It’s wild how some ultra-rare cars garner a deep enthusiast following. Usually, it’s off-the-wall design or a bizarre powerplant that puts them on our radar. Several Italian sports car creations from the ’70s come to mind, as well as thoroughly neat concept cars from General Motors in the ’90s. But today we discuss a vehicle beloved for different reasons: The “Chicago Cutlass” is a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme that has earned over 400,000 miles on its odometer, and has won over car enthusiasts’ hearts because it’s nearly rusted completely through and yet is miraculously still alive.
Despite its condition, new owner John Kreuz intends on making it a reasonably safe member of our nation’s roadways once again.
This ol’ whip got its name for residing around the greater Chicagoland area. It wears a metallic Monet-like livery of rust, worn Brougham top, missing trim, different paint colors, and more rust. Midwest over green, discerning collectors would call it. It’s frankly amazing that this thing hasn’t split in half by now and returned to Illinois’ hearty soil. Here’s what makes this Olds so special, and why Kreuz plans to return it to its former glory.
Windy City Lore
The Stallion of Summit, Brookfield Brooklands, Niles Crane, Palos Parisienne—these are nicknames I’d like to attribute to such a piece of Chicagoland history. Can you tell I’m originally from this part of the country? The reason for this Malaise Era Olds’ acclaim is, well, car spotters seeing it schlepping around and sharing its existence along with some form of “holy shit check this thing out!” which eventually turned into “holy shit I saw the Chicago Cutlass in (insert random Chicago neighborhood or suburb)!”
Tara Hurlin at Hemings wrote about it last year, and it sounds like it’s been on peoples’ radar for a while. From her reporting, it apparently was owned by a boat mechanic who drove it to the nearly half-million-mile mark, though some say it possesses double that. Which only adds to the lore, which I think we all thoroughly dig. People are not only in awe over the fact that it’s still together, but also its weirdly beautiful deep patina—if people in the Midwest are in awe over this amount of rust, that really says something.
There was fear that the Chicago Cutlass finally met its maker late last year, but apparently it was sold to an Olds enthusiast who then recently sold it on to Kreuz.
The Current State
Kreuz posted a video walk around of this beast on his YouTube channel, and man, it’s definitely rough.
What’s very apparent is that it was a nicely spec’d model back in the day. Power seats, a cassette player, rich velour interior — the works. These features, plus some other period-correct touches like the Brougham top, long hood, interesting grille appointments, and badging encapsulate the Malaise era so well. Plus, we can’t forget about its 260 cubic inch V8 that put out 90 horsepower and 160 pound-feet of torque when it was new.
When it comes to remedying a few things to make it roadworthy … well, it actually needs more than just a few things. For one, the front driver seat isn’t attached to the floor pan, because apparently there is no floor pan left in this region of its construction. So, to prevent tilting back in a comical fashion at every fresh green light, the previous owner threw a spare tire behind the front seat. That’s one way to do it. Then, the rear bumper bars are gone, so rope was utilized to maintain its slender hind quarters.
Kreuz didn’t mince words about the car’s mechnical mechanical condition when he recently posted about being its new owner on Facebook, saying:
Currently, its battery is dead. Hood wont open.
The drivers door opens when it wants to. The passenger door is DOA.
When it DOES run, it smokes real bad. The boat mechanic botched the intake manifold gaskets when he did the valve jobh and THATS probably why he sold it originally.
The drivers floor is gone so the drivers seat is unanchored in the front, so the tire is there to keep it from flopping back.
I dont have keys for the trunk, yet. If they are permanently lost, ill just drill the trunk lock.
Supposedly, the trunk floor is solid.
The roof is rusted through. The passengers frame rail by the rear wheel is starting to go.
The rear bumper shocks are blown out, rusted away.
Drivers door opens when it wants to. The striker has been driven down to that point so it actually latches.
The inside drivers door handle is missing.
I dont know what works and what doesnt.
The visors are missing. Some of the interior trim.
I reached out to Kreuz on Facebook to learn a little bit more. “I was second in line to buy it from the ‘original owner.’ He was [technically] the second owner but the guy who drove it into the ground like it is,” Kreuz said. “So, I missed my chance at plucking it out of the wild. Luckily, a good friend of mine was first in line. He made a promise that if he was going to sell it, he’d let me know first.”
The Plan
“I wanted the car because I love rusty old junk, and this is the king of rusty old junk,” Kreuz said about why the Chicago Cutlass piqued his interest. He digs the history, the survivor aspect, and the challenge. Not only that, but as hinted above, he also wants to do more videos about it on his YouTube channel.
