jaunty75

I like to look through the car dealer ads, especially the ones in the Sunday paper, and especially the used car ads, even though I'm not looking for anything in particular at the moment.

But I stopped and noticed something when I was looking though the ads in last Sunday's paper. I couldn't find any used Oldsmobiles in the ads placed by new car dealers. In general, I find that new car dealers tend to like to keep the newer and better condition used cars they take in, typically five model years old or less, and they will occasionally keep an older one and put it on their lot if it's in unusually good shape or has unusually low mileage (usually a combination of the two).

But the newest Oldsmobiles are now 7 years old, and that would tend to make them a bit on the old side for the used car lots of new car dealers. Kind of a sad milestone. It was bad enough when Oldsmobile itself went out of business. But for a few years after 2004 they were still common on the road and on used car lots. Now I see fewer on the road every day and none at all in used car ads.

Sigh.

Lady72nRob71

I see quite a few late models Olds still on the road here in Dallas - daily drivers.
I just like to think that they are still on the road, not up for sale........

jaunty75

You have a warmer, drier climate. I see them on the road here in Ohio, too, of course, but not as many as I used to. I'm sure they'll be around for many years in the warm climates just like the '60s and '70s cars are now.

Eventually, you'll only see them in Cuba.

442much

When I was in Cuba, the newest Oldsmobile I saw was a 1959. The locals put on a car show in front of their Capital buliding every week. They know the tourists love it. Their cars are not in the same class as cars you see at shows and cruise nights here, however these are daily drivers with some over 1 million miles on the clock. I have to say that I found the Cuban people very warm and friendly. They're good people.

jaunty75

You can date the Cuban Revolution from the latest model years of U.S.-made cars there. Fidel Castro took over Cuba in January 1959, and that was when the U.S. cut off economic ties to the country, so '59 is it. Nothing later.

rustyroger

I watched a tv programme about the Cuban car scene a few years ago. A lot of old American cars were powered by 1.6 litre Lada engines, spares being unobtainable under the Castro regime. They also made fenders etc from any sheet metal they could find. Intriugingly they also made their own brake fluid from a recipe of sugar, rum & shampoo. Necessity being the mother of invention I suppose. I found Australian aboriginies in the outback just as ingenious at getting old wrecks running too.
Just about every Cuban car was purported to have belonged to Castro at some time as well!.