Some people might say that this 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale was designed with a T-square and a straight edge, others might say that it’s fresh, crisp, and clean. I’m in the latter camp. I like the eighth-generation GM cars, whether they “all look alike” or not. This 1983 Olds can be found listed here on craigslist in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania and the seller is asking a healthy $7,500 or best offer. Thanks to Ikey H. for sending in this tip!
Ok, that’s square compared to the previous generation Oldsmobile Delta 88s, but I like it. The eighth-generation cars almost look like they were designed on a computer for the first time rather than being styled by groups of chain-smoking men with white shirts and skinny black ties, shaping and sculpting clay models in a secret giant room somewhere. Then, for the ninth generation and tenth generation cars, they had more rounded edges again. Call me crazy, but I prefer this generation to the last two generations of Oldsmobile 88s.
The seller of this Olds says that it’s in like-new condition inside and out, and it sure looks like it is. But, then they go on to mention a small rust spot on the driver’s side rear bumper and a small door ding on the left rear door. This car has had one owner since new and it has 47,707 miles on it which is pretty amazing for being 37 years old. The 1977 to 1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88s were shorter and around 700 pounds lighter than the previous generation cars were.
The interior, or what we get to see of it, really does look almost like new. We don’t get to see the back seat at all which is unusual, and the trunk is a mystery as is the underside. The engine is Oldsmobile’s 307 cubic-inch V8 which had 140 hp. There was also a V6 and the famous Olds diesel V8 was an option. The seller doesn’t say how it runs but I’m assuming it runs as good as the rest of the car looks. Are there any fans of the eighth-generation Delta 88s out there?
Learned to drive on a green version, what a boat lol
I learned how to drive on a white 1984 Delta 88 Royale Brougham
Too much for a four door.
Younger folks think these are whales of the asphalt; they have no idea. I learned to drive on a `75, which was far & away MUCH larger than these! I sold Oldsmobiles in `80-`81 when this style smaller B-body came out. The diesel was a disaster, but the 307 & 403 V8’s Oldsmobile used were excellent engines. Plenty of room for 6; all the comforts of more expensive cars of the day. I’d love one of these for a daily driver to be honest. If I could swing it, I’d love to have this. You can keep your FWD cookie-cutter look-alikes.
The diesel was great ! If you had no problem with it. I know guys still driving them. But I also knew people who had nothing but trouble. U guess you got a good one if it was built by a sober guy.
The asking price is too high, but if you want clean driver this would be it. It was a time when GM was taking the basic Impala design, changing front and rear clips and interiors and insignia. Not a hell of a lot but nothing wrong either.
As a result of the insightful comments and observations from barnfinds.com members, the owner has adjusted his price and I have added additional photos. A thank-you to Scotty Gilbertson’s keen eye to pick this off of Craigslist- it really is a nice vehicle and a nicely balanced article.
Had the exact same car in metallic bronze/brown. Great car, loved it, miss it, would buy another. This one would do but my garage is full for now. Too bad.
I also like this Gen of Oldsmobiles. Great cruisers–they could float over just about anything. Just steer clear of the diesels! The 98s were also pretty sweet.
Worked on lots of these back in the day but the vast majority of them were diesel powered. I would say that out west a full third of them were diesels. Consequently we got lots of them in our shop. By this stage in the game there were very few problems; the diesel was as reliable as any gaspot. Of course there were still those who never used them to their full potential and they had problems. A remember a couple of guys got fed up and traded them for gaspots. both diesel cars got sold in our neighborhood and the new owners drove them with no problems whatsoever. One is still seeing regular service…
The DX version of the diesel block was terrifically stout – and heavy – and the engines, if maintained and serviced properly, were perfectly reliable.
Some years back I bought a 1979 Delta 88 Royale Brougham diesel coupé, sight unseen, and drove it from Cleveland Ohio to the SF Bay area, in January, alone. It blew a hose-clamp and overheated in Green River, Wyoming; took less than an hour to fix and off I went.
Now it runs a 6.2 liter LS motor with a 2.3 liter twin-screw supercharger and a 4L80E transmission, and it STILL weighs less than it did with that chonky diesel motor in it.
