Next up on FCS (Forgotten Car Series), comes this unusual, heavily-clad model that used to be seen every once in a while, and it would make you turn your head. Now it really makes you turn your head as they just aren’t out there anymore. This 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International with the Quad 4 appearance package and FE3 suspension package can be found listed here on eBay in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and the seller is asking $6,495, or you can make an offer.
I’m 100% all in on the heavily-clad 1980s and 1990s era cars and trucks. Even motorcycles came with more cladding than usual. It’s still around on a few vehicles, but we seemed to reach peak cladding in the mid-2000s (I’m looking at you, Pontiac). It can cover up areas that normally get rusty due to salty roads and winter driving, so that’s a big drawback. It’s hard to tell what’s hidden under that plastic material. This color is what Oldsmobile referred to as “White”, so yeah, no fancy name for this one. This car also has the FE3 sport-tuned suspension, which helps keep things flat in the turns.
This is like saying it’s light outside during the day, but I’m really weird. I love the look of this car, especially in four-door spec. Olds offered a two-door coupe version as well, but it looked too small and too much like a regular Cutlass Calais to me. The four-door sedan looks beefy and tough, like what you might see coming out of Stuttgart. Here’s a partial shot inside the trunk, just for the heck of it. And, the only underside photo in the seller’s listing, but some sellers don’t even bother doing that, so well done!
The automatic shoulder belts are a bummer, and there’s no optional Morocco leather, unfortunately. But, the red velour seats look fantastic both front and rear. The seller has uploaded 40 great photos and even a video, so please click on the eBay link and check out this car. In the time I’ve been writing this, they’ve sent me a “offer” to buy this car for $5,900, and I can’t lie, that’s damn tempting. I mean, dang tempting. They do mention that it’s been touched up in spots, but other than some door jamb details, it looks great to me.
The engine is Oldsmobile’s 2.3-liter DOHC Quad 4 inline-four with 150 horsepower and 160 lb-ft of torque when new, sending power to the front wheels through an automatic. With just under 99,000 miles, this car is said to have a replacement Quad 4 engine, a “crate engine”, so there’s a story there, and there are several things going on with the car that need to be addressed. Again, please read the description; it’s a long one with great photos. Have any of you owned a Cutlass Calais International with the Quad 4 package?
I have to admit. I always liked the body cladding from the 80’s too. And I really liked these. I remember when ” The Good Dr. Olds” as Stan would put it came out with the Quad 442. I WANTED ONE!!! ( In case anyone who see my posts haven’t quite figured it out……. I want a lot of cars from a lot of different manufacturers I know it’ll never happen, but still nonetheless I want them). I was always a fan of the 2 door Calais. But I wouldnt kick a 4 door out of my driveway either. I really want one with a stick though. Now just think about this for a moment. An Olds 307 V8 of the same vintage was 10 hp less than this but if course had more torque ( 240 ft. Pounds vs. 160 with the Quad 4).. But still, during that time it was a big deal. A little glimmer of a brighter future coming in the horsepower dept. For a a lot of manufacturers.
Nice find here Scotty. And thank you for the memories!!!
Correct me if I’m wrong, at one time the good Dr Olds .. in maybe his last hot rod offering ..made these four-door sedan variations available with a 190 horsepower Quad4, and a 5-speed transaxle 😎 🏁👍
Hey Stan, and anyone else interested, All I could find online was from Automobile Catalog. Com. The 190 hp version was special and rare. The 180 hp version was a manual transmission only and you could get it with a 4 door like this one featured here. The 150 HP was automatic only. I have a feeling that the 4 door stick shift 180 HP version must be pretty rare. ( I still like the 2 door Quad 442, but these sedans are an absolute close second.
What’s interesting is that this car has the H.O. valve cover but an automatic transmission. I suspect that’s because of the new engine he talks about.
I wonder if it just has 150 HP. That’s all you would have been able to get with the automatic.
