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Last Oldsmobile to Roll Off Assembly Line

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#1 ·
Last Oldsmobile to Roll Off Assembly Line
Tue Apr 27,11:04 AM ET

LANSING, Mich. - The Oldsmobile, the line of cars that started out in 1897 and featured models such as the Rocket 88 and the muscular 442, is coming to an end this week.

The last Olds, an Alero, is due to roll off an assembly line Thursday in Lansing, the same city where the brand was born.

General Motors Corp. had announced in December 2000 that it would discontinue the Oldsmobile, the oldest automotive brand name in U.S. history.

"Generations of people in Lansing have been touched by Oldsmobile, either by making them in the plant or driving them down the road," GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said.

"I can understand GM's business decision, but seeing Oldsmobile go is almost like a death of someone in the family," said Ken Nicholas, a longtime Olds enthusiast from Eaton Rapids.

On Wednesday, GM will unveil a series of 500 Special Edition Aleros, which will bear special logos and certificates of authenticity.

However, no one will have a chance to buy the absolute last Olds off the assembly line — it is destined for Lansing's R.E. Olds Transportation Museum.

The Oldsmobile was named for its founder, Ransom E. Olds, who started the Olds Motor Vehicle Co.

Worldwide, only the Daimler name — of Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and now DaimlerChrysler — is older.

GM later absorbed the company and the Olds became the middle-class, middle-age car in GM's lineup — more expensive than Chevrolet and Pontiac but below Buick and Cadillac.

Oldsmobile was among the pioneers in using chrome-plated trim and the mass production of automatic transmissions. It gave drivers the V-8 Eighty Eight series, the front-wheel-drive Toronado and the Cutlass, which included the 442 muscle car.

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#27 ·
there is no point in saying it was better to axe buick or saturn or whatever.
true, I liked more the olds suv even than the saab. true, aurora was a gtreat car. true, the intrigue (especially lss) was a neat car too, as good as they came.
but,
with the last cutlass gone, they didn't have much no more. personally I prefer to see a great brand dead than living forever as a shadow, only with uninspired rebadges... just imagine a 30k full optioned cavalier rebadged as a duesenberg!
the alero it was THAT bad IMHO
 
#28 ·
It is a shame to see such history buried, but with modernization and the revolution, one had to go; it's too late to argue about it. I can remember our first Olds, an '84 Cutlass station wagon. Our next was a '79 Cutlass 4dr. Man that thing looked slick. But, we traded it in on our '89 Chevy van. I almost tried looking for a '90s W-body Cutlass convertible when car-shopping. Those, IMO, look very slick.

I do agree with you, AMcA, about Roger, but can we use the 2nd to last one instead? :D

RIP Oldsmobile
 
#29 ·
Right now my mom owns a 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue that my mom fell in love with it as soon as she saw it in the show room when it was brand new back in 1997 and she really loves it especially that we never ever had any problems what so ever with the Intrigue and she will keep it until it dies or out lives us but I also like the Intrigue because its different looking compared to any other manufactures and people today still say what a great looking car it still is and they also ask what model or make is it and we tell them its an Oldsmobile Intrigue :)


Redvette
 
#30 ·
The reson it was olds if you can believe this is Olds aurora was a sister to the cadillac seville and GM needed to save cadillac and get the numbers up , I owned acouple of auroras ,a ninety eight and a toronado trofeo...I now own a cadillac CTS and am getting an STS or srx next no longer counted in the olds ranks but in the cadillac family ...I also have several friends who did the same thing olds to caddy...you couldn't go to buick no product in the pipeline...now you see alittle of olds in the new Buick la croosee {the back end} ,aliitle of olds in the new saturn minivan,alittle of old in the new G -6 ,aliitle of olds in the new Rainier,and if you want aliitle of Olds in the new GXP booneville {theV -8]...it still around but dispersed through Gm divisions ...and you will see a little Olds in the new lexus crossover concept ..it is almost a spitting image of olds concept from 6 years a go the profile...
 
#31 ·
What a sad week.

My Parents purchased their first Old's in '66, an F-85 Cutlass two door. It
had a three speed column shifter. After that, a '75 Cutlass (350 w/Rochester Quadra-jet Carb), '78 Cutlass Supreme Broughm (260 V-8),'82 Cutlass 4 Door (This car lasted 16 years and was in nice shape!), and finally a '98 Intrigue which they still own and enjoy driving.

