This is my father’s Oldsmobile. He had one just like it, the same color too. I drove it two or three times. I’d say it did nothing exceedingly well but it didn’t do anything badly either. People liked them, Olds sold 153K in ’93 – and the Ciera was getting long in the tooth by then. This example only has 22K miles on its clock and that in itself is remarkable. Pat L found this ’93 Cutlass Ciera cooling its heels in Webberville, Michigan. It’s available, here on craigslist for $5,000.
Introduced in ’82, this version of GM’s A-body was in production through ’96. It was offered in two and four-door sedan body styles and a station wagon too though the two-door was dropped before ’93. In addition to this later vintage Cutlass Ciera, Pops had an ’83 prior, and driving that car was like trying to steer a pig with a steering wheel attached to its head – not cool. My father had owned Oldsmobiles in the early and mid-fifties and the name still had some panache for him. After he ditched the ’93, he went upscale with a W-body Buick Regal. Maybe it was better, I couldn’t tell.
And like my father’s cars from years ago, cars that had accumulated scant mileage, this example is no different – 22K miles is all it has experienced – yes it was Grandpa owned according to the seller. Grandpa and Grandma cars frequently have those old park-by-ear battle scars marring their plastic bumper covers but that doesn’t appear to be the case here – it looks good! I’m guessing that the senior citizen owner probably garaged this Olds as the GM clear coat, which has a tendency to fail when exposed to continual sunshine, shows no indication of degradation. Dents, creases, or other mayhem? Naw.
One of GM’s finest engine creations is the Buick Division’s 3.8 liter V6. It saw a lot of action over the years in many GM models, not just Buicks. This Olds is sporting a 160 net HP, 3.3 liter V6 – a smaller bore/destroked version of that legendary 3800. It’s a sidewinder, connected to a three-speed automatic transaxle through a four-speed overdrive unit was available as an option. The seller claims, “Drives excellent… Tons of life left“!
One place where GM cut corners in the ’80s and ’90s was inside – interiors from that era are often marked by cheap thin, hard-edged plastic and velour-style fabric upholstery that just didn’t wear all that well. And while this Cutlass is from that generation, the interior looks pretty good, it’s clean and orderly and is showing no sign of age or wear which it shouldn’t with only 22K miles of experience. One nice feature is the full instrumentation cluster, it’s a welcome improvement from the time when GM’s idea of full instrumentation was a speedometer and a fuel gauge.
OK, so this Cutlass Ciera is a far cry from this 1976 Cutlass Supreme but it’s still a decent car in its own right, one that served a valid purpose. For $5,000, it sounds like a good buy to me, how about you?
Every retiree in South Florida drove one I can’t tell you how many I fixed back in the 90’s.
Nice engine but I always see this setup back then and the exhaust going up and over the trans. Why? GM could of made room underneath. It’s a nice Olds for $5,000 but if a computer or module should fail can you still get one?. These are old electronics and we still don’t know how long will they last after so many years. Good luck to the next owner.🐻🇺🇸
This is a great deal. Super nice car for the money and despite its pedestrian reputation it should be preserved. Electronics, modules, and basically all the parts for these are readily available.
Again, however this one deserves to be collected, not returned to regular duty. I just can’t save them all!
Not every car is a collectible though. For $5k I don’t see why this car shouldn’t be put back into service at least part time. I’d hesitate to give it to a teenager, but if someone is willing to forgo modern day comforts in lieu basic, cheap, reliable transportation then here is your chariot.
These cars generally had all the bells and whistles like PS, PDB, A/C and power windows so I’m not sure what you mean by forgoing modern day comforts. I’ve had two of theses; an ’85 wagon and an ’89 4-door sedan and they were both very good cars. Reliable, decent power and pretty good mpgs. They were comfortable cars that were a good size; not too big and not too small. I really liked the wagon which was a great car with all the advantages a wagon had to offer. I’d love to have another. As for the writer’s comment that this Cutlass is a far cry from the ’76 edition, I’m assuming he means the ’76 was just another piece of crap from the Malaise Era and the ’93 Cutlass was a good car for its time. Just look at how many they sold over the years.
This is exactly the type of stuff I collect. Cars that were once basically appliances, that were everywhere and people were used to seeing them, now they are mostly gone. I an 84 Chrysler E Class, 1980 Skylark, 1992 Accord that are in excellent shape, along with some more traditional “collector” cars, and I can tell you I get tons of people that see them and are instantly attracted to them.
