Seeing this gen1 Lumina posted by canadiancatgreen at the Cohort made me realize that I haven’t seen one in quite a while. And there were so many around; especially white sedans. Did GM put in a self-destruct device that activated after 25 years? Maybe they didn’t put them in the Canadian ones.
I never saw a new Lumina that wasn’t from Oshawa, Ontario.
I like those Gen 1 Lumina coupes. To my eyes, they were more handsome and conservatively-styled than the other divisions’ coupes. I liked how there was even a base (non-Euro) coupe you could get with bench seat, column shift, and whitewalls. This was after Ford had gotten out of the coupe-with-bench-seat business.
I could still like a Euro coupe with the optional wheels, and the rear spoiler-delete option. A friend used to say those spoilers looked like frisbees.
A little over a couple weeks ago on October 20th, a 1994 Chevrolet Lumina sedan drove into the side of a local blood lab, here in Ottawa. It looked in wonderful shape. I haven’t seen a first gen Lumina here, in years. I hope the dedicated owner decided to repair it. I’m afraid it might have been written off. Quite sharp in bright red, with alloy wheels.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/car-dynacare-crash-3-injured-1.6623869
Local public transit used Celebritys, Diplomats, and Luminas, as transit police cars for years.
I have a friend whose wife bought a government-surplus police-package Lumina. She had it before they were married, and then they used the Lumina as their main family car for several years. They sold it a few years ago – I should have taken pictures and written an article about it while it was still around!
And theirs was red, like the one in canadiancatgreen’s picture, in my pictures below, and in your Dynacare crash article. Goodness, were most of these cars red?
i feel like it was red or maroon with a couple of silver ones tossed in there because thats all I ever remember seeing!
Wow thanks for that. I am amazed I never heard about this!
Also that was cool to see those OC Transpo cars because that takes me back! If I remember right (and I was a kid back then so I could thinking of caprices) but I think even a few Luminas ended up as Nepean Police cruisers in the 90s.
I think my favourite Lumina spotted was in college in Barrie about 15 years ago as Barrie Taxi has easily the wierdest fleet going and had a few of those in there. I often wonder if they still have them.
Ok looks like I was partially right.
The Ottawa police had Luminas
https://policecanada.ca/policeca/on/ottawa/OttawaON159.jpg
The Nepean Police had Lumina APVs!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/107573066@N05/14882720883
I really liked the distinctive livery of Nepean police cars at the time. And Nepean’s unique yellow firetrucks.
Also, recall when Gloucester and Vanier had their own police departments, and fleets of squad cars as well.
Yeah me too. It was different but also sort of what you expected. The fire trucks were downright awesome. I remember going past the station on merrivale all the time as a kid and being amazed as any kid would be. But it didn’t hurt that they stood out so much with those paint jobs.
Anyway I say this, but then again I liked a lot of what nepean did. The city symbol and the green/white scheme for the buildings and signage was fantastic. Way better than anything the new or old city of Ottawa has put out.
You are correct, Gloucester and Vanier had thier own departments. i don’t really remember Vanier much but Gloucester had a green livery too I want to say. I should ask my dad about it as he interacted with all the local departments as an MP stationed in Uplands. Actually I should ask him if he remembers any luminas, although I only remember seeing them with caprices and Crown Vics there so maybe it was just the city cops.
The Nepean bucket truck, with dual rear axles, was the impressive one to see. Yes, Nepean’s branding was very well done, for a small suburban city.
Yes, I remember Gloucester using full-sized Fords in white with green and gold stripes. While Vanier, used a blue similar to Nepean, with additional white stripes. Vanier used full-sized Chevrolets.
What a coincidence. As my dad was a chief master warrant officer at CFB Rockcliffe (CFB Ottawa North, starting in ’72), when he retired in 1975. The military police at Rockcliffe consisted of two late model AMC Hornet sedans, in black. With the Armed Forces crest on the front doors. I was very young, and don’t recall if they had either of the AMC sixes. Or the 304 or 401 V8. I suspect the 258 cid six.