I entered one of these in a “sip n pass” basically a demo derby circle track race where everybodys drinkin.
Not really a sanctioned event!
Mine had a big block 400-403? Not sure but it did pretty good.
Aaah the early 90s they’d probably throw us all in jail now😀
Must have been previous generation as im sure it was a big block
Maybe it was a ninety eight?
My mom had a champagne colored ‘83 Delta 88. It was pretty much a “stripper” as far as these were concerned. 307/ 3 speed auto (no overdrive) no vinyl top and vinyl seats (bench in front). It did have ac and power windows/ locks though. Gramma had an 83 88 royale, same color as mom’s, but with a dark brown vinyl top 307 and overdrive trans and velour seats with 60/40 in front. They actually talked of swapping, as it gramps preferred moms plain jane 88. My friends mom had a white one with blue velour (84?) that he inherited when she passed away unexpectedly. It was a royale brougham and was fully loaded, including a sunroof. We called it “White Swan”. It was our road trip car to a lot of great concerts in the 80’s and 90’s including Metallica, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Lollapalooza among others. They were great cars!
My dad had a gold-over-beige-velour one, with the chrome rally wheels. Definitely a cruiser and road-trip car, slow but super-comfortable and smooth.
All of these personal accounts are proof of how popular and successful Oldsmobile was back then. Would you have predicted then that it would be dead in 20 years? Massive fail by GM.
Olds was strong like bull from around 1976-85, at which time it tanked rapidly. I believe we can attribute this to the FWD Delta 88/98 from 1985 on, the N-body Calais introduced in 1985, and the stubby Toronado from 1986 on that looked like a luxury trim level of the Calais. These were not bad cars per se, but they had no character and were too similar to their stablemates at other GM divisions.
I completely agree with this comment. They sold over a million Oldsmobiles in 1977, 1978, 1984, 1985, and 1986. Then in 2000 they announced the brand was going to be axed. I couldn’t believe it at the time. Someone mentioned the 1986 redo of several Olds models and I have to agree. Except for the 88 and 98 of that generation. Those seemed like nice cars to me. They needed to downsize again to keep up with the CAFE standards. I thought they did a good job in the late 90s with the redo of the brand, with the new models, like Aurora, Intrigue, and Alero. They looked nice and had plenty of luxury car comforts. I don’t know why it didn’t work.
I had a 1982 Royale sedan, 307 chunk of iron that is pretty reliable but very underpowered. Light blue with dark blue cloth & crank windows -n- locks. It ran and drove fine, I would probably appreciate it more now that I am 20 years older lol.
It was in about the same shape as the feature car. I only paid $500.00 for it, but again, that was 20 years ago. With inflation, that would be about $2,000 now. Factor in collector value (which in my mind there is none for these because they just aren’t that interesting) and it might be worth a little more.
Nice car, but way overpriced.
A guy I hung around in HS had a 1980 Royale Coupe version in the reverse of this colour scheme (white body, red vinyl roof) c. 1984-85. It also had the rally wheels. It was actually a pretty cool looking car, I thought at the time. I don’t recall what motor it had. It wasn’t a diesel so it was either the 307 or 350.
My parents bought one of these, an ’85 “Delta 88 Royale V8 Sedan” as it said on the window sticker, brand-new off the dealer’s lot in late 1984. The fit and finish were very good, in spite of what some now say about ’80s cars. It was a smooth-riding, comfortable, quiet, and reliable car. Theirs had most all the bells and whistles available at time. While the 307 Olds engine wasn’t a powerhouse, it got remarkably good gas mileage for a full-sized car on trips with the 4-speed auto overdrive trans. The trunk was huge. When it was twelve years old it had as many miles as the one featured here does now, but unfortunately it was sacrificed in a head-on collision with another car after a tractor trailer cut them off on a rural highway. Fortunately their injuries were not serious, but they mourned the loss of the Olds for quite a while afterward. GM’s B-bodies of this era were among the best.
Can’t really add much more praise about these Oldsmobiles than has already been mentioned so I won’t.
Can’t really add much about the asking price than has already been mentioned so I won’t.
