I thought all of these had already gone to automotive heaven by now. But here’s one still around, apparently in running condition, captured by nifticus392 at the Cohort.
We’ve covered these Omegas before (links below), and this one appears to be a Brougham sedan, not the elusive Brougham coupe. But that’s OK. Any X-body in any condition is quite the find after 40 years on the road. Particularly when one considers the many woes they originally came with.
Woes that I admit were receding by 1983, and this surviving one is probably an example of that. But there’s no way of denying there were many sins of a deadly nature on these.
As for my experience, I understand there was a need for an accessible compact in Oldsmobile showrooms in those troublesome early ’80s. But after these appeared, followed by the underwhelming Calais, the toll just kept mounting. That, among other sins, made it impossible to convince many teens of my generation that there were any ‘aspirational’ attributes in Oldsmobiles.
But well, that’s all water under the sinful bridge now. Just for memory’s sake, I’m glad one is still around. FWIW, there were 18,014 of these 4-door Broughams built in ’83, the second most common Omega of that year. Now, let’s see if we ever come across the unicorn-like Brougham coupe.
Further reading:
Wow! I remember liking that the waterfall-style grille had gone away (for ’82), as it seemed too big a stretch at creating a family resemblance with other Oldsmobiles. I do like the enlarged, Cutlass-like taillamps on this one.
Joseph, if any more of the paint above the grill flakes off, you’ll have something that looks pretty close to the old waterfall grill.
Is that header panel grey plastic, or dull, weathered steel?
I would guess grey plastic or fiberglass. My parents’ ’73 Olds Custom Cruiser had a plastic or fiberglass header panel as well. The car was dark blue in color but because of stone chips you could see the header was molded in white. And magnets did not stick to it.
In a posted Motorweek roadtest of a Pontiac Phoenix from 1983, the Phoenix can be seen fishtailing with smoke, in hard braking from 60. Something, we’d deem unacceptable today.
Remarkable, the 1982 A-bodies were so trouble-free upon launch.
My family had an ’82 Phoenix which was reasonably reliable; most of the 1980 X body issues like rear wheel lockup when braking had been fixed by then. The redesigned and repositioned steering rack developed for the FWD A body was used in the X body starting in 1982 which eliminated the straight-ahead dead spot that developed in the ’80-81 steering by the time you drove 20,000 miles.
The point I was aiming to make, is this was a 1983 Phoenix in the Motorweek test. Brakes locking easily. Well after the proportioning valve and rear end lockup problems, were supposed to be resolved. The rear-end swing around does appear less than 1980 models.
That sort of swing-around was fairly commonplace in the pre-ABS days. The all-new Camry was even worse than the Phoenix they say, although they don’t show it.
Well to be fair, everything has ABS now.
Automotive heaven? That’s a bit optimistic. The X-cars should be sent someplace hotter, and further South.
Amazing to see it still out and about, moreso because it looks to be in decent if neglected condition .
I ass-U-me these came with a V6 engine ? .
I’m still pissed off about GM’s screwing up the original X cars chassis, one more defeat snatched from the jaws of victory .
-Nate
The 2.8 V6 was available on Omegas……A 4 cylinder was standard, at least on lower trim levels.
Thanx Dave ;
Is this car as small as my 1981 Chevy X-Car was ? .
-Nate
Twin to the Citation, yes. Omega came as 2 or 4 door sedan, Citation and Phoenix had an optional hatchback body style.
What an amazing find! I guess the last handful of wild Omegas can now only be found in British Columbia parking garages.
This one can be quickly identified as one of the last Omega years due to the “aerodynamic” mirrors (an incongruity on such a boxy car), and by the seats with separate headrests, which replaced high-back seats in the earlier years (not 100% positive about this last point).
And as far as even more unicorn-like Omegas, I wonder if the ES (European Sports) Omegas were the rarest of them all?
In 1983 all X bodies went to “aero” mirrors up against the A pillar and low-back seats with separate headrests. In previous years the optional bucket seats were of the same basic design as the standard bench seats; starting in 1983 the buckets were a different design from the bench, and similar to the buckets in all J bodies, the Pontiac 6000 coupe, and the Camaro/Firebird.
Another bit of useless trivia my brain won’t forget: in 1980 only, all X bodies with automatic transmissions had column-mounted gearshift levers. Starting in 1981, cars with buckets and a center console had floor-mounted shifters whose linkage twisted the external steering column just as it would with a column shifter. If you wanted bucket seats and a column shift in a 1981-later X body, you could still get that by not ordering the center console which was a separate option from bucket seats.
The rarest would probably be the Sport Omega. Someone found one in a salvage yard and restored it. Over restored it.
Cars of this era bring the memory of one person front and center; the ultimate of bean counters … Roger Bonham Smith. I would like to say that the X-bodies represent General Motors at its worst, but make such a statement. They can do worse. Alfred P. Sloan and many others are turning over in their grave over the colossus they countless others put together. None of these cars will ever be heaven; Almighty God Himself will make certain of that. They will be found aplenty in hell.
Wow my first car was an 81 Skylark, twin to this but at least it was a 2 door. A rare case where the base engine (Iron Duke) would’ve been better than the ‘upgrade’ 2.8L V6. Mine had 30k real miles and looked like new, but there were constant issues. A/C problems. Radiator problems. Alternator problems. Belt problems. Carb problems. Brake problems. It’s frankly a wonder I grew up to be more or less a GM guy.
As for the Omega specifically, the only time one of these was ‘desirable’ was when they gave my Dad a Renault Alliance for a company car, it broke down and he took it back and said NO WAY – the replacement was an Omega sedan.
I think my Uncle had an ’80…we didn’t live nearby, so I’m not sure what happened to it.
I was car shopping in ’81, though I didn’t look at an Omega, I did a new ’81 Pontiac Phoenix. Not sure why I was looking at new cars, I’d been out of school for less than a year and couldn’t quite swing one, but that didn’t stop me from shopping. Also looked at then new K car, and a Dodge Omni, ended up with a used ’78 Scirocco. Probably turned out for the best. I still like the hatchbacks and these were pretty space efficient especially compared to the predecessor, too bad they had so many issues.
I’ve got an 83 omega ESC