It's nice to see these finally get some appreciation. This is a great channel.

 

My mom bought that same car brand new. Was a really nice driving car. I got it after she passed. Totalled a year later after someone broadsided my ex wife. Loved that car

 

My dad was killed in a red on red just like that car. He was backing out of his drive and the pass door swung open when he tried to reach over to close it his foot stuck on the gas. The force swung the car around so quick he was pinned between the door and a tree trunk.

 

my dad had an 85 98 it talked to ya.if you went to get out and left the keys in it.you got a voice "you forgot your keys"also other messages "your door is ajar""charging system malfunction service now""there was also a couple others i forget.

 

Back when luxury cars were comfortable instead of sporty.

 

The only thing we've forgotten is the kind of turds those cars were.

 

While these are not high performance cars they are very comfortable cars. Great road cars.

 

 

I think was 85 was the peak for Oldsmobile sales. Were these cars a step forward?

 

i would hardly call them turds. They are very comfortable cars, got excellent mileage, and easy to work on. You can’t get much more reliable than the 3.8 Buick engine.

 

I saw a 1988 Buick Park Ave with over 225,000 miles on it, and the car was still in decent shape. It had the pillow-top velour seats, and with a soft ride it was what a luxury car should be, comfortable.

 

Totally agree both about both the C-cars AND this YouTube channel. I had the privilege of working at GM as a test driver at the Milford Proving Ground in the mid 80’s. These cars were a very nice place to spend an 8 hour shift. The Detroit Three were backed into a corner trying to meet federal laws mandating new emissions and fuel economy standards. Definitely some challenging times and well beyond the heyday of the American car, however these are very comfortable and reliable cars, particularly the later C-H’s with the 3800.

Adam has an extensive car collection (25+) consisting mainly of cars that many of us grew up seeing as everyday grocery getters/commuters. His personal network of friends in the car business also gets us viewers interviews with current and former designers and even a series with Bob Lutz a few months back. Definitely a great channel. https://youtube.com/c/RareClassicCars

 

We are all entitled to our own opinion, mine is from ownership. The only good thing about them was the 3800 engine, the rest of the car just slowly came apart around it.

 

It’s been my experience 200000 miles is just getting broken in for a 3800. My sister in law had a 86ish Olds 88 with 400k on it. It was her first car, and suffered the typical new driver battle damage. It was running perfectly, right up to the time she slide off the road into a ditch. At that point the car was still running, just not driving very well. It drove up onto my trailer where I stripped the car of a few usable parts and pieces, then it went to that big scrapyard in the sky

 

When I was still working as a technician our garage was just outside of Sun City Az. a huge retirement community, there were 3 vehicles we laughingly referred to as the flagships of Sun City they were the Oldsmobile 98's the Buick Park Avenues and the Mercury Grand Marquis we serviced a lot of them and I mean a lot !! routine maint. mostly. tires, struts, shocks, brakes, alignments.
There is a reason those old blue haired raisins drove those cars 86-90 they were quiet, road very well and as I remember pretty reliable !
and they could fit 4 physically limited people in to them for a journey to Denny's for the senior version Grand slam or Sat night Bingo .
as far as I am concerned that 3800 eng was almost bulletproof second only to SB Chevy
The biggest problem we saw was ignition modules, they also had a problem with a cooling port in the throttle body, that would corrode through to a area behind the throttle blade and ingest coolant into the cylinders, this would often be misdiagnosed as a failed head gasket once coolant was found in the cyls (ask me how I know ) other than that I really liked them I would own one in a heart beat. Just my 2 cents.

 

BOP all got new FWD full sizers for ‘86. For some reason Chevrolet did not. I’d rather have the body on frame RWD layout.

 

Thanks for sharing the video. Definitely a beautiful car. I love driving my 96 98 with the 3.8l

 

Like a Bitching Betty?

 

I was working for Oldsmobile late 80's , the list of probs with these cars was extensive .... the locating holes in the door windows where the plastic retaining clips snapped in were drilled in the wrong place putting strain on the clips - while driving along and hitting a hard bump the clips would break and the window would fall into the door and shatter. The 440 transmission was terrible , multiple factory updates did not work - finally Oldsmobile came out with crate replacement transmissions that were pretty good - only prob. was the customer would have to pay $100 deductible every time updates were done !!! Then there was the run of bad camshaft and crank sensors the car would shut off without warning - we had several cars shut off while driving in the high speed lane .But yes these cars did ride nice ... I feel that the mid 80's models had alot to due with the demise of the brand ....

 

Another video on the same car, utterly unappreciated today.

 

Yeah, they aren't well remembered for a reason or three. I saw a few knocking 3.8 with higher miles, the 3800 seems better and idled so much smoother, thanks to the balance shaft. They were powerful for the time and fuel efficient. These early EFI sucked to work on, rarely left codes. I remember my Wife telling how their 86 Cutlass Calais FWD with the 3.8 would waste our 81 Delta 88 in a race. Yeah, if it could stay out of the shop, endless drivability issues. I had a 1988 Delta 88 with the 3800. What pile of crap, plenty of drivability issues. The trans case was cracked, no issues with the used 440 trans that replaced it. Too bad they didn't do a TBI update to the 307 like they were testing and kept the much better RWD cars to 90 or later. The local First Nations drove them into the ground. They lasted longer than the fwd on rough roads and no, I repeat no oil changes.