I walked by a pristine Olds Ciera in a parking lot tonight, and thought to myself it’s been a while since we’ve had an A Body at CC. But then we’ve had oodles of them in the past, and covered every permutation (I think). So how about you tell us an A-Body story, short or long. We’ve all had some kind of experience with them, no? If not, that might really be worth documenting. has anyone ever not been in one?
A high school friend’s brother had one passed down from their grandmother (of course). I graduated in 2015 so a-body stories are still happening. ’89 Buick Century. They thought it was garbage, I thought it was cool. I rode in it a couple times and it was pretty boring but still a bit interesting considering I’ve never ridden in a car older than about a 1987 or so.
My mom had an 85Celebrity she purchased new. it was a really good car, she used it part time as something similar to Uber way before Uber. it lasted her a very long time and i remember that car fondly. Also i had an 85 Buick Century in maroon first car i purchased from a dealer. had great times in that carBi monthly drives from NY to Lorain Ohio to see my then girlfriend who had an 86 Pontiac STE. We broke up after i loaned her my Buick while hers was at the mechanics, she worked nights and was supposed to have the car back by 8am, instead she chose to go hanging out in my car because “your car is sooo cool i wanted to show off”. She showed up at 2pm instead of 8am and i felt it was a total lack of respect. Took back the ring i gave her and went back to NY. so yeah….i got stories about A cars…….lol!!!
Never owned or drove one, but rode in several. I always thought they seemed nice at the time. Comfortable, reasonably roomy, and generally competent family sedans through most of the 80s before they became badly outdated.
Gad, they are still fairly common around here. I only have firsthand experience with two. My stepmom got a light gray Cutlass Ciera to replace her 74 Cutlass Supreme. I don’t remember the year, I never drove it, and I barely remember it. It was that kind of car.
The second was a Pontiac 6000 wagon owned by a client. He was a bass player and needed the wagon for his instrument. It was metallic gray, had the great sounding snarling V6, and the most awful quiver and shake of the body I had experienced in a long, long time.
Oh wait, there was a third: On our first CC meetup in Iowa City I rode in Jason Shafer’s 80-something Buick Century. It was the nicest of the three, but did not leave me with any real desire to own one.
It was a 93 and it’s still going. I found it over the summer at a grocery store here in town.
The poor thing is looking a bit worse for wear with a big dent on the roof – it was nearly pristine when I bought it.
This reminds me of my ex sister in law’s car. Her grandparents gave her parents a 1990 Buick Century, Dark Blue with Blue velour interior. The parents were clueless about car maintenance and this car was quickly demoted to bottom rung status in the family when it started to run poorly. This made it my SIL’s college car.
My brother brought it back to my parents’ farm one weekend for a little routine maintenance. After pressure washing the filthy engine bay the source of poor running became obvious, one of the ignition wires had popped off of the spark plug. After fixing this, changing the oil and coolant and giving it a good general inspection the car ran well, and my SIL reported that it used significantly less fuel on trips back and forth between home and school.
My overall impressions of the car: even though it was manufactured in the same year as my ’90 Accord EX 5sp sedan, from a tech standpoint it could’ve been much older. The Buick had a solid rear axle, extremely dated interior 3 speed automatic and just an overall feeling of old ladyness. It was definitely not a car I would’ve wanted to own for myself, but it served her well.
Nope, not me. Never owned one, never rode in one, and only vaguely knew one guy who had one.
When the wagons dropped into my price range, I liked the look of the A-wagons, but was still fixated on RWD, so I drove Volvo 245s instead.
That is pretty much me as well. Sort of weird considering how many of them are out there.
I’ve never had one. A couple of friends had them, but not for more than a year. POS!
They weren’t POS when new.
My mother bought an 84 Celebrity wagon. I remember it was hard to get as GM was just coming off a strike and models were scarce. It was replacing a 78 Buick Estate Wagon with a 403 that was dying….The Celebrity was basic. A/C, third seat and the 2.8 which I believe made 112 hp. Believe it or not it felt somewhat peppy and sounded pretty good. The car was very space efficient and the size was nice to drive. It had an automatic with torque converter lockup that clunked when the car reached 40 mph. I remember the column shifter felt and sounded like sandpaper when moving the lever. The brakes were horrid. On slick Buffalo streets a panic stop resulted in the rear brakes locking up and the car pivoting ….sometimes 180 degrees. My mother kept it for 5 years and traded it for a new 89 LeSabre….that was a nice car.
Celebrity – every time I see the name I wonder whether they meant to call it Celerity (swiftness of movement). Seems a much more appropriate name for a car. But then maybe ‘Celebrity’ didn’t have the negative connotations of obnoxious overpaid whinies that it has today.
I presume that would be the origin of Suzuki’s Celerio name.
Not being in North America I have never been in one, but I suppose I have seen them at least. They are very generic/invisible though.
I meant to say seen the cars on a trip to the US, they were not exported to Australia.
My parents had a 1987 Olds Cutlass Ciera Brougham that they bought new to replace an awful Fox-body Lincoln Continental. It had the Buick 3.8-liter V-6.
Turns out that the Cutlass was even more awful than the Lincoln. All I’ll say was that it was the last GM product my folks ever purchased. We started buying Volvos shortly thereafter and never looked back.
There was an elderly woman at my church who drove a 1987 Celebrity well into this decade. She always gave out hard candy, even if it wasn’t every kid’s favorite. She was a philanthropist – very generous to our church and charities, but didn’t spend money on anything for herself, even though she had a decent job all her life and could afford it.. RIP.
Never owned one, but I did get to completely disassemble a brand new ’85 Cierra in college for a design project for the Center for Rehabilitation Technology at Georgia Tech. We “harvested” the engine & drivetrain to use as the powerplant in “The Universal Car,” which I wrote up here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/concept-car/curbside-concepts-the-universal-car/
You can see the carcass in the background of some of the photos.
Dad owned a white 1989 Chevy Celebrity sedan from 1993 to 2001, ostensibly to replace his 1986 VW Golf. Wonder Bread offered company cars to management and offered employees the opportunity to purchase those vehicles when their lease period ended, before they went to auction. It was one of the newest cars he purchased during his career, and it served him well. The headgasket failed at 280K miles. A pretty good run I think.
A couple of things I remember about that car: The Iron Duke 2.5 made a very peculiar whine upon acceleration from a stop. I don’t think there was a problem with the engine, thats just the way they sounded. I can also vividly recall the build quality of the interior bits, which was awful. A/C vent slats disintegrated quickly and panel gaps were miles wide. Dad was so flabbergasted by a rattle near the glovebox that he stuck a pencil in between the edges of two panels, which ended up working quite well, despite being a bit unsightly. He almost rear ended someone due to brake failure but managed to serve into the unoccupied turn lane at the last minute. That was quite scary. Overall the car did its duty with aplomb and it may be the reason why he still likes GM vehicles to this day.
“The Iron Duke 2.5 made a very peculiar whine upon acceleration from a stop”
Most likely the timing gear set- The Iron Duke held onto this 1930’s tech all the way to the bitter end (1960’s tech if you factor in the nylon gear teeth…).