The W-41 cars (Achieva SCX and Quad442 W-41) had the 190 hp version. The standard High Output engine had 180 hp and the base engine started at 150hp but increased to 160hp a few years later. At some point the base engine lost the Helmholtz-resonator-style intake and went with a more conventional short runner intake. The higher output versions just moved the torque peak up the rpm scale a bit at the expense of lower end torque. My first new car after college was a 1988 2-door I-Series with Quad-4, 5-speed, and red leather interior. Wish I still had it.
I was wondering that. I know the less hp motor was hooked to the automatics. I think the 190 hp was only with the manual transmission cars. ( I think like the Quad 442) google search, here we come!!!
The Quad 4….. hahahaha
Yeah, head gasket blower supreme…..3 times in my 1989 GrandAM SE.
The Quad 4 was from a time when American automakers were much more creative. We had a ’91 Grand Am, which my mom bought new as a dealer program car in the fall of 1991, with the Quad 4/Automatic combination and the W32 package. It was a very reliable car and fun to drive. I recall it being quick for the times.
We can see from the Charger EV/Hurricane I6 debacle that the consumer seems less open to new high tech then they were then. I’m not trying to make this political, that’s just how things are now.
You NEVER see these N body cars any more. I can’t remember the last time I saw one.
I will definitely give GM props. It really did start to try to differentiate the cars that shared the same underpinnings in that era, and it did make some quality vehicles.
That being said, I think someone in their 20’s or 30’s would be more tickled by this car that me, a guy in his mid 50’s. After all, I knew people my age who had these things, so it’s not so nostalgic for me, as opposed to maybe cars from the 70’s and earlier, which were around when I was a kid…
Rust is why you don’t see them anymore, that, and the Quad4 puking head gaskets.
As a buyer you should invest in a crate motor again upon purchase. You will need it – the Quad 4 is junk
From the best selling car in the US, to this. As pretty as a painted brick. I do remember the media buzz around the Quad 4. That fizzled out fairly quickly.
Cladding was another feeble attempt, along with fancy badges, by the US car manufacturers to fight the rising flow of imported cars into the US. They would have been better off working with Drs. Deming and Juran on improving quality.
The N-bodies were good looking cars, I think especially the Calais. Smooth and tucked unlike the bumpy and bulging Grand Am. But what do I know when the sales numbers tell the story. Even with a 150 hp and an automatic you’d have a satisfying driver. That cloth interior is easy to keep clean and much more comfortable if the a/c gives up.
I own two of these international series four-door clays except mine have the five speed stick. One is a parts car. The running one is white. like looks just like this one. When I got it, the head gasket was blown spent a fair amount of money getting that fixed has antique tags on it and I don’t drive it much so every now and then I think of selling it but then I take it for a spin and keep changing my mind! Fun car.
we had 2 of these they sat on the lot for 6 months. they were dealer traded for something else that was sellable. plain old ugly
Not only head gaskets but timing chain issues also. If I remember back to my Oldsmobile service manager days. There were three variations of chain/tensioner “fixes”. Fun engines when running right.
Price has already been reduced to $5,900.
I’ve owned 2. The Great was a 1988 Olds Cutlass Calais International 2 door coupe. That car accelerated like a scalded cat and was very nimble on the road…until the head gasket blew. So, I went looking for a replacement engine and found it in a 1989 Cutlas 4 door Sedan for $600. The car drove so well that I didn’t have the heart to kill it( and it was a better family car for the wife and 3 kids). It was a great car right up to the moment a rod blew a hole in the side of the block on the highway. However, i would own another one in a heartbeat
With all of the show s I go to, I’ve not seen one of these, not even at the annual Olds Mn. state show at the venerable Blacksmith Lounge in Hugo. If Scotty’s ” listening “, he may have stuck his head in the door
My first NEW car was a black over silver 2 door calais with quad 4 5 speed and FE3 loaded with every option it was a quick car for the time and a great highway cruiser I put 250,000 miles on it but got rid of it because it started to just eat coil packs and finally broke a valve if this was a stick I might consider it at that price not with an automatic
Wait just a minute……..
Calais was a Cadillac model, for the entry bare bones model. NOW it’s an upscale Oldsmobile Cutlass?
Lord help me!
Everything became a Cutlass then. Cutlass Calais, Ciera, Supreme and LS (Sedan). At least the 88, 98 and Toronado were spared.