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.