I would have thought that direct gearing would be better than a chain or belt. Interesting!
@Frank, yes that simple, reliable, accurate technology. Who would want that?
Old tech does not mean bad tech. Most diesel’s use gear drives, as do the stellar 240/300 Ford six. And there is nothing like music on vinyl, played with a diamond stylus, and fed thru a vacuum tube amp.
The Studebaker V8 used timing gears right up until the end. Nobody ever had a timing belt failure or trouble with an old stretched timing chain on a Stude. Count me as another timing gear fan.
When i was on long-term assignment at a hazmat site in Monmouth County, NJ in the mid 1980s, I rented a 1986 Celebrity Eurosport wagon for around four months. It was black with a wine-red interior – two-seat, four cylinder, automatic. The car was well-optioned with A/C, decent AM/FM stereo, front buckets with console, power windows, power locks, cruise control, gauge package, rally wheels, etc. Being a Honda owned I wasn’t expecting much from the Chevy even it it was fairly handsome in black. However, the car gained my respect. Thought it wasn’t by any means fast, it handled very well, felt solid, and was a quite comfortable cruiser. It gave me no problems despite some heavy loading and bashing around large construction sites. I suppose I was a winner of the GM quality lottery with that particular car.
Yup, had a 1987 white Celebrity wagon, and later a 1993 Olds Cutlass Cruiser (woody) wagon. Have fond memories of both. No interesting stories really. Was in an ice storm with the Celeb, it preformed like a star. The Olds had a nickname- ‘the handsome wagon’.
I don’t have a story about any one particular car other than growing up in the ’80s and those cars were everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Neither me or anyone in my family ever owned one but Ive driven and ridden in more than I can remember; even my drivers ed car was a 1989(ish) Century.
Id say that by 1987-88, they were past their welcome as a semi-desirable family car and became the master fleet and rental car and/or cheap, reliable transportation. Seeing as the platform dates back 36 years and there is zero collector interest in them, that’s pretty much all they will be remembered for, if they are even remembered at all in the coming decades versus the G-bodies that they replaced.
The only A-body story I can come up with is back in the early 1990s, I was stationed in New York City, and I worked part time at a very expensive restaurant in Westchester as a car valet. At the end of the night, we would pull all of the remaining cars up close to the entrance so that we could just hand the keys off to the maître d to give to the owners that stayed late at the bar, and, of course, we drove them fast. I pulled up a late model Buick Century, which must have had the 3800/4 speed auto since it pulled pretty hard and screeched the wheels when I romped on it. Well, the owner came out just as I was rounding the corner into the parking lot, wailing tires Rockford-style into a parking spot. The owner was a very attractive lady, late 20s or early 30s with her husband/boyfriend, and boy was she mad! She said very sternly “don’t drive my car like that!” and her guy just looked at me and started laughing. I still got a dollar for a tip though so she couldn’t have been too mad, haha. I assumed she would have had one of the Jeep Cherokees or 3 series BMWs in the lot, she definitely did not fit the demographic of a Buick Century driver!
GM Oshawa in their infinite wisdom sent the “B” Chev and Pontiac, to I think Wilmington somewhere around late 84 ?
The “A’ plant had already been running the A Chev Celebrity for about a year..GM gutted the “B” plant BOF/RWD in about 30 days. We ,( the hourly) were heartbroken to lose the B car.
GM and the outside contractors worked 24/7 to install the “new ” A assembly plant in record time . When we got rolling again in 85 we had both plants running “A” cars. As I recall we ran Olds and Pontiac.
The only significant car I can remember was the STE..I transferred into Stamping in 88..The plant life was never the same after we lost the “B”
Thats my A car story.
Both my 6000 STE and Caprice are both built at the Oshawa plant a month apart in 1983.
I never owned one of these but my Dad had two: an ’84 Pontiac 6000 wagon he had in the mid-’90s and an ’84 Buick Skylark Limited 4-dr he owned in the early 2000s.
The Pontiac had high mileage with a lot of looseness in the front end/steering and loose driver’s seat/trim pieces inside, but it always ran and never let him down. I drove it a few times and it was pretty easy handling, with vast cargo capacity. The Skylark had low mileage, was in mint condion for a car more than 10 yrs old and ran well, but it had the same “morning sickness” in the steering rack as the 6000.
These cars were a bit clunky and didn’t have the precision feel of a Honda or Toyota, but I still think they were among GM’s better efforts from the ’80s.
’95 Cutlass Ciera sedan
Spotted it at a local auto auction in Jun ’17. Clearly an old person’s car, but with a beyond filthy interior and very little fluids of any sort. 55K on the 2.2L 4cyl/3T40 Auto. I had the auction staff dump in 3 (!) quarts of oil and let it run before I bid. After determining it ran acceptably without ominous noises, etc. I bid on it.
$700.00 later as the sole bidder and it was mine. After catching up on the deferred maintenance, and there was a lot of it, I gave it a good detailing inside and out.
Now much improved after this, I have put 15K on it since last November commuting.
Doesn’t miss a beat, gets between 25-29 MPG at a steady 65mph. Comfortable seating and ride, adequate brakes, cold A/C still and just a simple car to work on. I am very pleased with it. Build quality is not without its faults, but ones I can overlook for sure. Definitely would buy another one.
My parents bought a somewhat beaterish ’85? ’86? ’87? Celebrity wagon in that pale yellow/beigey color sometime in the early 90’s. Tan vinyl interior, obviously the Iron Duke (loud and not very motivational), a few rust spots (this in a CA car, clearly some history from elsewhere before they got it), and the maddening tendency to lock up the rear wheels at any kind of moderate braking event. After my Dad passed, my mom drove it for another year or so and then thankfully got rid of it and bought her first ever new car, a Focus ZX3. Good riddance to the Celebrity, what a POS.
11 years ago I bought a 1996 Cutlass Ciera at a New York City surplus auction. It belonged to the Department of Child Services and only had 19,000 miles on it. I was there buying ex police cars and no one bid on it so I got it for the opening bid of $300. Like new inside, a few dents outside. I put a thousand miles on it, then parked it because i was using the police cars with my dealer plate. It sat till a year ago when I posted it on a Facebook A-body forum free to anyone who would not scrap it. A guy came all the way to Brooklyn from West Virginia to get it.
Yep, another hand me down, from my mother to me around 1992 or so, her 1986 or so Cutlass Ciera. It was that weird reddish brown (brownish red?) called Rosewood with a wine colored velour interior. It started, stopped, and drove with working A/C and radio, so it fit my needs. It actually got stolen in 1993 from Ybor City while I was in the club with friends. Seems that GM cars were really easy to break into and hotwire with a screwdriver, and a bunch of kids had at it. And damned if they didn’t find it 5 days later, windows down, rained in, abandoned in an apartment complex. Another 2 days and insurance would have paid off. Instead, I got it fixed and drove it for a few months after. It was not a bad car, just not a good car for a guy who was not a grandfather.