I had the 84, must have been a higher trim level. It had the tufted/button velour seats, rode like a dream super comfortable. In 1996 it was seven different colors due to rusted panel replacement, paid 400 bucks. Painted it with a brush to at least make it one color and put 65000 trouble free miles on cruising, loved the car.
These cars exist in a peculiar vacuum. In this condition they definitely fall into the special interest category. As a collector car they seem to fall enthusiastically short as the market hasn’t caught up to them. As a daily driver it would be great in the better climates though it’s could be somewhat alien to younger mechanics. So what to do… If you love interesting cars and are on a budget, this might be hard to beat for the asking price. Condition is always paramount when your considering a car like this and this one seems to have it in spades. 7500.00? In the past I’ve spent that much on paint jobs. It just may be your fathers Oldsmobile, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. I give it a Thumbs Up!
You bring up some very interesting points. I may have to rethink my previous stance.
My friend in college drove a 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham with the 307 and a 4 speed automatic overdrive transmission. It was non-metallic light tan with a brown vinyl top and a brown velour interior and wire wheel covers. It was not considered cool by our friends at the time but I really liked it. I remember going on a lot of road trips in it. This particular car must not be a Royal Brougham because the seats don’t appear to be velour. I’ve always liked a Buick or an Olds.
My daughter had one with about 80,000 miles when a drink girl came across the street and hit it head on totalling it and the car behind my daughters ! I should have pulled the engine it was a 350 and my truck needs one now with only 446,000+ miles on it
It was a really nothing special car, when I was shopping for a new car to replace my 80 Grand Prix in 83, I looked at these in a 2 door loaded w a moonroof, and a 83 Riviera, when considering that I lived in NY and worked in Jersey, I figured if I buy the Riviera, I’d buy a cheap used commuter car for work, but the Delta didn’t strike me of something of a garage queen, it wasn’t that nice, I bought the Riviera, which had the same miserable 307 in it that the Olds had, hated the Riviera in the end, but it was a good looker, drove you work in a 70 Fairlane 500
The 88s are nice but I always like the 98s better no matter which generation.
My Dad bought a new 1966 olds Toronado wen I was 7 yrs old had a 1964,I believe Starfire before & a 1955 Olds Holiday 88 Green & White before that, those were My Fathers Oldsmobiles.
At age 25,1984,I went to work at a Cadillac/Oldsmobile store in Atlanta Georgia as a Service Technician. I remember GM had about 5or6 safety recalls on the 79,80 & 81 Olds Cutlass
Ive never seen so many Cutlass in my life!
2doors,4doors,station wagons even a White & Gold Hurst (or 442?) Now & then.
Worked on plenty of Diesel Olds, plenty of 231ci V/6 Buick engines, even plenty of 307 Olds V/8s ( mostly oil & coolant leaks on V/8s) saw 1 of the first 1985 Olds 98s wen they went small & FWD
Followed by the Delta 88 & Toronado in 1986,Fast Forward to 2000 We were told Olds was throwing in the towel! I couldnt believe it, why? They werent Your Fathers Oldsmobile any more, bench seat column shifter in the 88s,No it had buckets & floor shift console, Our Fathers went to Buicks some to pontiacs, Old sold barely 13,000 cars their las year In 1984 they sold almost 225,000 Cutlasses it was a sad day for all of us dealership employees, GM Factory employees & the car buyers/lovers in America too! I still rember at 7 yrs old, riding I-65 & I-85 from Atlanta to Pensacola Fl/Mobile Ala in the very modern for its day 66 Toronado wit the no hump flat floor board, the 140mph speedo that rolled around, the BIG factory Chrome Wheels & best of all the 425ci V/8 that seemed to love wen that ol speedo hovered around the 100 mph mark….. RIP Oldsmobile, 4Ever in my Heart!
Just curious; what was the recall for the cutlass? (BTW, in 79 it would have been a H/O.
Owned an ’84 Royale Brougham 4 door. Triple brown, velour for days and wire wheel covers. Felt like you were driving a cloud in that car. That Olds engine was built to last. Sold it last year with 78k miles, new owner drives it weekly.