Jack Lord’s piece today on the N-Bodies suggests that these delectable delights are getting a bit scarce on the road. That’s because they’ve all retired to Eugene (Oregon, that is). They’re everywhere here, and I’ve accumulated a very full collection of No-Bodies indeed. But since Jack beat me to it, I’ll just give you a little peek at the N-Body peak experience: a 1990 Cutlass Calais International with the full-on 180 hp HO engine. And a very bizarre rear wrap-around spoiler that somehow evokes the fins from the fifties. Or a pickup bed. Or am I just so bedazzled, that I’m not seeing straight anymore?
Here’s a closer look at that rear appendage. As if the that stubby tail wasn’t high enough already, but now it’s accentuated further. It’s just the thing to inspire fear and shame in BMW drivers.
Yes, the business end. The 180 hp Quad 4 was a beast indeed, striking terror in Mustangs across the land, as well as the hands of its drivers fighting its torque steer. Like so many things GM, the Quad 4 had some real strengths, but what a car to stick it in. Oh well… Oh, and about the Strato-Weave Upholstery? If you can stomach it long enough, the following sales training video for the Cutlass Calais International will impress you with its many benefits.
Stomach it long enough?
Barry sold me! I want one!
Favorite quote: “If it’s not there…it can’t break.” Truer words were never spoken, Barry.
I think we often fall victim to the “they always looked like that” syndrome. Sure, every N-Body I’ve seen in the past 15 years has looked pretty crappy: sagging springs, rust/flaking paint, and usually significant battle scars. But dammit, these were not bad-looking cars when they were new. IIRC, they sold a hell of a lot of these.
Now, GM’s video production values in 1990? Deadly Sin.
I don’t know about them looking so good when new…I remember being in the market for my first brand-new car in the late 1980s. I came from a GM family, and I had absolutely no interest in any N-car.
I ended up with a Civic DX sedan and lusted after Mustang GTs and Thunderbird Sports.
The Grand-Am, during the early N years, was everywhere. Later on, when I was stationed in Cleveland (1997-2002), these N bodies seemed to be the “winter beater” of choice in Northern Ohio. These were the winter cars I’d see everyone driving around Cleveland and it’s environs (that and FWD “A” bodies, which I eventually got TWO). Then come late spring, these would be parked ’round back and the nicer cars came out.
Poor bastard – I think that he really believed all that stuff.
OM!! I feel like Im back in Junior High Audio Visual Film Time…
How SAD How Out Of It Oldsmobile Was For 1990.
@ “I feel like Im back in Junior High Audio Visual Film Time…”
My best laugh of the day. You nailed it!
Never seen one and after the sales pitch dont want to sorry an all but the locally made Holdens of this era were much better and had all the same creature features including the wraparound rear spoiler in fact for aero packages on new GM car the Tom Walkinshaw kit fitted to Vauxhalls and GroupA Commodores is probably the most out rageous ever.
I read your comments because you might be the only Aussie-home-market super fanboy on the internet.
Is there anything that Holden didn’t do better than GM North America? I mean, other than being owned by GM. They’re pretty good at that.
No offense, Bryce. I genuinely enjoy your perspective.
Sometimes I picture Bryce running around with an Australian flag yelling; “Australia! Australia! Australia!”
This N body looks like a modified J body and those didnt exactly set the world on fire over here so no extra FWD cars were built until the Opels of the 90s
Without going into a full history they have generally built a decent car, although I could easily come up with half a dozen ‘deadliest sin’ type articles (but isn’t that true for any manufacturer?). The Commodore was not perfect but a decent car, and the VL model in the N body period was one of the best, with a Nissan RB30 engine with a turbo version that was pretty quick, or the V8, and Brock HDT and later HSV performance versions that didn’t have a dud among them. There wasn’t a sports or pony car, so these had to fill that role.
In the midsize segment we had the J-body Camira, early versions were as bad here as anywhere, they did get them sorted eventually. Then for 89-95 (without checking dates) there was the Nova which was a badge engineered Camry, when the Camry was arguably at its peak. Toyota had a re-badged Commodore in return!
Perhaps later in the year I might be able to do some articles to expand on this, it seems that there isn’t a lot of knowledge on the Holdens. Fair enough, the permutations of the NA GM cars is something I am slowly figuring out thanks to this website – it doesn’t help that a 2″ longer WB suddenly becomes a whole different platform name for example, and so many of them look the same in photos.
