The 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon Is America’s New Efficiency Machine

The Oldsmobile Cutlass was the best-selling car in America for most of the 1976-1983 period, which makes GM's discontinuation of the Oldsmobile brand in 2004 seem even more bewildering. One Cutlass that didn't sell so well during that time was the Salon fastback coupe and sedan, available for just the 1978 and 1979 model years. Here's a magazine advertisement touting the '79 Salon and its oil-sipping diesel V8 engine.

The diesel V8 this advertisement brags about isn't the notorious 5.7-liter version everyone knows. No, it's the 4.3-liter Olds oil-burner that was available only in 1979 Cutlasses, and it's not to be confused with the slightly later 4.3-liter Olds V6 diesel (which was a 5.7 with two cylinders lopped off).