Slow week this week in auto history.
This Tuesday, Aug 21 in 1897 Olds Motor Vehicle Co. incorporated. Over 110 year later they produced their last car.
Here’s what the 1987 Olds looked liked.
The last Olds to come of the line forever was 2004 Alero RE. THE END!
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This month:
1/32 scale 1969 Dodge Coronet Super Bee (new in the box)
If I were in charge of GM, I would not have left Oldsmobile for death. I liked the idea of ‘Saturn-izing’ Olds into a Lexus level car. There might have been only one, or two models under the Olds badge, but I would not have left the world’s oldest car company for dead.
Oldsmobile was GM’s ‘experimental’ division both in terms of engineering and product marketing. Many automotive firsts such as automatic transmission (Hydramatic), OHV V8s, and even the ‘self winding’ car clock. Olds claims the first FWD car built in America, the Toronado, but I have heard challenge to that claim. Olds also had ‘converted’ many gas 350 V8s to Diesel in what seemed like a great idea at the time. Unfortunately, these engines had poor longevity due to the increased compressions required by Diesels, and most blow up at 60K miles.
Although not a well respeceted engine today, Olds even had America’s first multi valve 4 cylinder engine, the ‘QUAD 4’.
Olds was ahead of it’s time in the late 1970s by using ‘division built’ components from Chevy in their cars, again it wasn’t fondly thought of at the time. Many Cutlass Supremes were built with low compression/smog choked Chevy 350 V8s instead of the higher torque/HP Olds engines. This was back in a time when engines between GM divisions were different in head, intake, cam/crank, and even piston design. Information leaked, an dthe buying public was appalled. GM ended up giving $500 vouchers to owners of Cutlass Supremes with the ‘secret’ Chevy $350 V8. To look back from today, Olds was ahead of it’s time as the good ol’Government Motors of the present uses only one ‘corporate’ engine per chassis reguardless of what brand/badge.
I miss Oldsmobile. I even miss the Cutlass name. Even today when I see a well cared for Aurora still on the road, or a restored 4 4 2, I think back to the forgotten legacy of Oldsmobile.
Which brings me to the time I find myself saying in many of my comments in your BLOG:
“What happend to GM????”
I’ve mentioned this before, but it never really made any sense to me why you would have so many division. Some say, it was to offer different levels of options that were affordable on up to expensive. Take the Chevrolet for instance. At one time they had the Biscayne, Belair, Impala and Caprice (and I think that was the correct order from lowest optioned to the highest) as option levels and pricing to reach everyone. This doesn’t seem too bad. But now add in just the other divisions with Chevy being the lowest, then there’s Pontiac, Buick, Olds, and Caddy and I think that would be the correct order for options and pricing as well. Even with in those there were additional levels, like the Tempest and La Mans, GTO. I have more on this coming up in my next blog entry.