Here is suburban Ohio, we don’t have a lot of run down neighborhoods with on street parking, so literal Curbside Classics (as in parked alongside the curb) are hard to come by. We therefore must find our prey by other means. My favorite hunting grounds are the ample parking lots of low-income apartment complexes. While enjoying an atypically warm Ohio February, I decided to go hunting for some “curbside” classics, and came up with enough material for another month or so.
Pay no attention to the expired tags – this Olds still earns its keep.
GM A-bodies are like the cockroaches of the automotive world. Made in the millions, they are still common two decades after the last one was produced in 1996. There is nothing particularly special about this 1995 Oldsmobile, which is precisely what makes it special. While badly rusted from Ohio road salt, it is still being used for its originally intended purpose, as point A to B transportation, after several decades.
The last Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line in April 29, 2004. The average age of of a car in the US is now around 11.5 years. Simple math tells us that Oldsmobile ever made is now on the downward side of this bell curve. Many, like this 22-year-old example, are already well along that path.
While I could have picked a relatively shiny Alero or Aurora to maker this point, the featured Ciera served my purpose better, precisely because all daily driven Oldsmobiles will eventually end up looking like this, until there are no more left in daily use.
Oldsmobile sightings like this will become increasingly less common, until eventually they leave the realm of daily use altogether to become exclusively the domain of the collector and hobbyist.
Studebaker and Packard reached this milestone years ago. AMC will reach it soon, if it hasn’t already. When the last daily driven Oldsmobile is finally retired from service, the event will likely go unheralded. Indeed, it will probably take the form of a car in worse condition than our featured car, whose owner will be just trying to get to work or perhaps dropping their kids at school. The car will refuse to start, or maybe die and leave them stranded. However it happens, the owner will decide that the last daily driven Oldsmobile is no longer worth fixing, and move on to another brand of beater. At this point Oldsmobile will cease being just another car, and belong to the ages.
Doesn’t look so bad from this angle
I always try to point out sightings of dead brands like Oldsmobile and Pontiac on the street to my kids, because at some point they will only be viewable in captivity. Then my kids will be able to tell their children that they remember seeing Mercurys and Plymouths on the road when they were growing up.
It still looks great.
I still have trouble with the concept that Oldsmobiles are on the verge of extinction other than in collector-captivity. Good grief, Oldsmobile was the third best selling car when I was in high school. Oldsmobiles were so plentiful as to be b*o*r*i*n*g.
It started to hit me around 2001 when I took my 1984 Ninety Eight to an Olds dealer in an attempt to fix the automatic temp unit for the HVAC system. The longtime Olds dealer on Indianapolis’ east side (Ed Martin) had given its big main service facility over to Nissan while Oldsmobile service was relegated to a little six or eight bay building that looked like something fit for AMC. How the mighty have fallen.
I still see lots of Pontiacs but I am already becoming aware of which once plentiful ones are already becoming scarce. Grand Prix seem to be outliving G6s, Vibes are thin on the ground considering they were high sellers when new. I see a few Bonnevilles but always the same ones…
The Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera – the car that once was everywhere is slowly disappearing from our roads altogether. We all know GM made tons of money on these (and the Buick Century cousin) over their fifteen year run. They were great reliable transportation, and even though they were extremely dated they still appealed to the older crowds that were looking for old school style and didn’t care about the newest technology. Even though I find it sad when I see one in the condition like the featured car, I also feel happy for it because at least it is still on the road, and it is being totally used up and relied upon by someone before heading to the big scrap pile in the sky. I often saw and still see to this day some nice low mileage examples with maybe a scrape or a dent in a salvage yard that were junked because of our wasteful society and stupid insurance companies. So for the featured car to have survived all these years it is a remarkable feat.
Those cars are in the junkyard because no one would buy them as running cars for the cost of the repair. It would be extremely “wasteful” (ie, stupid) to spend $2000 to repair a car that can be replaced for $1500.
+1. These cars are good as dirt cheap A to B transportation but that’s literally IT. Unlike the G body Cutlass or even the W body, a fwd sedan and an extremely conservative one at that has a winning powerball ticket’s chance of finding a second life as someone’s project car. As a drag car, low rider, rat rod or autocrosser can anyone see potential here? Sure it’s possible, and it’s likely that someone had a supercharged 3800 lying around and a cooler of beers. Better for this to be your daily whipping boy to keep the miles, door dings and road salt safely away from yhat 442 in the garage.