Yes! green and gold for Gloucester! I had a bias for the west end but always found their schemes as a kid to be really sharp. Vaniers I don’t remember much but we rarely went anywhere beyond Nepean while we were living there or later on, kanata/stittsville/barrhaven – at least that I remember when i was really young. So most of the time I was exposed to OPP ( we had family friends and neighbours stationed in kanata) or nepean police or of course the MPs. Interesting Vanier used full sized Chevs despite being completely urban.
Very neat about your dad! I have some memories of Rockcliffe – we would go as a family to a few friends who were in PMQs there. I remember playing at the park with their kids a bunch. All of this would be late 80s or into the 90s. Unfortunately your dad retired 2 years before mine enlisted and would be stationed at Uplands or the overlap would have been pretty fun. I wish I could have asked him about the Hornets since I find that mind blowing they would have a couple there and not maybe full sized fords of Plymouths, etc. I am thinking that was too early for Caprices as that wouldn’t have been until the mid 80s-early 90s which is more in my time. I am going to be seeing a few of the older MPs my dad knew on Tuesday so I will ask them – I am sure they’d have some stories. I think your right on the black paint as I think they transitioned out of that when I was a kid. My earliest memory was family day at the Uplands detachment in either 89 or 90 and I want to say it was mostly Caprices there (at least what I can specifically remember being in) and I don’t remember the black schemes on everything then. As for the Hornets, I am guessing probably the 6 but thats more a guess on my part. If I remember to ask and find out on Tuesday I’ll let you know.
BTW was poking around and can confirm they had Luminas, but just not where they had them.
https://policecanada.ca/policeca/Canada/military/index.html
The peak years for both Uplands and Rockcliffe, I’d say were the late 1950s and early 1960s. They had large annual public aircraft shows, and displays, that were very well attended. Plus, there was still an active military presence. While, by the 1970s, both bases became quieter, and mostly used for housing military personnel.
The on-site military police station at Rockcliffe was located on Codd’s Road, coming down from Montreal Road. Across from the Viscount Alexander Public School. Codd’s Road, was one of the two main entrances to the base. The police station was a modest bungalow-sized building, finished in white. With green trim, like all military buildings. My grade one recess play area, was directly across from the station. As the base was so quiet around 1973 to 1975, the Hornets mostly just sat parked outside the station. Always facing outward towards Codd’s Road. I only saw the Hornet’s pull cars over on two occasions. A ’71-’73 Ford Mustang on Hemlock Road. And a early 70s Chev Nova, on Altair Avenue. At some point in the 1980s, I believe Uplands started serving patrol cars for Rockcliffe. As Rockcliffe, was becoming dormant. Except for personnel, still living there.
In this Google Streetscape view below from October 2007. you can see the former Viscount Alexander school on the left. My play area was under that deciduous tree to the centre left. And the police station was exactly where that white sign is. To the right side, of Codd’s Road. The road now curves slightly, where it was once straight for its full length.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4501923,-75.6335143,3a,75y,339.15h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz_0-uNeDN45-cbGZgA6P3w!2e0!7i3328!8i1664?hl=en
Thanks for those pics of the diplomat and the hornet. The diplomat definitely triggers a memory but don’t recall seeing the Hornet ever. I expect they were long gone by the time I was a kid. I did some digging last night as I have the MP 25th anniversary book. It looks like they went to the current white scheme around 1983-85, at least from the pictures in there. May have been a year or two earlier. Most of the older pictures are 50/60s era and of jeeps with the green or black paint. White and red was I think early-mid 90s if memory serves.
Interesting info about Rockcliffe – thanks for that background and the link! That was awesome that your school play yard was across from the station! Would have made for an interesting time now and then when any action happened. Then again, as you said, it seemed to be pretty quiet there. The location of the MP station rings a bell from the streetview. Although moving towards the views of 2019 to today, it was a tough thing to look at. I don’t know about you, but its tough to see all that history and tradition turn into row homes. Anyway as for the MP building, I know I was there once, but this was closer to when things were winding down. We were doing a family portrait over there (I don’t remember the building as I think it was torn down in the last 10 years, but could probably drive there from Kanata) and he made a point to take us by where it was. I don’t think it was operating at the time. You are correct in that in the 80s they sent patrol cars over from Uplands – that was my dad and some of his friends for awhile in the early 80s (many of whom I expect to see next week actually). Needless to say I have already heard a few stories about having to drive down for a patrol at Rockcliffe! I believe this would have started in the early to mid 80s as by the late 80s, it was just the established norm. Probably why the Hornets just sat around.