The driver’s ed car at my high school was a white early 1990s Cutlass Ciera with a blue interior. Actually they had three cars that they used for driver training depending which teacher you got: A brand new at the time Dodge Intrepid, a Ford Tempo, and the Ciera. The Intrepid was the cool new car that everyone wanted to drive, but of course I got the Ciera. So I guess I can say the Cutlass Ciera was the first car I ever drove on major public roadways (although my dad let me drive slowly around the block in his Acura Legend on our quiet residential street before that)
When I was in college in the early 1990s, a friend of mine owned a 1987 Pontiac 6000. As shown in this picture, at one point 15 of us decided to climb on and around it for a picture.
This car led a very hard life. Despite being only 5-6 years old, it was dented, muddy, filthy, and the inside always smelled like fried chicken. My friend who owned it was an extremely generous person, and would lend his car to anyone who asked for it. Sometimes they’d pay him back (in gas $, donuts, or anything from Bojangles) and sometimes they wouldn’t. He didn’t care too much.
Among young drivers back then, older A-bodies had the reputation of being good cheap cars that would last about 100,000 mi. and then fall apart… not sure if that is a fair characterization of all A-bodies (I suspect later ones were much more durable), but that’s what my friends tended to think about them. In this particular car’s case, it did last through 4 years of college somehow, but I’m sure it didn’t make it much longer.
A friend borrowed his dad’s Iron Duke equipped Celebrity. We grabbed my jug full of used motor oil, and headed for the new housing development where the roads had just been paved. We found a culdesac…dumped the oil on the asphalt…and spent the next two hours spinning…spinning…smoking….forward…backward….sideways
The Celebrity survived fine…but getting all the dirty motor oil off the sides and undercarriage proved difficult. My buddy simply told his dad he had “driven through some oil” and left it at that.
To my ear, Iron Dukes have a very unique droaning sound quality. Whenever an aging US Mail truck accelerates away from my mailbox I hear it…and it takes be back to that afternoon on the culdesac in 1985.
Had not one but two. The first was an ’83 Century coupe, purchased from the proverbial little old lady original owner. It was an utterly tacky, broughammed-out model with giant wire hubcaps, vinyl landau half-roof and brown mouse fur interior. But I loved that car because a) it was a two door and therefore “cooler” than the 4-door Olds Cutlass that preceded it and b) it had a giant sunroof that, once removed and with the windows rolled down, made the car feel almost like a half-assed convertible. Sadly, the car only hated me in return. It was both painfully slow and a tremendous gas guzzler; the sunroof leaked prodigiously no matter how many attempts were made to repair it, and the car subjected me to major component failures in just one year and 15,000 miles of ownership. At 80,000 miles the transmission went. The car was in great shape otherwise, so I replaced it, figuring, what the hell, I got 160,000 out of my ’76 Cutlass, so this thing’s gotta have a lot of life left in it. Wrong. A month later, after parting with $700 for the trans, the engine went. At that point I thought maybe it might be wise to cut my losses.
You would have thought I learned my lesson after that, but I went on years later to buy a lightly used ’96 Cierra wagon. It, too, had its plusses — I liked the boxy, old school wagon look, it could haul wife and kid and camping gear cross-country and get 27 mpg doing it — but eventually GM’s contempt for their customers reared it’s ugly head again. The front end developed an alarming shimmy at highway speeds that nobody seemed able to fix. The interior literally starting falling apart and the windows would come out of their tracks — to close them you’d have hold the window in place with one hand while you powered it up with the other. After about 60,000 miles it started breaking down every few months like clockwork, leaving me stranded more than once. When it was totaled in an accident at 90,000 miles, I ran with my insurance check to a Honda dealership and never looked back.
My parents-in-law bought a Buick Century in the late 80s. It had the obligatory velour upholstery, but there really wasn’t much that marked it as anything special, as one might expect a Buick to be. I think it did have the dual temperature controls for driver and front-seat passenger. It was fairly quiet, I’ll grant that much. The ride was sort of soft, but the whole car felt a bit like Jell-O—jiggly on the road, and only so-so in its handling. They were disappointed in it, but drove it for a number of years.
A family friend bought a 1990-something Cutlass Ciera to replace her worn-out 1973 Buick Regal. I’m sure the Olds was competent, but Daphne didn’t get to drive it for too long before she was incapacitated by a stroke.
An aunt and uncle of mine had an earlier iteration of the Ciera; I think they must have driven it quite a bit, because when I saw it, it looked somewhat the worse for wear.
My impression of all of the A-bodies is just plain “blah.” They always looked cheap to me, even in fancier trim. I certainly wasn’t impressed with the one that I did ride in to any extent, the Buick Century.
My dad bought a new ’83 Cutlass Ciera, with a V6, touring suspension, A/C, Rallye wheels and console. Base model interior, no power windows or locks. It was a decent driving car, comfortable, and quite roomy and efficient for its size. Nothing went wrong with it in the 5 years and 80k km he had it. Completely reliable. I think it still had the original brakes when he traded it in. It certainly looked like new, not bad after 5 Ontario winters.
My buddy has a loaded ’82 Ciera Brougham, with all options except for the soft and mushy base suspension. That was also completely reliable even though he drove it hard. The V6 threw a rod at 250k km because my buddy over-revved it. He sold it and the next owner fixed it. We saw it still driving around town a year later.
I’d buy one if I could find a good one, especially a wagon. A V6 was essential, the 4 cylinder ones were too slow and rough.
Oh, one more, my cousin had a ’86 Pontiac 6000. He drove that for 20 years, and regularly used it for work, filling the trunk with tools and equipment. He drove it into the ground, dented and rusty, but it still ran and drove fine up to the end.
A brand new 1982 Cutlass Ciera was my driver’s ed car, which I thought was fun since it was an all-new model and seemingly “advanced” for the times. It was easier to drive than the rear wheel drive Cutlass Broughams and Buick Regals that we also had in the fleet.
My opinion soured a few year later when we used the Ciera of a family friend during a trip to Chicago in ’87. It was March, cold and snowy and the instrument panel hood that made up the upper part of the dash squeaked constantly. I mean CONSTANTLY. My mom was riding in the passenger seat and got in the habit of keeping her hand on the top of the thing to try to keep it quiet.
What what a difference a decade (or more like 13 years, really) makes. As I mentioned above, a 1990-something Ciera was my driver’s ed car, and by then it seemed old fashioned and bland. As also mentioned, at that time the new Intrepid was the new “advanced” car.
Owned a 90 Ciera. Bought from little old lady. First time I drove it in slush, the spray from the tires peeled the paint off the bottom of the fenders and doors.
My GM driving experience managed to land either side off the A body, My driver ed class used X Body Buick Skylarks and and in the late 90s I had a few N Body rentals. Other than that I’ve only driven pickups, and my son’s G body
They seemed like OK cars but there were better choices for the money.
Great grandma owned the first Pontiac 6000 sold at her dealer, in the town of Owosso, Michigan. My late father was a grandma’s boy, and helped her pick it out. This was long before I was in the picture, and he was a perpetually single bachelor, and a loving and kind person.
The local Owosso newspaper had featured a photo of great-grandma purchasing the car. It was a base model, with the iron duke engine.
