This may not be the Oldsmobile that comes to mind when someone says, “Quick, name an Oldsmobile!” That doesn’t mean that a lot of people don’t have good memories of a car like this 1986 Oldsmobile Firenza two-door coupe. The seller has this time capsule posted here on craigslist in Shoreline, Washington, just north of Seattle. They’re asking $3,999 for this one and here’s a copy of the ad in case it goes away soon.
This is most likely not your father’s Oldsmobile, to misquote an old General Motors Oldsmobile Division advertising slogan. Although, with the age of Barn Finds readers getting younger and this Firenza being 36 years old now, many of you could very well have ridden in the back of a Firenza. GM made the Firenza, a J-body car, for the 1982 through 1988 model years. I know, most people would probably refer to this car as a Cavalier with chrome but I like it.
This car is a two-door coupe and they also offered a sloping hatchback and several higher trim levels, along with four-door sedans and a station wagon called the Cruizer. Similar J-body GM cars of the era would have been the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird, Buick Skyhawk, and the granddaddy of them all, you know it you love it, you can’t live without it: the Cadillac Cimarron. Yes, that one is still on my master wish list.
In case you haven’t been paying attention which I could see since I have a tendency to ramble about things that aren’t even related to… SQUIRREL IN THE BIRD FEEDER! Ok, I’m back. This car basically looks like it just rolled off of the showroom floor. There isn’t one flaw inside or out that I can see and the seller has done a great job in the photo department, a very nice change from the normal craigslist ad. That lipstick red interior looks perfect both front and rear and an underside photo and trunk photo would have been great, but they hit all of the major photo areas.
The engine is a GM, of course, 1.8L inline-four from the LH8 series with 82 horsepower. It’s backed up by a GM Turbo-Hydromatic THM-125 three-speed transmission with a floor console shifter. As expected, it looks fantastic under the hood and the seller lists the mileage as being 14,577 but the true mileage is unknown. This car sure doesn’t look like it has 114,577 miles on it to me. For this price, I can’t see that a person could go wrong with this one for an interesting, unusual, and very eye-catching “somewhat vintage” Oldsmobile for an around-town errand car. Have any of you owned a Firenza?
Scotty, since you asked…. I owned one. It was an ’82, hatchback, 1.8L, 4-speed, two-tone silver and gray (would fit right in today’s automotive landscape) with gray mouse-fur upholstery, white letter tires, styled wheels. Actually was a pretty sharp looking car. Had it four years and 65k miles, until we needed something bigger.
Recollections:
— in traffic, when you clutched to come to a stop, the rpm’s would stay up and then gradually decline to idle speed. I assume it had to do with emissions tuning of the day, but it made for a strange driving experience.
— notchy, no let’s say very notchy, shifter.
— got 60k miles out of the tires, very good in those days.
We passed it “up” to mother-in-law who drove it for another 20+ years (until she was about 80). Imagine an 80-year-old lady with a sporty-looking stick-shift car! She didn’t drive more than a couple thousand miles per year and other than tired paint it was still in decent condition.
Good to see one in good shape.
Very well maintained and cute little car. Even if over 100,000 miles (very probable), so what? At that price, you can daily drive it for 3 years & scrap it. It will have paid for itself!
Since I sold my Cougar & I passed on the yellow & woodgrain Bobcat featured here a couple weeks ago, I am thinking about this one. Still gotta figure out how to buy it long distance though.
A girl I knew’s father bought her a brand new Buick Skyhawk in 1985. Same engine and transmission as this. It was ok. It seemed slow then so I imagine it would seem excruciatingly slow now .But this would be a fun car to bring to Radwood event.
GM J cars were horrible little cars. The only reason to buy this is maybe to rent it out to someone making an 80’s movie.
@Ray Z
No! Not all GM J-body cars were horrible little cars.
I had an 86 Sunbird SE hatchback, bright blue over silver, blue int for 5 years, around 90k miles. Made a great go to work car. Lost a timing belt once bc I didn’t know it was a wear item and a head gasket after that. Pretty common with this cast block aluminum head deconverted diesel to gas engine.
I have a soft spot for these. My first taste of freedom came in 1996 when my best friend was passed down his Dads 85 Firenze. Grey 4 door. We had a ton of fun in that car and the interior felt significantly nicer than a Cavelier, as did the interior of the 87 Skyhawks that replaced it. These are the cars of my youth and I love seeing and reading about them.
I bought one of these brand new in December 1985. Same Carmine Red color as this one, and same color inside. Mine had the 2.0L four and one of the “Popular Option” packages which included a stereo radio, tilt wheel, delay wipers, power antenna and wire wheel covers. Within the first six months I began to regret the purchase due to several engine oil leaks the dealer’s service department couldn’t make go away, a noisy CV joint that had to be replaced, and suspension bushing issues. The paint also seemed abnormally thin on the lower part of the car. After fifteen months and 13K miles I lost faith in the Firenza and the dealer who sold it to me and traded it at another Olds store on a very nice used ’83 Cutlass Supreme Brougham. In so doing, I took a $4K loss but the Cutlass was a much better car and far less troublesome. A co-worker had an ’85 Firenza sedan with the 1.8L OHC engine like the featured car and had nowhere near the problems I had with mine. The only good thing I can say about my Firenza was that it was very good on our snowy roads here in NW PA.