The military police Hornets, looked essentially like these ones below. Except they were all black. With the Armed Forces coat of arms on each front door. They had ‘MILITARY POLICE’ lettering on their light bars. Exactly like the Dodge Diplomat below. The full light bar in fact, was near identical to the one on this Dodge.
Diplomats…
I agree 100%, about the lost legacy of Uplands and Rockcliffe. They were their own small communities (towns almost). And they were very safe, and friendly places, to raise families. So much history was lost. My parents used to do plenty of their Christmas shopping at the CANEX store. Which had an awesome collection of die cast cars. Even the rare Majorette brand from France. The baseball diamonds were well used, and well maintained. As was the whole base. Many clubs and social events, as well.
As operations were winding down at Rockcliffe, it appeared the primary role of the military police, was protecting DND property, and traffic enforcement of non-base car traffic. For some time, even as the base hosted fewer and fewer personnel, the Hemlock Road to Codd’s Road route remained popular with the public, as a traffic shortcut. Popular with employees of the National Research Council on Montreal/Blair Road, often coming from Quebec. Even though the base was quiet, rush hour traffic would be steady on Hemlock Road and Codd’s Road. Heading east in the morning. And west in the afternoon. I believe the posted speed limit was 40 or 50 km/h. And I’d regularly see cars pulled over by MP, for likely exceeding the limit. Drivers often having no clue, the base was still patrolled. Caught red-handed. This was the case well into the early 2000s. When they closed the base to traffic, at some point. It was traffic enforcement of the general public, that appeared to keep the MP busy for years!
I’ve enjoyed chatting with you AJ. I will watch for your posts at CC. I generally try to post Canadian or Ottawa info, that may be of interest to the greater CC audience. And post regularly, on other topics.
I posted these pictures a few weeks ago on Tatra’s Grand Am article, but I recently saw what must be the world’s best-preserved 1st Generation Lumina. Not surprisingly, being driven (slowly) by an older gentleman:
Even has the original wheel covers, which seemed to have a tendency to fall off the car every few months:
The once-abundant Luminas have disappeared from around here too, and also the slightly older but perhaps even more populous Beretta/Corsica clan have receded from sight as well.
I’ve been watching an Icelandic TV series, Katla, about a community threatened by a volcano which is erupting huge amounts of ash. There’s some interesting vehicles; the ones actually driven by characters are mostly rugged things like Defenders, Hilux, 4WD Ford E Series and F Series. Many with huge fender flares and large tires. One farm location regularly shown has the usual rural assortment of old junk … tractors, snowmobiles, cars, all looking especially forlorn due to the piles of ash and volcanic debris. And one of the cars is almost certainly a Chevy Corsica.
I had long since rejected GM as a new-car option by the time these came out (my purchased-new 1979 Disco ‘Vette had taken care of that), but even I had to concede these were at least not awful – hardly a standard to aspire too but a step-up for GM after the dismal 80’s. But when it came time to purchase a new four door midsize car for our soon-to-be started family, the choice was a ’91 Nissan Maxima SE, which my wife and I both loved. She liked driving a standard at least as much as I did.
I gave that car to my brother in 2001 when the BMW dealer from whom I purchased a 325xi wagon didn’t even want to consider a trade. Sadly, I got it back after his untimely passing in 2010. Even then, other than a bad PW regulator, that car was solid and still pulled strong. I ended up giving it ot a contractor friend of my brothers who helped me get his house ready to sell.
I’d say it’s a toss-up as to whether the last of the first-gen lumina or the 89-93 maxima won the longevity contest. I’d say it was pretty much a toss-up, but I’ll bet the Maxima owners had more fun till the end.
Apologies for the typos and duplicates – I can’t edit comments after they are posted!
They were less in numbers where I lived. I got to take a Lumina sedan on a long road trip into British Columbia courtesy the GM Media department. The sedan was comfortable and good on gas even with the five of us aboard. The V6 had no problem in mountain passes.
Not a very good looking car. And then, unlike say the Taurus, the Luminas all disappeared over time.
They’re all gone around here too. It’s actually hard to find a GM sedan of any type.
