At this point I am beginning to believe that it is no coincidence that vehicles with red interiors are the ones in the best condition as they hit the junkyard. Why this is so though, I am not sure of. Take today’s second-to-last year of production ninth generation Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale contender for example: This is a vehicle that by all rights should look much further gone than it actually does.
Or should it? After all, the engine is one of GM’s standouts, capable of many miles of effortless, reliable and surprisingly economical use. This vehicle, apparently used mainly in Nebraska even though now in Colorado, has likely suffered through some tough winters, yet the body is in fairly good condition. By this time in the life cycle of the Eighty Eight, Olds had the build mechanics completely figured out and the target market was likely to not be particularly abusive to it.
Sales of this version of the H-Body were strong throughout its production run until these last two years, where sales tapered off significantly. Prior to this year’s front and rear refresh, this car was known as the Delta 88, presumably GM figured that spelling out the numbers was classier. I wonder if buyers figured that a car known as an 88 seemed like an older car in ’89, ’90, and ’91 until it was redesigned for ’92? There’s no good way around that line of thinking, unfortunately, except maybe to push buyers up into the Ninety Eight? That model only lasted until ’96, avoiding the conundrum entirely.
Pulled over from the Buick division, the 3800 V-6 is one of the better GM engines and produced 165hp and 220lb-ft of torque by 1990. I had the good fortune of having one in my ’88 Buick LeSabre T-Type and was thoroughly pleased with it. Punchy but quiet, powerful yet economical, and thoroughly reliable, it was only further improved by being available with a supercharger, albeit not in the Eighty Eight.
The changes for 1990 really consisted of revised front and rear ends and the name change. The front gained these composite headlamps and a different grille with rocket logo and new bumper. Rear changes were similar and while not making it look “modern”, at least helped to prolong things.
Dark tinted tail lights. Practically a GTI. Or not. Actually perhaps it was a hindrance making it look “sportier” in that regard with its general buying audience as there isn’t much genuine sport to be had behind the wheel of this car. It is surprising to realize that in 1990, on an Oldsmobile that is nowhere near the bottom of the line, a rear window defroster was still an optional feature. At least this one has it.
That trunk though, that could hold a few sets of clubs to head to The Links On Golden Pond or wherever.
Getting back to that fantastic red interior though, what do we see up top? Yes, we see an odometer with a reading of 219,581 miles. The 3800’s a great engine, and the H-Body is generally considered an excellent chassis, but that’s still a very good number. I wonder what gave out? The 4-speed 4T60 transmission? Or something in that 3800, perhaps emissions related? Or is a faded silver on red cloth sedan from a defunct brand just so uncool that it’s impossible to find a buyer?
The 85mph speedometer certainly seems a novelty, even for back in 1990. This sedan was supposedly capable of achieving around 124mph and in the middle of Nebraska exceeding 85mph would likely be a common occurrence.
Just look at that! Besides the sort of sack-cloth looking texture of the seats themselves, there is really no discernible wear on any of this interior. That’s a stark contrast to the General Motors that I am used to. Why couldn’t all interiors wear this well? That split bench seat looks like just the ticket to lounge on while traversing all 500 miles of I-80 in Nebraska from West to East. And back again.
Back in 1990, I would snicker at the fake stitching on dashboards and perhaps make a comment that this Eighty Eight Royale really was a Royale with cheese. Nowadays though, stitching, real in some instances, and fake in plenty of others on at least dashboards seems to be de rigueur in many price classes. Column shifters with a knob you could poke an eye out on seem to be gone for good though. Still, there is something to be said for these quite legible and sensibly laid out controls, all of them up high. And no center console!
The door mounted seatbelts are an idea that couldn’t fade away fast enough. We’ve discussed them over and over here over the years and yeah, they sucked and didn’t work as intended. My Buick had them as well, and not once did I leave them buckled as intended in order to slide in and out underneath them.
