2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue - Are You Intrigued?

When was the last time you saw an Oldsmobile Intrigue? Been a while for me. Not that we saw many of them back in the day. This 2001 popped up on Cars.com recently during one of my "cheap car searches".  Asking price when I started writing this was an eye-watering $5,995, it was just reduced to a semi-more reasonable $3,995. Just under 60,000-miles on it; are you, ahem, "intrigued"? 

The Intrigue replaced the 1988 to 1996 "W-body" Cutlass in the Oldsmobile lineup. I say "W-body" because Oldsmobile put "Cutlass" on just about everything they made back in the '80's and '90's. There was the "G-body", rear-wheel-drive Cutlass, the A-body, front-wheel-drive Cutlass Ciera, the N-body Cutlass Calais and the shameful Chevrolet Malibu clone they simply called "Cutlass". 

Built on an updated version of the W-body chassis, originally called the "GM10" chassis or platform, Oldsmobile planned for the Intrigue to be more competitive than the Cutlass was going bumper-to-bumper against imports like the Nissan Maxima, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Making a not very long story short, things didn't work out as planned and Olds was out of the Intrigue business after 2002; Oldsmobile was out of the car business after 2004. 

The Intrigue was a handsome car in the then "new-traditional", late '90's Oldsmobile kind of way; everything Olds did in the late '90's looked like a knock off of either the Aurora or the Antares concept car. Not a bad thing, per se, if you liked the looked of course. Problem was target buyers thought of the Oldsmobile brand as being literally for "old" people and GM's long-standing reputation for building unreliable cars had caught up to them. Oldsmobile, who in the '80's was a very strong brand in this country, despite its dubious build quality, by the '90's, could ill afford not to have a hit. At it's best, Oldsmobile sold around 90,000 Intrigues in 1998 and 1999, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 600,000 Cutlass' Oldsmobile sold a year twenty years prior. 

Mechanically, the Intrigue's biggest issue was its engine. Dubbed "Shortstar", this 3.5-liter double-overhead-cam V-6 was developed from Cadillac's 4.6-liter "Northstar" V-8 and while smooth, quiet and responsive, like the Northstar V-8, this engine suffered the head bolt, head gasket, oiling and water pump issues the Northstar V-8 did. 

If you must have an Oldsmobile Intrigue, find a 1998 with GM's 3800 V-6 engine instead of the 3.5L Twin Cam V-6. The 3800 was a stop gap engine because the 3.5 wasn't ready when the rest of the car was ready for production in 1997. Why did Oldsmobile have their own V-6 engine in the late '90's rather than continue to use the 3800? Who in the name of Ransom E. Olds knows. 

As this car is, I can't recommend it to anyone at any price point. Yes, it has low mileage but low miles on a car this old is not everything it's chalked up to be; there's no doubt a story why a car this car has so few miles on it. I bet routine, basic maintenance hasn't been done since the early days of Barrack Obama. Again, the big thing to me is the engine is a time bomb just waiting to go off. Unless you're fine with dropping four-bills on an oldie and then having to spend about that much, if not more, to fix it when the engine blows up. Which it will. 

 

1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme - Come off It, Dude

Funny how the first car we ever called our own sticks with us like our childhood phone number does. On Long Island, New York in the early 1980's, if you were a kid and were lucky enough, you somehow and someway drove something like this 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. I, naturally, was not so lucky. At least I had a car, such as it was. 

1977 was the last year for these awesome, mid-sized behemoths Oldsmobile rolled out for model-year 1973. Part of General Motors star-crossed "Colonnade" models, I love them, some people hate them, the Cutlass was available in three body styles, coupe, sedan and wagon, on two-different sized wheelbases. 112-inches long for the coupes, 116-inches long for the sedans and wagons. Fun facts, Chevrolet Monte Carlo's and Pontiac Grand Prix' were build on the 116-inch-long sedan\wagon chassis. 

I mention the wheelbase length since four inches doesn't seem like much considering the overall sheer bulk of these cars, aesthetically, it made a big difference. While those four inches reduced rear seat leg room considerably, GM's talented designers raked the front windshield and rear backlight on the shorter platform such that it flattered the cars' proportions. Thus, flattering the driver. 

What I wouldn't have done to have been able to drive something like this in high school, imagine the life I could have had. Would it have been any different? Whimsically, I say most certainly because, I guess, such a car would have given me an innate sense of confidence I so sorely lacked. In reality, though? Probably not. It's just a car we're talking about. Oh, but what a car. 

