In the spring of 1994, Oldsmobile unveiled its new Aurora as a 1995 model, and hindsight alone informs us that it was Oldsmobile’s last really splashy introduction. Who would have guessed that Oldsmobile would be gone a mere decade after the launch of their swoopy new flagship? Instead of being a harbinger for a new generation of Oldsmobiles, it was unfortunately a swan song. After a quick search, I discovered that we’ve never covered a first-generation Aurora here at Barn Finds, and Tony Primo has sent us this low-mileage example from the first model year to discuss. It’s for sale on craigslist in Northern Virginia, and while it’s not perfect, it’s not a bad example for those who are feeling some ’90s nostalgia and want a practical collector car.
The craigslist ad itself has all the usual phrases: “RARE,” “Just dropped [the price] for a quick sale – Won’t last long!”, “*CLASSIC*”, and the like. If you can skip past all that, you’ll find that the car itself is pretty clean. The interior looks nearly immaculate, and the seller shows a picture of the odometer, which reads 41,526 miles. Even the leather driver’s seat is surprisingly crease-free for a thirty-year-old luxury car. It has power seats and power windows, and if it had a touch screen, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a new car. That is, if anyone made sedans anymore.
They certainly did in 1994 when the Aurora came out. It replaced the Toronado as Oldsmobile’s specialty car, and I remember thinking that it was odd that the halo car was a sedan. Times were changing, and there was some buzz around the Aurora for a bit. Sales for the first model year were a brisk 45,677, but like the original Toronado’s sales, they plummeted after that. It seemed that early adopters bought them and that was it. I was lucky in that my cousin’s husband was an Olds salesman in 1994, and he took me and my dad for a ride. It was a really nice car, but nothing more (in my 17-year-old opinion, that is). The four-liter V8 was based on the Cadillac Northstar (a powerful but somewhat flawed engine), and it produced 250 horsepower. That was good enough for zero-to-sixty times of around eight seconds, which was brisk, but not really enough to push you back in the seat. But snorting performance really wasn’t the Aurora’s calling card, it was general competence, luxury, and futuristic styling.
And that last one is the part we forget. It was so clean and futuristic that it influenced the brand’s basic styling for its last decade, and therefore it became innocuous through familiarity. Looking at it with a fresh, historical perspective, it’s really an attractive car; it looks new today. What did a ’64 Cutlass look like in 1994? It looked great, but it also looked like an old car. To a non-car person, this Aurora could have been sold ten years ago. This one seems to have a few paint flaws on the rear bumper, and I’m going to guess that the passenger door took a hit and was resprayed at some point. If you could pick this one up for a reasonable price, however, it would be a daily or occasional driver with character, and it would have all the conveniences of a brand new car. Although I’m not traditionally a booster of ’90s cars, I think the Aurora is underappreciated. Let us know what you think!
Beautiful car. Fell in love with this model when I first saw one. A girl that worked next to our hammock shop bought one of these in this same color. Her and the car were a match made in heaven. And they both had great looking rear ends. She moved away a few months later with the car. Can’t say I ever saw another one on the road after that. Thankfully I still have the mental image of her with that car. Now if I could just erase the image of that gawd awful shifter.
These Auroras can be had for low dollar. Remember seeing one in the 24 hrs of LeMons 🍋
I had this year, model, and color of Oldsmobile. It was the best model year made in my opinion. I think I still have the Olds professional documentation where the binder and inserts went all out. The NorthStar engine (Caddy) ran like a charm and got great mileage. I purchased mine with about the same amount of mileage back in the day. This car used to run to Florida from the Midwest a couple times a year at 85-90 mph and the ponies always wanted to run faster as I held them back. :-). Good luck on sale and hopefully this car provides another 100K of driving as mine did. I sold it and it went to another person who enjoyed it too.
When they first came out, even though sold by Olds dealers, they advertised these as a stand alone line…. like the Valiant when it first appeared.
Always thought it was quite attractive, but not enough to save Oldsmobile.
When I first saw this posted, I thought it was an Intrepid… another car that was all over the place for years but which you never see anymore.
I remember attending the presentation on these cars at our local SAE section when they were first introduced. I think the styling has aged well.
In about 2006 I was the fixed operations manager at a Chevy/Olds dealership. An Aurora identical to this was traded in after a front wheel bearing hub had failed and the right front wheel came loose. Very minor damage to the front fender. I was able to buy it for $500.00, replaced the wheel bearing and fixed the fender. I drove it for about a year and then gave it to my younger son when he turned 16. Unfortunately he crashed it about a year later, didn’t get hurt but deployed the air bags causing enough damage to not be worth fixing.
I loved driving that car, suspension was nice and tight and power train was really responsive. If you’ve never driven one, I think you’d be pretty impressed.
I had one new a1998 dark green with tan interior. The car had only about 4 options chrome wheels sun roof Bose stereo multi cd changer in the trunk. I just got the gold badging upgrade. Interesting fact all the lighting lenses had 95 casting dates, even the last body style year 1999. It was a great road trip car, great gas mileage and performance if you followed the owners manual and ran 92oct. Got 22 around town 28-30 highway. Traded in 2011 for $6500. Only put fuel and oil and normal maintenance 58k no problems
Yes, the dark green and tan was my favorite color scheme for these. Fun fact: All SAE markings on molded light lenses start with the date they were first introduced and remain the same until the end of production. For example, ’70-’72 Cutlass/442 backup light lenses are all dated ’67 because they were first used on ’67 Delta 88s
Always liked these. Don’t know why Oldsmobile and Saturn weren’t merged into an import fighting, cutting edge technology division. Olds with full size and mid size near luxury cars, and Saturn with compact vehicles. Hind sight and all that.
Indeed, even their styling was similar during that era, with short, wide headlights in a grille-less bottom-breather nose, and the wraparound rear windows of the Saturn SL and W-body Olds Cutlass Supreme sedans.
We owned a ’95 Mushroom Metallic (brown but beautiful color shift in the sun) and a ’98 pearl white. Loved them both. Was looking forward to the new model and then saw they went back to the boring groupthink and the rest is history. We had a rear tire self destruct at well over 100 in Mexico and the car was unbelievable in how composed it was on 3 wheels. We were also loaded heavily.
One serious negative. They both developed oil leaks at the oil pan. Our ’99 started about 250 miles short of warranty expiration. Covered engine removal to repair.
I also bought one of these brand new shortly after it was introduced. I drove mostly highway miles at the time and it seemed like the car was made for that environment. No issues at all. Cars with Aurora engines finished 3rd in the Indy 500 in ’97 and ’98, and both drivers won Rookie of the Year. This car may be the best bargain on Craigslist right now.
I had a new one in 99. Poor performance and terrible gas mileage. I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. Not the Oldsmobile of old.