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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
They also claimed the the "Dome" shaped combustion chamber prevented carbon buildup, whereas the Olds engine would have to be cleaned out every so often. Dunno how realistic that claim is, although I've heard that at the time, the Hemi engines did run cleaner, and more efficiently, than other engines. Supposedly though, they would not adapt well to emissions controls...or maybe that was just listed as one of many excuses to dump the 426 Hemi in later years?
I also recently got an old Motortrend magazine that did a comparison test of a '55 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, DeSoto Fireflite, and I forget which Mercury, but I think it had 197 hp. I just glanced through it quickly, but noticed it didn't seem like they picked a clear winner. I do remember the DeSoto doing 0-60 in 12.8 seconds, and that was the slowest of the bunch. The Mercury was the quickest. I'll have to look through it a bit more deeply, and see what the pros and cons were of each car.
And, packed away somewhere, I have an old Consumer Reports that someone gave me back in the late 80's. A neighbor who knew I liked DeSotos had come across it, and gave it to me. It was a 1955 issue and also tested a Ninety-Eight, as well as a Fireflite, and I think the third car they tested was actually a Kaiser! I might have to dig that one out, too. About all I remember from that one was that the DeSoto did 0-60 in about 13.3 seconds, 11.8 for the Olds, and I think the Kaiser was 15.4. Or, was it a Hudson? All I remember is that it was a car with a straight-six, and CR said it wasn't a fair test because it just couldn't compete with the more modern V-8s.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
In the small town where my mother lives, there was a MG/BMC dealer back in the day. The owner operated it as a garage long after new car sales stopped, and I think the old MG sign with a BL logo was up until 2005 or later. At one time, there was a junkyard behind it with mostly 1100/America cars, quite interesting at the time.
I think the '59 Plymouth and Dodge were probably about the most outdated looking of the '59 lineup, looking like heavy-handed facelifts, but without really advancing the style, any. At least Chrysler/DeSoto squared-off a bit up front, and moved the headlights down a bit, and raised the grille a bit as well.
I thought the '59 Pontiacs looked downright futuristic, for the time. Heck, shave off the fins and take the dogleg out of the windshield, and it was the basic proportions of your typical 60's big car...at least until they started porking up in later years.
https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/1959-cadillac/
Chrysler's attempts to refresh the '57 designs were not totally successful, and Ford did a decent refresh of the '57 body that modernized it quite a bit but seems to be either a love it or hate it thing. But the big 3 were all pretty much on the same page design-wise for the first time in a while.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
1961....Airplanes at an airport was part of the visual for the first brochure that was posted, way back for the year 1930.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Technical_Center
The 62 odds a year I really like. The rear lights and layout are perfect.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Old GM showcars that were the model cars... preserved under Welbaum. "One of those, the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone, stunned the crowd when it rumbled up to the podium."
From Automotive News
"Classics refurbished under Welburn include: the 1959 Stingray Racer; 1938 Buick Y Job, the industry's first concept car; 1966 Chevrolet Electrovan, the world's first operational fuel cell vehicle; a 1996 EV1, GM's first electric car; several Chevrolet Corvairs; and the 1951 Buick LeSabre, which introduced aircraft features to automotive styling."
I'd love to see some of the showcars that led to the out front Oldsmobile designs of the era documented here by our trip through history.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I don't think the turbo was very effective back then.
I like the 62 Olds too, esp th Starfire with the unique trim.
The brochures themselves, as we've seen, are an amazing mix of aspirational and sometimes silly imagery, combined with practical arguments, and even once-in-a-while somewhat detailed engineering explanations of how these cars work—from the engines, to the electrical systems, to the seats, to all the various options. There were also no doubt each year dozens of people working on the art and ad copy for these brochures. I imagine rooms where people from the advertising agency are meeting with the Oldsmobile executives, Oldsmobile product planners, and sometimes even the GM/Oldsmobile engineers to translate the new product each model year into these glossy brochures.
Sounding almost like Carl Sagan, I'm thinking about the billions and billions of dollars, and millions and millions of man hours that went into these Oldsmobiles over these decades. Oldsmobile was a vital business for decade after decade, and it must have seemed like it would never end. And now all that we have left from this now-dead and gone brand are a few remaining Oldsmobiles from these years in the hands of collectors. And we also have these brochures and advertisements that tell us about the promotional dreams for these Oldsmobiles of the past....
Every make of car we can point to and say "it was too good to fail" was, honestly, probably not good enough to succeed.
I never realized that Olds did that trick of having the deep well trunk, with the gas tank between the well and the rear axle, and then the spare over the top of the axle. I know Chevy and Buick did it for a few years, and Ford pretty much made it famous.
Did Pontiac ever do it, I wonder? IIRC, Pontiac used an X-frame in 1958-60 and then a perimeter frame in '61-64, and then they all went with perimeter frames for '65, except for the Caddy 75. I had always thought that '61-64 Chevies and Buicks used the deep well trunk, and Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles used the more conventional shallow trunk with the horizontal gas tank. But, in looking at pics, it looks like only Pontiacs, and Cadillacs, were using the "regular" trunk.
Caddy had one:
It appears Buick did too, but I've never seen one before, I think most were 6 window rather than this:
Maybe stopping with the Olds brochures with 1966 would be better in order remember Oldsmobile in its glory? But in terms of sales, Oldsmobile actually had 20 more years of success before the long and ultimately terminal decline set in. And so for the heck of it I'll post some more images from at least some of these next two decades.
But, as it happens, I can't find anything for the Oldsmobile brochure for 1967, although certainly one was made. But for 1967 there's something unique for Oldsmobile—the custom funeral home cars and ambulances made from Oldsmobiles.
Behold:
It's not a #1 show car, but for some reason, it always caught my eye. This probably isn't the most flattering picture angle of it, though. Looking through my pictures, I just noticed it showed up in the background of this pic that I took, of a '56 DeSoto Fireflite that was next to it. This pic shows that wraparound rear window a bit better. Kind of appropriate that these cars would be side by side, as the Fireflite and Ninety-Eight were fairly direct competitors...from 1955-59, at least. By '61 DeSoto was reduced to just a pair of hardtops with no series names, and priced between the Dynamic 88 and below the Super 88.
The Delta 88 with options was about the cost of a mid-level Accord today.
Even though they started going more the luxury route for '75-78, I still preferred them to the Eldorado. Something about the Olds style just seemed less chunky. They also seemed better built to me, in the fit and finish department, although I've sometimes wondered if that was simply that the Toronado didn't use as many pieces, so there was less opportunity to mis-align. I specially notice this from the rear, where Eldorados often look sloppily finished, but the Toronado seemed better assembled. Those "XS" (Excess?) models with the wraparound rear window were really cool, too!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.