“Talk about your new Cutlass Calais and phrases like, “How’d you ever afford this?” come up. It’s understandable, given that Cutlass Calais’ looks and performance belies its price.” So says a 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais brochure. This car goes one better being a 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad-442. The seller has it posted here on Craigslist in one of the best wine regions in the U.S. – Kennewick, Washington – and they’re asking a mere $600! Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
Just for a little perspective, 1990 was 34 years ago, older than a decent percentage of Barn Finds readers. Life keeps marching on, folks, it isn’t 1983 anymore, you aren’t finding a Hemi Cuda or Jaguar XKE for $10,000 today. That being said, this isn’t a 1960s or early-70s muscle car, but for almost anyone who is looking to jump into a vintage car, and one with a big fun factor given this car’s DOHC 16-valve engine and five-speed manual, for only $600? This is a great find.
Oldsmobile offered the Cutlass Calais from 1984 for the 1985 model year until the end of 1991 and it was quite an upgrade from the X-body Olds Omega. This car is a Quad-442 and they were only made for the 1990 and 1991 model years. They came in two-door body styles only, of course, but the Calais was made with either two or four doors.
You can see that the paint has seen better days, the top surfaces on the car – hood, top, trunk – are fried with some bare surface rust being visible on the top and at the very least, some possible burnt clear coat on the hood and trunk. The interior is showing a few issues as well with some fabric issues, a steering wheel cover always worries me, but again, this car is $600. You can’t get a brake job for your modern vehicle for that. The really great part is seeing that five-speed manual.
This interesting-looking engine is Oldsmobile’s 2.3-liter, DOHC, 16-valve inline-four, which had 180 horsepower and 160 lb-ft of torque. It sends power to the front wheels through that fun-to-shift five-speed manual and don’t laugh, in 1990, a 0 to 60 time of 6.8 seconds wasn’t anything to shrug your shoulders at. Would any of you grab this Quad-442 for $600?
This was the dark ages of US car building. My Dad had one of these, his last car before he passed.
It was the most mind blowing s***-box of all time. What a waste of steel.
It sat in the garage for a year after his passing and my Mom asked me if I wanted it… I called the junkyard LOL
And yet someone else somewhere else had one, loved it and made priceless memories and misses it every day lol.
Anyone who had the misfortune to work on one of these would think it’s priced high.
Bark ages of U.S. car building? Apparently, you missed the entire decade of mid-70’s to mid-80’s.
I remember them when new, I worked for GM at their Warren Mi Tech Center. That engine was a very ambitious effort to get Olds into the modern or Euro age as it was but fell victim to the bean counters. Too bad, great idea
No. I’d leave it to die the death it started 25ish years ago.
Hey Scotty – These were fun cars in their day. People should know / remember that we were emerging from a time when anything over 100 HP was “sporty” and V8s were making 135 HP in some cases. I drove a gear-head friend’s 165 HP Quad4 Calais automatic in Boston and it easily roasted the tires… not a common experience then. It had the FE3? sport suspension was and was honestly a great city car and handled well in the corners, relatively speaking. With the 5-speed and another 15 HP this would be a fun entry-level classic. I believe these peaked out at 205 HP and they were used in a spec racing series. Thanks for bringing another often-forgotten yet affordable classic!
@Todd
To add to your point this car has a 0-60 time a full 1 second faster than the 78 Corvette Pace Car also featured today on Barn Finds, not to mention a few more horsepower also. I know it’s not saying much, but it’s something!
Just go to the Ford dealer back in 1990 and grab a 5.0 LX what a bargain.
Stan – true! In fact, I had done just that in 1988, buying the 1989 Mustang LX 5.0 that I still have today, and that’s what I drove to Boston when I sampled the Quad4 Calais. Not a great picture but here are both in 1992. Happy motoring!
I was young just out of high school when these came out. I remember reading many articles about the Quad 442 and the quad 4 in general. I wanted one then, with a stick of course and truth be told, I’d be extremely happy to have one now if given the opportunity. The previous generation with an Olds 307 did the quarter mile in the mid 16s stock and zero to 60 was just a bit less than 10 seconds. Stock. This little buggy could blow the doors off it at a stop light and just continue to walk away from it on the quarter mile if you had good traction. And again also stock, off the showroom floor. Coming out of the 80s where performance seemed to be hopelessly lost and everyone was trying to figure out how to get it back and stay compliant with the government, this little Quad 442 was a beacon of hope of better things to come.
The engin that signaled the comeback of power for me was the V6 in the first Taurus SHO.
Just for perspective and a bit of nostalgia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-btM5I4so
I bit my tongue when i saw this.. If only it was downtown it would be in the garage by noon and there would be wicked paint by the nightfall amd it would be gone in sixty seconds to the next monkey with a dream
It blew out an already heli-coiled spark plug? Buh bye, Quad-4
I’m old enough that my memory fails me sometimes, but, while I remember well the Quad4 engine and it being a stout performer for its day, I don’t remember ever hearing one of these being called a 442. The original 442 meant a 4 barrel, 4 speed, and dual exhaust, this car is fuel injected, 5 speed and I assume single exhaust so I see nothing to cause this to be referred to as a 442, unless it was just a marketing gimmick.
Marketing gimmick
Your memory fails you. The only “true” 442 is the 64.
I bought my wife an 89 Calais 3.0 V6 auto. 2 door black with red pinstripes and red Velour interior and a sunroof. AC worked great and it would keep up or pass most cars on the road at the time. Even though I didn’t actually check mileage a tank of gas would last most of a month and we drove a lot back then. I thought it was a nice looking car. It cost $500.00 and lasted close to 7 years. Someone broke out the back side window and stole the stereo and because of the way it was made, the insurance Totalled the car because of the cost to replace it. I bought the car back from the insurance company for $100.00 and turned around and sold it to a couple for $500.00. Was going to keep it as a second car but couldn’t pass up the offer. To this day one of the best cars I ever owned.
What an insult to the 442 name. There was much hype to the quad 4 engine but ultimately it wasn’t a great engine. $600 seems about right.
Mom would never listen to me on cars……………..she went from a POS Volare (
I suggested Malibu Classic 350) to this shiot box. What a turd it was. All of those were including the Chevy and Buick versions
Was working for a Pontiac dealer when the quad4 hit… They changed head gasket design 3x’s….. We got to the point where we just replaced the heads as well…. At one point I was doing 2 a day (for months on end). Great power for the day and fun to drive!! GM just missed it on the head gaskets!! This was in the early day of torque to yield fasteners….. We found that if we ignored their specs and torqued em to 75 ft lb they were good to go!!!! If not they’d pour oil from the oil feed or blow across cylinders, usually 1/2 iirc….. was a good engine until they started screwing with it. (Other than the HG)….
Lot of haters in here! I picked up an 86 Grand Am GT with a quad four for only $500, back in 98. The plastic cladding was cracked, thus removed, along with all the pinstriping and graphics. Cleaned up the interior, and installed a Pioneer Supertuner. Automantic, and ran like a raped ape! I had an 80 El Camino SS with my 77 Pontiac 355, worked up in it. Considering how fast and fun that car was (could get it sideways on demand), I was very impressed by this little car. Cleaned it up, hot wired the cooling fan, then drove it to Tallahassee for my late wife, who had beed waiting for a kidney transplant. R.I.P. baby. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t miss you.
This one is gone, which one of you bought it?!