If this was 1990, that means it was the time of the VN Commodore and the EA Falcon, both of which would have been on par with the Oldsmobile Cutlass in terms of build quality (or probably worse), both of which were worse than their predecessors, both of which each took about five years of updates to become the cars they should have been in the first place. Its a good training film though and the Oldsmobile looks like a nice car in the video.
Needs more Calais 442.
More cowbell.
I’ve got a fever and the only perscription is dual overhead cams.
And red valve covers.
Whatever. This car was probably a blast to drive. I’d love to have it.
+1 I wouldn’t mind driving one of these either, especially with the 5-speed.
As long as you never rev over 3500… the Quad 4’s awful in terms of noise, vibration, and harshness.
There is one of these still on the road out here. I had to shoot a pic. This one is a Calais S with the Quad. I’m thinking it may not be the 180 horse version.
They are attractive little cars and that Quad 4 was a decent mill if you treated it right(drive it like you stole it).
I am actually a fan of these little cars, and have owned 4. All of them were/are Quad 4 vehicles. The one pictured above is a 89-91 Cutlass Calais S and appears to have the FE3 suspension package. Yes, the engine was a little noisy but the reality of it is that was mostly media hype. They didn’t like the fact you have to rev this engine, it makes peak power around 6000 RPM. Gm did what they could to tone it down a bit, but they weren’t ever able to please the media. Such a shame for an engine that produced more horsepower than the 350 V8 the year it came out. I still currently own 2 of these cars, a 1989 Cutlass Calais SL sedan and a 1991 Cutlass Calais International Series Coupe, (pictured), they are my toys and I love them! The base engine made 150 horsepower 1988-89 and 160 horses 1990-91. The HO engine made 180 hp (late)89-91, and the W41 engine made 190 hp. There are few differences between the 3 versions of the engine, the early engines (88-89) had a tubular intake manifold that was made of 4 equal length tubes and a similar exhaust manifold, in 89 they switched to a log type manifold and higher flow exhaust manifold, thus the 10 horsepower increase. The HO and W41 engines had higher compression (10:1 vs 9.5:1) and more aggressive camshafts. Hopefully you are lucky enough to drive one with the FE3 suspension package. This was highly respected and received great reviews from the magazines and critics at the time. The achilles heel to this car was the brakes, to be specific the rear drum brakes. They could easily be over-driven by the power of the engine and the crisp handling of the suspension, causing the drums to fade, overworking and overheating the front brakes, then the drums would just lock up. Over all, these cars were definitely ahead of their time and never received the respect they deserve.
I’m guessing few if any of you folks have sat through the training videos and sales rallies, this video is pretty tame. Or lame, either one will do. Some are just awful in their campiness, or seem like they were produced by a Hollywood choreographer who snorted too much coke…
…steering wheel covered in FIIINE CORRREEEENTHIAN LEATHER!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… I almost blurfed my dinner on the monitor!
Although, truth be told, I’d drive it. I bet it was a blast to drive. I’d hate every minute of those door mounted seat belts, though…
Here’s a lesser version with the Quad 4. It’s an S model that was originally parked at the Retirement Community across the street from us and somehow migrated to our lot.
I remember people making a big stink about Olds doing the Quad 442 with the N car I’ve never driven an N with the Quad but I have flogged a Cav with one and it was pretty fun!
Its moving closer to you…it wants you to adopt it.
The Quad 442 was the Acura Integra Type R before there was an Acura Integra Type R. It was a true homologation special, and while the chassis wasn’t as good nor the engine as smooth, 190hp from a 2.3 in the late 80s/early 90s was impressive.
I do remember the Quad 4 at the time as being pretty impressive, at least in terms of horsepower for an aspirated engine. All the car mags did criticize it’s roughness and noise . . . but I remember thinking “wow” 180-190 hp out of a four! Same response with the ’88 Taurus SHO . . . 200hp !!
The “rich Corinthian leather” line cracked me up.
Truth be told, these were impressive cars for the time. It just didn’t work out though. Maybe buyers didn’t want their Oldsmobile to be going after Acura. Maybe the dealers didn’t order these cars. Maybe if GM had been a little more consistent, hadn’t gotten distracted with Saturn…that’s a lot of maybe.
Even for 1990, the salesguy is kind of nerdy, with the peach fuzz ‘stache. Reading cue cards too? Seems like 30 y/o*, but looks older from dull fashion sense.