Some kids I went to high school were lucky enough to drive nice cars like this. Some of them were candid that their parents bought the car for them, others claimed they somehow earned the money for it. Seriously? The minimum wage when I was a senior in high school was $3.35 an hour and something like this Cutlass would cost about $4,000. Come off it, dude. 

I found this particular '76 Cutlass on Marketplace and seems exceptionally nice although it has one or two flies in its ointment for $13,900. Paint's not original, the front end is the "cowcatcher" grill from the Cutlass S, what's up with that? While I think it an improvement over the front end this car was born with, it makes you wonder if this has been in an accident. The air conditioning is not only not working, it's been removed. That will run bucks, big bucks to replace. 

The Oldsmobile "350", which Oldsmobile stopped referring to as "Rocket" in 1975, has been dressed up with an aftermarket intake. A "cat free" dual exhaust has been added, which, you should know, might be an issue if you have to have it serviced; you need to find a shop that will look the other way when it comes to working on a car that should have a catalytic converter, and it doesn't. Even here in Ohio. 

The interior is to die for. The buckets, that do not swivel out, the console, the shifter, the cool driver centric dash. You had me at hello. 

Seems this has been sold as I can't find it anymore. Hopefully someone didn't pay fourteen-grand for it but you know how it goes when you've been shopping for an oldie and finally something that looks 7/8 of the way to perfect. 

Who says General Motors didn't make anything worthwhile after 1973? Well, I do but there are exceptions to everything. Like this 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Although, maybe not this one, per se, as it's got some ouchies I don't know if I could look past. 

 

1973 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe - I Don't See it Either

From the 1955-1957 "forward look" cars to the downsized 1962 "B-bodies, to the 1965-1968 "C-bodies", Chrysler's Plymouth division had some unique automobiles; they didn't all work, though, but they were memorable. The 1969-1973 "fuselage" models stood out too, although I'm not sure that was in a good way. This 1973 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe popped up on Marketplace recently and it reminded me of just how polarizing the "fuselages" were. 

These cars were referred to as "fuselage" because the side glass was curved up into the body and the body sides bowed inward at the rocker panels creating a cylindrical shape that reminded some of an air liner fuselage in cross-section. Well, if you guys say so. 

See it now? No? I've never seen it either. Seeing how poor sales were for these cars, neither did a lot of people or they just didn't "get" what it was designers were attempting to do.  

Amazing how there was just 14-years between the first "forward look" cars and these first fuselage models. Funny, how as we get older, our perception of what a "long time" was changes. Years ago, 14-years seemed like an eternity. Now it's a blink of an eye. Still, amazing how much car design changed back then in a relatively short period of time. 

In 1972, the Gran Coupe and Sedan replaced the "Sport Fury" as the top-drawer Fury. A trim rather than performance option, in a day and age where insurance premium surcharges vilified anything remotely construed as a performance car, "Sport" was out, "luxury" was in. Fury "Gran" buyers got a choice of plusher upholstery options. Look closely and you'll see crank windows, no tilting steering column, no power seat adjuster. And that seat is vinyl not leather. Twas the age of injection molded plastics and fake wood trim as well and Plymouth took that to extremes. 

I found this about a week ago not far from where we live, asking price is $12,500. In this post-Covid world, although I recently just got over the worst case of it I've ever had, this is not outrageously priced although it's still not sold. Just 35,000 undocumented miles on it but I believe it seeing how clean this is. A '73 Impala or LeSabre in this shape would go for twenty-grand or more. And it would sell likethat. 

The 360cid V-8's two-barrel was tossed for a four-barrel, dual exhausts were added as well, both of which were not factory options in 1973. Hopefully they yanked the emissions plumbing. This could be a strong running car. 

Bunch of other stuff was done as well like interior work, AC was modernized, KYB shocks added, weather stripping replaced and so on. 

If you have a proclivity for something unique, take this off their hands for under ten and you did good. Use the money you didn't spend and get better rims and toss the raised white letter tires. 

1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass - Old Man Smell

I just blogged about a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme so this one will be brief. This 1983 Cutlass Supreme Brougham popped up on Facebook Marketplace recently, I swear I wasn't looking for it but rather than another soliloquy about my personal experience with these cars or a deep dive on the history of GM "A- and G-bodies", I'll focus on this car itself and determine if it's worth my time to kick its cheesy fake wire wheel covers. Asking price is $6,000. 

