As you undoubtedly know, I’m a connoisseur of GM A-Body special editions. I’ve been fortunate to find several of them, including the Ciera Rubies and Gold Edition, and the Century Brougham de Baroque Turquoise and Gold Edition. That was perhaps my greatest find ever, but it’s my life’s great hope to find them all. And a few months back, I was thrilled to add another one, this Ciera S Classic Edition, which means my bucket list is actually getting shorter, one special edition at a time.
As you can readily see, this is no ordinary, hum-drum Ciera. This is only something for those rare folks with exceptionally refined taste in the classics, which means you’re looking at a rare and exceptional car. A classic, in other words.
It has many classic touches, like the gold-leafed badging.
The wheel covers were especially designed to convey the classic look of a classic Bugatti cast-alloy wheel.
And the top is an authentic replica of one from a classic Packard V18 Sedanca de la Sade.
The classic solid pearl door handles features classic gold leaf on its perimeter.
The rear window has a classic treatment, to create a an atmosphere of classic privacy for the rear passengers. Which of course might well be the owner, as these were not uncommonly chauffeur-driven.
The interior is decidedly understated, in the classic tradition. Truly classy persons are not interested in trying to impress others with the accoutrements of faux-luxury. There’s a big difference between genuine classic and mere luxurious. Hopefully I don’t have to remind you which this is.
The driver/chauffeur compartment offers all the classic necessities, and no more. That includes an ample classic ash tray. Good luck finding one of these in your typical modern luxury car. And truly classy people don’t give a rats ass about what others think about smoking. Or anything else. They are in a class to themselves.
Thus ends today’s Curbside Classic Classic Edition.
I am shocked that you didn’t mention the name-embossed mud flaps. Sure, a peasant’s cart might have mud flaps but not with the name of the car painted right on them for everyone to see.
The top covering hides the standard stupid piece of plastic on the C pillar of the peasant grade Cieras, at least.
Although surely it was barely cheaper than stepping up to a wagon, which also did away with the cheater panel?
You know, from the side, if you don’t look too close, that roof may actually improve the profile of this car. If it didn’t try to emulate a convertible with the ridges and snaps it might have even looked good.
Or maybe I’ve been looking at too many broughams on this site.
You missed the most impressive part – that this is the rare convertible sedan body style! Most of these were just the normal “carriage roof” but a few actually had folding tops. The gold snaps on that molding at the bottom of the roof is the giveaway. You never see the tops down on these, though. The original owners didn’t care (they just wanted the bespoke version) and subsequent owners wrongly assume that it is just a standard carriage roof.
Wait – it’s a convertible!
No, it’s not.
Yes it is!
Just looks like one.
It. Is. A. Convertible.
Nope it’s not.
They fooled me because I just couldn’t tell! Wow!
Yup. They sure did…..
[please note the extreme use of sarcasm]
Rhode Island… that’s a long drive to Eugene!
That was my thought.
I think I’ve seen that car in my neighborhood!! LOL
Classy is an interesting word. Anything that you actually have to describe as being “classy” by definition is not.
Speaking of classic, that’s some classic PN right there.
Amazing that anybody though this car was a good idea. I’d be temped to grab a sawzall and make it into a real convertible.
This kind of thing is why I like CC so much. Might I demur very slightly in saying a car like this needs a rear-centre arm-rest? The ashtray is, of course, well situated and properly big. You can drive from NY to CA and probably not need to empty it at a rate of 20 a day.
Isn´t this car related to the 1984 Buick Century or the following model? That dashboard is very familiar to me. I had such a car and it was stolid but reliable. I miss it rather. Used examples in Europe can be had for about €2000 which is a fair amount for an old and, on the face of it, deeply unremarkable car.
Truly classy designs set trends followed by others, such as those Camry’s with similar Brougham-style convertible tops seen throughout Florida.
Just another Tacky & Common way for a greedy dealer to bilk a customer out of two (or three or four?) grand More Money.
I like comparing the attributes of this car vs. this other early-90s GM “Classic Edition” profiled here a few years ago:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake-1991-buick-regal-classic-edition-by-bg-why-its-good-that-buicks-are-just-rebaged-opels-now/
This Ciera is missing an opera light — and it’s not “By BG” (whatever that was). But I think it would win the competition due to more nuggets of fake gold.
A little early (or is it late?) for April Fool’s. But it provided a nice chuckle over my coffee this morning. My limited experience with this type of dealer pack suggests they were a lot more common in the Northeast than here on the West Coast. Thanks Paul.
If this were true luxury, as in the 60’s Electras and Lincolns and cadillacs, it would have MORE ashtrays and lighters than cupholders. Come to think of it, where were he cupholders on these? Or was it still the plastic one that hooked on the window sill? In today’s world, smokers use the plastic cupholders to hold the ash cup they got at DG.
Nice example of true luxury.
The cup holder or holders were attached to the optional seat mounted console. if you spend the extra quid on the center console, it would replace the folding arm rest on the base model. You opened the console, flipped the plastic cup holder out and shut the console lid to use the cup holder.
see this classy one around Denver. a real convertible. appears to be an 86. From what I know most were made in 85 by H&E
I can’t even begin to imagine how much cowl shake this must have.
You can see the black bars on the bottom of the car which is probably used for reinforcement. Don’t know how effective it is.
According to Matt Garrett the Cadillac collector, the convertible reinforcements on the 80s E bodies made the cars even more solid than the metal roof versions. Assuming the same might be the case with these…
Bars? Hell, it looks like it’s got a plate girder bridge welded to its underbelly!!!
