While in Paris, Eric Bryant and I spent a lot of time pounding the pavement on the streets of Paris and talking all things autos. Invariably we touched upon Oldsmobile's demise, the reliving of which inspired today's RR of the Day. Owned by a 20-something Flickr member who goes by the handle madeindetroit_2006, this 2003 Oldsmobile Aurora is one of the Final 500, the last half-thou of Auroras built at GM's Orion, Michigan plant. It features the 4.0-liter L47 V8 that was a special version of Cadillac's Northstar V8 producing 250 horsepower and 260 ft-lbs. of torque made only for Oldsmobile. This particular model is No. 252 out of 500.
The Aurora was part of a strong car lineup abandoned when Oldsmobile was put down like a sick puppy in 2004. Together with the Silhouette, Bravado, Intrigue and the Alero, of which I happen to own a 1999 example of the latter, the Aurora ushered out of existence a company that had been selling cars since 1897. The least we could do is feature one of the brand's bright spots before its star faded.
If you'd like to see your own ride featured here, simply upload photos of your ride into our Flickr group. We select one image to highlight each week day, and on the weekend let you vote for the RR of the Week. Detailed instructions can be found after the jump.
How to submit to RR of the Day:
Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Search for and join the group called 'Autoblog RR of the Day'. Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide if possible and include as much information about it and yourself as possible. Even if your ride is sweet, it will not be chosen if there's not a lot of info accompanying it. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say "Send to group". Click that and select the Autoblog group. You're done, that's it!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
The other Bob @ Oct 2nd 2006 11:24AM
That is a totally underrated car. Looks good, smooth engine (not powerfull enough for today, but pretty torquey) You can still basically get this car in a Lucerne.
Olds made its best cars in its last years, but frankly, its too bad they didn't kill them off sooner. The Intrugue and this car would have made a nice Saturns.
Andrew @ Oct 2nd 2006 11:29AM
That's kind of morbid, the little badge on the side. "Since 1897", and now we killed it... and we're supposed to celebrate that?
It should have been Buick under the axe instead.
menice @ Oct 2nd 2006 11:31AM
not a big olds fan, but there was always something about this car that made me turn my head. the lines were there, they even put in a Supercharger on a few of these right?
I've seen a lot of Grandpa's out there with an butt load of HP.
always sad to see an icon close, but their line up is better off gone.
Nice Ride, hope it's kept this clean in and out
ny mods? maybe thats bad to do on a 1 of 500 car.
i'd drop it an inch+ and some rims but that is just me.
Peter Brunton @ Oct 2nd 2006 11:43AM
I'm sorry, but Olds had very little to offer the next generation amongst all the other brands out there. I'm not surprised it died. They just looked dated. Cadillac is a perfect example of a company that adapted to connect with the next generations demands and yet still offered products for our fathers. Olds was appropriately axed!
Avinash Machado @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:03PM
While Olds was no longer relevant I still was quite sad when it was axed. Perhaps someday GM might try and bring back the brand a few years down the line that is if GM itself survives.
Chevelicous @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:07PM
A name is just that, a name, it is the product and how that product is managed that determines if an automobile is a success. If it was just the name do you really think Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Subaru I could go on and on, do you think those ugly names would sell cars?
Lexus sounds like something old people wear to keep private things in place, Toyota sounds like something you would order in a Japanese resturant, Honda sounds like something you would do at the Mustang Ranch when the management isn't looking, and Subaru sounds like an illegal act done in the Australian outback unbeknownst to the aussie government.
Oldsmobile was a proud old nameplate that should have been kept alive. There was too much history and good feeling to say nothing of even songs being written about the Olds. This was another GM boneheaded mistake from the period when only the bottom line mattered, and good names and good feeling were squandered with little regard for the history of the product. "What is the worth a name"(ask a politician) anyway seemed to be their motto at the time. Here is another for you, "Coupe' de Ville" is there another name in the automobile world with more history and clout? Come on GM throw the "Coupe'de Ville" badge on a new CTS coupe and make more history, I dare you.
Denis @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:32PM
Olds...
I do believe Olds will return. I think its part of a 10 year plan to remove all oldsmobile dealership before GM enters the Automobile Brokerage Business.
Twenty-first marketing of autos via the internet and Oldsmobile with be the badge.
Direct Marketing to consumer from GM the manufacture. No inventorys and base price with allowed trade-ins taken to auction.