I was thinking today that when we moved into our house 20 years ago there were 5 GM vehicles on our 7 house court. Now there’s zero.
There is the other Chevy Lumina sold in the Middle East and South Africa, sourced from Australia. Fans of the last Pontiac GTO might recognise the four door version. These replaced the 2nd Gen Luminas in the Middle East. The same running gear as the GTO, V8 six speed manual available and RWD
These overseas Holden based Luminas were actually technically the same exact cars as our ill-fated Cadillac Catera which was really nothing more than an Opel Omega.
Not quite, Pedro. The VT Commodore was heavily changed from the Omega/Catera – different engines, wider body, different suspension etc
Considering the newest 1st gen Luminas are at least 28 years years old, with most Luminas being over 30 years old, its not surprising they aren’t many left on the road.
The last Lumina I saw was back in the early 2010s. It had all the hubcaps and was well worn, but had intact paint and moved under it’s own power. The tall green house looked out of place compared to the bunker like windows on modern cars.
Just for comparison the last 94 and older Camry I saw was owned by a co-worker of mine, The paint was fine and it was missing only 1 hubcap. The owner complained about having problems with the alternator, this was back in the mid 2010s. I have not seen one since although I still see 97-01 Camrys once in a while in a variety of different conditions,. People on CC claim the 97-01 Camrys were a downgrade of the previous generation, but I disagree. There are far more 97-01s on the road than the generation that came before it.
Most Accords older than 1994 have long since rusted in the ground. A neighbor had a non running and severely rusted 93 Accord until 2018ish. The was the last one I saw.
I don’t see many 94 and older Tauri around either
Where I live with no real rust issues, there are plenty of 30 year old cars on the roads. And not just Camries and Accords, but a zillion Ford and Chevy pickups and full-size vans. Even a few Taurii, Cavaliers and Chrysler minivans. But no Lumina’s.
Around here I remember a disproportionate amount of these being bright with a red spoiler just like the one Daniel M posted. They’ve mostly been gone from the Chicago area for at least 10 years but there’s a coupe straggler I see from time to time at my local grocery store.
The excessively dropped beltline and square wheel openings are atrocious looking, for all the flack the whale Caprice gets that was a better looking car than these Luminas and most of their worst design aspects were familial traits shared with these, this was one of those cars where you could tell the coupe was the favored design and the 4 door was just a utilitarian wedging of extra doors into it. Other critique, GM used far too much incongruous bright bodyside trim, and it looks like cheap tinsel on jellybean designs.
The low belt line does look weird, although it probably provides good visibility, in theory anyway. The squared off wheel wells look like those on modern pick up trucks.
By order_242 from Chile – Chevrolet Silverado LTZ Crew Cab 4×4 2014, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37777613
One thing that jumped out to me about the 2 door Luminas of this generation was the door handle being in the window frame. It gave the doors a much smoother look than the four door versions.
I got stuck too often with Lumina rentals. Glad they’re gone.
I have a coworker that was driving a Lumina until 6 months ago, it was the only one I had seen around here for a good while. It really didn’t look to be in that bad of shape but he said it had more issues than it was worth so it went to the junkyard. My former boss was driving one 10 years ago that looked like it had been dropped from a helicopter, it finally went to the junkyard after the left rear suspension rusted out and the wheel about came off.
I’ve always had an *extremely* negative visceral reaction to these cars…so much so, that I was *relieved* to see them disappear from the roads!
To me, these epitomized *everything* bad about the Roger Smith era of GM: The ill-shapen, ill-proportioned exterior; the ergonomically-challenged “ruler and straightedge” dashboard; the delays after delays involved in getting the car into production; the patently unsafe door-mounted seatbelts; the complete lack of airbags (even on ’94 models, when every real competitor had two)…et cetera, et cetera. I think the only people who bought these cars new were rental agencies, penny-pinching fleet operators, and clueless “Chevy can do no wrong, even though my Citation was constantly in the shop” diehards. Maybe the first-gen Lumina had SOME virtue buried deep inside it, but I’ll be damned to know what it was.
“Where’d they all go?”
The 1990’s ended about 23 years ago, this coming New Years Eve, so most all Luminas, 1st and 2nd Gen are pretty much used up. Why do some still think the 90’s were “only a few years ago”? 😉 Time flies!