---

Another Reader Writes....

12 December 2000

Bob,

Perhaps the subject should say "Et Tu General Motors"?

I've never been a huge fan of Olds, the one and only Olds I owned was a new,
factory ordered 1988 Calais that had the then new, and very technically
interesting "Quad 4" engine. I ordered it with a five speed gearbox, and a
handling package, and it was a fun little car to have. But it certainly
wasn't
the "sports car" I thought that a few, well chosen options would make it.

The problem with Olds, I think, was that when I read your headline - I
actually
had to stop and think if I had ever owned an Olds. I was actually all
prepared
to write you anyway and say it was a shame the nameplate was going away,
even
though I had never owned one. But then it dawned on me - I HAD owned one!
Therein lies the problem. People of my generation (I'm 37) didn't or
couldn't
really remember what Olds was supposed to stand for in the GM hierarchy.
Despite
being a car nut/historian, I'm really too young to remember (or have
firsthand
knowledge of) 442s or anything really very interesting from the grandpa
division
during the muscle-car era heyday of GM, and I guess that's why it's going
away.

Automobiles are still such an emotional purchase for anyone, and the need
for a
prospective purchaser to identify with the brand or it's heritage (look at
the
adv. campaigns for Jaguar and Audi and Lexus - they're wonderfully emotive),
left Olds in a vacuum. What was Olds' image? I mean, if it's not my
Grandfather's Oldsmobile - then what IS it? And if it is, do I really want
one?

By the way, the Calais turned out to be such a piece of crap (interior and
exterior trim used to regularly fall off - maybe I washed it too much?), I
traded it within a year for an Isuzu four-wheel drive pickup - which was
really
well-made and a lot of fun. I wish now I had bought one of the last 442s you
could still get in 1988, though . They seemed to be a nicely made, good
performing, and still-handsome car. Maybe if I had got one of those it would
still be running. I doubt very much whether my Calais still is. And that was
probably a big reason for Olds' disappearance too.

Happy motoring...

Tom