The fourth-generation Cutlass Supreme embodies the Malaise Era’s drought of exciting cars. Oldsmobile even offered a V8 diesel back then, a mill that suffers from woeful reliability issues and poor performance.
Owned by the sales manager at MAPerformance, the Cutlass Supreme in the following clip is a little more stirring because of the 6.0-liter LS hiding under the hood. The G-body coupe further sweetens the deal with a massive turbo featuring an 88-millimeter billet compressor wheel, dual ceramic ball-bearing center housing rotating assembly, and a thumpin’ great intercooler.
Leo, a.k.a. Fuel Pump Daddy, has owned this car for the better part of six years now. He traded a 1982 Ford Fairmont for the partially-built sleeper, which used to be owned by Leo’s fabricator guy. Rated at well over 1,000 wheel horsepower, the black-painted Cutlass Supreme also features heavier-duty head studs, a more aggressive camshaft, a bigger radiator, and 799 heads.
All that suck-squeeze-bang-blow is channeled to the 275/60 by 15-inch rubber shoes by a Powerglide that’s not exactly good for highway driving. On the upside, the archaic transmission with two forward ratios is simple, tough, and very good on the drag strip. Leo says his car is a little mental on the street because of the sheer amount of torque produced by the turbo LS, but then again, this unassuming coupe also embodies sleeper perfection.
Augmented by an 8.8-inch Ford rear end, AutoMeter gauges for the fuel, boost, and revs, as well as a chromoly driveshaft, the Olds “is metal as heck” according to Leo. If he were to sell it, Leo wouldn’t take less than $40,000, which is understandable given its history and emotional attachment.
Further upgrades include a slick-looking shifter with a white knob and a simple head unit with Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming and hands-free calls. Despite the extreme modifications that Leo and his fabricator buddy performed on this one-of-none Cutlass Supreme, the murdered-out hardtop still features the original owner’s manual for the 1980 model year.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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