Most repairs on these are dirt cheap. These cars do not have most of the electronic crap that today’s vehicles do. Just a fuel injected L4 or V6 and a 4T60E transaxle and a simple driver’s airbag and ABS and that’s about it for the tech. Unless your getting a motor swapped out by a dealer or a very pricy shop nothing on these should cost that much to fix and if it does the consumer is getting ripped off big time.
True enough, if you don’t care enough to keep the car. I’ve had two cars I like and liked so much I owned them for a total of 37 years and counting. Eighteen for my 1965 Ambassador convertible, over nineteen now for my Taurus wagon. I’ve owned a dozen others for the sake of the novelty of it, but when I wore them out that was that. Some cars grow on the owner. For me, at least, an A-Body GM wouldn’t cut it.
Tom, while you’re pointing out the orphan brands to your kids you might also make a special note of the GLASS headlights on this car, as those too are a relic of the not-so-distant past that we’ll likely never see again.
The first thing that struck me as I looked at those pics was the pristine condition of the headlights in comparison to the shoddy appearance of the rest of the car. Here in Florida the plastic lenses haze over and give everything over 5 years old a case of cataracts. When I see a mid 90’s car still sporting bright shiny glass headlights in spite of sun scorched paint and body damage I’m reminded just how rare those too will soon be.
So true MTN! And think of the safety issue that the plastic discolored lenses create. Those glass lenses probably still emit a nice clean bright light!
It’s a wonder dealers or quick lube centers don’t offer a 15 minute headlight cover restoration polish service, given the dramatic improvement in nighttime vision clearer covers can offer. Of course it really comes down to car owners taking time for this safety improvement themselves.
For at least two cars I owned in the 1990s, I went to the expense of having the headlight covers replaced when the original ones became scratched and yellowed. I felt the improvement in visibility, especially in winter, was worth it.
Grease Monkey here in Tucson does that, Daniel. I think it’s a great service and plan to use it.
I don’t trust myself to do it, as, like always, if there’s a way to screw it up, I’ll do it.
Alos looking for a pristine pair of lights on eBay as back up for the ONION.
5 minutes with some rubbing compound and a cloth will bring back lenses–I do this all the time when someone comes to my place with headlights dulled out. This is the same rubbing compound for paint that you can get at any auto parts store.
Thanks ! I just repaired a major scratch on the ONION and have to get some rubbing compound and polishing compound to finish it off.
I used one of those one step formulas and got a mediocre result, so your tip will be my next step !!!
Olds died when the G-body Cutlass died
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
There’s definitely some truth to that. I liked the W body coupes too. Those and the Grand Prix were really sharp looking cars, even if fwd is a kick in the teeth. At least the quad 4 COULD be had with a manual even though they’re nearly nonexistent.
I feel like this is archetypal Oldsmobile A-body. Probably half the Cutlass Cieras I see are of this color and styling period.
When I was younger, I remember Rover cars were brand new in the magazines. That kind of words shows the age
There’s an ’05’ Rover 45 down the road from me (replaced a late ’90s Astra in 2015). I guess there are some ’55’ regs too, but 2005 was the end of the line, just a year after Olds.
Lots of Rover daily drivers featured on AROnline, Bernard. Would love to go to the UK just to see the cars and the scenery. And a Midsomer Murder.
I’ve seen a 57 plate Rover 75…..just once. Now that was surreal but allegedly there are some 58 plates as well
So baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover
that I know you can’t afford.
Bite that tattoo on your shoulder…
Around here at least, there will still be daily driven Cieras on the road for years to come. Very little salt use means they don’t rust, and the mechanicals are pretty bulletproof, especially with examples that don’t see many miles each year sometimes still in service with elderly original owners.
I see a not-insignificant number of Aleros as well. Our own lasted until 2013 and they’re still not hard to find, though the majority of those I see look to be in the late stages of beater-dom.
