Cutlass Supreme early development pics.

[jiggity76]

A friend of mine bought this off of Ebay and wanted to share it with everyone.  Pretty cool historical information of the car's development.

 

Edited December 5, 2024 by jiggity76

[Amanita]

The automotive news show motorweek holds marathons for their older seasons on Youtube and one of the episodes they played had this spy shot of a Grand Prix prototype that I haven't seen anywhere else. I wonder if they still have the picture in their archives.

Edited December 6, 2024 by Amanita

[55trucker]

Interesting.....6 years before the platform actually appeared the groundwork was already in place,

I suppose that this would also apply to not just the Cutlass but all of the other G bodies at that time.

[Amanita]

6 hours ago, Amanita said:

The automotive news show motorweek holds marathons for their older seasons on Youtube and one of the episodes they played had this spy shot of a Grand Prix prototype that I haven't seen anywhere else. I wonder if they still have the picture in their archives.

Also of note it looks like this car has the half pop up headlights that this clay model had as well, though it looks like they are taped shut possibly? Ignore the filename, definitely not from 1988.

[jiggity76]

On 12/6/2024 at 4:10 PM, Amanita said:

Also of note it looks like this car has the half pop up headlights that this clay model had as well, though it looks like they are taped shut possibly? Ignore the filename, definitely not from 1988.

Whoa!  That is crazy!  I wonder if they were playing around with the idea of the miniquad headlamps that debuted for 91?

[55trucker]

On 12/6/2024 at 5:10 PM, Amanita said:

 

Shame that the engineers at PMD did not keep this overall design for the flanks for the GP.....

Everything above the beltline is the same as what went into production but all below that was tossed.

This prototype is more in tune with the sides of the other 3 cars of the 1st gen platform, the sides are smoother, do not fold in at the bottom, more complete coverage all of the wheels, body does not taper in at the front and rear.

That's a really good looking car, too bad it wasn't kept as it sits.

[Amanita]

1 hour ago, 55trucker said:

Shame that the engineers at PMD did not keep this overall design for the flanks for the GP.....

Everything above the beltline is the same as what went into production but all below that was tossed.

This prototype is more in tune with the sides of the other 3 cars of the 1st gen platform, the sides are smoother, do not fold in at the bottom, more complete coverage all of the wheels, body does not taper in at the front and rear.

That's a really good looking car, too bad it wasn't kept as it sits.

I like the bottom half of the car more than what we got for the base model cars, but I like the more aggressive cladding the SE and GTP cars got, it really screams late 80s/early 90s and makes the cars look as distinct as they do.

[RareGMFan]

Hard to tell if they're identical due to the quality of the photo, but if they're not, the wheels are quite similar to the early 6000 STE wheels.

 

[White93z34]

its neat to see the progress of GM10 that far back. Crazy to think just how big and expensive an undertaking this platform was to develop.

Say what you will about Roger Smith and the absolute disaster it was bringing these cars to market, we have him to mostly thank for these cars.

[bluecalais79]

x2 on that, but, IMHO I wish they could have made the 2 doors with door handles in the door and not in the B-Pillar. These handles are nothing but headaches. And, the Verts would not have needed a basket handle (?)

I'm needing to replace my LH Door handle. Again. 

[Amanita]

On 1/1/2025 at 8:31 AM, bluecalais79 said:

x2 on that, but, IMHO I wish they could have made the 2 doors with door handles in the door and not in the B-Pillar. These handles are nothing but headaches. And, the Verts would not have needed a basket handle (?)

I'm needing to replace my LH Door handle. Again. 

When I win the Mega Millions I'm going to produce replacement door handles that don't break. If you would like to support me in this endeavor of spending tons of money on lottery tickets please write me a check.

[GnatGoSplat]

I actually really like the pillar handles as it gave the body a cleaner look.  Never had one break either; had them come either pre-broken or broke them trying to straighten them out.  I replaced them with OEM ones towards the end of their availability and they've lasted decades.  The trick is to pull the handle only till the door pops open just far enough to reach behind the pillar and pull the door the rest of the way open.  Never apply more pulling force to the handle than is required to pop them open and they'll last forever.  It's one of those things that becomes force of habit and I've noticed myself doing that on all my vehicles even though it makes no sense on anything else.

[bluecalais79]

You nailed it with the OEM, they do last. My OEM lasted 25 years. But, during the time my brother had it, he ruined alot of items which I'm still in the process of replacing. The door handle was one of them. I got around to replacing the LH Door handle last weekend, all went really well. While removing the broken (aftermarket) one, it fell apart in 3 pieces. I replaced the original one with a TRQ in 2020 when my brother gave me back the car. This time around the job was easier but I still had to manually bend the handle to meet the contour of the car a bit. You take a real chance on wrecking the whole thing when you do that. The RH door handle is original but that too is getting tired. 

Your method of opening the door is best so far, I will be using that method from now on. 

[GnatGoSplat]

1 hour ago, bluecalais79 said:

I replaced the original one with a TRQ in 2020 when my brother gave me back the car. This time around the job was easier but I still had to manually bend the handle to meet the contour of the car a bit. You take a real chance on wrecking the whole thing when you do that.

Yep, that's exactly how I broke mine.  I'm OCD and the handles were tipped out at the top and the top wouldn't rest on the rubber stopper.  One I tried carefully bending and it snapped.  Another one, I used a torch to heat the lever part which actually worked without breaking it.

[bluecalais79]

Yep, you just reminded me, not only did I have to bend it inward, but I also had to twist the top of it left to right so it would sit flush against the (top of the) door. All in all things came out ok. It's not like I use this car every day and it's never out in the rain or snow anymore like when my father and brother owned it. The car sure did some hard time with those two as owners

Edited January 12 by bluecalais79