After great-grandma passed away, when I was 14, dad tried to pass it on to me as a first vehicle. The interior and mechanicals were pristine, but Michigan winters had caused rust, even though great-grandma had always garaged it. I believe it had 60,000 miles by this point, around 2002.
I was not having it. I thought it was a lame old car. My father still viewed it as modern and new.
He drove it around as a second vehicle. A Saginaw city transit bus sideswiped it in a Value City parking lot, and that was the end of great-grandma’s Pontiac.
I dimly recall renting a Chevy on a business trip to Boston around 1990 or so. All I remember is the foam-lined cardboard panel under the dash falling down onto my legs as I was driving the Mass Pike. Might that have been an A-body Celebrity?
Otherwise, nope.
Grandpa had an 86 Celebrity he bought new until 1998 when NEPA road salt killed it state inspection wise, drove it to the JY that summer. That fall he and I saw it back on the road, a local house painter was using it as a work vehicle. Dude bought it off JY and cheated it through the safety inspection. Ran it 5 more years…
My current back-up beater DD is a 93 Century sedan, 194K 3.3 V6, my first A – body. I’ve had it a year and already have taken it from VA up to Madison WI down to Dallas TX through IL, OK, AR, TN, KY back to VA on a 1 week blitz tour with my band. Kinda unplanned and the silly car ran like a top. It also gets beat on pretty bad as a delivery car at my pizzeria. Best $750 I’ve spent…paid for itself in a week.
FWIW a favorite song of mine by the great band Less Than Jake is titled “Mr. Chevy Celebrity” I think most people went to high school with the guy described in the song…
I’ve owned several A bodies, all wagons. One of them was a really nice 89 Century wagon (Florida car with 50K miles on it.) Shortly thereafter, a drunk driver in a full-size Chevy pickup ran a red light and broadsided my wife and daughter. VERY luckily neither of them were injured and I chalk that up to a pretty sturdy A body.
The A body wagons are just about the perfect size, decent ride, flat load floor, fit well in an average garage, and get reasonable MPG.
Funny that even though Centuries and Cutlass Cieras still abound where I live, my only memories of riding in A-Bodies consist of group rides in wagons, one of them in a place where few A-Bodies existed: one of having a Century a taxi in Albany, NY — an unstoppable snow tank in a miserable snowy conditions — and riding in the back of an American-owned Celebrity in Moscow. I have a strange desire to own a white Cutlass Ciera sedan, though, as a result of seeing many two decade old examples still at work in Baghdad. This photo was in my CC of cars in Baghdad back in 2013 or so. (Note the Kevlar helmet and tactical gloves on the driver. I cropped out the M4 rifle in the front passenger footwell.)
Love me some A-body! (Some here would call that a mental condition, but I’m OK with that! 😉 )
When I first met my wife, she had an ’86 6000LE, similar to the gray one in the article, but without the roof rust. She had gotten it from a buy here pay here lot. High mileage, but still holding together OK, even with the Iron Duke. She drove it for a little over two years before the head gasket started weeping coolant.
We replaced it with a $1,500 ’86 Celebrity wagon, white with woodgrain and burgundy red velour interior. It gave us about 8 years of good service. My in-laws drove it for a couple of more years, until the metal fuel lines and top of the gas tank succumbed to the tin worm. FWIW, we never experienced any rear brake lockups.
During this period, my in-laws also had an ’85 Century. This one, IIRC, did blow the engine, but my FIL & I replaced it in his garage. Keep in mind that these were all $1,500 or less cars with multiple previous owners. Once sorted out, they gave us lots of comfortable, worry free service.
A bodies of any kind are very thin on the ground here in central Ohio rust country. I can’t remember the last time I saw one. Makes me kinda sad. 🙁
My maternal grandmother replaced her 1983 Buick LeSabre with a low mileage 1986 Cutlass Ciera in 1996. She lived on a single lane country road and let me drive it from the “main road” to her driveway when I was 12. So the first car I ever piloted completely on my own was that ‘86 Ciera.
My father had an 84 6000 STE with the suade seats. The car got past to my sister then me then another sister then an uncle. Never put any money into it and then it died at 150,000 miles, great car and fun to drive! Suade sears were great!
In ’98 I had an ’87 Celebrity Eurosport. It had 100,000 miles on it, and had the rear lights from an earlier model. It had the 2.5L and auto. It was a very basic, competent car and was problem free until it developed a fuel injection problem at 160,000 at which time I sold it. I remember it being mushy handling, slow, buzzy, but great in snow. I liked the thick steering wheel and the gray outer and red inner colors of the “Euro”.
In ’02 got a ’95 Olds Ciera with the 3.1L. It was much quicker, also mushy handling, more wobbly over bumps, but softer riding. This one had probably had a harder life than the Chevy, an it proved to be a POS. So it was hit or miss for me. I remember test driving an ’82 Buick Century and an ’86 Celebrity 2.8L around ’91. Both seemed average. I had settled on an ’85 Accord anyway. So hit or miss for me…
Anybody remember the 1984 Buick Century Olympic Edition? There were quite a few around Southern California, inasmuch as the Olympics were held in L.A. that year. I always thought they looked kinda cool. Never had the experience of owning an A body, though. They were so common, likely I rode in one but have no specific memory.
Yes, my co-worker when I lived in San Antonio (left in 1984) had one of them bought new…I rode in it multiple times, his was kind of a beige/brown with a brown interior..doubt he still owns it (that was 34 years ago) but sometime I hope to go to visit with him.
Though a year later he bought a 1985 Toyota Celica Liftback, which I really liked (never owned a Toyota, but always liked the ’82-’85 Celica). I had a couple of other friends who also ended up with that generation Celica (mostly coupes) and even a couple who owned Supras.
Having said that, nowdays I wouldn’t mind a pre-’97 A body….I’d like a wagon, but a sedan would be fine…would be nice if they had the 3.8 litre engine…since I’m no longer a scrambler to easily get in/out of a Celica, even if I had one.
I have a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra. It’s out in the woods behind my house. It’s been there for about 20 years. It’s pretty rough now. I drove it for about a year back around 1996. The power steering was never right with it. With no money for repairs I cut the power steering belt off and made do with Armstrong steering. The throttlebody fuel injection worked good….until the temperature dropped below 15 degrees F. At that point any cold start was a gamble. It wasn’t a bad car, and if I had any money at the time it could have been made a good car. It was comfortable, roomy, rode nice, had A/C which was the first car that I ever had that did. The windows cranked down backwards. WHY? It’s too bad GM let this car rot on the vine.
My wife drove a late-‘80s or early-‘90s Buick Century when I met her. It was sort of a light buttery yellow with a tan cloth interior. She later told me that her dad had bought it for her and her sister to share in high school, but her sister refused to be seen in it! It was a good car for her, surviving until grad school when we met, and making the 10-hour drive to her hometown many times. She ended up replacing it with a ‘97 Regal, which I thought was a step up in comfort and power (and eventually both of her sisters had similar Regals at the same time – their dad is very consistent in his advice!).