Olds was bleeding and they just throw stuff on an aging design, and “hope it sells”. Or, just assume “buyers will come” as they did in the golden days.
*My age at the time
Oh look – Ned Flanders is selling Oldsmobiles now.
There’s a black one like this, except in LeSabre T-type form parked down on a side street near where I live. Only in good weather, too, and it’s one that still looks really sharp. Something about this particular body kit, spoiler and rims aside, just plain worked.
I had the opportunity to drive a few Calais with the Quad 4, both the earlier and the later generations of that motor. The earlier ones were pretty quick and a lot of fun to drive. The later ones seemed a tad down on power. The only thing I didn’t like about the car was the cheap GM treatment inside… plastic, odd dash layout, and the seat was a bit low for my taste.
Ha! I know that M/T cover @3:33 anywhere!
This brings me back to spilling juice boxes in the back of my mom’s N-body Grand Am coupe. Mom bought it out of the excitement of landing her first real job (and so far, only… 25 years and counting!). She had it for maybe five years before it looked just like the one in Sean’s photo. Pretty sad considering she drove 5 miles a day and kept it in the garage. They replaced it with a 1991 Eddie Bauer Explorer and the Grand Am became Grandma’s Am (I think my dad reversed the letters to read Grand mA). Grand mA was almost Volkswagen like in its frequency of electrical problems and parts-fall-off breakdowns. Granny held on to the pile of crud until ’96 when she borrowed it to my cousin. The headlights shorted out and he drove through the garage door and clear out the other side. Grand mA got recycled into paperclips and the Explorer is still in the family, driven daily.
I really never liked these cars. The guy in the sales promo reminds me of Jon Voight, except Jon is more slimy.
“Drivin’ around in Jon Voight’s car”, Drivin’ around in Jon Voight’s car.”
That spoiler on Paul’s find looks water-tight on three sides, with a bit of a rear pitch. Part of the Back Deck Vernal Pool/Rain Barrel option package.
Now that Oregon has been issuing that exact same graphic license plate since the mid-1970’s, you can’t tell how long the car’s been sitting just by looking at the plate. You have to actually get close enough to see the year sticker, or use other clues like how long the grass is getting around it, whether the tires are sinking into the ground, how many years’ accumulation of old fir pollen is on the windows and top surfaces, etc.
If a car has the old graphic plate with the pale orange sky, the older reflective yellow plate, or the even more ancient yellow on blue plate of several varieties, this may mean that it’s been settin’ for a spell. I say “may” because in Oregon all these older varieties of license plates are still valid.
And that’s about all I’ve got to say about No-body cars, except to offer the theory that the owner of that car with the rain-catching spoiler may have been nostalgic for his 1958 or 1959 Imperial with the rain-catching “spare tire” on the decklid.
I don;t think I’ve seen one of these in the wild. Ever. Maybe when I was 5 but I’ve blocked it out of my mind.
I always thought Quad Four was a stupid name. Boat Anchor would be better.
As Bunkie Knudsen said “You can sell a young man’s car to an old man, but not an old man’s car to a young man”.
This was case trying to sell the ‘whack-back’ formal roof N body as a “sporty car”. By 1990, the roof line was as dated as running boards and tail fins.
Only saw these at Olds dealers and then not much anywhere else.
I purchased a ’88 Cutlass Calais International right out of college (they saw me coming at the Olds dealership). Red, quad 4, five speed, sunroof, leather interior. The car was indeed very fun to drive and in many respects I miss it.
It did, sadly, self destruct in a cloud of steam as the head gasket decided to stop doing its job while I was waiting at a red light years ago. Years later I find that these earlier quad 4 engines had improperly stamped head gaskets and that this simple problem led to a potential repair bill that was more than the replacement cost of the vehicle. To scrap it went – one owner.
-C
How many years/how many miles did you have on it when it blew?
The formal roof line never looked good one the two-door models.
Is this black I-series up for sale at all? Or any of the other Quad 442s you got up there. I’m also in needs of parts. Thanks sheafiw41
Think of this, just for 1 minute…first, scroll your screen to the top and look at the video frame with the salesman standing there, don’t press play just look at the picture…now that being done, look at this picture BELOW:-)
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Too funny!
Hello, anyone out there selling one of these. This was my first car and I would love to get another. I do not care where you are, if you have one of these and want to sell it please contact me 727-336-5016.
I am in need of a spoiler for my 1991 Olds Calais International. Any help locating one would be greatly appreciated. Thanks