Blue Ridge

I have a chance to buy a 94 Regency 88 and I thought there'd be more owners here than I'm finding. Am I just missing them?
I searched for a while now.

47 Convertible

Just a hunch on my part but I think by the late 1980s and certainly by the 90s Olds had lost any separate identity from other GM brands and likely isn't considered a "Classic Oldsmobile" in the sense of having its own power train and design.

It had become corporatized except for the name. The 3.8 L. V6 was, at one time or another, in Oldsmobiles. Pontiacs, Buicks and Chevrolets and about 25 million were made before it was retired. While it was a good engine with a lot of low end torque for its displacement, having it in the Oldsmobiles didn't do anything to distinguish them from other GM brands and Olds sold poorly so that by 2001 GM announced Olds production would cease with the 2004 model. I am hard put to distinguish an Olds from a Buick as far as design in those years. It sort of opens the door to the question, "What was there left about Olds to rally around?"

Most members here identify with the muscle car years when Olds had its own power plant and it was easy to tell at a glance it was an Oldsmobile. Some of us older guys remember Olds from the late 40s and the 1950s when it brought the first OHV V8 to an everyman's brand and started a stampede to OHV V8s. ( Cadillac was a Banker's and Doctor's brand and had it's own OHV V8 at about the same time but was priced out of the reach of wage earning families).

This is sort of the long way around of explaining why I think there is less interest at least on this site, in the declining years of Oldsmobile. The Oldsmobiles that built the reputation were long out of production by 1994.
Jerry

redoldsman

Very well put 47 Convertible. It is a sad story.

Tedd Thompson

Good post Jerry, the only thing I would add is the newer the car the more we think of it as a good used car and not as a classic. I've bought three late model Oldsmobile's for my grand kids and I couldn't tell you what year they were now. By the way they wrecked all three so they didn't hang around long enough to get to know them well.... Tedd

Blue Ridge

Thanks for the replies.
Very good explanation for sure.
And, as was mentioned, I was looking at it as a "good used car" but I guess I was mainly curious if anyone had a suggestion on a wheel upgrade that wouldn't make it "ghetto" if that's even possible. I know these are very popular as ghetto cars and I wonder if any upgrade at all will make it look that way.
Thanks in advance

Olds64

Blue Ridge, I think the 90s Oldsmobiles can be very cool. Olds put the supercharged 3.8L V6 in very few 98s/Regencys and 88s/LSSs. I've seen some for sale in the past and they are either horribly trashed or beautiful creampuffs.

Olds also introduced the 4.0L V8 in the Aurora in the mid to late 90s. Unfortunately, these engines were just smaller Northstars and had a bad reputation. If properly maintained or repaired they were great engines with plenty of power.

Maybe it's because I grew up in the 90s and I remember those cars being new when I was in high school and college. I would buy one! Oh yeah!

eric66

Blue Ridge, you can go to Tire Rack or any wheel website and find some tasteful wheels. The 1990s Olds Delta 88 was GM more reliable cars of the 90s you can find low mileage ones still get years of service from it.

Blue Ridge

Yea, lots of them around that were grandpa cars. Seems they were very popular with old folks like me. I've got my eye on one now.
Maybe one day they'll also be considered classic or collectible, if for no other reason than the Olds name.

olds 307 and 403

Ask Dr Dan on ROP about the 4.0L "Leakstar". Remember he was a GM tech for years. They were a neat idea but had many issues. Unreliable motors didn't help Olds one bit. I got into Olds thanks to our 75 Cutlass 4 dr with Old 350 we knicknamed "The Beast". Then a 81 Delta 88 with an Olds 307. Both very reliable, the latter especially. Those cars are why I prefer the short deck Olds V8 over any other motor because of how good these cars were. If my family had money, we probably would have bought one of these cars, glad we didn't have money��. Whay year was the crappy plastic intake/gaskets and Dexcool issues? Way to make a reliable motor, unreliable. Of course the early 3.8L motors were not very reliable. My Wife's family had a 86 FWD Olds with the 3.8 EFI V6. She talked how it blow the doors off our 81 Delta 88. Not in a long distance race, it was always broken down. Our 81 Delta 88 was the best $500 my Parents ever spent. The car had very good service records and we bought it from the original owner. Being a Canadian car, no air pump or CCC set up on the 5A headed 307 and a reliable TH250C. It usually good mid 20's imperial but got 32 mpg imperial. Incredible for a non OD carbed V8 car. Sorry for my rambling but as said nothing distinguished these cars from the pack and 3.8/3800 had issues for certain years. Hard to say, much like most G bodies, how much value or following they will gain.

jaunty75

It would be surprising if you found ANY owners as there was no such thing as an 88 "Regency." Ever. The "Regency" name was used on the 98s. For 1994, there were two 88 lines, the 88 Royale Sedan and the 88 Royale LS Sedan. These same two lines were offered for the 1992 through 1995 model years.

I don't have access to a '94 Olds brochure, but here's the first page of the '95 Olds 88 brochure, and it names the two models.

Olds64

I owned a 1993 Buick LeSabre years ago. It was probably the most comfortable and dependable used car I've owned.

When I was in college one of the professors had a 1998 or 1999 Olds LSS. It was black with the supercharger. It's the only one I've seen in person.

jaunty75

Production of the LSS was miniscule compared to the base 88 or 88 LS. For '98, there were 5,283 LSS's produced compared to almost ten times as many, 54,075 LS's, along with 7,958 base 88's.

For '99, the disparity was even larger. Only 597 LSS's were built compared to 11,546 base 88's, 24,091 LS's, and 4,719 "50th Anniversary" 88s.

1999 was, of course, and sadly, the last year for any Olds 88.

Olds64

Thanks for the numbers. I guess that's why it's so difficult to find an Olds with a supercharged 3.8l v6.

jcdynamic88

a friend and i both own 99 88s as daily drivers and i joked to him that we should take them to our olds dustoff show this past spring.they are both one previous owner cars with under 100k miles with the aurora mags,mine has buckets/console shifter.they are great cars,comfortable and get high 20s mpg.they can certainly become classics.after all some people consider late 70s cutlasses classics.

Olds64

You should definitely take your 88s to a car show. When I was a member of OCA almost 20 years ago we would have events and fundraisers at the local Cadillac / Oldsmobile dealership. It was always a fun time. We welcomed all Oldsmobiles.

If folks give you a hard time because your car is "too new" or "FWD" then they are just losers.

jcdynamic88

Olds64, it's hard enough to decide what to take to a show choosing from my 65 or my 66 so adding the 99 just complicates it even more,but i agree with you 100%.

olds 307 and 403

Glad you had better luck than my 88 fwd Delta 88 or my Inlaw's 86 Cutlass Ciera. Both unreliable junk compared to the last real Oldsmobile's. Just my personal experience, I feel same way Top Gear felt about these cars.

jcdynamic88

i agree the late 80s cieras and 88s had multiple problems but my experience with the 90s was quite different.the early 90s cieras with the 3300 (baby 3800) were awesome except for power window issues and the 95 up 88/98 were just as good except for the plastic intake plenum cracking by the egr tube,without this flaw i wouldn't have been able to buy many of them for under $500 and make great cars out of them(for resale)the one i have now was $300.there are many first time drivers in my area driving them into the ground