I live in Naples, FL. Every day is a car show while driving these streets. I see brand new Bentleys mixing it up with pristine 20 year old Auroras, possibly the last really nice new car the owner bought before retiring. Local dealerships love to grab these low mileage vehicles and sell them on eBay as “condo cars.” I sense many of them will have very long lives.
The Olds in the picture is just like the first car I ever bought for my son. It had the 3.3 and ran great. Virtually indestructible. I remember once when I discovered that the cooling fan had died. It never overheated. I sold it to his girlfriend who, I think, eventually drove it into the ground. All in all, a good first car for a teenage son. We would take it to the beach because it was bigger than anything I had. Fully loaded with three people, all of our luggage, and two bikes on the back, we averaged 25 mpg on the highway.
I have to give points to GM for the durability of the interior of this car. The condition of this interior is pretty amazing considering the age and well worn exterior condition of this car.
Dave, the 86 Olds Calais I bought in 92 has been in the family for 25 years [ little brother owns it ] and the interior is in the same lightly aged state.
Junkyard photos of same period GM cars show the same thing: very durable upholstery and cheap parts that have what seem to be great durability.
Who know if what they’re attached to still works.
Man, what memories. I “inherited” a Rosewood Cutlass Ciera back in the early 90’s from my mother when my old car died unexpectedly. The car was actually pretty nice, albeit completely unfit for what I deemed my lifestyle to be. With the little 4, I got great mileage and it carried me back and forth to work (and a lot of bars at night) and never caused any mechanical problems. However, the ease in which kids could and would steal these was legendary, and I know from experience. I went to a Ybor City bar one night to meet friends, and when I left, the car was not where I had parked it. A passing cop stopped for me, and when I asked if the car might have been towed, she asked what kind of car it was. When I told her a Cutlass Ciera, she just looked at me and said “Oh honey, it’s gone.” Five days later it was recovered in a parking lot for an apartment complex about 5 miles away, window broken and the ignition still bearing the scars of the screwdriver used to start it up. I kept it for a short time after fixing it, but I bet that if it had not been stolen, I would have probably driven it for another 5 years. They were basic and basically bulletproof. I would guess, based on how many I still see on the road here in Central Florida that they will be around for another 30 years.
USA Orphans……………….add to the list?
Olds
Pont
Plymouth
Hudson
Studebaker
Desoto
Mercury
Kaiser
Willis
Essex
Hupmobile
Saturn
Nash
AMC/Rambler
Kaiser
Frazer
Literally 100s pre war 1 as well as 2.
The Three Ps – Peerless, Pierce-Arrow and Packard
Nash, along with Hudson, and their AMC offspring
Terraplane
Oakland
Viking
Marquette
LaSalle (the 1930s marque)
American Bantam
Detroit Electric
White Electric
Duryea
Stanley
Stutz
Knox (of Springfield, Mass.)
…just off the top of my head…
Don’t forget the little guys…
Crosley
King Midgit
American Bantam
And Seven Little Buffaloes. (1909)
Sorry, but King Midget IMHO, does NOT qualify as a car. Sheet Metal Body? Lawn Mower motor, mechanical brakes? A whopping, what? 45 mph?
Down hill, with a tail wind? Owwww..Classic!?
True, the Midget doesnt meet EPA definition of a car. Then again, neither would a Model T. Incidentally, King Midet was the longest surviving post-war brand (1946-73)
Duesenberg
Ruxton
Dupont
Marmon
Auburn
Cord
Graham
Cunningham
Vector
Geo
Hummer
Along with literally hundreds of entrants from the dawn of the automobile age until the depression.
I would not let my kid have this. This mutha is like these first gen Explorers in the
St Louis area . No floors which seems to me nothing to keep it from folding up
when it gets hit in the rear. Don’t Ohio and Missouri have safety inspections
I drive a 93 Ranger pretty rusty here and there but underneath solid as a rock
These are still a lot of Cieras and Buick Centurys on the roads where I live. They were popular with senior citizens and there are a quite a few left that were well-maintained and that have comparatively low mileage on them. They’re like the perfect “Grandma” car. I wouldn’t want one, but if you need something that is reasonably reliable and cheap, one would be a good bet.
Even with our salt-drenched Ontario roads the Cieras (and their Buick cousins) are still spotted regularly.