Again, this ol’ steed needs a lot of work, but as mentioned in Kreuz’s Facebook post, he wants to bring it to shows, rallies, and maybe even do a Cannonball drive. He’s determined, too: “It’s not for sale. I promised I wouldn’t try to flip it. I’m going to drive it until the frame snaps and either try and do a frame swap or donate it to a museum, if I can find one that’ll take it.”
We fully support his efforts, and hope he can restore this beaten down survivor to drivable shape and enjoy many miles behind the wheel. It’s just so cool that it’s still rolling around, and what a throwback to a somewhat overlooked/forgotten era. It’s made it to just over 400,000—or possibly 800,000—what’s a little welding, rust inhibitor, box of tools, and a couple two-tree visits to the junkyard?
All Images: John Kreuz
Cutlass puttering along into the TÜV inspection centre. Ten minutes later, a tow truck with police cruisers in tow showing up to give the Cutlass a special tour to the wrecking yard.
There are aspects of US car culture a German automotive engineer like me is unable to comprehend 😀
Ssshh…
Can you hear that?
That’s the sound of an insurance agent laughing.
My first car (1991) was a ’79 Cutlass Supreme Brougham, Brown with a tan top and fancy wire wheel covers. It was my “Father’s Oldsmobile”. It had every option and also had the same “fuel saver” 260 v8. It was a pretty comfy car. Seeing “my” first car soldier on warms my heart.
I had a Pontiac Ventura with that same 260 cid V8. It ran flawlessly and while not having much power, it was so reliable and so smooth. Never a moment’s trouble with that engine. Had to rationalize it in a way when the Buick 3.8 V6 had almost 20 more HP. But utterly reliable and easy peasy to work on.
Wowee, look at those pretty driver side hubcaps!
I love the local lore behind this, but man, an early G-body with that kind of corrosion?
It’s not gonna get fixed, but hopefully does end up being an urban art insall, yard art at a local brewery, or maybe in a chicagoland museum.
I’d love to be wrong, and I would like to see it fixed if that really is realistic.
This thing is awesome! I love the fact that this old, abused Eeyore of an olds is still around. There may be prettier things to get you there, but this rusty beast will get you home…. eventually.
It could make an interesting piece at car museum. There’s no way to make that car safe to drive that doesn’t involve significant work, and that seems to go against the whole point of the car. If you kept it, it would be a weird sort of trailer queen. You couldn’t really drive it, because it’ll just disintegrate underneath you one day. But you would also have to keep it garaged and such, or again, certain disintegration.
Frame swap and bondo, baby.
Needs to repair the frame and not die like an idiot.
Chicago had the “Chicago Cutlass” and NYC had Mrs. Stern’s pink Lamborghini Espada.
Need I say more?
Mr Kreuz needs some camera stabilization. That’s pretty vomit inducing.
It’s not the camera that’s inducing vomit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEeqCbEFIJw
Better than camera stabilization programs that just make the footage go wonky and distorted as it the camera itself was drunk.
If it was a Chrysler, SWG would be all over it.
And it would collapse under him, so good thing it isn’t.
A museum, if they will take it? Ha.
What’s hurt later GM survivors was unibodies, when more GM were doomed by suspension and engine mount areas rusting to nothingness, while the drivetrain was still able to move the heap around, with most of the cylinders firing and a majority of the gears shifting.
Douse the thing with several gallons of gas start it rolling into Lake Michigan and light it up. A proper heroic Viking funeral for the old thing.
Good lord, let that poor car die…
I will never understand the weird dedication to a completely roached car like that.
It is not safe for the road, and making it safe for the road would require it to be basically a different car.
That car does not have a patina; that car is rotted out.
When you can pass your hand through rust holes or the roof is compromised, it is not an aesthetic; it is just destroyed.
Looking at this car reminds me it’s been quite a while since my last tetanus shot.
New feature idea: “Will it David?”
Episode 1: DT has 3 days to prepare the Chicawgo (note the correct pronunciation) Cutlass to pass a TUV inspection.
Darn right the correct pronunciation
I was thinking David was the new owner. While auto, it has enough rust on it.
Give him a 2 week deadline and chop it into a Ute for a race somewhere.
So is this newest owner a DT family member? This thing makes what DT buys look almost decent. I am mildly surprised the cops there have not seized this turd and taken it off the street for the good of mankind.
But I haven’t lived there for a very long time.
And amazed that someone is willing to put any effort to extend the life of this thing.
ahhh, so YouTube clicks is the reason.
Seeing cars like this is a potent reminder that wrenchers in salt states are a whole different level of badass.
The one time I tried working on a rusty machine, I consumed half a bottle of PB Blaster and snapped my only short socket extension…on the first bolt. And then promptly gave up.
Hats off and godspeed to Mr. Kreuz.