I’ve never owned one, but been around plenty. My wife’s mother owned two Cieras. The first one, a 1982 model was totaled by a drunk driver who plowed through their lawn and t-boned the car in their driveway. It was replaced by a 1985(?) Ciera that was a step up from the previous one. That one lived a long life (I forget how long) passed to both of my wife’s younger brothers before it gave up the ghost.
We had A bodies as company cars at the one company I worked for; the first ones we had were both 4 and 6 cylinder 1982-ish Chevy Celebrities. Even with the six, they were slow and not well assembled. Somewhere around 1986 they got fuel injection on both motors. I remember getting into the Iron Duke powered 1986 model (not realizing it was an Iron Duke), floored the accelerator as usual and… that thing flew! I thought it was a V6, but it was the 4 banger. The V6 models were even quicker, but the bar was set pretty low on these cars.
I know a woman who only bought these cars, as three year old used cars. She understood the whole depreciation thing, and stuck to V6 powered versions. It was probably only about 8 years ago that she drove the last one. Laugh all you want, she raised four kids all by herself, owns two houses and replaced the last of the A bodies with a Cadillac and a Suburban. And, she’s single again! LOL!
A few years before my brother passed, his business was going downhill. It was tough being a freelance graphic designer in a “down” economy and his 1999 Mercury Sable puked up a transmission. He really didn’t have the money to replace the car. His elderly neighbor’s kids were divvying up the estate but no one wanted the 1986 Celebrity the old man drove. My brother gave them $500 for it and he got a lightly used, reliable car that lasted him until his passing.
There are others, but these are the highlights of my A-body experience. And, I’ve never owned one…
I rented an early Celebrity wagon for a trip. It was sluggish and wandered all over the highway, and was not wide enough for 3 adults abreast comfortably in the back seat. In short, it was a letdown and i hoped not to deal with any more of them.
Fast forward 15 years or so. Friends who had recently immigrated to the US needed a first car that was cheap, reliable, and could carry four seat belted kids. I found an ’89 Buick Century Limited Sedan with 50k miles, failing paint, and a healthy 3.8 for around $2k. GM seemed to have worked a lot of the bugs out of it by then. It made a good car for them, and they put almost 100k miles on it with no major drivetrain repairs (but plenty of electrical, a/c, suspension and power window repairs). Impressive for the price. I think they would have been better off with an Accord or Camry if there had been 5 of them instead of 6, but this was 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a minivan, easier on fuel, and no more expensive to keep on the road than most of those. When it died, they replaced it with a slightly newer A-body Century.
My mother bought a Pontiac 6000, I drove it several times; it was a nice car-the build quality was certainly better than my 1980 X-car. It was equipped with the 2.8 V6 which gave adaquate but not great acceleration-typical for the time and delivered good mileage-about 28 mpg if I remember correctly. It suffered from oil leaks, they seemed to be from the valve covers-I was going to tighten them one day but quickly gave up-a lot of the a/c piping was on top of the engine and there was no way to service it without disconnecting and dismantelling the a/c. She owned it about 13 years until she fell and broke a hip; after surgery she sold it and never drove again. My overall memories of it was a nice but unexciting automobile.
Growing up in NW Indiana these were everywhere. My family had two successive Pontiac 6000 LEs. A 1983 sedan 4 cylinder bought used in 1986 with 38K miles. Kept until 100K in 1988 when traded in on a 1989 sedan 6 cylinder. Both went through brake pads pretty quickly. Mom and dad thought the 4 cylinder was too unresponsive with the entire family of five in the car and upgraded to the 6 cylinder when buying the ’89.
Only big issue with the ’83 was the morning sickness fixed under warranty and the ’89 was black and had paint de-lamination that GM paid for as well. Kept the ’89 to a little over 100K miles and they moved up to a Grand Prix SE Sedan MY 1995.
My parents were of the mindset that cars fall apart after 100K so always traded in at that time. Of course in the 2000s when cars were even more expensive the kept the last two vehicles to 120K and 158K respectively.
“Has anyone ever not been in one?”
(Awkwardly raises his hand)
I just never knew anyone who owned one, and I was born too young to really be in them. My memories are of SUVs, an A-Body car is one that despite it’s ubiquity, I’ve never really experienced other than occasionally seeing them on the road.
My mother-in-law had a mid-eighties Celebrity Eurosport wagon, it was white with the bordello red interior. It wasn’t really that bad of a car; the main issue was that she didn’t drive it enough to keep it exercised. I would occasionally borrow it if I needed to transport something that wouldn’t fit in our cars; it seemed to run much better after I had been driving it for 10-15 minutes. If I had to guess I would say that the car wasn’t driven more than 15k miles in the nearly 10 years she owned it. After she passed I thought about buying it from my father-in-law to use as a winter beater but my wife seemed upset by that so I didn’t follow through. I’m fairly sure that was the only GM FWD A body I’ve ever driven, never even had one as a rental car. You can still see them on the street here occasionally but they are almost always rusty and well worn.
My wife and I needed a car with a back seat in 1987 and traded my “84 Daytona Turbo for a 1984 Pontiac 6000 LE as in top left corner of first picture. It was green on green. Yes the hubcaps sounded just like you think they did. Sorry haters… it was probably one of the best cars I have ever owned for what we bought it for. It was peppy and dependable needing nothing more than a radiator, a starter (Toys r Us parking lot in December 1988 in the snow), and brakes for the 4 years and 80k we owned it. Traded in on a Subaru GL10 (which was a bad choice in Phoenix AZ unless you liked watching the temperature gauge and crossing your fingers).
Just to clarify.. we were expecting our second child…lol.
About the Daytona, well “50 shades of lag’ that wouldn’t be missed in mountain driving.
Maybe the beginning of the transport pod era? Never owned one but rented many during my boy executive era, ok cars, I guess, but bland. No difference between the brands (same engines!), yawn….
I don’t have a single story about that car. To be honest the ’80s, for me, was a lost decade when it comes to cars. I paid very close attention to all ’60s autos and ’70s autos. Then the ’80s came and I felt let down. I lost interest. I saw nothing that grabbed me. I had my ordinary 86 Mazda 626 for two decades. What stands out is that in 1984 I bought my first car to restore and that was a 68 Mustang which I spent the decade on. You could say it took the place of anything ’80s.
But that’s the beauty of the A-body, even if the 80’s were your own lost decade, they were produced for the majority of the 90’s as well!
Funny timing, as I’m working on a post that includes an A Body (Ciera) and was pulling up the photo today, and then I saw a clean Century parked at the grocery store tonight. Now this QOTD. I’ve never owned one but have driven a few rentals in the past.
Never been in one, but two of my coworkers drive cieras.
I had. 93 Buick Century, red w/ red interior. It was the first nice car I purchased after my divorce. It had the 3.1L 6. Ran it up to 200,000 with no issues. If I could find one again I would buy it without hesitation.
Back in ‘93 I drove a roughly six year old Olds Cutlass Ciera from Portland Ore to Royal Oak (Detroit) Mich. It was a Drive-Away Car, older than most, but it had less than 36,000 miles.
