Good morning! It’s the end of the week, and we’re all the way up to O in our trip through the alphabet. Today is all about General Motors, as we take a look at two nice and clean coupes in excellent colors. Yeah, they’re expensive, but they’re the nicest examples of their kind you’re likely to find.
Yesterday’s choices were awfully nice too, especially that NSU, and it ended up winning the vote. Rotary power and space-age styling is a hard combination to beat, especially in that pretty blue. Yeah, you’ll have a hard time finding parts for it, but you’re guaranteed to have the only one at any given car gathering.


But I think I have to vote for the beluga whale. I prefer the Hudson Hornet’s styling, but the big bathtub Nashes are awfully cool, too. And I know I can keep a big dumb six-cylinder alive. If I want rotary power someday, it’ll be a Mazda. At least those you can get parts for.
All right, who’s ready to revisit the Seventies? Today we’ve got two of the General’s coolest two-door offerings from that decade that brought us leisure suits and Poco. And true to form, they’re both in garish colors: bright frickin’ orange, and bright frickin’ green. Let’s check them out.
1974 Opel Manta Rallye – $13,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.9 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Odometer reading: 83,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The first-generation Opel Manta holds a special place in my heart, for a strange reason: my parents had a red ’71 Manta when I was born, so it would have been the very first car I ever rode in. I don’t remember it; it was wrecked (not with me in it) and replaced with a ’74 Pinto wagon when I was still a baby. But as much as I like unusual cars, two-door coupes, and small European imports, that red Manta must have left some sort of imprint on my tiny, still-developing mind. It may, in fact, have been what turned me into a car guy. Would I be here, writing about cars every day, if my dad had chosen a boring old four-door Dart or something? Maybe not. We’ll never know.

This Manta is the one to get, if you’re in the market. It’s a Rallye model, with stripes, a blacked-out hood, and stiffer suspension tuning. Right up front, I should tell you it has a rebuilt title, because – get this – somebody scrapped it. What kind of monster sends a car like this to the junkyard? The seller has done a ton of work to it, all listed in verbose detail in the ad, but the highlights are a completely rebuilt suspension, a five-speed transmission out of a V6 Mustang, a Weber carb, an aluminum radiator, all-new brakes, and more. It runs and drives great, and is ready to go.

The seller seems to be more interested in taking artsy photos like this than actually showing the car, but we get the gist. The interior isn’t shown; the seller claims it’s a 7 out of 10, which sounds livable. It has an aftermarket steering wheel, but the original is also included if you’d prefer. The seller says everything works, including all the original gauges.

The paint is original, though the hood has been replaced by a hood from another Manta Rallye, and the seller did some rust repair in the floors. It has been updated to halogen H4 headlights, and LED bulbs in the taillights – kudos to the seller for not installing those awful LED retrofit headlights as well. The wheels on it are a period-correct optional set, but it also includes the original wheels, which if I remember right are stamped-steel Rostyles.
1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme – $16,500

Engine/drivetrain: 350 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Grants Pass, OR
Odometer reading: 40,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
Here it is, the number-one selling car in the United States for 1976: the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It was also, as far as I can tell, the number-one used car choice of high-school-age guys in Chicagoland in the late 1980s. My high school parking lot was absolutely full of these things, and usually the two-door coupe version like this. And why not? It’s a good-looking, reliable, V8-powered car that could be bought all day long in the classifieds for a few hundred dollars. Of course, those cars are long gone, having been used up and discarded by those young owners, which is how this one got to be a rare collectible today.

Power comes from a 350 cubic inch version of Oldsmobile’s celebrated V8, though it no longer carried the “Rocket” moniker by this point. It has a four-barrel Quadrajet carburetor and spins a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 transmission to drive the rear axle, with a typical malaise-era tall final drive ratio. Acceleration isn’t great, but the tall 2.41:1 gearing keeps the revs down and the mileage numbers up, and that was the point. It runs great, and even though it may not be the thundering beast that earlier Rocket V8s were, it breathes through a new dual exhaust system, and I bet it sounds terrific.


The seller doesn’t provide any single good shot of the interior, but these two should give you an idea: it’s immaculate. The white vinyl upholstery is all re-done, the dash is original and perfect, and the steering wheel is a 442-style, in green to match the dash. This is not, as they say, your father’s Oldsmobile. More to the point, it isn’t your grandma’s, either.