Haven’t seen a coupe version of these is some time. Normally I see the hatchbacks and 4-doors when I do see them. Amazing shape for the age.
Nicest One Left, Because It’s Most Likely THE ONLY ONE LEFT.
Well, as long as we’re speaking of GM J-bodies, I ordered and took delivery of a new 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier Type 10 coupe. It was black with black, gray and red interior.
It was fully loaded including the digital dash, F-41 suspension and 5-speed trans.
These cars have gotten a bad rap over the years. But I drove mine for 20 years and had hardly any problems with it mechanically. No more so than any other car. I did have to have the dash rebuilt 2 or 3 times though.
In fact, when I sold it in 2005, it still had its original inboard high-beam headlights in place that still worked fine!
After all the excellent care I provided for that little car, my son called me one day after I sold it to tell me he had just seen our old Cavalier on the Interstate. He said it was filthy and was pulling a U-Haul trailer. UGH!
I bought a new Buick Skyhawk in 1984 for a college graduation present to myself. It came with five options (air, power steering, am/fm radio white wall tires and “deluxe” interior lighting). It cost $6995 and I paid cash for half and financed the rest. Cranberry exterior and gray upholstery. It was my first new car and man was I proud of it!
My first car was an 82 Oldsmobile Omega. Bought it in 1990 for $200 from an older gentleman who owned a small restaurant in town. Well cared for. He knew I worked nearby and needed a ride for school and work while building my bank account for that Camaro I wanted……and college! Lol. It was a white 4 door with a blue interior. It had the Oldsmobile white painted Rally wheels. Pretty little car for what it was. Constant oil leaks, broken CV joints and other miscellaneous headaches. But, never left me stranded. Believe it or not, I actually kind of miss it!
SportCoupe 👍
I agree with Sam, the author enthusiastically and positively, uses that phrase often, it’s what good writers do, but a more accurate term for most of these, like Sam said, it’s the ONLY one left. You look at junkyard views from the 90’s, and there were literally STACKS of these 80’s GM cars. A favorite at monster truck shows too. Most know, I’m not a fan of FWD, it’s supposed to be, engine, transmission, driveshaft, rear axle, like God intended, but most can attest, this was the worst era for American cars, and very few were saved. Naturally, there’s always an exception, for some reason, and with as many that were sold, one is bound to come up that escaped the shredder, and here you go. Just think, someone not from that era, can relive what a lousy time it was for American cars.
get off my lawn!! *boomer*
jk but dude you are entlitled to your opionion but for the time this car saved GM’s behind.. and weren’t that terrible (not saying they were good), but they were lightyears better than what they built in the 70’s…..
I had a ‘89 sunbird 5speed 1.8 OHC and it was a decent car for a kid in college, reliable, sporty and good on gas, what more did you need?
You forgot “stupid punks”,,,I don’t know if these cars saved GM, like the K car saved Chrysler, GM wasn’t that desperate,,yet, and due to our changing world, THIS is what Americans were basically, ,,forced to buy and drive. It went agin everything we, as Americans, held dear. Front drive, 4 cylinders, it was no V8 Chevelle, what we had come to expect from a city known as the king,, Detroit. Most, like my old man, still in a stage of denial, 4 cylinder, front drive, leave that for the Asians. These were okay cars, they were sporty, one of their few attributes. They had to be, as not many Americans wanted one in the 80’s. The changing emission laws wreaked havoc on all the cars then. Many still held out, this is only a fad, and we’ll be back to our behemoths in no time. Well, that was partially true. We obviously got burned out on front drive econoboxes, and went back to big vehicles, except today, it’s pickup trucks.
GM was heavily criticized for giving all 5 divisions the J car – but given the CAFE standards going into effect at the time, that was what they had to do. I never owned one, but I remember plenty of people who did.
The J-cars couldn’t have been THAT bad. They weren’t expensive to buy and keep, and you got what you paid for. Besides, there are still many of them running around today in one form or another.
According to the Carfax state emissions listing it had 109k miles in 2006
That’s probably why the seller mentions the car has a five-digit odometer.
That’s his disclaimer.
The dealer selling this Oldsmobile has a knack for finding CLEAN older cars. About a year and a half ago they had a first generation Acura Integra in rust free and stock condition selling for under $5,000. This Olds would certainly not be a great car for stop light racing with any car built in the last ten years.
Wow! I’ve seen many of the Cadillac variant but very few of the Olds J-bodies! Beautiful example.
We bought a few dozen J cars for the rental fleet in 82 and immediately regretted it (the saying did go “Never buy a first year car.”). Several cars actually spent more time in the shop than on the road mostly because the dealers had no technical knowledge and early on, didn’t have the diagnostic tools. I ran into a Cadillac product manager soon after and asked “Why are the J-cars such S@*&”. The way he described it was that the power train team had been given a target and the platform team delivered a car significantly heavier. Between concept and sign off, there hadn’t been exchange of knowledge (simplified description).
It’s impressive that the cars did improve in quality. I was in one a few years ago that was tight and rattle free and thought “Hey this is pretty nice for a 30 year old 40,000 km car. It actually had over 400,000 km.