyard Find: 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible
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 against the Chrysler LeBaron convertible.
Cutlass Supreme convertible buyers could get rear buckets as an option, which cut down the number of occupants from five to four while also making it more difficult to stand up in the seats and hoot semi-indecipherable profanities while brandishing a Schlitz Master Cylinder.
Olds sold 8,638 Cutlass Supreme convertibles during the 1994 model year. They remain somewhat collectible, but aren't sufficiently valuable for the more battered ones to escape this junkyardy fate.
All of the 1990-1995 Cutlass Supreme convertibles were built at Doraville Assembly in Georgia, which shut down in 2008 after the final Terrazas, Uplanders and Relays were built there.
Two engines choices were available in the 1994 Cutlass Supreme convertible: the base 3.1-liter pushrod V6 or the screaming DOHC 3.4-liter. This car has the 3.1-liter, which was rated at 160 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque.
The 3.4-liter added $1,085 to the price tag, which comes to about $2,450 after inflation. That engine made 210 horses and 215 lb-ft of torque.
The only transmission available in this car was a four-speed automatic.
The MSRP for this car was $25,275, or about $57,087 in 2026 dollars. A new 1994 Chrysler LeBaron GTC convertible listed at just $16,999 ($38,395 today), but it was a smaller and more dated-looking car.
There's plenty of Oldsmobile electronic gadgetry here.
Few would have predicted it at the time, but the Oldsmobile Division had only a decade to live when this car was built. The Cutlass Supreme lasted through 1997, while the not-so-supreme regular Cutlass made it through 1999 (though it was essentially a Malibu trim package).
The temporary license plate suggests that this car got discarded because it couldn't pass the Air Care Colorado emissions test, or maybe it had title issues.
With the 1994 Cutlass Supreme, you can hear the call of the open road as well as the roar of the rug rats.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in Denver junkyard.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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That car looks peaceful and at home where it is.
Murilee, do you check glove boxes for the official Oldsmobile cassette tape? Our Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser came with one. This was the opening track. The background in the video was the actual album cover for the paper insert. My siblings and I would blast the jingle with the windows down while driving. It was ridiculously funny especially when you learned that there was a second verse never heard on the commercials. I have no recollection of what other songs were on the cassette as we never listened to them.
"rollbar-ish hoop" You didn't need the stupid "ish" on the end.