my father s oldsmobile....

[wesw]

the worst ad campaign ever....

oldsmobile: This isn t Your Father s Oldsmobile

this was the bell that tolled the death of the brand.

my father s oldsmobiles were great , his father s olds were great.

every olds that came after that ad campaign sucked.

does anyone else have memories of great oldsmobiles?

[Econoline]

[Bicycle Bill]

The fictional 1955 "Golden Anniversary" Oldsmobile Rocket 88 as seen in the movie WW and the Dixie Dancekings.

-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

[Crackpot]

That wasn’t the only thing that killed Ilds but it was a big part

[Big RR]

Perhaps {especially since the new models weren't all that good), but when I first started driving (and even before) I always thought that the "Olds" in Oldsmobile came from it being driven by old people (often people a lot younger than me now BTW), kind of like driving a Hudson, Studebaker, or Rambler. I did try to avoid it. GM's niche marketing tried to capitalize on that, making Oldsmobile and Buick the "mature" brands, Pontiac the "youthful" brand, Chevrolet the budget brand, Cadillac the luxury brand. As time went on many of the cars were pretty much the same in each brand, but the brand reputation persisted (at least until it fell apart when GM was required to disclose which division built the car and the engine--why pay more for an Olds or Pontiac when Chevrolet makes it and sells it for less? And once those distinctions were seen as pretty illusory, the different brands lost their panache.

[Burning Petard]

Brands for "old people" How did Studebaker get on your list? The Hawk came from the factory with a supercharger. It only carried four people. The Avanti was a Grand Tourer that could compete with the best from Europe. The Lark was aimed at the first-time young buyer. Nash had an engine that was coveted by the Austin Healy company. The Packard was the one that competed with the Olds in the marketplace
The Nash Metropolitan was actually made by the Austin Healy people (if you include Morris Minor, like you include the Chevrolet with the Olds.) I can't imagine anyone over 50 wanting a Metropolitan when they came out.

Snailgate

[Big RR]

BP--thanks, you have a much better knowledge of cars than I do; I only knew the big Studebaker sedan (really, the only one I associate with he trademark), but I concede the line was much bigger. Maybe I should have said "Packard" as the example, but again, what I was trying to illustrate were the big sedans coveted more for their luxury than their sportiness or performance. FWIW, I think there may have also been a Nash Rambler, but I'm not sure.

[wesw]

yeah bargain bill.....

ww and the dixie dance kings hold a special place in my heart

i may have cried when he burnt that car

[MGMcAnick]

Nash had an engine that was coveted by the Austin Healy company.

I can't imagine anyone over 50 wanting a Metropolitan when they came out.

Snailgate

I thought it was the other way around. Nash wanted a sports car, and made a deal with Donald Healy to supply the body and chassis. A similar deal was stuck between Carroll Shelby and the AC Bristol company several years later.

My step father lusted after a Nash Healey. He was driving his three year old '48 Nash Ambassador when he met a doctor who was having his new Nash Healey serviced at the dealer. The doc complained that he'd already broken one side of his '51 model's flat glass windshield due to body flex, twice. He claimed to have driven his car 125 MPH.

Much later, he lusted after an AMC Marlin, but by then he had five kids...

Metropolitans were popular among housewives for around town transport. I've no idea as to their demographics.

As for my father's Oldsmobile, his Rocket 88 brought me home from the hospital. Somewhere there is a picture of my three-year-old sister waiting for my newly minted parents and I to come out of the hospital. Try leaving an unattended three-year-old in a parked car in California today.

[wesw]

i own a gary fisher Marlin.

maybe BB, knows what i speak of

[Bicycle Bill]

i own a gary fisher Marlin.

maybe BB, knows what i speak of

Trust me, I do.
I even met and rode with Gary one year on one of the early Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee events, a ride originally organized by Phil Van Valkenberg.

-"BB"-