At the close of the 2004 model year, GM will discontinue the Oldsmobile brand name. Oldsmobile celebrated its centennial in 2001, and had one of the best selling (and most stolen) cars in its 1981-87 Cutlass Supreme. However, its product line is a bit lame right now. The last car introduced under the Olds name was the updated Aurora; the last vehicle was the Bravada SUV. The bread-and-butter sedan Intrigue (prominently featured in The X-Files movie) was dropped for 2003. Strangely enough, Oldsmobile had a good display at the recent New York Auto Show, and was giving away promotional DVD's there instead of the usual brochures. In a little more than a year, it will join a slew of other great automotive brand names (Packard, Studebaker, DeSoto and most recently Plymouth) that have passed into hisory.

My first car, (Well, my first car that always ran) was a 1975 Olds Cutlass Supreme. (This was 1987.)

She had a Buick 350 with a 4-barrel carburetor. (That was a mistake that year. It was supposed to have a 325 and a 2-barrel carb. The little old ladies who just drove them to church on Sunday didn't know.) Hit the gas and the other two barrels really killed you mileage. It could only be passed if I gave expressed, written permission.

When I went over 60, however, you could tell it wasn't exactly aerodynamic by the screaming of the wind.

The automatic transmission had a tendency to shift right when you started to coast. It is unnerving to speed up as you move your foot from the gas to the brake.

Of course it could only go fast on the highway because the power steering was so unresponsive I used to entertain my friends by jerking the wheel and the car would not turn. By 1989 the car could also stall on a dime.

Every car I've had since I secretly think of as a temporary replacement until I get another Olds. I guess I'll have lots of temporary replacements.

It's not reunited with the other car brand founded by Ransome Eli Olds, see if you can think of the other.

That would be the Reo.
And you thought it was just a R&R group.

Reo, if the company still exists, makes just trucks. They stopped making cars decades ago.

My first car, (Well, my first car that always ran) was a 1975 Olds Cutlass Supreme. (This was 1987.)

So, this was your father's Oldsmobile?

Actually ScottN it was my grandmother-in-law's (now ex-grand-mother-in-law).

My very first car, that didn't always run and only lasted a month, was a 1975 Chevy Nova with duel exhaust and really worn shocks. She'd run rough like a tired old man for a few minutes after starting before she'd back fire with a cloud of thick black smoke out of both exhausts. (It was as loud as, well, a backfiring engine.)

After the backfire she'd take off like a rocket from the State Trooper who just witnessed you break many emissions laws.

The car after the Olds was a 1987 Hyundai Excel or as I called it a Ford Gelding. The same car as Rodney "Can we all get along here" King. The LA police said Rodney King was doing 90 MPH. You'd need a really steep hill, and then you may not get to 90. I would suggest dropping the car from a helicopter to get to 90.

When I grew up and got a sensible car (the Gelding) I sold the Olds to an old man.

OK, it says something about American men, but I pulled over and cried when I passed her on the highway in the Gelding. (Yeah, I know, but I couldn't help feeling I let her down and she deserved better.)

not Olds, but Dave Barry discusses how they can't make cars as undependable as they used to.

My very first car, that didn't always run and only lasted a month, was a 1975 Chevy Nova

Wow! My very first car was a '75 Chevy Monza. It lasted one month, before the unfortunate incident with the intersection, the red light, and the kid with the brand spanking new 1984 Mustang.

There was something to be said for those solid steel bodies. My car had the passenger door dinged in all the way to the center console. I was still able to drive it home, though. The Mustang accordioned.

Frankly I don't know who would buy their kid a new car. Odds are they'll wreck it. There is a reason insurance rates are higher for teenagers (especially males).

When that happens (not "if") being in a tank is better than a cardboard box, even if the tank only get 8 miles per gallon.

Depends on the type of crash. A tank will drive away from a fender bender while a cardboard box will buckle easier. A cardboard box will take the impact of the crash and allow the driver a better chance of escape unharmed while a tank will transmit all the force of a 75mph head on colision into the human body inside.

Brian Fitzgerald,

A cardboard box also has a chance of swerving to avoid the crash all together.

And stopping quicker as basic physics will show.

Brian Fitzgerald,

I'm sure the KE is easier to stop, but I'd rather be in a tank with good brakes than a carboard box with poor brakes.

Change of subject. I heard on The Motley Fool on NPR that the best selling car, in terms of versus expectations, was the Oldsmobile after GM announced it would become scarce.

