Author Topic: A sad goodbye to Oldsmobile (Read 1145 times)

Tarmac · « **on:** April 28, 2004, 12:03:00 PM »

The last Olds will roll out tomorrow. Another piece of automotive history bites the dust.

My dad still has pictures of the 53 olds he bought when he was a teenager. Still loves talking about hotrodding that thing.

Too bad. Always liked the Alero.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/28/pf/autos/olds_dead/index.htm?cnn=yes

A nice summary from the local paper: http://www.lsj.com/xtras/oldsmobile/

gofaster · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2004, 12:41:13 PM »

Too bad the engineering dept. and the sales dept. never got on the same page. Olds lost its niche market(s). The luxury lovers went to Buick and the sports-type went to Pontiac. Olds tried to get the active youth market with the Alero but there just wasn't enough oomph in the styling nor performance to pull them away from Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.

edit: my wife like the Alero, too, but we went with a Civic coupe instead. More car, less money, more sporty, less question about quality.

hblair · « **Reply #2 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:25:16 PM »

blah oldsmobile hasn't died. GM prolly just decided to "kill" it to bring attention to the emblem. They'll bring back some "revamped olds 442 !!" or something in a few years. General Motors in my opinion isn't what it used to be. Except for the Corvette, what exciting cars do they have? The GTO? Remember all the hype a few months ago about the GTO coming out? The commercials on tv that wouldnt show anything except headlights surrounded in smoke from a burnout? Then they finally unvail it and it looks like a grand prix or grand am. GM is in decline in my opinion. Chrysler has been on the upswing for like ten years. They know how to design an EXCITING car. Not just fast, but fun looking. And they do it all the time. You guys seen the new 300m? or the crossfire? Wild looking cars.

Ripsnort · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:28:34 PM »

First car I bought was a 1961 Delta 88 with a 455 in it. I was 15 (Farmers permit). Got my first ticket in that Olds, too.

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:34:05 PM »

GM cars suck.

GM should have all their designers shot.

The only ones I'm ever remorely intrested in are the Corvette and CTS-V....

Plus GMs brand strategy is idiotic. I'm very happy to see Oldsmobile go...

While they are at it they should cut Buick too and try to shift those sales up to Cadillac and sideways to an improved quality Chevrolet lineup . Also why on earth does GMC exist?

So good riddens Oldsmobile!! Hopefully Buick is next...

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:35:18 PM »

Hblair
I agree, GM needs to get it's head out. The dropped the F cars, (bad move) and now only have the GTO and Vette?

The GTO should have come out like the new mustang, making it look like an old goat at least a little. Now it is just a midsize V8 car.

jamusta · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:40:26 PM »

Will Buick be next? They havent made a car thats worth anything since the Grand National..

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:40:54 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by jamusta
Will Buick be next? They havent made a car thats worth anything since the Grand National..

I'm hoping!

Octavius · « **Reply #8 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:43:55 PM »

I drive an olds. This sucks! It has treated me well thus far... about 200k on it right now.

Oldsmobile designed the P39's 37mm cannon. Heres hoping Bell/Oldsmobile get together for an anniversary edition P39

Tarmac · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:45:42 PM »

Yeah, I don't get the buick thing. Buick has nothing going for it. Olds at least had the Alero selling well.

Octavius · « **Reply #10 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:46:14 PM »

screw buicks. olds ripoffs

on second thought, screw you tarmac!

wtg tarmac!

Tarmac · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2004, 01:55:36 PM »

wtg oct!

I'm liking a lot of GM's new vehicle lines. Pontiac has a good number of nice looking vehicles. Cadillac's new styling is gorgeous, especially the CTS. Chevys are looking good, except for that smurfy SSR monstrosity. Saturn's new styling is cool - kinda BMW/Mercedes-ish.

hblair · « **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2004, 02:07:29 PM »

My dad bought an 04 chev pickup a few months ago. Those dudes are ugly now too. And I don't think it's grow on me this time. The new dodges look much better in my opinion.

Stringer · « **Reply #13 on:** April 28, 2004, 02:35:51 PM »

I had a '75 Cutlass with the 350 hp/4 barrel carb.

It was alot of fun.

Suave · « **Reply #14 on:** April 28, 2004, 02:37:59 PM »

The oldsmobile 442 was THE muscle car. I remember rarely seeing those once in a while when I was a kid. Just a basic good looking car built on a hotrod engine with a hotrod transmission. A street legal race car. That was an earth shaking, tranny torqing machine, and it came that way right out of the factory. On two rare occasions I remember seeing a Hurst olds, which was basically a sexed up 442.

That's too bad, but really man, when was the last time oldsmobile put out a desirable car ?