Years ago, all of General Motors divisions were responsible designing, engineering and manufacturing their own engines. While they shared ancillary parts like air conditioning compressors, carburetors, alternators, generators, distributors and what not, by and large, a Cadillac V-8 for all intents and purposes was as different from a Pontiac V-8 as it was from a Ford or Chrysler V-8. Even when all the displacements of various GM engines, with the exception of Cadillac, were identical, the engines were different; an Olds 350 sharing nothing internally with a Buick 350 and so on.
It all was part of GM's brand essence and helped to differentiate the myriad makes and models from each other. They all looked very similar did they not? What's more, often times General Motors would market one division's engines as superior to another's and, subsequently, charge more for them. Back in the '50's, that may have been true to a point. In 1950, Chevrolet's only came with a six, Pontiac used flat head sixes and eights, Buick used an overhead valve in line eight. Olds and Cadillac used overhead valve V-8's that were similar in design but as different as a Chevy 350 would later be from a Pontiac 350.
Fast forward to the 1970's when GM started putting Chevrolet 350's in Oldsmobiles. They claimed a shortage of Oldsmobiles "Rockets" and used Chevrolet engines instead. Problem was, not only did they not tell buyers that their Olds had a Chevy engine, they charged more for the Chevy engine in an Olds than they did in the Chevrolet. GM then had a good old fashioned self-inflicted public relations shit storm on their hands and it cost them not only millions of dollars but their gleaming image was badly dented. It didn't really matter of course since the Chevy engine was just as good as the Olds, I've always thought them better, but you can't blame the public for going nuts over something that GM drilled into their skulls as important in the first place. Especially when you're charging more for it.
I always thought it rather ironic, then, that starting in 1986, Cadillac fitted their "Fleetwood Brougham" with an Oldsmobile 307 V-8 after decades upon decades of using their own V-8 engines. Yes, the 1976 Cadillac Seville used an Olds 350 but with its port fuel injection being exclusive to Cadillac, you could argue that it was a "Cadillac 350". Not only that, since Cadillac disclosed the use of an Olds engine in the 1986 Fleetwood Brougham, as quiet as that was as opposed to all but covering it up like they did in 1977, it confirmed my long-held belief that back in the day all of the hand ringing that GM did with all of their division exclusive engines was a waste of time. The buying public could not have cared less.
Cadillac continued to build a rear wheel drive, body on frame sedan for two reasons. Firstly and leastly, to appease disenfranchised Cadillac buyers who were abhorrent to the new front wheel drive deVille and Fleetwood. More importantly, Cadillac was not about to turnover the entire fleet service industry pie to Ford.
Much to General Motor's surprise, above and beyond fleet sales, the 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham sold quite well. So much so that Cadillac continued to sell it through 1992 virtually unchanged. After 1987 this car became known as just "Brougham". After 1990, the Oldsmobile 307 was replaced by, of all things, a Chevrolet 350. And guess what? No one cared.
Today, GM's divisions, what's left of them anyway, all share engines. The turbocharged 2.0 liter in four found in a Cadillac ATS is the same engine you'll find in a Chevrolet Malibu; albeit adopted for front wheel drive in the Malibu. The 3.6 liter V-6 in a Buick Lacrosse the same you'd find in an Impala.
It all was part of GM's brand essence and helped to differentiate the myriad makes and models from each other. They all looked very similar did they not? What's more, often times General Motors would market one division's engines as superior to another's and, subsequently, charge more for them. Back in the '50's, that may have been true to a point. In 1950, Chevrolet's only came with a six, Pontiac used flat head sixes and eights, Buick used an overhead valve in line eight. Olds and Cadillac used overhead valve V-8's that were similar in design but as different as a Chevy 350 would later be from a Pontiac 350.
Fast forward to the 1970's when GM started putting Chevrolet 350's in Oldsmobiles. They claimed a shortage of Oldsmobiles "Rockets" and used Chevrolet engines instead. Problem was, not only did they not tell buyers that their Olds had a Chevy engine, they charged more for the Chevy engine in an Olds than they did in the Chevrolet. GM then had a good old fashioned self-inflicted public relations shit storm on their hands and it cost them not only millions of dollars but their gleaming image was badly dented. It didn't really matter of course since the Chevy engine was just as good as the Olds, I've always thought them better, but you can't blame the public for going nuts over something that GM drilled into their skulls as important in the first place. Especially when you're charging more for it.
I always thought it rather ironic, then, that starting in 1986, Cadillac fitted their "Fleetwood Brougham" with an Oldsmobile 307 V-8 after decades upon decades of using their own V-8 engines. Yes, the 1976 Cadillac Seville used an Olds 350 but with its port fuel injection being exclusive to Cadillac, you could argue that it was a "Cadillac 350". Not only that, since Cadillac disclosed the use of an Olds engine in the 1986 Fleetwood Brougham, as quiet as that was as opposed to all but covering it up like they did in 1977, it confirmed my long-held belief that back in the day all of the hand ringing that GM did with all of their division exclusive engines was a waste of time. The buying public could not have cared less.
The 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was also quite interesting since Cadillac even built it in the first place. With Cadillac's focus being on their new for 1985 front wheel drive H body deVille and Fleetwood (note, not Fleetwood Brougham) not to mention the new for 1986 mini-Eldorado, the Fleetwood Brougham was decidedly "old school" even back then. What's more, the Oldsmobile 307 (5.0 LITER) it had used a Rochester Quadra-Jet as opposed to fuel injection like all other Cadillac models. Even the 1985 Fleetwood Brougham had fuel injection albeit it was on top of an HT4100.
Cadillac continued to build a rear wheel drive, body on frame sedan for two reasons. Firstly and leastly, to appease disenfranchised Cadillac buyers who were abhorrent to the new front wheel drive deVille and Fleetwood. More importantly, Cadillac was not about to turnover the entire fleet service industry pie to Ford.
Much to General Motor's surprise, above and beyond fleet sales, the 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham sold quite well. So much so that Cadillac continued to sell it through 1992 virtually unchanged. After 1987 this car became known as just "Brougham". After 1990, the Oldsmobile 307 was replaced by, of all things, a Chevrolet 350. And guess what? No one cared.
Today, GM's divisions, what's left of them anyway, all share engines. The turbocharged 2.0 liter in four found in a Cadillac ATS is the same engine you'll find in a Chevrolet Malibu; albeit adopted for front wheel drive in the Malibu. The 3.6 liter V-6 in a Buick Lacrosse the same you'd find in an Impala.
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