1970cs

To my liking front page center of the Lansing state journal. Also several scattered articles through out the Sunday paper.

One part quotes the New York times, "Alero not a good car or a bad car but a plain white vanilla wrapper that does not inspire car drivers and is a clone of the Pontiac Grand AM"

Well comparing it to my 2010 Malibu. "2008 North american car of the year"
The Alero handles better, rides better with no rattles. Also the Alero's V6 and 4 speed compared to the Malibu's 4 and 6 speed best MPG's the Alero lags by only
5% or 2 MPG.

Sorry for my rant and rave for the day!
Back to your regular program.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/i...nclick_check=1

Kennybill

When GM announced the end of Oldsmobile I "jokingly" told my Chevrolet buddies. "Well, it will be the downfall of GM." They are doing o.k. now but they've had a rough decade. I hope they get the problems worked out. The local Lordstown plant is an asset to the community where I live. Thanks for the article. Ken

jaunty75

Great article.

I thought this was the most interesting point, and it's something I've been noticing as well. (Emphases are mine.)

Now that the the cars have stopped churning off Lansing assembly lines, fewer of them are spotted in parking lots and the former Oldsmobile headquarters boasts the success of a different car, will anyone care how it started?

Or have we moved on?

People with close Olds ties, especially family members, worry it’s happening.

“The name is fading. You don’t see Oldsmobiles anymore. And in the town that created them, you’re getting generations now who have no frame of reference for it,” said Diana Tarpoff, an East Lansing resident and Olds’ great-granddaughter. “You’re going to have a whole new generation very soon who has no memory of it.”


It has now been a decade since the last new Olds was made, and I see fewer and fewer of them on the road as peoples' daily drivers. The ones I do see are usually pretty beat up, which isn't surprising given their age and the fact that no one is thinking of the last Oldsmobiles as collectible, at least not yet, and so they're getting driven into the ground.

In my experience, that "whole new generation" who will "very soon have no memory of it" is here now. I teach part time at a local university, and occasionally my ownership of a couple of old Oldsmobiles comes up in idle conversation. The students who I come into contact with, who are all around 22-23 years old, have usually heard of the brand, but that's it. It's otherwise as alien to them as Studebaker or Packard, a neat old brand that was around during their grandparents' or great-grandparents' time. These students were all in grade school when the end of Olds was announced, and they were all 12-year-olds when it closed its doors. It was just not on their radar at all at the time, and it most certainly isn't now.

HurstLightning84

I saw this Pat, Thanks for posting!

Just to chime in on the subject, I too worry about the same thing with my generation. Being in my mid 20's and grew up in the Lansing area with 80% of my immediate family work for GM or Oldsmobile, I had a good grasp of the importance of Oldsmobile here. I do have a couple friends that understand the huge history role Olds had for my town and for General Motors, but its sad because I do know some huge car guys in my generation already who really don't have any idea. And that is becoming more and more apparent as time goes on. Already, even though they are car savoy, think I drive a Monte Carlo SS :/