While I'd prefer a Cutlass Supreme or Cutlass Calais, this car ain't all bad. She's only had two-owners, there are just 88,000-miles on her, and there's a smooth and sturdy Oldsmobile 307 V-8 under the hood. Downside, it has a prone to failure, three-speed THM200 automatic, the AC doesn't work, gas gauge is inaccurate and while the frame is allegedly solid, there are a number of rust issues. Like this. 

And this...

and this. 

Whoops. Missed a couple. There's also this...

And this. Good grief, are those cobwebs? 

Let's give the poster of the ad credit for attempting to be as disclosing as possible. However, I don't care how old a car is or how much I'm paying for it, the slightest rust bubble to me is a deal killer since even the teeny, tiniest bubble is just the tip of the iceberg. And this car has a lot of icebergs. 

                                                                                     

I say I'd prefer a Cutlass Supreme over a Brougham because of these seats. Buyers who checked the "Brougham" box on the Cutlass order form got these "loose, tufted pillow-top" seats straight out of an Oldsmobile 98 Regency that somehow and someway came to connotate luxury. My 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix Brougham had them and they were lumpy back breakers - I could never get comfortable in them or on them. What's more, if you have an oldie with these wretched things, every once in a while, have them professionally deep cleaned to get rid of that "old man" smell these cars are famous for. 

                                                                                            

If you look closely, that gap between the front of the door and the back of the front fender is suspiciously large and the chrome trim on the bottom appears to jut around from where the door trim is too. Why would that be? Pictures don't lie and that could only look worse in person. This car could be a handful. And for six-grand? Sorry, as much as I love these cars, this one too despite the interior, I'd make a hard pass on. 

1955 Buick Roadmaster - Who's a Good Boy?

This four-door, 1955 Buick Roadmaster is not my cup of antifreeze, but it's been popping up on Marketplace on me like a puppy trying to get my attention at the animal shelter. Softie that I am, I felt obliged to give it a snackie and rub its patina rich belly. Who's a good boy? 

This is for sale in the town just west of us and the shape it's in goes to show you how the heating and cooling extremes up here on The Lake wreak havoc on cars, homes too. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it's "shoot me" hot and muggy, the winters are long and brutal, it rains here more than it does in famously rainy Seattle, Washington too. Upside is, September and October are divine; the calm before the White Death. 

Sadly, our Good Boy here is a non-running basket case that doesn't have keys or a title and has an asking price of $2,500. The keys we can work around but the missing title? If there's no documentation as to who's the owner, this might as well get pushed onto a frozen Lake Erie and wait for spring. Be sure to drain the tank and fluids! 

The "Roadmaster", which was as hyperbolic a name for a car as there's ever been, was Buick's top-of-the-line model from 1936 through 1958 and then again, from 1991-1996. I thought it odd that Buick, who's forever struggled with an "old" image, resurrected the Roadmaster nameplate in the '90's and festooned it to such an "old" car. When I think "Roadmaster" one of these geezers is what I think of. Cobwebs and all. 

Like a puppy or cat you fall in love with at the shelter that you can't take home, you hope for the best for them. I doubt anyone would buy this and restore it even if they're able to figure out the title issue. NADA generously values '55 Roadmasters in "good condition" at $27,500 - no doubt that's for coupes too. I don't mind the time and elbow grease that would have to go into this, it's the amount of money it would take to get it up to snuff. It would take a lot more than $27,500. 

Last time I checked, they had dropped the price $500. 

1979 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe - Hot Bent

                                                                                                                                                   

These downsized, "Class of 1977" General Motors "B-bodies" are getting harder to find, especially ones in decent shape like this 1979 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe. Although I'm generally ambivalent towards these cars, I felt an obligation, my duty as it were, to blog about this one when it popped up on Marketplace recently. Although, again, when it comes to these downsized GM Bodies, I'm a take 'em or leave 'em kind of girl. Especially these 1977-1979 Chevrolet coupes.  

These cars might be fine, I might even like them except for that rear roof line and windshield or backlight, so named because they allow light into the car. A trick piece of engineering for sure that, my blog, my opinion, seems out of place with the nature of the rest of the car. A "bubble back", 1961 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe this is not although it's obvious, they were attempting to emulate the famed rear window of those Impala's or yore. 

That window is not three pieces of glass glued together with some space-age polymer but a bent, single piece of glass. General Motors partnered with Pittsburgh Plate Glass who had a process called "Hot Bent Wire" where glass was heated and then bent over iron wires to spec. Oldsmobile contracted PPG to do something similar with their 1977 and 1978 Toronado XS. Problem was the failure or "scrap rate" was high and that cut into profit margins. 

