1962 Oldsmobile F85 Cutlass Convertible
The
vision of American cars of the early 1960s is usually one of gigantic land
barges with tons of chrome and tailfins, but the truth is "The Volkswagen
problem," forced American automakers to rethink their model lineups in the
early 1960s. Small cars had never sold well or proved popular with buyers up to
that point, but when the VW Beetle's popularity took off due to changing buyer
demographics, it signaled a shift to small and efficient vehicles. The American
auto industry, makers of large and opulent "land yachts" responded with
a compact in their own way. Ford and Plymouth sold their conventional
front-engine/rear-drive Falcons and Valiants, Chevrolet went out on a limb with
the air-cooled, rear-engined Corvair.
By
1961, Ford was selling Falcons, and Chevrolet was turning out rear-engined,
air-cooled Corvairs while Rambler, which had essentially invented the American
compact car came in third place.
Oldsmobile
wanted in on the action, and its entry was the F-85, the base of the Cutlass
line. It was a smartly styled, high-compression V-8-powered derivative of the
Corvair in Club Coupe, sedan, and station wagon, with a convertible in 1962. If
you were not one to follow the crowd, the F-85 represented a truly unique
choice. The F-85s offered performance unlike anything else in its class.
My
wife had a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan that she drove through college. She
loved it.
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