I just barely caught this pristine Olds Calais in traffic the other day. Very nice! It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these lovely N-Bodies. And in such great shape.
But the best part I didn’t notice until just now when I looked at the picture closer:
Truth in…vanity plates!
Can’t tell it here, but it was a younger guy driving it.
And I saw it the next day, sitting next to a transmission shop. Uh oh!
I knew a guy who got a hand-me-down version of this car about 20 years ago. It was passed down by grandma in cherry shape with low miles. In one summer, he beat the living hell out of that car, and it looked like a clapped out beater in a matter of months. But he drove it everywhere, including into places it had no business going. I was impressed by the beating it took.
I sometimes wonder what compels some people to keep unexciting run-of-the-mill cars on the road as daily drivers, decades past their expiry dates. Nostalgia for a happier time in the owner’s life? Or a fondness for memories with this specific car or model, or as an inheritance, these are not powerful enough reasons for most. As the novelty wears out eventually of owning a car without much character.
Even with careful preventative maintenance, the possibility of expensive fatal repairs keeps your anxiety level raised, most of the time. Without an auto club membership, driving long distance, or even beyond city limits, is not worth the risk. I think some people ‘adopt’ cars as part of their life. However irrational, and impractical, that view.
Even after they had been on the market for several years, I found the GM N Cars looked like prototype mules. Their styling looking like something cobbled together from the A and J bodies. They didn’t look like finished final designs IMO.
Never really paid attention to this before, but placing the ‘Calais’ badge on the lower front doors, rather than the usual front fender location, just accentuates how small scaled these cars were.
“That was Yesterday” released in ’85, might be a suitable song for this car.
Thanks for the song Daniel M.
I’ve met a few people who are content to keep spending money on an older car since it is cheaper than a new car even with repairs. Some of the people I’ve talked to do not want a new car since it is too fancy for them and they prefer to remain low key.
This one person I talked to had a 1986 Subaru hatchback they had been driving for the past 33 years and they simply don’t want a newer car. The children actually gave them a hand-me-down Ford Escape so they can be safer during longer trips.
Biggest automotive expense for most cars is depreciation. Not an issue with an ‘85 Calais.
You don’t suppose that maybe GM re-ran the “Calais” badges left over from the low-line Cadillacs from 1965 for the next decades or so?
Who knows what motivates people to buy and drive the cars they do? Unless you ask the person, one can only assume or guess.
Let the folks driving their (insert preferred adjective here) cars enjoy themselves. They all may not be my cup of tea, but I’m glad to see them running around.
…and in perhaps the most malaise-y color imaginable, too. I think this color was called “Light Caramel Tan,” but it managed to make cars look dull even when new. It was a color for folks who thought beige was too adventuresome.
Very passé when this Olds was new. It says late 70s.
You guys aren’t wrong, but look at how it stands out from all the generic blob-mobiles in the first photo. I think that even though it was a crappy malaise mobile in its day, that it has a vintage cool now. This owner even made the effort to put period-correct bumper stickers on it. I love it!
My first car. A silver 1985 with the Buick 3.0 V6, purchased very used in 1996. GM style low end torque but no top end, maybe partly due to the 3 speed automatic. I loved the interior layout, but it’s not for everyone. Took 4 years of pretty significant abuse from me, including hitting a deer and beating the hood, upper rad support, and front fender straight (ish) with a sledgehammer. After that, I generally only topped up the oil when the engine started ticking, and really made a good effort to completely kill it. It took time and well over 140,000 kilometres of abuse, but I finally seized the engine. Lots of crap quality parts in that car, rust in weird places, leaks around windows, randomly smoking electronics, etc. If GM had tried, it could have done well.
Replaced it with a 1988 LeSabre, which was clearly put together by people that cared a little bit more.
This question never came to my mind. But after reading CC friend Daniel M., I am wondering…..Maybe it is a matter of very shallow pockets, preference, pleasure, etc.
I can tell my own example. I have a small fleet of old cars. Drive them as daily drivers, one week per each one. I agree you always have that feeling that something will go wrong or fail at any moment, but the pleasure of driving them worth of it. One eye in the gauges and the other in the road…..
