How is it that we’ve not done a full-on CC on the final full-sized Oldsmobile wagon? Before now, the only time one has appeared here was in this CC capsule several years ago. I didn’t know that when I photographed this one in tiny Kirklin, Indiana last month, or I might have taken a full complement of shots rather than just this one. There can’t be many of these left, given that they were produced in just 1991 and 1992, almost certainly in far lesser numbers than their Buick and Chevy brothers.
This is a film photograph, by the way, taken with my simple but wonderful Olympus Trip 35 camera.
Wow there’s another unicorn, never even knew that existed..
Yup Kirklin looks pretty tiny, with a hollowed out downtown. Both rather interesting.
Nice. I used to know somebody with one of these, and they kept it for a long time.
As I think about it, I don’t think I have ever been to Kirklin.
What? You’ve never been to Kirklin? And you call yourself a Hoosier!
Just kidding. It’s a dot on the map on US 421. But its downtown is trying to come back from the brink. I’ll give the town that.
It’s amazing how GM managed to make a front clip wearing good on Buick, Chevy and Oldsmobile all!
Unlike the Caprice and Roadmaster, these were never sold in Canada (the 1990 and older models were sold here),
From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, Olds skipped selling a few of it’s models in Canada. Here are a few others that weren’t sold here either:
-The early versions of the Bravada and Silouhette,
-The latest “Cutlass” and “Regency” models from the late 1990s,
-The 1975-79 Starfire (strangely, some of these Starfire models were built at the Ste-Thérèse GM plant but none were sold here!).
Ah, that would be why I’ve never seen one.
The 1991-1992 Custom Cruiser was truly an odd duck. With no planned sedan variant and low sales since the late-80s it’s a wonder they even continued it into the 1991 B-body redesign. I also find it amusing how they tried to make it more “Euro” with two-tone lower cladding and sportier alloy wheels (different from the Impala SS wheels this one wears).
An elementary school friend’s mom drove on of these, navy blue over navy velour. I only rode in it maybe once. They were probably the only people I knew who still drove a full-size station wagon as their family car. Everyone else’s parent had minivan, SUVs, and Volvo wagons.
Back in the 1980s, in an upper middle class driveway, it was pretty common to see a European luxury car (dad’s) and a loaded-up Oldsmobuick wagon (mom’s).
My guess is the wagons were intended to be the big profit-makers, and when the those sales didn’t show up, the entire B-body program became questionable.
Great shot.
Yes, these have become scarce; haven’t seen one since that one I shot back in 2011.
If I was ever aware Olds got a version of this, I had forgotten. I can see the Oldsmobile dealers fighting for everything the Buick dealers had, but Buick also got the Roadmaster sedan. Odd that Olds just got the wagon.
The Big Olds wagon had been a standalone since the 88 became FWD in ’86.
I assume that once they spent the money tooling up a wagon for the new Caprice, the cost to make the Buick & Olds versions was low enough to seem like a good idea.
The same can be said about the Buick Estate wagon. From 1986 it didn’t have a sedan version until the Roadmaster sedan debuted in 1992. Pontiac also had a big wagon, the Safari until 1989.
Ah, the Custom Cruiser. I was looking at buying one of these in white in 2013 but upon seeing it in the metal it looked too roached out and needed to many things.
Didn’t the CC have a factory tinted windshield?
That one in the pic is wearing its Impala SS rims nicely
Those are not Impala SS rims. If those aren’t a set of Enkei wheels, then it is an another makers’ copycats of the Enkei five star design.
I see Roadmaster versions of these most commonly, and very occasionally Chevrolets. I knew they made the Oldsmobile, but can’t recall the last time I saw one. All in all I felt that the big GM bubble cars had their best engines in 15 years but the most decontented interiors they could have. After owning the Cadillac D-body version, I’d only take one again if nothing older was available.
These were scarce even when new with only 12010 built total.
From Wikipedia:
1991 Total: 7,663
1992 Total: 4,347
Regarding the front clips, the Roadmaster wagon and this car both shared the Chevy front fenders, headlamps, turn signals. (different hoods and grills) The Roadmaster sedan has it’s own unique front clip.
I love wagons, but I cannot warm up to these at all. I’m sure they are durable and ride well, have plenty of room and loads of comfort, but they are just so strange looking to me. Most of the GM designs of the 90’s were odd, to say the least.
+1
The 1977-1990 B-body wagons were much better looking, even if their styling was quite dated towards the end. I’d take one of those any day over this.
+1
These are rare even around Lansing.
Yes, and if it’s rare in Lansing, it barely exists anywhere else.
Holy mackerel! I never knew these existed either! I only knew about and saw Chevys or Buicks – and at the time, the Buick got you a “free” car phone!
Not that I cared, because these were ugly, beached whales with all the appeal of a bathtub, Cialis commercials included.
I always thought it odd, but on the Buick Roadmaster sedan, the back door glass rolled down all the way due to the divider bar as part of the window, but on Chevys, just all glass that rolled down perhaps 1/3 of the way. On all wagons, just the single glass in the rear doors!
These came out during my brief “career” as an Olds-Honda-GMC salesman. I remember the first time I drove one; I turned to back out of a stall, and had the feeling that the rear window was in the next county.
I had no idea the production numbers were so low. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one.
A good friend had one of these way back in high school. He was one of the oldest in our class so the first in our friend group to get a driver’s license, and his dad gave him his former company car, a 1991 Custom Cruiser. It was only 5 years old at the time but had something like 220,000 miles already as he did a lot of traveling with work. Maybe doesn’t seem like the ideal vehicle for a 16 year old, but he immediately became everyone else’s go-to guy when rides were needed. We fit at least 11 people in that thing on more than one occasion (including sitting on the floor in the way back). Comfortable too and I loved the “bubble” roof window, an homage to the old Vista Cruisers.
I think these Custom Cruisers were more commonly had with a 5.0 (not sure if they were still using the Olds 307 this late, probably) but Jason’s had the Chevy 350 option. Still not a huge amount of HP but torque all day, and it got that big wagon up to speed surprisingly fast!
It ended up getting killed by highway debris a few years later; something got kicked up into the engine, busted the radiator, and holed the oil pan. With damage to several panels, flaky electrics, and at that point well over 250K miles, it wasn’t worth replacing the seized engine, so it only lived to the age of 9. But it did yeoman’s work and a lot of miles in those 9 years. He still remembers that car fondly…
I think these had either the Chevy 305 or Chevy L05/350, both of which were fuel injected. I think the 307’s run ended with the box 1990 models; it was carbureted and not carried over. I had a Cadillac with the L05/350 V8, it had plenty of pull off the line, optioned correctly could tow 7,000 lbs, and regularly got 23-25 mpg highway…in fact I cant recall getting worse than 19 mpg in the worst mixed driving and this was with close to 200K on the engine. In my view that engine was the best component of the bubble cars.
We had a maroon 91 wagon just like this but with the Olds alloy wheels for that year at our dealership with 302K miles in excellent condition many years ago. It still had the original drive train and at that point a fairly recent transmission service performed on the valve body, fluid and filter change. The previous owner must have had seat covers on it because the seats still looked as new. The mileage caused quite the stir but it’s condition and running behavior won out in the end and sold her for a decent profit.
Good catch with this rare car and there should be an article asking what are the rarest run of the mill 1990s vehicles. The 1990 Town and Country (not in white) is right up there with this Custom Cruiser.
Absolutely cherry too. My 20yo’s shag’n wagon. He loves it! Amazing how the I4 fart cans shrivel up and move out of the way 🙂
I have a 1992 with only 47,000 miles.