Yeah, it is a huge pain. It’s why I started to resent the shit box showdown. A lot of the offerings, while deemed shitboxes, are actually in far better shape than any of the examples around me. It’s because the rust belt has become a car desert. Places like LA, PNW, etc can have cool old cars because they don’t rot into the ground. Meanwhile around here even good running, newish cars get scrapped because the near herculean effort it takes to keep rust at bay.
When I first moved from upstate NY to LA I was amazed at all the older vehicles still running. I have a warm feeling every time I see an Toyota pickup with a 22R doing normal things.
I just want to know what he paid for it…
We in the farther east road salt/lake effect belt snow remember, the first thing to go was the rear bumper when the frame above the axle cracked. Many bumpers were replaced with lumber. This poor thing still has a bumper, though it’s strapped to what ever metal still exists above. Engine problems with Al heads over Fe blocks another reason these didn’t last long…and then there was the diesel, with $500 HD starters soon to fail.
I assume Chicago doesn’t have inspection requirements?
Land of the free, baby. (Unless you want to park somewhere, then, bend over)
Sure: Rust? check. Missing floor? Check. Bullet holes? Check.
I’ve been driving around Chicago for 40 years and I’ve never seen a bullet hole on any of my cars, or any car owned by someone I know.
Comments like the above re: bullet holes are usually made by people who have never even been to Chicago.
Yup, but we know what “news” organization told them so.
Illinois does not require any form of roadworthiness inspection. If it’s a ’97 plus then it needs to pass a power train code scan that comes up ready and clean.
Insurance is also required, does every state require it?
New Hampshire doesn’t require insurance, but our inspections are (at least on paper) no joke. Go figure.
No insurance? That’s just wrong.
Well technically while you don’t need insurance, you need to be bonded for min coverage around 25k. Why not spend a lot less to insure it.
I don’t know all states but everywhere I have lived required at least some safety inspection. In some places if you knew a guy pay the cost and it passed. Some required a basic safety test tires, horn, brakes, lights, windshield, and seat belts all functional. In Arizona not for recent models or in Arizona renewal but imported from another state required a cursory inspection. My 74 Jensen Healey a good 20 foot looker passed from an inspection from 20 feet away and lasted about 20 seconds. A funny thing in PA bad rust is a fail but if you cover it up they are not allowed to inspect underneath. I think PA Auto inspections are the reason behind different colored duct tape.
I have lived the past 25 years in Michigan and Illinois and have forgotten what the words “safety inspection” even mean.
I should clarify that the OBD-II test is only required in Chicagoland and Metro East. So in most of Illinois it’s a big fat zero in terms of inspections.
Man, as a person who loves taking cars deemed junk back from the grave and have owned/own cars past their objective sell by dates I don’t get this one.
I think actually fixing it will kinda destroy the “survivor” aspect. The amount of time, money, and energy to bring it remotely to a relative safe condition is a hill my even overly ambitious self wouldn’t dare take on. Though maybe only for going to shows the bare minimums will be needed, though it seems that is a ton of work in of itself.
But I applaud his efforts none the less. Good luck to you sir!
Kinda where I got stuck on making it make sense in my mind.. its a weird cult kind of thing because its a survivor, changing anything about that kind of takes away from the legend a bit?
So you are suggesting this be a garage queen? Interesting angle.
I think it’s the “Ship of Theseus” point, that fixing it up eventually takes away the survivor ethos, and at what point does it cease to be the original Chicago Cutlass and become something else?
Like the ruins of classical Greece and Rome. Preserve the ruination and prevent further damage, but don’t reconstruct.
Although this may work better as an exhibit where the natural decay cycle is allowed to play out and the car eventually dies, but only on its own damn terms.
Good analogy but on the other hand how much has to rust and fall off before it is no longer the original Chicago Cutlass? If it breaks in half do I now have two?
It’s already ship of theseus’d. The front clip isn’t original to the car.
Yeah, I just don’t see the apeak.
It’s junk, let it be junk.
The frame is remarkably rust-free, only a bit of it on one side, and behind the rear axle it’s gone. So the actual mechanical part of the car is fine, and the structure it sits on is serviceable. It’s just the body that’s a rusty mess. In the video he said his plan was to keep the aesthetic of the car but make it structurally sound.
No different safety-wise than driving an old British roadster or something – even a rust-free one. Those didn’t even HAVE doors a lot of the time, let alone rollover protection. If those are roadworthy then so is this.
Where in the world did you get that HP figure? The HP figure was 110 and TQ was 205lbsft.
Seems kinda low, right? Current HP on dyno: 37.
90 hp was the specs for the diesel 260 V8, which was only produced for one year in the Cutlass as it was both agonizingly slow and not efficient or reliable enough to compensate for not being able to get out of its own way. By all accounts it was worse than the much-maligned Olds 350 diesel and is one of the worst engines GM ever made.