In this video we zoom through the generations of the Oldsmobile Cutlass and go over some of it’s features. Oldsmobile first used the Cutlass name on an experimental sports coupe designed in 1954. It rode a 110 in (2,800 mm) wheelbase, and featured a dramatic boat-tailed fastback roofline and stock V8. Its platform was similar to the compact F-85 Cutlass introduced seven years later.
General Motors began developing its first compact cars in 1956, beginning with initial planning on what would become the Chevrolet Corvair in 1960 on the GM Z platform. The following year a second series of somewhat longer cars was planned for Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac; what would be termed "senior compacts" on the "Y" platform.
Included in that Y-body was the The Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass. It was Oldsmobile's smallest, budget priced model—some two feet (60 cm) shorter and $451 less than the next-smallest Olds, the the full-sized Dynamic 88.
The first-year F-85 was offered in two body styles, a four-door sedan or a four-door station wagon with either two or three seats, and in a choice of two trim levels, base or De Luxe.