The last Olds I bought is my current car: a 1987 Olds 98 Touring
Sedan. Bought this car used from a Toyota dealer in Fullerton, CA in
November, 1991 with 33K miles on it. Car now has 145K on it and still
going strong, though the soft trim is starting to show it's age.

What ruined Oldsmobile is what nearly ruined GM in general: too many
models, too much line overlap, poor quality and too much marketing and
not enough engineering.  GM is starting to find it's way back but Olds
became a casuality of the previous sins of GM corporate.

Regards,
 Bill Bowen
 Sacramento, CA

here's all the olds i've owned, unfortunately between no's 3 and 4 i owned a
couple of fords that were given to me...

1. (1988) '73 delta 88 Convertible $800 (blew oil. owned 1 week. the guy never
deposited my money, and was waiting for me to return it...)

2. (1988 - 1989) '75 cutlass supreme $800 (wrecked)

3. (1989 - 1997) '75 cutlass Supreme $200 w/dead engine (swapped engine w/no. 2)

4. (1999 - 2003) '00 alero gls $16,800 (traded in after warranty, and tires went
bad)

5. (2003 - ) '03 alero gls $13,900 (after trade and rebates! whatta deal!! last
one in new england.!)

i'm anticipating that my next car will be an '06 gto (after they decide to trick
'em out with scoops and stickers...)

- Mr.C.J. - S.T.P. - B.H.C. - S.O. - STALKER ORIGINAL -

"...that i could get sold, rolled, and cornholed for
     a negotiable price!" - Pilot

-{ http://www.oldtimehardcore.com/biography/stp.asp }-
       
       

The last Olds that I bought is a 2001 Aurora 4.0, which I
have owned for the past 3 years. Excellent in all areas!!
GM should have sent the Aurora to another division...Buick,
maybe, instead of dropping it.
I think that the reason that Olds is going out of business
now is due to the fact that they discontinued the Cutlass
name. This was one of the most popular models in the history
of GM. Also, I feel that the other Oldses of recent years
were rather ordinary, plain cars (Except the Aurora!) and
people didn't think that they were all that special.

I'm still driving and loving my 1998 Intrigue.  Lets just say that the
people in my
demographic group would usually buy Accords or Camries . . .

I'm still PO'd at GM for killing Olds.  None of the other divisions can
replace it.  I know
because I rent a lot of GM cars in my line of work.  Chevy is too cheapo,
Pontiac's styling gets old real fast (inside and out), Buick is too dowdy,
Saturn is ugly, Cadillac is . . . Well, I'll take a Caddy anytime : )

In 1978 I bought a new Delta 88 Royale 2-door coupe.  I was 26 years
old at the time.  It was all white with a blue interior and blue
half-vinyl top with the 15" Olds rallye wheels and 350 Olds engine.
Man, this was one beautiful car.  Kept it for 20 years and over
100,000 miles with no problems.  In 1979 we brought our newborn son
home from the hospital in this car and 16 years later he learned to
drive in this same car.  The whole family loved this car.  I
reluctantly sold it only because we had too many vehicles at the time
and something had to go.  Yeah, should've kept it.
Never bought any more Olds vehicles.  Didn't like the looks of them in
the late 80's and 90's.
Roger Smith really screwed up GM starting in the early 80's with
cookie-cutter designs, product quality issues and the wholesale
decision to go with front-wheel drive across the board.  Things got
really boring and it's unfortunate that Oldsmobile was the loser in
all this mess.  One of the things that really infuriated me was the ad
campaign that said "This isn't your father's Oldsmobile".  No sh.t!
Those earlier cars were better built, more exciting and had an
individual personality that all GM divisions had until Roger Smith
came along.  GM has yet to recover from this unfortunate era.  It's
really pathetic.
I fully understand that nobody can build the same cars as yesterday
and compete.  Advancements and progress must be made.  But if I'm
expected to pay approx. $30,000 for a new car, it should at least look
good.  That's where GM and Olds really lost their way.  Yes, we expect
all the latest safety and environmental items and the best quality in
our new vehicles.  But what Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell understood
so well was that exciting designs really made people want to buy and
be seen in these cars.  Do we have designers today that are capable of
doing this?  More than likely we do.  But does management have the
ability to give the go-ahead and approve great designs?  I don't think
so.  How else could the Aztec have even gotten off the drawing board
(oops, I meant CAD-designers screen)?
I completely accept all the new advancements.  But please, give me a
great-looking design and rear wheel drive in a mid to full size car
and I'm happy.  Oh, and it needs to be affordable to the average
working guy (or gal).  Germany already builds cars like this, but at
$60-80,00 each who couldn't?  And besides, I want to continue to buy
American-made vehicles.
Just my $0.02.
Denny

They came up with that new symbol.  The rocket was just fine dammit.

a 2000 Alero which I sold upon the GM annocement cancelling the OLDS
division!!! This car was a lemon from the start and it HAD to go.

OLDSMOBILE was our family's life blood for over three generations. THESE
SO CALLED EXECUTIVES raped olds to finance the saturn division and sold
them out!!! Things were looking bright and promissing, but LESS THAN
GENEROUS MOTORS  cancelled the division.

I could explain why my Alero was a lemon, but two words sum it
up---GREED AND IGNORANCE!!! The worst part is I still miss it........TOM

Well, the LAST Olds I bought was a 1962 Starfire just two months ago.  I
have several Olds and have been with them since my family owned a part of a
dealership.  I have or have owned 38 Oldsmobiles.  Still have my original
purchased 1967 Toronado in collector condition.

In reality, I believe, the Olds situation falls on the shoulders of a bunch
of  "modern thinking" people who have entered the industry (and many other
industries like the electric power business for instance) who believe that
you do not need to know anything about the business to run it and "It's just
a business."

Then start with the "It's not your father's Oldsmobile campaign".  It really
didn't fly well and missed the target.  Follow with the abandonment of the
Oldsmobile name on your flagship product.  Let's see, a new Aurora which
does not have the Oldsmobile name on it except in the radio dial???????
Anybody see the Olds name stripped from the new Toronado in 1966?  And at
the same time, fully abandon the old logo, etc.  Wow, I bet that is taught
in some school somewhere.  Everyone will be thinking "let's get one of those
new .... hmmmm what were they called?"

Aren't these marvelous marketing tactics?  Do away with brand recognition.
But enough of this tirade.

Sorry for the rant.

Cheers from Minnesota,

Gerry Steffens P.E.
Oronoco, MN

"Dave" asked:

The (rear drive) Cutlass was built at Plant #1 during that time span.
That plant has built mainly the Pontiac Grand Am since the '85 model year...
also the Calais/Cutlass Calais/Achieva/Alero during the same time span, but
compare the Pontiac and Olds advertising budgets through those years.
I remember in January 1985 we were 3 months behind on orders for the
Grand Am, and Pontiac had multiple spots for it during the Super Bowl.
GM planned to build 30,000 units its first year; >10x that many were sold.