I actually was driving from Seattle to Chicago, a trip I made many times so I changed my route by driving a bit south to see the Grand Tetons, than on through Nebraska. Driving 2000+ miles by yourself can get tedious if you take nothing but interstates, so by checking my Rand McNally I noticed that I could follow the Oregon Trail, which I enjoyed doing on US Route 26. I reached Torrington WY by late afternoon and the Olds started acting up by repeatedly stalling on me, so much so that as I leaving town I had to turn around to seek a mechanic. After 2 hours and $250 I was told that the FWD A body was experiencing a common GM problem that happens around 36,000 miles, (I think it was a computer related, but can’t remember). After it was fixed all was fine. I felt very fortunate that I was not left stranded in Wyoming’s vast remoteness. The Olds owner reimbursed me when I delivered his newly inherited car in Michigan.
As I mentioned a few times before, young T87 was ferried in his father’s 1986 Pontiac 6000 wagon for a number of years. It was white with a grey fabric interior (except the rear-facing back row seat, which had some sort of faux leather) and had the V6 with and a floor-mounted shifter that made little sense in a wagon. My father bought it brand-new second-hand in late 1987 when we moved to the US. We moved back after three years, taking the Pontiac back with us. Not sure why my father chose to do that. But it did mean that after 18 months of painful bureaucracy, the car was homologated and could have French plates.
Ours was likely the only one in the country. The problem of spare parts became an issue: the only folks who had any experience with these near us was the GM importer in Geneva and the prices were astronomical. The transmission gave out in 1995, and that was the end of the 6000.
Don’t recall its year, but it was a white Olds Cutlass Supreme, and it belonged to my parents in their retirement. We drove it during visits to them, during one of which its alternator decided not to alternate anymore. We happened to know a guy who’d been buying, selling, and fixing up cars of every description since his high school days, and he recommended a shop to get the offending part replaced. The price was right, the service was prompt, and on our friend’s assurance that we weren’t deadbeats, they accepted our out-of-town check (that right there tells you how long ago it was). Dad tried to reimburse us, but we wouldn’t take his money (after all, we’d had the use of the car many times). Best $100 we ever spent.
It was by no means an exciting car, but I can understand why so many people bought them. Roomy, comfortable, competent. Nothing to love, really, but nothing to hate. Just what a comfortably-off retired couple like my mom and dad wanted. The Olds was a surprise to us kids; during our growing-up years, Dad NEVER bought new. His M.O. was to buy his company cars when the company was about to get rid of them (think mid-level trim, bench seats, AC but no power windows). The Olds, though, was Dad treating himself and our mom. All the goodies, and brand-new.
In 87 my Grandmother finally decided to trade in her big, faded 73 Chevy Caprice for something new and more modern. I was 16 and went car shopping with her but to my dismay, after checking out and driving the new Taurus, she wanted to look at the Oldsmobiles. She then test drove a white 87 Cutlass Ciera, mid-level model and bought it that day.
As I know I’ve shared before, my aunt Kathy whom I was really close with growing up owned a Cutlass Ciera coupe. It was a 1988 or 1989 model I believe, though unfortunately she already had replaced it with a 1993 Corolla the year I was born.
Of course, numerous other people I’ve known through the years had A-bodies. My two elderly neighbors who were sisters that shared the same two-family house each had Centurys.
Paul, just this week I scheduled an outtake on an ’88 Celebrity!
I’ve ridden in a Celebrity and a Century, and I drove a Century that belonged to a buddy of mine.
Oh, and my uncle owned a Ciera coupe and I got to ride in that once. Beautiful roofline, ugly as hell dashboard.
My introduction to auto repair was a 2.5l Chevy celebrity In the family since 98. After many abusive owners I was that cars last owner. That car never died. I worked on that car in middle school and high school, graduated in 2015. That car taught me about electrical after replacing the engine harness, taught me so much about drivability after the ECM and fuel injector went out along with the icm and coil packs. Needless to say as abused, and worn that car which was a rental back in the day and in 3 accidents it took me every where. That car never let me down. I finally got that car alright but being stupid I put 20w50 to quite the Duke down, only to damage the balancer assy. I somewhat corrected it but it was too late. The final straw was the alternator belt. Some lessons can’t be taught in school. That car taught me more than technical college.
When I started working for NC Division of Public Health, our state cars were mostly Cutlass Ciera wagons, probably mid-late 1990s models. White exterior, blue interior. Nothing memorable. One of the few times I drove our dedicated car, the electrical system failed when I was returning to Raleigh (I remember the dashboard flashing just before the motor died while I was going 55 mph) and I was stranded by the side of the road. The state Public Health vet talked about crossing some railroad tracks and the transmission falling out. The Industrial Hygiene consultants who used them the most just used it like an interchangeable appliance. Later as I found its styling more and more wearing on the eyes, I thought it was the perfect car to give to a teenager–the car just screamed “Loser!” and any teen with any self-respect would rather walk than be seen driving or even riding in such an unfashionable car. Nowadays, when I see a Ciera, I think of “Fargo” the movie.
At the time I was driving my dad’s 1978 Datsun 810. People were ragging on me for driving so old. At least it was unique and I liked it. And it was a good highway car.
In my grad school days circa 2002, when I was living in a low rent apartment in Raleigh, my neighbor had a mid-late 1990s Cutlass Ciera, white with a blue interior. I always wondered if she got it at a government auction or something like that, because that was *the* state government fleet car just a few years prior.
The biggest advantage of my 1986 Celebrity Sedan was staggeringly vast availability of parts in the every corner of the United States: a massive requirement for my extensive road trips through the American West.
Another one is probably the anonymous look with its medium grey metallic paint. The state troopers and police officers often overlooked my car when monitoring the traffic.
1988ish. I had always loved cars and was a a total gear head. I was now getting close to getting behind the wheel as my 13 year old brain conceived a plan to get behind the wheel of my Grandparents brand new Celebrity Eurosport Wagon. The burble of the V-^ was intoxicating as my parents owned an 87 Ford Tempo Sport GL (2.3 HSO Engine + 5 speed option thank you very much)
My plan was to convince my grandfather that I wanted to wash the car for him and I could back it out of the garage and down. what I perceived as a very long driveway (Route 66 in my mind). I would wash the car and ease it back into the garage later in the afternoon.
After many compelling arguments on my part, my Grandfather agreed and flipped me the keys. they even had the passkey chip embedded on the key!
Now, to clear, I had driven a car before. My Dad had a 1978 Scout II with a 345 and 727 Torqueflight that I would drive at our camp on dirt roads. I miss that old scout dearly.
Back to the caper: I walked out to the driveway and hit the button on the garage door opener and the door slowly began to rise. Ferris Bueller Style. There it was. Bright Silver, blackout trim, red GTI knockoff stripe around the beltline, Rallye Wheels.
I walked over to the drivers door and eased into the drivers seat. I was a pretty small 13 year old, so I adjusted the seat and lowered the tilt wheel into place. Inserted the key, twisted, and the V-6 roared to life. That GM v-6 snarl that was ever present in the 80’s and 90’s filled the Port Allegany, Pa air but I was instantly waiting in the pits at LeMans.
I need to remind you that my previous experiences behind the wheel involved the old Scout, various Go Karts, a Honda 200s Three Wheeler and our boat. All of which needed a good bit of throttle to get them going.