It has been repainted, in its original color, and the bumpers have been re-chromed. It’s got all new weatherstripping, too. The factory color-matched Rallye wheels with beauty rings are a nice touch, and there are five of them. They even replaced all the emblems. Someone really showered this car with love; it’s a far cry from the rusty, primer-gray Cutlasses jacked up on air shocks that populated my high school parking lot.
So you’ve got one sporty European import survivor that has been mechanically reconditioned, and one malaise era coupe that has been painstakingly restored to probably-better-than-new condition. And although they’re not exactly cheap, they’re both less than a new Nissan Versa. And they’re both way cooler. All you have to choose, and you have all weekend to do it. See you next week!
This was somewhat tough and both are awesome, but gotta go Olds! I miss Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. This one looks amazing and is in great shape. I don’t mind that it’s malaise or that it’s not stick (that would be nice though) The Manta is really cool, but the rebuilt title is not
I know the Manta is cool, and probably the choice that will win.
But my dad had a Cutlass just like this in the early 80s, after he traded in the only new car he ever bought (1972 Buick Skylark). A downgrade of sorts, but the Skylark was 8 years old, and back then, that was not common.
Then my youngest sister was born, and the Cutlass was replaced by a used 1975 Chevelle Wagon. The rear facing bench seat and power rear window were cool, but the thing was clearly very used. Then it was a Ford Aerostar, and then compact shit boxes as my older sibling and I went away to college
But that low mileage white vinyl over navy 1976 Cutlass was the one I remember… we had from maybe from 1982-1985? Trips down to the Jersey Shore or to the Poconos. Big bench seats, my older sibling up front, with me in between two younger siblings in car seats, right in the middle……blue everything inside, and still the best damn sounding speakers I think I have ever heard. That huge trunk filled with stuff for 4 kids must have acted like a big woofer.
Anyway, these days my dad thinks I’m my younger brother and doesn’t remember me much at all since I’m the only one who moved away, much less remember the Cutlass.
So I would buy the Olds 10/10 times. Take him for a spin in it. Maybe he’ll remember too………
Manta. Easiest choice in a long time. I hated ennui-era domestic cars.
A manual, kinda low mileage example. In beautiful shape…
Take my money. Ok. Don’t.
I’m not gonna trade a 2017 Accord with 63 K in on this (or the Olds), and I only have a 1 car garage. but I have a unexplainable soft spot in my heart for Opels. And this one looks really nice.
“Both” should have been an option for this showdown. I love them both!
The Olds is a nice car, but I find the Open more interesting. Had the Cutlass been blue, maybe it might’ve swayed me. But it’s not quite enough muscle (442) and not quite enough luxury – white interior notwithstanding. And is that a factory antenna, or did they have a CB?
Manta for me… it speaks to me more.
Also I recall back when I was young, those Cutlass Supremes were EVERYWHERE.
My vote would have swung to the Cutlass if it was a more interesting config… Such as having the 455 Olds V8, having the 4 speed manual or having the rarer 260 V8 with the 5 speed manual. The 350 olds V8 with the slushbox is a very un-special powertrain combo.
That Olds is just too cherry to not get my vote. Plus, I love green cars.
That Manta is a genuinely nice-looking car. And it’s in LA too! But for roughly the same price, I could buy a few-year-old Mazda MX-30 EV which I’ve been contemplating lately (the 100-mile range is fine for me). Of course, five years from now the Mazda EV will be worth thousands less, whereas this lovely Manta will probably still be worth it’s selling price.
Plymouth vs Porsche for “P” please! Extra points if you find a Prowler!!
I’ll take the Opel. I… really don’t like how the Cutlass looks, and the Opel seems way more fun, even with a rebuilt title.
These are both mashup cars. The front end of the Opel looks European and the back end looks Japanese. The Oldsmopeople looks like a cross between low rent strip mall and a deckchair.
Circa 2002 I paid $75 for a 79 Cutlass Calais. Spent a weekend putting a $75 transmission in it, and, well, I had a car. 260 V8: kinda pointless in my opinion.
Mantra easily
Wanta Manta? Don’t you want a…
Wanta Manta? Don’t you want a…
That Olds Cutlass so Big and Green-y
Give me Manta in a Hurry!
Wanta Manta? Don’t you want a…
Wanta Manta? Don’t you want a…
(Mmm-Hmmm)
Both? Both!
I was all set to vote Opel but the condition of the Olds carries the day.
What’s with the Cutlass steering wheel? Apart from the green-ness it looks like it came from the 1930s.
That’s the Olds sport wheel of the era. The wheel is exaggerated by the fact that the tilt column appears to be all the way up.
The Gutless is my choice. for that coin the Manta needs to be much …. much cleaner, and the salvage title is always a problem.
The Gutless Cutlass is the only choice.If you’ve driven both you already know they are worlds apart.It may not handle,stop,or accelerate that well but it’s not supposed to.The Cutlass is a luxury coupe that will swallow up the potholes and make you stop to refuel every 200 miles but who cares!Drive one and you will absolutely love it.
Wow, this was difficult. Like a lot of people here, the choice came down to personal history: my dad had a ‘77 Cutlass Supreme in Mandarin Orange Metallic with argent Super Stock wheels and a buckskin Landau roof and buckets. Talk about gutless; that one had the Buick 231 V6 before it became the legendary 3800. But it was handsome to this ten-year-old boy at the time, and I still have a soft spot for these.
I love Opels, and every now and then imagine grey-marketing a Monza. But today, thanks to Dad, the Green Machine gets the vote.
the rocket Olds 350 was not a bad engine though. it was the 1976 catalytic converter, retarded ignition and poorly sized 2 barrel that causes so much problems. It can be made to run very well with a few choice changes. Sniper, high flow cat, and a 1970 350 cam swap, nothing special just a 2 barrel 350 cam should wake that slug up quite a bit. .
I struggle to come up with a single malaise GM product I would willingly own. Any Cutlass is definitely a non-starter for me.
Let’s go rallyeing!
Any of them? There are several I’d be happy with…the green Olds, though, isn’t one of them.
Good golly.. I may have to ponder this one and come back later. Would take both honestly
My very first car was the 442 version of this! Funny tho the steering wheel was the same as all other gutlass err I mean Cutltass’s of that year. Living in syracuse it was so rusted out my dad and I used it as a summer before collage project, I rebuilt the motor he put new panels and repainted it. Car looked awesome (It was a paint and sticker package after all), Black and silver combo. Car was not fast and drank gas like it was going out of style (it was 1990, First gulf war) so I sold it and bought a Jeep Comanche, it was light years ahead and got way better mileage!