The manual window winder is quite the novelty as well, making this a very low-optioned car indeed. I suppose one less thing to break to help it beyond the 200k mark but definitely not a favorable point for resale. But with power locks! Both were standalone options but included in the second from lowest option package, which this one obviously does not have.
Perhaps the bumper’s been replaced on this one as it seems a slightly different color (blue?). Could it have fallen afoul of Granny’s parking mishaps? Sedans like this used to litter the highways of America by the millions.
I suppose the back bumper isn’t original either but at least it was probably easy to find one that fit and that was in better shape than the original part. Those large doorhandles with the button below the handle were used forever, and always felt good to the touch with no give or flex. Unless it was below freezing and you weren’t wearing gloves, that is.
I never understood what “Royale” stood for, meant, or was supposed to convey. Royalty? Hardly, it’s a mid-level sedan. Whatever, I’ll never understand GM marketing.
Produced in Wentzville, Missouri almost thirty years ago and obviously repainted with some sloppy masking work at some point during its lifetime. I just figured the exterior fading was normal for the original paint, and perhaps it was. Door jambs aren’t often repainted so this is a little curious.
Still, someone obviously took good care of this car judging by its interior condition. Or perhaps the secret to long vehicular life is simply ordering the red interior although it apparently makes the car resale poison decades later.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
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I’m struggling to work out how you put those seat belts on ,we never had those in the UK – was there no lap belt part?
The assemblage was supposed to wrap around the occupant when the door closed.
Although in practice everyone either used them as regular seatbelts, or left them unbuckled and ignored them. The only ones worse than these were VW’s that only had a shoulder belt to the door and no lap belt at all.
I take it the door and window frame were reinforced to take the belt?
Possibly but not enough, at least on other GM cars they were notorious for providing less protection in a crash than the standard seatbelt on the B-pillar. Google 1990 Chevy Lumina crash test.
Well at least GM Wentzville is still open, 35 years after this one rolled out the door.
Don’t think I ever drove one but I rode in a few, they seemed very nose heavy.
“Royale” didn’t mean anything; it’s just what Oldsmobile had been had been calling the one-step-up-from-base 88s for so long by 1990 that whatever meaning it may have once had had been lost. Likewise, “88” is a designation that dates from the late 1940s. The first 8 signified the body type and size, and the second 8 referred to the famous Rocket V8 engine. Except by 1990 they all had V6 engines, but after four decades Olds was too used to their basic big sedan being an 88 to change it to 86.
The dashboards in these looked so cheap, especially compared to the elegant panel from the previous-generation ’77-’85 Delta 88s.
I am of an age to remember when many of these junk yard cars were new and shiny. Every car has a history starting when it was new. Sad to see them discarded.
It looks like a radio blanking plate in the dash, I’m betting grampa or gramma stopped driving and no one else was willing to be seen in it so off it went .
Sad because as you pointed out it looks to be in VGC and isn’t a miserable to drive unreliable gas hog =8-( .
-Nate
The ‘love’ and flower decal might suggest it was taken over by a younger driver for a while, at least.
I think the radio is no longer there, 2nd photo shows the harness and antenna cable hanging out of the dash opening. Also of note, looks like the MAF sensor has been removed, and someone has disconnected an ac line at the accumulator as seen in the photo of the engine compartment. It also got an R134a conversion at some point as you can see the adaptor fitting on the ac accumulator.
Hmm. I never noticed the door handles were the “classic” Handle/thumb button type. I seem to recall that by the 80’s, Most GM (well, Chevrolets anyway) having the cheaper (more fragile) “Lift n Break in the middle of a New England winter when the door’s frozen” Type handles. Interesting.
Mom had one of these with the FE3 suspension. The clearcoat melted away just like this example but otherwise it was such a good car you could almost forget it was from 1980s GM. Plenty of power, excellent visibility, even the trim and interior bits didn’t fall apart. It’s a shame it was immediately dated by the Taurus’ styling coup, it deserved better than it got.