I slipped the shifter into reverse and gave the gas pedal a pretty healthy stab. Immediately I was hurtling backwards at what felt like 200mph down my grand parents, suddenly much shorter and narrower driveway. I raced past the wood pile on the left and the house on the right.
Realizing I was way above the legal limit, I mashed the brakes and the Eurosport stopped violently at the end of the driveway. I sheepishly shifted into drive and pulled forward a few feet and eased it into park.
I began furiously washing the Celebrity as I was hoping to make everything appear as normal. I don’t know if my grandparents witnessed my backwards NHRA drag racing qualifying run but I sure hope they missed it.
When it came time to ease the Silver Streak back into the garage, I started it up and let the throaty V-6 idle back into the garage. No need to touch the gas pedal this time.
I returned the keys to my Grandfather and he said I did an outstanding job washing the car. I have driven a few A-bodies since then (Cieras, Centurys, Celebritys, and a 6000) however I will always remember my first and it was My Grandparents New Eurosport Wagon.
I have heard from time to time that GM used touchy gas pedals to enhance the illusion of acceleration. I don’t know if they all were like that but that Eurosport sure had it!!!!
The GM FWD A-bodies were some of the best cars ever built…for Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, you name it.
“Here, we’re gonna build crap from now on, YOU can have our loyal customers!”
First one I drove was an ’85 Celebrity wagon that belonged to a pastor friend of mine. Just a year old, yet it wandered all over the highway. And I remember looking out the side mirror and seeing the below-side window trim going in THREE directions when it should’ve been one.
A year or so later, Avis Car Rental did a liquidation, for which my station did a series of live radio broadcasts. These largely consisted of driving the featured cars and then giving my impressions and hopefully a strong call to action.
But EVERY. SINGLE. ONE! drove like my pastor’s Celebrity. None of these cars had over 30k on them, yet the steering was vague and loose. Buick, Pontiac, Olds, Chevy. They ALL drove similarly horrible.
Realizing SOMEBODY was buying A-bodies – a lot of somebodies back then, in fact – I just looked for something positive to say and kept my negative opinions to myself.
My in-laws bought a Taurus a little while later.
For a GM fanboi like me, driving the Taurus was a sucker punch to the solar plexus. It was everything the GM cars weren’t and would never be.
In fact, I think I can safely say that my son’s 25-year-old Honda Accord feels tighter TODAY than any A-body I drove back then. I’m happy for those who can share positive experiences of these cars, but I just had to put my two cents in.
And I’m happy that any recent GM FWD-based rides I’ve had the chance to drive have been solid, tight, and dare I say it? FUN.
Amazingly enough, this article made me realize that I have never driven a GM A-body of this vintage. I did ride in a co-worker’s 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera four-door sedan one time. That ride reaffirmed to me why GM was losing market share, and why Oldsmobile was at death’s door.
No one aspired to own a Ciera by that point. It was quite a come down for both Oldsmobile and the Cutlass nameplate, particularly compared to the 1972 Cutlass Supreme hardtop sedan featured in another article.
“No one aspired to own a Ciera by that point”
I’m too young to have experienced Oldsmobile prior to the A body years, but I did briefly have a 91 Cutlass Ciera some time ago. You’re right, it wasn’t aspirational. Impressions now are vague but I remember it being a complete embarrassment compared to the lat-80s Accord and Camry. When the high-water mark 92 Camry landed I imagine the A-bodies sold only on brand loyalty and the price disparity.
Still, it was comfy, quiet, torquey and smooth with the 3300 V6. The clank! of the doors closing reminded you that the car was indeed made of metal. It drove like a car 3x its size, which is good or bad depending on what you want. The blue velour puts most modern automotive fabrics to shame. And screaming through the empty desert two-lanes at highly questionable speeds felt like being aboard a hovercraft–no sense of anything actually touching the asphalt. Which was interesting in a way the rest of the car was not.
What I remember is riding in my co-worker’s Ciera, and seeing the instrument panel featuring gaps bigger than the ones on my parents’ 1973 AMC Gremlin.
That level of assembly and panel fit would have embarrassed a contemporary Ford Taurus, let alone a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.
This was Oldsmobile’s best-selling car by the 1990s. It’s no wonder that Oldsmobile’s image was in the dumps by the mid-1990s.
My Boss used to let me drive his new 86 century to make Ice Cream deliveries. alway thought it was so pretty and with the 3.8 v6 it seemed fast.
Now almost finished restoring a rare 86 H&E convertible. comfortable, smooth and always runs
Dad was a failure. Attempting to couch that statement more gently would dilute its truth.
It was the summer of 1987. My family had barely scraped by over the seven months since being forced to move from my childhood home due to foreclosure; now, our time appeared to soon be running out once again. A 30-day notice had just been posted on the door of our shabby rental, and I was devastatingly angry at my father for that fact. For all the fights. For making my mother cry.
At the time, my family’s only car was a white Cavalier wagon, a hand-me-down from my grandparents. It was a decent vehicle, but already rusting along its rocker panels from three Midwestern winters and even my 11-year-old self recognized its utter lack of inspiration and passion. It seemed a fitting symbol for our situation.
However, one day I was surprised to come home (that wouldn’t be my home much longer) to find a new Cutlass Ciera in the driveway. I think it was a 1988, but it may have been a late-’87 model.
Two-doors with the “fastback” rear window, flush composite headlights and gorgeous paint (that carried the banal name “Medium Red Metallic”) set off by blackwall tires mounted on gold crosslace wheels. It was weirdly equipped, too: the Iron Duke four-cylinder with a 3-speed automatic, power windows but no power locks, plush velour seating but no tilt or cruise. I believe it may have even had just a Delco AM radio.
Nevertheless, it was supremely rich-looking to my young eyes… and, surprisingly, it was ours. The Cavalier had conked out that morning as my father was heading home from one of his long-distance sales trips, and my grandfather had helped him that afternoon with a deal on the Ciera. (I’m pretty sure Grandpa wound up carrying the note outright.)
I hadn’t said a word directly to my father in weeks, but even with all the sadness and stress I still saw a hint of pride in his eyes, and I managed to weakly tell him “that’s a pretty car.” He paused a few seconds before quietly replying, “I think it’s time you start learning how to drive.”
Later that evening, he took me over to my old grade school’s parking lot, and I sat behind the Ciera’s thin plastic steering wheel and took control of a vehicle all by myself for the first time. After a few slow circuits around the lot perimeter, I looked over and saw my father crying.
“I’m trying,” he told me. “I haven’t been able to do much lately, but I am trying. And at least I can do this for you.”
That’s a touching story. Hopefully things improved (with both your relationship as well as the situation). I totally get how things happen (now) but remember back when I didn’t or couldn’t realize that.
Thanks, Jim. Thankfully the situation did ultimately improve across all fronts.
I hadn’t thought about any of this in years. It all came flooding back to me when I saw this post.
There used to be a woody Century wagon in the neighbourhood I grew up in. Since it looked just like my grandparents’ late ’70s Malibu, young me assumed it was as old. Only when I started reading CC did I learn it was probably only a few years old at the time.
