The 1978 Cutlass Supreme was purchased used in April of 1979. It needed a carburetor rebuild shortly thereafter at 20,000 miles.
Oldsmobile billed the 260 V-8 as an economy engine, but never achieved more than 15 mpg.
The 260 was bullet proof under all conditions. It pulled a four wheel U-Haul trailer so loaded down with furniture that the car only managed a maximum speed of 45 mph with the accelerator all the way to the floor.
Even running out of antifreeze due to a heater hose leak posed no problem. I filled the radiator back up with water and continued home.
If the accelerator was mashed all the way down to the floorboard from a dead stop, the rear wheel barely burned rubber.
The only thing that killed the engine was the old thermostat. The new owner continued to drive the car and well, you guessed it, the engine overheated and finally gave up the ghost.
Even through gross neglect, (I was a teenager at the time) that old 260 kept on chugging away.
I'm not sure what kind of automatic tranny it had, but the shift from 2nd to a tall 3rd gear would lurch the car forward like it was being bumped from behind.
"The 260 was bullet proof under all conditions. It pulled a four wheel U-Haul trailer so loaded down with furniture that the car only managed a maximum speed of 45 mph with the accelerator all the way to the floor."
That has to have been the best running 260 that I ever heard of!
Man.. I've got a 260 in my cutlass... if it wasn't for the spun bearing at 100,000 I would have had no problems with this.. I replaced the bearings and the crank and the motors been truckin along ever since... I put that motor through more crap than I'm willing to admit... but it's kool cuz it still runs like a truck.. a very weak truck.
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