Suffice to say, when the Impala and Caprice were updated for 1980 along with all the other "1977" GM full size cars, the "hot bent" backlight went into the cost savings dumpster. Rarely does a bookkeeping decision result in a better-looking automobile, but, my two cents, it did. Above is a 1980 Caprice coupe. 

The "hot bent" Toronado, above, went the way of the dodo after 1978. The new "E-body" Toronado that came out in 1979, mercifully, didn't get one.

Our beige-on-camel or camel-on-beige Impala Sport Coupe had just 62,000-miles on her 48-year-old analog ticker, had no rust, no real wear on its vinyl seats and even the air blew cold. It was listed for "just" $7,500, a lot of B-body for the money, I, pun intended, can't see past that hot bent backlight. 

Chevrolet got out of the Impala coupe business after 1982, the last Caprice coupe rolled off assembly lines in 1987. 

1989 Oldsmobile Touring Sedan - The Illusion of Affluence

I was westbound on the Ohio Turnpike the other day when I spotted a boxy little thing on a vehicle transporter in the center lane that looked familiar from a quarter mile or so away. The stubby but attractive three-box-body, the glistening directional alloy rims, chunky tires and tasteful, oh-so-'80's cladding, Yup, it could have been only one thing, a late 1980's, Oldsmobile Touring Sedan. I found this '89 online for illustrative purposes, the only difference is that flatbed Olds was silver. 

As I passed by it, just like that, I was 24 years old again looking up at what I perceived at the time to be an aspirational purchase of wealthy, muckity mucks. Growing up strapped and wanting for most everything, the trappings of "the rich" fascinated me. What was it like to be able to buy anything you wanted? And not buy it? Funny how old cars in the condition we remember them in when they were new are such wonderful time machines. We change; they don't. Imagine what a kick in the head it was to me when I realized that many people who look "rich", ain't rich. 

Well, the real rich or posers weren't buying these cars. Oldsmobile sold less than 5,000 Touring Sedans a year from 1987 through 1990. That was somewhat understandable given these were niche vehicles, but the lack of Touring Sedan sales was a symptom of a larger problem General Motors had with their "Rocket" division; Oldsmobile sales were plunging overall. From a peak of just over a million units sold in 1984, 1985 and 1986 to approximately half that in 1990. 

In particular, "98" sales, these cars are "98's" in leg warmers, were way off. These "little" 98's came out in 1985, and they sold well, Oldsmobile moving 122,421 units in a protracted 1985 model year. They sold just 48,022 in 1990 the last year for these cars before an abortive upsizing for 1991. Numbers don't lie; something was wrong. But what? 

For Oldsmobile in the late '80's, it was all about timing. Bad timing. Just as they rebooted their entire lineup, after years of vilifying it, "Boomers" were coming into money and when they looked to make an aspirational automobile purchase, forget Oldsmobile or anything domestic, those crazy kids went straight to the German car store. 

In fairness, it was akin to an earthquake how quickly the market shifted on Oldsmobile from 1986 to 1987 with sales dropping by nearly 300,000 year-over-year. And they kept on dropping as the '80s melted into the '90's. But that's the way it happens. Like a favorite, aging athlete having one inexplicably bad game. And like that athlete, Oldsmobile never had another good game. Again, though, in Oldsmobile's case, the game changed. No longer could Oldsmobile be all things to all people. Between us girls, how they did so for as long as they did was, in my opinion, more perplexing than their demise was. 

Certainly, didn't help that General Motors sold so many different versions of the same car. Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac all got one of these, curiously, Chevrolet did not. And they were, let's be honest, variations on a theme versus being truly different from each other. 

When Olds buyers checked the Touring Sedan box, they got an Oldsmobile 98 with the FE3 sports suspension which came with firmer springs, gas-charged struts, a quicker steering rack, fatter anti-roll bars, and 16-inch, directional alloy rims with fat tires. They also got a unique interior with front buckets and a floor-shifter; the first Oldsmobile sedan ever sold with an automatic transmission shifter inside a console. Heady stuff for an Oldsmobile four-door sedan in the late 1980's. 

As much as I liked these cars, however, back in the day, I wouldn't have been caught dead driving one. Why? Because, he says sheepishly, the ladies would've thought I was driving someone else's car or worse yet, my father's car. When you're in your teens, it's impressive, or was back then, to be seen simply driving. By the time you're in your mid-twenties, it's about what you're driving. And an Oldsmobile Touring Sedan, despite its handsome good looks and capable nature, wasn't a good look for this young troubadour. 

Not that I could have afforded one.