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Anybody on this site know of one or parts for one? Worked at The IMS starting in 1985 in the Flag Lot where the pace cars were parked during the month of May. These came off the line as hard tops and 33 were converted to convertibles in 1985 by Hess & Eisenhardt. I have acquired one. I remember when they showed up during Pole qualifying weekend in 1985. The title shows it as being a hardtop. These were white. As I understand the tops are actually from a LeBaron and fit perfectly. Just wondering if anybody else on the site is familiar with these.
I thought the Calais was the Pace car in 1985 Red/Silver with Silver leather seats. Wasn't that Danny Sullivan's "Spin & Win" race?
Are you speaking of the Festival cars used by track personnel and the like? The reason for 33 cars because the race was/is comprised of 33 drivers; 11 rows of 3. After the race weekend, those units were usually dispersed to dealers who "bid" on them or sold by the manufacturer.
Last edited by Dave Siltman; August 31st, 2018 at 01:41 PM.
Never heard of a "Princess Pace Car" until now, but it appears that some Ciera convertibles were in fact used as parade cars for the 1985 race. The new-for-85 N-body Calais was the actual Pace Car that year (I owned one of the replicas for a couple of years). The three Calais pace cars were not convertibles, they just had the tops cut off.
A total of 813 Ciera convertibles were made between 1983-86. Of course they came with a hardtop VIN - there was no other option. The top was cut off after the car left the Oldsmobile factory. The VIN wasn't going to be changed at that point.
August 31st, 2018, 10:38 AM