The pleasure of those cushy rides, the enjoyment of being different in a sea of bland, modern limited color stubby pseudo SUVs; I wonder this is one of the reasons someone keep on going with old rides. The eyes of those riding a tiny motorized plastic box, looking at you comfortably seated on that silent couch on wheels, is a mesmerizing experience. But at the end, I wonder driving an old car in a regular basis is a personal tribute to those old, simpler and easier days. A time when children could play in the streets, children still know how to ride a bike, those days when it was not needed any kind of eletronic device to live. Better times at all. To chose this way is not a matter of money, but taste. Living in an upscale neighborhood, I can see many neighbors looking at me as the “weird guy of the old barges”, but who cares? It makes me happy and alive. If I need to do a car trip, I rent one of these generic designs of today. For me, going back to the past while driving, experiencing all of those mechanical sensations and sounds, is one of my daily refugies from this generic, unexciting world that we live, a world where cars dashboards are turning to an IPAD, and the engines, sounding just like a fan. Patetic! Taste is taste. Dreams have its costs…..
Great thoughts, Sergio. I think that everyone here, even the detractors of this car, know exactly what you are talking about and the feelings you are conveying.
Thanks for your comments Sergio and Scott. I think you may have missed the main point I was making above. I’m not questioning why people daily drive old cars. Of course not. But what compels them to drive a generally generic, somewhat soulless car, with unsure reliability, from 30-40 years ago. In many ways, these cars displayed GM’s contempt for buyers then, with such a bland product. Daily driving an ’83 Reliant SE doesn’t seem appealing. Even to CC die hards of old beaters. Perhaps an ’83 car with a bit more character? A ’99 Corolla (for example) would cost less to run, if the owner’s on a budget.
A lot of people wouldn’t even look twice at an ’85 Calais. If the owner enjoys the attention.
I’m with Sergio on this. Now this particular car might have been bland and soulless back in 1986 but then a lot were hence the license plate. I would have dismissed it. However, it is now 2020 and the car is out on the road surrounded by a sea of similar looking SUVs, CUVs, small cars, and monster trucks in white, gray, and black. In that mass of automotive humanity this Calais would catch my eye in a New York second and make me go “cool”. It may have once been bland but I think it now has soul to go along with the cool factor.
Of course we would need to interview the driver to find out his thoughts. He might just say he got the car cheap as a hand me down thereby blowing all our fantasies out the window…:(
Just as many disparage the current crop of S/CUVs all in silver, gray, black and white, folks were disparaging those cars 35 years ago.
The more things change, the more they stay the same…
I don’t know if I will be here to witness it, but I’d be willing to be that in 35 years, someone will be fawning over or ironically piloting 2020 Blobmobile CUV.
It’s human nature.
Of course we all enjoy seeing old cars still on the road, no matter if they are entry level, or the most basic transportation. Of course, I appreciate it, like anyone else here.
But do you daily drive a ’84 Pontiac 6000? Or an ’85 Dodge Omni?
Not many would. In fact, very few, being truthful. Even here at CC.
These owners are a very rare breed, especially if they are long term owners. Of course, any regular reader at CC is going to appreciate them. That’s why I was curious what compels them. Very old, inexpensively-made, not especially classic cars are so often more stress than they are worth, to the vast majority of people. But this one is a cream puff. Thank Goodness these people do exist, as it allows us to enjoy this Calais.
The fact Daniel wasn’t familiar with the Calais, means the uniqueness of the car to him would mean a tonne to his appreciation for it. Hope he enjoys it for many years to come.
If it weren’t for the rust issue in my area I would, if I lived in Nevada I wouldn’t even glance at anything made in this millennium. I don’t get any anxiety driving my 1994 Cougar the bulk of the year the roads aren’t covered in salt for the sake of it being old, from my perspective why would I have less anxiety buying something newer that’s 5 times it’s worth?
@geozinger, possibly. But even at the time this Calais was made the 2-door bodystyle was rapidly declining in popularity, and now in 2020 there is absolutely nothing available new or on your average used car lot like it. By contrast we are in peak SUV/CUV right now, some seem to think it will infinitely grow until the sedan is completely gone alltogether, and if that’s the case I’m not so sure what will be as unique about having one unless the trend reverses(fingers crossed!)
@XR7Matt Some folks who are regular readers of CC, might drive an ’81 Skoda 120 as a daily driver, if they had the opportunity. The age and reliability concerns would of course be very low among readers here, compared to the general populace.
Being in the Canadian rust belt myself, naturally seeing a mid ’80s GM car built for low cost, most in this region would consider it a potential money pit. For what’s basically a 35 year old disposable car.