My mother parents were Olds fans as well. The Most memorable moment for me
was my grandfather taking me out for a spin in his '68 Hurst Olds. That Hurst shifter was the coolest thing. My nickname for him was "Grandpa Leadfoot".
I wish I owned that car.............

Ken
 
#32 ·
Originally posted by usa1+Apr 27 2004, 07:42 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (usa1 @ Apr 27 2004, 07:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66@Apr 27 2004, 02:31 PM
Hmm, the first car I got after college was a '98 Intrigue. I was impressed with it. To bad the rest of the world didn't feel the same way I did about it.
The Intrique got good initial press. It did very poorly on some long term test drives, notably Edmunds, and never really overcame the poor quality image in my mind. I almost bought one in 1998, but decided to skip it since it was the new brand model that year.

Mark [/b][/quote]
actually, if you read car and driver's long-term test report on the Intrigue, over the period that they drove it, they spent very little money on repairs. I dont want to estimate about how much it was ($200-400) but they did say that it was much less than long-term camrys and accords of the time. The first C&D comparison of the intrigue against a camry and taurus yielded a win for the olds. Oldsmobile is dead because of the general bias against american cars. It was too difficult for olds to shake the "old guys car" image.

I personally liked olds cars. They were stylish and had modern engines. My dad bought a 1996 Cutlass Ciera in October of 1995. Its still here with 140k miles on it and still as smoooth as the day we bought it. My dad has been complemented by uncles and cousins that drive camrys and accords, about how smooth the car drives and how nice the transmission still shifts. My dad has done nothing major to the car except change some gaskets and an oil change every 3000 miles. My dad in particular is sad to see olds go. Just take a look at the cars he has had since he immigrated here in 1973.

1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (350 CID)
1983 Chevy Chevette (a huge mistake, but i was born at this time :mf_boff:
1986 Oldsmoble Cutlass Ciera
1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera


RIP olds
 
#33 ·
not long after i got my licence (at 16... about 8 years ago) i really wanted an olds ninety-eight! it coulda been such a sleeper. i wanted it black... supercharged 3.8L... i would have painted all the chrome trim black... tinted the windows... thrown on some huge wheels and tires (perhaps à la impala of the day)... man that woulda been a weapon! i loved (heck, still do!) the classic proportions. maybe someday... i DO need a new project... hmmm....
 
#34 ·
We bought a 2000 Intrigue GL and at 31, I fell in love with Oldsmobiles. 10 months later GM killed the brand and my heart broke. I thought I had found the perfect life brand for me, affordable, tasteful, sporty sendans made by a domestic maker.

We later bought a 2002 Alero with our Olds credit and recently traded it in for a mini van. The Alero was another nice car though the Intrigue we still have is my favorite. The 3.5L Shortstar is a gem!

Olds will never be again, but I expect to get many more years out of our Intrigue. I only wish I could buy a 2008 Intrigue to replace her with.
 
#35 ·
Very sad. My first car was an '87 Olds Calais, and I too grew up with many oldsmobiles in my family. As already mentioned Olds was poorly marketed and largely ignored by GM through the late 80s and 90s. It was a game of musical chairs and Olds got caught without a seat. Chevy will always be the entry level car company, Pontiac is the "excitement" division, Buick is traditional luxury division, Cadillac is after the high-end imports, GMC does trucks, and Saturn is after the budget-minded import buyers. Where did that leave Olds? RIP :(
 
#36 ·
The Aurora is a "G" body which was shared by the Buick Riviera. The Buick didn't have the Northstar v-8 and it was discontinued after the '98 model. This was a shame as it was one of our nicer cars. I work for an Buick and Olds dealer. The Aurora was sort of plauged with electrical, body and oil leak problems which made many owners switch to another luxury car. It could have been saved but the name "Olds" just seemed old if you didn't know your auto history. That hed a negative perception when trying to attract new buyers who had driven imports. At the dragstrip many times a stock v-6 Alero would run 3 tenths quicler than a modified Honda. It was cool to see a girl in an Alero walk all over a bunch of "tuners" and their imports.
 
#37 ·
With GM quality clearly on the rise, I would guess the next generation Oldsmobiles would have been much better than the originals from the late 90s. Looking at a 04 Grand Prix the other day, the build quality is much better than my 2000 Intrigue. GM should have gave the new names more of a chance after spending all that money revamping the brand. it takes time for new names to be added to shopping lists.
 
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