Whoever owned it must have had a very particular preference for American cars, since they were not widely available in western Europe. Moreso since it lacked most of the attributes that make an American car stand out here.
However, I felt the clean lines of this early model Celebrity seen in Mexico looked quite smart.
I’ve had my 86 Century T Type for 32 years:
Interior pic:
1989 Eurosport wagon, 2.8, white, red interior. Most memorable thing was the drivers reclining seatback. If you stepped on the gas a bit too hard, the reclining seatback would recline. Immediately. All the way. You could imagine how old that got!
Otherwise, an anonymous car.
My great-grandmother’s final car was an late-80s Buick Century, in white of course.
Never rode or drove one. Can’t remember anyone I knew that owned one. But they were everywhere back in the day.
My memories are of an 89 Pontiac 6000 SE. Dark red, red interior. Seats were soft, comfortable but not at all supportive. A good car to take on a highway drive. What I remember the most is the hair trigger throttle on the GM V6. Too aggressive on the throttle would cause the car to jump from a stop. Of course, the engine ran out of breath over 4000 rpm. Coming out of a 4 cylinder at the time, it was a little surprising. It did become an issue in wintertime when driving on slippery roads.
Dad had bought a Cutlass Ciera when he was retired. One morning, Mom notice the car was missing out of the driveway when she went to get the morning paper. The car was found several days later in a gruff neighborhood sans the 4 cylinder engine.
Why the thieves wanted a 4 cylinder is still a mystery to this day. Even the insurance adjuster was surprised.
Considered buying a nice-looking 15 year-old Celebrity as a beater. $1200, said the for-sale sign. Guy in the house at the other end of the driveway threw me the keys. Everything worked (including the must-have-in-Phoenix AC on that July day). I was sold until it stumbled and died halfway through a left-hand turn on one of the fastest streets in town. I got it restarted in time, but I’m pretty sure I still had some of the seat foam stuck between my buttcheeks as I tried to exit the car and give the keys back. It was a nice little reminder of why I never wanted one new, much less used.
A couple years before I got my license, right around when I was beginning to notice cars (of the type a person could actually own) my dad’s employer took a foray into purchasing company cars. I remember my dad complaining bitterly that this was a way for them to avoid giving raises.
They gave him two Celebrities in a row. An ’84 wagon, which my parents purchased after two years, and then an ’87 sedan. I remember thinking the ’87 looked much cooler with its composite headlights and less chrome. I learned to drive on that one, and later wished that it was the even better-looking (to me, back then) Eurosport with red stripes and blackout trim.
The A-body I really wanted, though, was the Cutlass International coupe, with its 3.8 V6. I never drove one, but it must have been pretty fast (for an A-body)
My parents went on to have two Cutlass Ciera wagons in a row, the first with the 3.3 V6 and 3-speed automatic, which must have been geared fairly short as it was a rocket going away from stoplights. The second had the 3.1 and felt noticeably slower. The only serious issue any of them had was that the second Cutlass wagon’s transmission started to slip at around 120k. Not bad for an early 90s GM car.
Great article! And so true! In 1983, my Dad bought my Mom her next new car; a 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Brougham sedan. It was the most luxurious car she had by then. It was loaded, with the 6-cyl. engine. It looked like this one (see photo), but in medium blue, and – NO Coach lamps (darned!). The interior was sumptuous blue velvet, and had all the power toys. It also had great pep (so I thought, I had just started driving). I was allowed to drive it to my High School Formal (“i.e. “Prom”). Here is a pic to share. These A-bodies were just EVERYWHERE in Toronto, Ontario.
I have another tale to tell: My Partner owned a 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport coupe (really a 2-door sedan) before we met. It was white, similar to this photo of a 1985 model. It was a special order with the 2.8 L V-6 engine, the CL interior option, centre console, floor shift, and A/C. He tells me that it got looks wherever he went. I have read that all G.M. A-body 2-doors were quite rare. He got over 300,000 kms on it, and that he just loved that car!
My dad had an 84 Olds Cutlass Ciera, in that pinky-beige color seemingly every third A-body was painted. His had the diesel V6 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Diesel_engine#LT7
I remember when we got it, it was winter of 87. There was a whole row of these diesel vehicles and of course he picked the cheapest one…. The front clip was a slightly different color, and there was overspray in the engine compartment. The cars were salesmen’s vehicles (the paperwork I remember looking at, said the previous owner was McDonalds corporation. There was also McDonalds paperwork in the glove box (like equipment ordering forms). Anyway this car had an auxiliary fuel tank in the trunk, where the back seat would have folded down, (had it folded). My dad had an over 100 mile daily commute, and if he filled both tanks up, he could go almost two weeks between fill ups. Which was good, because for the most time we had this, there wasn’t a fuel station that sold Diesel in our town…
We used the car to pull a pop-up camper all over the Midwest. It never struggled or missed a beat, the Diesel engine made a lot more power than the usual Iron Duke powered A-body (a good friend’s parents had a Celebrity in the same color as our Olds, with the Iron Duke and it always felt and sounded agricultural to me, and with 5 people in it it would struggle up hills. The seats in our car weren’t very comfortable. It had a bench seat, that if my Mom pulled it up far enough for her to reach the pedals, everyone else’s knees were up against the dash. My back hurt after a few hours on the seat, too-I don’t know how my dad spent so much time in it.
We kept the car until it had over 100k miles. It started being hard to start, my dad took it to a couple GM dealers (the Chev garage in our town and an Olds place where he worked) He said they didn’t want to work on it, and the diesel truck repair place near us wouldn’t touch it either. Then, the gas station in town got a Diesel pump, but it was “full service” only, and it was an issue getting them to NOT put gasoline in it. Finally one time at that station, the attendant actually did fill it with Unleaded, and the cost of repairing the fuel system caused the insurance company to total the vehicle. It was a good vehicle, I don’t remember us having any problems with it.
We inherited a 92 Ciera (which I would never have chosen of my own volition) and learned pretty quickly to love it. It was utterly reliable, relatively comfortable, mechanically simple and relatively easy to work on, and served us extremely well until New England structural rust eroded enough of the underpinnings to make it unroadworthy. We happened upon a 90 Century, coincidentally the same color, and acquired it as a logical replacement. It had the same noble disposition as its predecessor, as well a many interchangeable parts and pieces which I used to good advantage. The biggest single part exchanged was the Olds headliner into the Buick to get rid of a bad case of the saggy-baggies — so much so that just before the swap I could hardly see out of the rear window through my inside mirror. Headliner droop seems to be a chronic aging Buick trait. Eventually the Century succumbed to the same rust deterioration that I was so familiar with, albeit after many years of combined good service from both cars. Ther 3.3 in both cars was superb (both over 200K miles with nothing but routine maintenance) and both cars had the 3 speed non-overdrive Turbo-Hydro with the lock-up converter, which gave me very little grief save for a sluggish lock-up solenoid in the Buick around 200K (do you perceive a recurring theme here?) Yet again, I can honestly say that if I could acquire a new one of either of my A-bodies right now, I’d dump what I’ve got currently and go back to the past in a heartbeat.