Ok as this thread seems to deal mostly with cars (although going away cars not coming in new ones I thought it might be good to put this here. I work for a Dodge dealership and we got the new 2004 Durangos in today (Well 3 of them at least) In case anyone didnt know they have stopped making the old body style and have totally redesigned the thing. It is 6 inches longer, 4 inches wider and 3 inches taller. Which just by the way it sounds doesnt seem that much bigger but after having driven one (One of the joys of the job) It most definately is bigger. A full grown adult can now finally sit in the 3rd row without needing a stretcher when he gets to town. We got 1 base model and 2 slt models. The reactoin from the slaesmen varied from gee this thing is ugly to it looks ok. So I dont know how they are going to be selling. I'm not gonna go into a sales pitch or anything (Which the dealerhsip might need as we only had 1 sale all day today) but I thought you might find it interesting that they have the Hemi and get about 13/18 MPg and cost 37,500 for the Slt and have a V6 and 26,500 for the bse 2 row model.
I just thought people might find this interesting as they officially wont be playing the ads and coming out until the 15th suppossedly.

Sorry about the bad spelling but I've only been up since about 10 and since we havent been selling cars recently they have been having the lot techs do all kinds of make busy work.

Oh geez so they took an already big and bloated gasguzzler and made it even more bloated and are expecting this to make things better? Whatever happened to a nice minivan or station wagon? Eh? Most of the SUVs I see on the road never even leave the road and are driven by status seeking yuppies and yuppie wanna bes.

Anonsuvfan,

How some people assume I don't know what car is best for me! I don't know how often on the way to the video store I have to climb a mountain range. Why just yesterday I needed bread and tissues and have to drive through the stream to get to the supermarket.

Last Oldsmobile rolls off the assembly line.

GM is now poised to eliminate Pontiac, as part of its restructuring plan. Also, the company is looking to unload its Hummer and Saab brands as its quest for survival continues. More here.

Saturn, too, from what I've heard.

GM is now poised to eliminate Pontiac

Why? Buick, I'd understand. But why Pontiac?

Oddly, Ford seems to be hanging in there with Mercury.

Why? Buick, I'd understand. But why Pontiac?
I agree with you. I think it's not a smart move. If GM wants a mid-priced brand, Pontiac would fit just fine. Pontiac has a fun, sporty image, while Buick seems old and stodgy.

Ford seems to be hanging in there with Mercury.
For now. One thing I find odd, though. In 2005, Ford introduced the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego sedans. For 2008, they were re-styled a bit and re-named Taurus and Sable (the originals were dropped in 2007 after 21 years.) For 2010, Ford will re-style the Taurus, but drop the Sable. Maybe that's an omen that Mercury is not long for this world, and only the Ford and Lincoln brands will survive.

btw, can a prez get a ceo fired? I thought its stockholders
or something

When they come to the Prez begging for money he can say "if you want the money you have to fire that guy who ran your company into the ground."

Saturn, too, from what I've heard.

GM was in talks to sell its Saturn brand to Penske Auto Group. Until they fell apart. Now, GM will phase out the brand. More here.

Another brand bites the dust - Ford will phase out it's Mercury nameplate at the end of 2010. More
here. (I wonder what will become of Mercury spokeswoman Jill Wagner. Will she displace Ford spokesman Mike Rowe?)

"But Mercury did have one thing in its favor: It consistently outsold the Lincoln brand, which has been struggling despite a relatively new lineup and high scores in dependability surveys. Mercury sold nearly 10,000 more vehicles than Lincoln last year, even though its sales fell 23 percent from the year before."

Wait, what? They are dumping the more successful of the two brands to focus on the more expensive brand?

This "logic" reminds me of the joke about the little girl selling lemonade for $50 a cup. "I only need to sell one!"

They're dropping Mercury to focus on Lincoln as the upscale brand... They're going to try to position Lincoln like Lexus, Infiniti and Acura.

I wonder what will become of Mercury spokeswoman Jill Wagner.

They'll probably expand her role on "Wipeout". Although, to be honest, I don't recall seeing Mercury advertised for a while.

The Ford Crown Victoria, long the favorite vehicle of police departments and taxicabs, has ceased production; the last car rolled off the assembly line on 9/15/2011. The Wikipedia article has a picture of the last Crown Vic; a white one. (If the article writers think the puny Ford Transit Connect will cut it as a NYC taxicab, they've got a lot to learn.)

They don't. They're just relating the fact that Ford is indicated that in their June 16, 2011 press release, which is the source cited for that passage.

I've posted this elsewhere, but - FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, in a totally boneheaded move, will retire Chrysler's iconic Pentastar logo. More on that here.

When's the last time the Pentastar was used? Dodge now uses an emblem representing their "crosshairs" grill. Chrysler (the division) now uses that winged logo. Jeep just has the word "Jeep". Ram took the ram's head logo with them when they separated from Dodge.

I was wondering the same thing, Brian.

In another shortsighted and boneheaded move from FCA, CEO Sergio Marchionne has said that production of the Dart (introduced in 2013) and the 200 (introduced just last year) will end in 18 months. FCA will gear its output toward more profitable SUV's. That's completely asinine. Gas prices are low now, but they ain't gonna stay that way. When gas prices were high (like in 2008), sales of SUV's suffered. I rented a 200 for business just before Thanksgiving. It's a decent car, but the tech-laden displays annoyed me a bit. (I didn't drive it a lot; my co-worker did most of the driving). This writer feels somewhat differently.