I can have one of these sitting next to my Corvette or Z28 at a car show and while the “collector” cars draw yawns, many many people talk about the ordinary stuff.
It’s precisely because they were run of the mill and now gone that gets peoples attention.
Used to see them everywhere. But
recently, I can’t tell you the last time I
saw one. Sure wouldn’t mind having
this one though. Safe, comfortable, and reliable, what more could you want? Would make a fine daily driver
too.
For a long time these were the archetypal last-car-turned-first-car, with their teenage second owners occasionally getting them into young- rather thanold-driver type crashes, but more often simply wearing them out driving Grandma’s Olds well into their mid 20s until pricey or NLA things started to break rather than take on more consumer debt.
Power steering, brakes, windows and AC were comfort options in the 70’s and 80’s. By modern day comfort options I’m referring to things like heated seats, heated steering wheel, on board touch screen displays, cup holders galore and other goodies we are spoiled with.
Identical to my dad’s car too!!!
A story I remember about it is that when my dad start looking for another GM, we saw this Olds and we stop by to take a look. My dad tried it, the used car had some weak points like the RPM that didn’t work. We sat after in the garage’s room, seller offers us (my bro and I, we had 10-12 years old) a Pepsi, I thought he was so cool offering us free beverage! Then my dad offer a price for the car but asked for the RPM to be repaired. Seller said it was impossible, so my dad look at us and said: Ok boys we had to go, keep the drinks we’ll see somewhere else. We were amazed to see our dad’s fast reaction of the seller ”impossible word, it was immediate! Then the seller came out just second before we leave the yard’s garage to say he accept the offer. I still have this clear moment in my memory. He kept the car 3-4 years, he change for a 1996 Buick Regal Custom that started making him hate the new GM era car…
As any great negotiator would say, “You gotta be willing to walk away”.
That’s a good price this car with regular maintenance is going to easily go another 200k miles if you don’t need all the garbage vats come with today
Solid car, nicely equipped. Sticker price was $13,995 – none negotiable. Made for a less stressful buying experience.
I agree GM made great cars in these times and I almost bought a Buick Lesabre custom recentl with the 3.8. I Have had seral of them mostly Park Avenues an near all of them got 27-28 mpg on the rod and very good in town. I have been considering another because they ore more dependable and ear as good gas mieage as these 3 year old rice burners with 150k+ on them with 8-10k asking price and most wind up with tranny or something going out any time. Like the otther commentor only thing that scares me is if the computers go out can you find them and afford it. I have had Buicks ols and Pontiacs and drove most 200k or better. I think Buick has crapped in their nest I recently saw where they were going to all electric on them. Well so be it thats the last for me
I owned the identical car. It braved the bumper to bumper traffic and beat to hell streets of DC for 328 thousand miles before the tin worm claimed it. If it hadn’t rusted away, I’d bet it had another 200 thousand miles left in it. It ran like a Rolex till the end.
The econo boxes GM made they had a bad heating corroding
rear axles and leaking water pumps. The first batch from the
3.8 engines suffered from poor main bearing shells.
Compared to my Saab or Alfa this things ‘heating’ do nothing
except blow some air through the cabin.
The leftovers are mostly solid but the drivetrain is hackneyed
at 300’000 KM.
The 3800 is an absolutely fantastic engine. I’ve see many many of these with 300000 miles, 500000km on them and still running. I helped arrange the sale of my in laws 94 park Ave with 175k on it to some other friends. The engine was still running well at 330k when the engine subframe literally came loose from the body structure due to rust.
At the same time fuel economy was quite good. In the h body gm sedans 30mpg is common. C platform cars will run 27 to 28.
Years ago I worked at a Chevy dealership as service manager we had one of these as a loaner car it ran well and held up to the customers abuse. At this point for my 80 mile commute I would drive the wheels of this.
My Dad’s ’84 Ciera led to my interest in Oldsmobile, GM and Chevrolet. I bought the A Body Ciera’s cousin, the Citation because of my Father’s Oldsmobile.
BTW: that velour in old GM cars wears like iron. My ’86 Calais wears it and it’s still holding up, 36 years and 130,000 miles later.
The Citation had 82,000 miles and 8 years on it when I bought it in 1992 and still looked new. It had suffered a lack of attention and maintenance but was still full of useful life.
Thanks for this. This car has everything. All the modern stuff has is just feature bloat and added cost.