Oldsmobile sign removed

[91 s-10baja]

Lansing State Journal

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/a...=2006612280339

A visible piece of Oldsmobile history will get a permanent home in Lansing.

General Motors Corp. said Friday it will donate the large Oldsmobile lettering atop the former car division's headquarters to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. The museum also will be given an abstract sculpture that stood at the south end of the building for about 40 years.

The fate of those items, as well as that of other reminders of Oldsmobile, have been in doubt since GM made the last Oldsmobile car in April 2004.

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GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said the Detroit automaker thought it fitting the landmark sign and statue should remain in Oldsmobile's hometown.

"They're a part of Lansing history and Oldsmobile history," she said. "It's good that we can keep them (in Lansing)."

GM isn't yet saying what it will do with the rest of the building or with the Lansing Car Assembly factory sites that used to make Oldsmobiles and other cars.

The sign and the sculpture come from the 41-year-old Oldsmobile building that housed the division's marketing operations until 1998, when the work was moved to Detroit. The items will be given to the museum "by the end of the year," a GM statement said.

The R.E. Olds museum is on holiday break, and Director Deborah Horstik couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

But Jim Walkinshaw, a former GM employee and Oldsmobile historian, said the donations will make a great addition to the museum at 240 Museum Drive.

"These are bits and pieces of Oldsmobile history. To save them is a worthwhile effort," Walkinshaw said.

The sculpture will be located outside the museum, while museum officials try to find a suitable way to display the sign.

Contact Barbara Wieland at 267-1348 or bwieland @lsj.com.

[ByTheLake]

Kinda sad. Funny, I remember taking rides in my dad's 1904 Olds Curved Dash down our sidewalk when I was a kid. He had just restored it. Wish I had it today.

If GM doesn't boldly show us the way to the future of transportation technology, other signs could be given to museums, too.

[AndrewGS]

My grandfather was an Oldsmobile man and I watched my dad spend four of the first five years of my life restoring a 1971 442, a car I will never forget although it was sold when I was nine.

A sad sight indeed.

[Mischief007]

I want that Oldsmobile sign.

[1969CamaroSS350]

It's sad to think that the maker of cars as great as the 4-4-2 and Super 88. is gone. I know it's been a couple years but still I wish Olds was still here. Should have said goodbye to Saturn IMO.

[Dave B]

That's sad for Lansing, Oldsmobile, and GM. And yes, the 442 was (is) one of the best.

I still have a Cutlass - not a classic - but continues to be a good reliable car despite the intake gasket replacement. It now has 136,000 miles on it and going strong.

Dave

[1931Chevy]

Long Live Gm And Lets Hope Someday The Olds Brand Can Be Revived

[F14CRAZY]

That building has been empty since then. Wonder what's going to be in it.

Lansing Car Assembly is already half demolished. Well maybe not half, but a lot of it has been. Lansing Craft Centre is still untouched, though GM hasn't said what will happen to it or the Metal Centre across the street.

Keep in mind, the former Olds headquarters as pictured is visible from Lansing Grand River, the rather new factory where the CTS, STS, and SRX are made. No more Oldsmobiles, but Lansing's still cranking out GM cars.

A few miles out of town, we have Delta Township, home of the Lambdas

[Old Dood]

Well...We still Have Oldsmobile Park. Our new(fairly new) Minor League Baseball stadium. Home of the Lugnuts....

"Go Nuts..."

Here:http://www.oldsmobilepark.com/

[MCGARRETT]

Sad.

I do dig the very 60's Oldsmobile font.

Can you imagine the good times that were had here in the 70's when Oldsmobile was selling close to if not more than one million cars per year and the Cutlass was the best selling car in the US?

Could the even have imagined that just over 30 years later, Oldsmobile would be gone.



I reminds me of when the signs were taken of the Eastern Airlines world hq down here in Miami, it too, sat for a few years empty, like the Oldsmobile building. It, along with the maintinence hangers were all leveled, a few years ago for a runway expansion project, sad. I also recall when the Pan Am signs were taken off the all the Pan Am buildings at the airport.

I had neve seen what the Oldsmobile building Lansing looked like, I knew there was one, just never had seen photos. I have seen pictures of the Buick one in Flint.

I was wondering if the building is totally empty. Any of you Michiganers know what became of the other divisional HQ's?

Like the Buick building in Flint or Pontiacs offices in Pontiac, what about the Cadillac main building in Detroit on Clark St?

Any photos of them would be cool.

[nadepalma]

This is some sad business. It really is.

You know, I just had a thought though. I don't think GM would ever find itself in the economic position to ever revive Olds in the US --- probably would never, ever happen.

Nevertheless, I wonder, just as Buick has found success in a foreign market like China (thus guarenteeing Buick's survival in the US), is there any market in the world where Olds is remembered fondly (like Buick was in China) that it could be revived?

I think it's a long shot and doubt that they'd revive a brand in a foreign market that wasn't sold in the US, but wasn't sure if Oldsmobile was popular anywhere else in the world.

[Pontiac-Custom-S]

Yeah that is sad. I spent some time there for GM. Oldsmobile was sacrificed so Saturn could survive. Was it the right decision? Only time will tell.

[bhoppes]

If they are removing the signs from the building, it can only mean they are going to remove the building...Am I right?

[likearock00]

I am surprised a basketball player or rapper didn't try to buy the emblem to make a necklace out of it!

[bhoppes]

Originally Posted by likearock00

I am surprised a basketball player or rapper didn't try to buy the emblem to make a necklace out of it!