Good morning GM "B-body lovers"! Today's "B" is a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and hails from bucolic, Elyria, Ohio which, without traffic, is maybe thirty-five minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Asking price? $4,000. While the used car market is softening somewhat, I still have a hard time coming to grips that a 39-year old appliance like this could possibly go for that much money. Then again, at least it's not ten-grand or so like it might have been back at the height of the post Pandemic used car market price surge. Poster of the ad says it's "historic" and has historic plates. They also claim at four-large this is quite the bargain. Thanks for the insight or your opinion, but we'll make that determination. Haggerty might consider this "classic", but just because something is old, doesn't mean it's "classic". As far as the price goes, well, I'm sure someone will jump at this at that asking price.
This '84 Delta 88 was one of the last of its kind from General Motors' "Rocket" division; "Rocket" stemming from their seminal overhead valve, "Rocket" V-8 engine they they introduced in 1949. The original Olds "88" was an Oldsmobile "76" with the "Rocket 88" V-8 engine found in the somewhat larger bodied and heavier "98". Being lighter and somewhat shorter, many consider the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 to be the world's first "muscle car".
The late Ike Turner is given credit for writing a song about it too.
Which is a tad amusing consider that just a scant thirty or so years later what an Oldsmobile 88 had turned into. No one would confuse our '84 here with being a muscle car. Although, with a gloriously accessible engine compartment, one could certainly turn it into anything they'd want it to be.
These cars are not without their flaws, though. My experience with them "back in the day", despite having driven only coupes like this, was disappointing. And for reasons in addition to their flat out flaccid and gutless power trains; that we can now change. I'm of very average height, and I always struggled to get a comfortable driving position in these cars if the driver's seat was not power adjustable. I sat too low and couldn't see over the dash where I felt the top of it wasn't in the center of my vision. And trust me, in cars this big, you need to be able to see over the dash.
So, if there's no power seat adjuster, at least for the pilot, I'm out. There's no picture of the drivers seat so I can't tell if its power or not; this does have power windows, which are nice but not necessary. Back then option packages were ala carte - you could order power windows and skip power locks and the power seat or configure your car anyway you want. Experts say that the myriad ways these cars came from the factory in was the bane of quality control.
Not being able to see made parking lot maneuvers challenging too. These cars, although "downsized" were very, very big. While some SUV's today might actually be bigger than our 88 here, with the mandate of rear cameras on all vehicles sold in this country since 2017, backing up and parking is much simpler. This thing? You hope and poke.
Seems to be in decent shape although these pictures do it no justice. The muddy tires, dirt driveway, etc. Save for that ouchie on the rear quarter, for four-grand you could do worse. Also, depends on what you want it for. First car for your high schooler who will trash anything you buy for them? Err, not so much. As a fun project you could hot rod for not too much money? Oh, absolutely. Sign me up to help even. Good grief, though, is that right rear tire flat?
Poster of the Facebook ad for this 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 lists it as a 1987 which, of course, we all know it can't be. By '87 these cars were shrunken, front-wheel-drive facsimiles of their once grand and glorious selves although they were far superior transportation conveyances. Some sleuthing and by the number of slots on its grill I deduce it's actually a 1984.
These cars are part of General Motors' much celebrated class of 1977, downsized full-size makes and models. Of all of them, which, frankly, I'm in the minority being ambivalent towards them, the Oldsmobile's were my least favorite. Too blocky and too square, it was if they ran out of ideas. For 1980, GM designers breathed some aero pixie dust on them transforming the once staid designs that were the embodiment of "Your Father's Oldsmobile" into something far more progressive. Not nearly to the extent of what was to come in 1985 for the 98 and in 1986 for the 88 line, but at least enough that they looked like more than shrink ray versions of what had come before them.
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