I hate to sound like a spelling cop, but it’s Ciera, not Cierra. Or did I miss some allusion to the GMC Sierra, or some other double-r word? By the way, out here in California, where we have geologic Sierras that will be around long after all cars are gone, it feels like these FWD A-bodies, once everywhere, are almost gone, and not because of rust.
A few summers ago looking for something to occupy my brain while walking the dog, I conducted a census of the cars in my Oakland, California neighborhood. Out of about 550 cars, 5 were Saturns. Nearly 3 years later we are down to one rather decrepit SL-1. There was and still is 1 Pontiac Vibe. There were no Oldsmobiles. Here in Northern California you see an Olds occasionally. Its always tired looking. By 2025 I think they will be gone from the streets. A shame, but inevitable.
I liked these cars but they had those wretched door-mounted seatbelts. Worst design feature ever!
I wouldn’t say there are no more Studebakers being daily driven. I drive a beat up old 59 Hawk with a ’63 Stude 289 V8 under the hood. Ive been daily driving it since my pickup took a crap and apparently Im not the only one… The SDC is filled with members that still daily their Studebakers. With that said, I think there will still be plenty of Oldsmobiles on the road for many years to come. It just wont be as common, but they will still be out there.
Oldsmobile sadly disappearing from American roads..
It will probably be an “Alero”, whatever that was (saw one today). After that, it will be classic Cutlasses and others on their way to a show…..
I’d love a Ciera. My parent’s [oy always with the parents ] 84 Ciera was the start of my interest in GM. Yes, My Father’s Oldsmobile made me a fan.
Quiet and roomy. Economical. Massive parts availability. No console. Flat front floor.
First intro to FWD was impressive.
My business partner and good friend still drives A-body wagons to this day. He has three and to say they are as reliable the sun is an understatement. Two are Buick Century wagons, one a 1992 with the Buick 3300 and the 1995 is a red Special with the 3100. The 3300 now is closing in on 200K miles on the stock drivetrain and the 1995 is well over 160K. We put a new intake gasket on both last Summer and fresh tuneups but it’s otherwise the usual tires, batteries, the odd wheel bearing etc. The other car is a blue Celebrity wagon in Euro trim with the 3.1 V6 and that just turned 100K miles. None has ever left him stranded, parts are dirt cheap, the glass headlight covers still look as new giving him great night visibility, the interiors have held up very well and all the power items and amenities still function. The 3100/4T60 combination are very polished and it’s amazing to me how well that transmission still shifts and performs to this day. It puts many of today’s eco cafe friendly 4 banger turbo 6-9 speed autos to shame actually.
We have hauled everything from refrigerators to stoves to washing machines in the back and there is always room to spare. They are fantastic little haulers that I wish they still made in some form like this today. The new Regal wagon that is supposed to be coming for 2018 should be interesting but probably will be well out of prices reach for some time.
We took a weekend trip last year to the Carlisle PA flea market and car show and were stunned at how many of these A-body cars were still running around in surrounding towns. We must have spotted well over 50 still in service and some were from the 1980’s.
Interesting thought and angle on the CC world. There are still plenty of DD Rovers (either at the beater or hobbyist ends of the market) but do we have any bets on the last daily driver Morris or Austin?
You should take a trip to Warren, OH, sometime. You will have enough material for literal DECADES!!! And why am I not surprised to see expired tags on it(and probably no insurance either)…….
Anyway, drive past my house. You and Paul can have plenty of GM-bashing fun with my classics(despite the fact that both of them will outlast any junk rolling off the assembly lines today.)
I can say oldsmobiles will never be “not seen on road” in my area, ive had a 1992 convertible ( found out only 75 like mine were produced with the reliable 3.1 engine ). I got this car for 600$ because it was a theft recovery when i was 15 (2003) still have car to this day. Will be back on road in 2020. I am actually in process of converting to 3.8 sc everything rebuilt w zero miles. this was my high school car and i remember this car more fondly that any female or fling… THIS 1992 custlass supreme convertible will be on the road in its factory appearence body wise until i pass. Then will be given to my son… long story short there will be a 1992 cutlass convert in middle tn for the next 30-40 years then will be passed to my son. This car holds too much centimental value.