Some peasant wannabe stole the laurel wreath from the left C-pillar. Probably he was in the process of pimping up his Chevrolet Vega.
Hot damn. Paul, you have found the long lost treasure of Lansing. If it was going to rear its gold plated head, Eugene is the place for that.
This is the ultimate. Every car we cover from here on out will simply be a poseur to the real thing. My life will never be the same again.
Let’s play a drinking game!
I think I am more impressed to see a car from Rhode Island in Oregon and the fact it is over twenty years old makes the find even more impressive since old(er) cars usually do not venture so far from home. The extra gingerbread is also interesting and perhaps gaudy.
Rhode Island has a cool flag and is (much) smaller than several Oregon Counties including Lane County.
And it’s the birthplace of Narragansett Beer!
Born and raised Rhode Islander here!!
Interesting classic trim treatment; reminds me of top hat, tux and tails on the common guy. Nice, but kinda looks out of place.
Back in 1988 when I was shopping for a new car, I almost bought the Olds Cutlass Ciera with the so-called International Series option. But the better 2/3 (wife at time) liked the Ford Taurus LX with its more modern aero styling. So I bought the Taurus.
I still wonder to this day whether the Olds Cutlass Ciera with that 3.8L V-6 would have been a more reliable and less troublesome car compared to the Taurus. Any thoughts? Thanks.
The Ciera had been built for so long at that point (even longer than the Taurus) it likely could have been assembled correctly by the workers in their sleep.
Both cars had premature head gasket failures. The Olds had a durable transmission, whereas the transmissions in the Taurus and Sable were highly problematic. In essence the Olds may have been the better choice in long term reliability, but that’s not saying much.
Every time I see an ashtray overflowing with butts I throw up in my mouth a little.
Not going to pile on. The ups and downs of life had me driving cars I wouldn’t trust to make it out of Rhode Island line much less across the continent.
Before I knew anything about mechanics, I had a ’53 Buick straight 8. It stopped running a few miles short of home in a snowstorm. The only thing I knew how to do at the time was check the oil. It was way over and milky white. My pride and joy $35 Buick never ran again.
This Olds would have looked pretty good to me back then.
“Let’s play a drinking game!”
? Will it help me unsee this thing ? .
-Nate
An empty ashtray and several of those scented Christmas-trees might make this a half-decent vehicle. If you can tolerate their nose-heavy, mushy ride & handling, they were among the more reliable cars GM built back then.
And the tacky faux-convertible top nicely conceals the ever-present & nauseating typical ’80s GM formal roof treatment!
Happy Motoring, Mark
I see your Classic Edition, and counter with this classical Celebrity Classic. The *whole* vinyl roof is gold-leaf. 24 karat, sir. Who’s the classiest A-body classic now?
Should have used the money to fix the dent and rust on the bottom of the door.
Look again. That’s not rust, it’s patina. Specifically, this owner has classily embraced the current fad of creating a “distressed” look.
While I am normally not a fan of fake patina, one cannot help but admire the workmanship on display here. To all but the most highly trained of eyes, it looks like normal wear. Clearly the owner Is a man of means and taste, as only a handful of artisans can do this level of work, and it doesn’t come cheap.
This means that not only was there a dealership that thought this was a good idea,they found someone who agreed and bought it!
Yeah, hard to imagine, but there’s no accounting for taste. It was the tail end of the brougham era. I’d bet money it originally had gold plated wire wheel covers.
Can’t imagine what this rare piece of automotive history must be worth. Too rich for my blood I’m sure.
The dealerships in New England LOVED to add the faux tops and special edition packages to everything back in the day. A-bodies, Cougars, Lincoln Town Cars and Grand Marquis were some of the more popular ones to modify here.
Being from Rhode Island I can honestly say I am impressed to see that someone traveled across country in that Ciera! The ironic thing is that an older car may travel 2,3,5 or even 10,000 miles with nary a glitch and we think nothing of it as long as we stay local. But travel a long distance, in this case a few thousand miles, and we are amazed that it made it! Probably the fear of being away from home and breaking down makes the propostition seem so much more daunting.
All that Ciera needs is a set of giant chrome rims, ventiports and a trunk full of giant subwoofers to be “King” of the hood.
It funny how a person’s tastes can change with time. At one time I really liked big Detroit barges, especially Cadillac and Lincolns. Then I preferred older American cars that fit into the Lowrider end of the spectrum. Oh I really liked Harley Davidsons around this time also. Then I liked older cars that fit into the rat rod custom look. I then decided I preferred Japanese sporty cars like Civic SIs Acuras and Datsun Z cars. Then I found I could prefer a Mustang or two. I thought that lowered cars with wide whitewalls, or sporty cars with bigger alloy wheels and fender flares front air dams and rear spoilers were cool. Flames painted on the side were just right. All of these things had some kind of meaning to me, as I thought that they projected some kind of statement about Me. Or who I thought I was at the time.
These “classic” styling cues spoke strongly to some one’s self image at one time. Perhaps they had enjoyed certain cars of the period, back in the old days, and found these cues reassuring or satisfying. Perhaps they were trying to reconnect to a golden age that had existed at one time, at least in their mind. I imagine that this car was bought by an older person who had seen enough progress and decided to hold onto his vision of the past.
It’s cars like the Ciera that make me despise General Motors.
PN, if ever one’s tongue should hurt from being so far in one’s cheek for so long, it is thine. Nice commentary. 🙂