I know documentation can be a sore subject when it comes to Oldsmobile, but I'm wondering (hoping?) that by the 1980s at least SOMEBODY has production info, like "take rates."

As an FYI (probably unnecessary here, but just in case), a "take rate" is an accounting of the number of options/packages opted-for vs. total production numbers.

For instance (and the reason I ask): After seeing a dozen Custom Cruisers like mine--from '82 to '90--for sale, NONE had the "wood" trim.

Considering how popular it is (now, at least) I can't believe that so few were outfitted that way "in-period", considering it was STANDARD on the first major "upgrade" package and just $380 as a stand-alone.

Judging by the fact that I see fully-loaded cars WITHOUT the wood, I have to assume they opted NOT to have it.

Thus my desire to know the wood's "take rate."

[Leave a guy stuck at home by himself on a hot day with no TV and this is what happens.... ]

 

I don't have any numbers, but if you asked me to picture an Olds Custom Cruiser in my head, it would have woodgrain sides. I think it was pretty common in my neck of the woods.

 

You might be able to get this info from the GM Heritage Center, which absorbed the Olds History Center in 2003. Production info for pre-1977 Oldsmobiles is limited to numbers of various body styles but no breakdown by optional equipment, engine, color, that sort of thing. For pre-1977 cars, Olds couldn't tell you which dealer sold a car or what its original selling price was, even if you gave them the VIN.

Better records began to be kept starting in 1977, and this kind of information became available to collectors. Whether or not the information available extends to the level of how many wagons had woodgrain siding and things like that, I don't know. As I say, you would want to call or write to the Heritage Center and ask.