I was not fully factoring in, this is Oregon. The land of the blessed healing rains Paul talks of. A 35 year old GM car is not such a overwhelming potential for a toxic ownership experience. Especially, if one can do their own repairs.
It may not be a classic, well-built car, but the ownership experience in Curbsidelandia would not be the red flag it would elsewhere.
Maybe not a ’99 Corolla. That was one of the oil burning years.
“what compels them to drive a generally generic, somewhat soulless car, with unsure reliability, from 30-40 years ago…”
The same argument might be made about much of the Gen X music you often post videos for. And that’s not meant to be a dig, so much as an explanation. Some people like old, classic shit, even if it’s not all that great by objective standards.
Personally, I would rather blast “Sussudio” than any Taylor Swift tune; even if the former was a “generic, somewhat soulless” pop hit, time has turned it into a nostalgic and fun capsule of the zeitgeist of the era. And so it is with this ’85 Calais.
I think for some people, such as the Olds driver, maybe younger and have memories of a similar car or that particular one from a family member, etc.
There are a considerable number of younger people who feel like Sergio too – tired of all the “modern conveniences” and they like more honest transportation, particularly one without a black box.
Personally I would look at this car at a show or cars and coffee (remember those?) rather than a row of Challengers, Mustangs, and Camaros. In fact, I love to make a big deal of it and walk right by those cars to a car like this Olds, or a Rebel sedan, or a Studebaker pickup.
That is actually me that got spotted. I absolutely love my Oldsmobile, I’ve never seen a Calais before and I had to have this one when I saw it. I bought it early last year with only 40,000 miles and now I’m already up to 70,000. It’s my daily driver and it has certainly been nothing but reliable to me. I only drive older vehicles and this is actually one of the newest cars I’ve owned. I actually recently just got a drawing done of it!
I should have read further. My fantasy has not been blown out of the water and would have said so in the first post if I weren’t prevented from editing.
Sounds like you’re onto something good there. Love the vanity plate!
The car is in remarkable shape considering its age. There are cars 20 years newer that are in worse shape. Most of the 80s car stories on this site seem to be GM with a few Fords mixed in. I wish the cc would cover other cars from this era more often. Surely they have not all rusted away? Or is a story about an 85 Corolla just too boring?
Remember Cash for Clunkers in 2009 with the requirement that the cars be no older than 25 years. That would have covered down to 1984 at the beginning. I am aware of a lot of 80s cars disappearing on the California roads around that time. I clearly recall the big 80s Crown Vics just being gone and seeing an early 90 became a treat soon after.
I see this one every now and then. How can you miss it?
Cash for clunkers had a mpg cutoff that wasn’t terribly high, combined average rating of 18mpg or less and I’m not sure Nbodies would have qualified. The bulk of trade ins were old school SUVs for compact cars(or something with 22mpg combined or more).
Condition is key. How many of those have been the original buyers’ humble “coffin cars”? Decades in hands of people who are dead serious about caring for and preserving ALL the things in their posession, no matter how obsolete. Beats any Corolla with one too many high school boy or broke college guy under its belt, at least in my book. With 80s GM quality and driving experience and all, it still gets you there, without annoying you to hell and back. Still cheaper to obtain, also.
Terrific. Daniel, it’s great to know you enjoy your Calais, and I hope that drawing turned out great.
It’s so interesting for me to remember these Calaises as new cars, and to read of your experience as the owner of this one being unfamiliar with them. They really did used to be everywhere at one time, along with the other GM N-bodies (Pontiac Grand Am and Buick Somerset / Skylark).
I think the juxtaposition to the big towering new Honda Pilot is interesting to take into perspective with this and it’s malaise aura, imagine this image with the biggest Honda of 1985. If that Olds badge could talk it would ask “wait, why am I still sucking in my gut?”
The vast majority of these had the THM 125C 3 speed transaxle which was quite a sturdy unit. Many times misdiagnosed with a frayed TV cable or a bad lockup torque converter solenoid we used to sell these types of cars along with the A-bodies and certain early 90’s iron with these transmissions and to my memory never had to replace a single one. A new solenoid or cable almost always corrected the delayed shift or lugging when taking off from a stop light feeling. Some owners just unplugged the connector for the torque converter and away went the problem but without the slight gas savings that this provided.
As for these cars the Buick 3.0 was fairly peppy and if you were lucky the occasional 89-91 would show up with the 3300 V6 which made 35 additional HP and torque and gave these quite a kick!