DC_1 @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:34PM
I loved Olds last lineup and owned a 99 Alero which I loved and miss. GM should have killed Buick instead.
Will @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:37PM
I used to own a 1999 Intrigue. The car was unbeleivably reliable. After 170k, the most I had done was replace the alternator.
There were 2 problems Olds had...
1- Appealed to an aging generation.
2- GM
casey @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:51PM
I started selling cars in 1994 at age 21 at a Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Cadillac/Oldsmobile dealership in Starkville MS. Chrysler was going through a re-birth with it's LH cars and new gen Rams, Cadillac had its bland but strong selling new DeVille out and Oldsmobile had the promise of the new "change our image" Aurora on the horizon. Their customer base then was between 90 and death (re: Cutlass Ciera), and the Aurora went over with that crowd like a fart in church, yet the younger, more affluent gen couldn't warm up to the Olds name and Acura entry fee. Still, the Aurora was a great car and became a steady, if slow seller, and the ensuing Intrigue and Alero really gave hope to the company. They were way better and less overwrought looking than their Pontiac counterparts and better built than any three Saturns combined. I had always hoped GM would have axed Pontiac and would have merged Oldsmobile's revived line-up with Saturn's sales philosophy (Olds even tried Saturn's one price shopping in 1995 with little success). Now Pontiac's cars have their styling toned down to the outgoing Oldsmobile's levels, and Saturn's latest products are starting to pick up on the exact part of the import market that Oldsmobile was targeting. Go figure. P.S. - Nice Ride!
G. Snyder @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:52PM
No - the Aurora was not supercharged. It was, however, a great car and very underated. It featured versions of the Northstar V8 (or, in the six, a shortened Northstar dubbed the Shortstar). Aside from being front drivers, these cars were really great and a departure from other GM cars. They had real wood (imagine that) and even rear foglights, which is very European.
Robert Hammen @ Oct 2nd 2006 12:56PM
No superchargers on Auroras. The Aurora was really a cut-price Caddy STS, but with better styling and fewer gadgets.
Olds' lineup before it was made over was Buick-like. Afterwards, when the Intrigue, Alero, and 2nd-gen Aurora were out, and the new Bravada (which came out after the announcement of the death of Olds), it had the best product of any GM division, including Caddy. Reasonably decent interiors, modern powertrains, pretty good styling. The problem was, they got rid of the traditional "Olds" buyers, but didn't wait long enough for new buyers to hit, and were bleeding money. Lots of marketing miscues (Leo Burnett mangled the account, plus the first-gen Aurora only had the Oldsmobile name on the radio), too...
Here's my first-gen Aurora. Fantastic car in its day (was supposed to be a 1993 model, but GM's cash crisis of the early 90's delayed it until early '94 when it came out as a '95 model):
http://www.hammen.net/car/images/rightside.jpg
Ted K @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:23PM
"Part of a strong lineup"? These cars sucked and their sales showed it.
Drewboy @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:27PM
I really like the car! I felt half perverted liking the Aurora at age 18, and at 25 I still wouldn't mind having one to drive. Definately a sweet looking ride with some power to back it up. Too bad GM bailed on Olds, I think Saturn or Buick should have died first.
Alex Nunez @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:34PM
I'm an Aurora fan as well. I wanted to buy a used Shortstar model several years ago, but it was a super-low-mileage example and was simply out of my price range at the time. I did drive it, though, and even with the six, it offered nice power -- more than enough to keep me happy in it as a daily driver had I pulled the trigger. The interior was logical and good-looking, too.
MadeinDetroit @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:37PM
Glad you like the car. More or less it’s stock and very clean inside and out treat it like it's my pride and joy. Some interesting bits are the drivers console are angled towards the driver, the noted rear fog lights, rain sensing wipers, Bose Stereo, and REAL wood trim and Oldsmobile's "Precision Control System" basically, stablitrak before it got popular, plus lots of other features. Oldsmobile loaded these cars up really.
This is my daily driver and it does a fantastic job of it and has never given me a bit of trouble. The only downside to this car is that is a front driver. But there’s never confusing this car with any others in the parking lot.
Nick @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:46PM
I loved the look and the direction Olds was going in the last few years they were around. I can remember being in HS in 1996/1997 and seeing the Olds "Antares" concept and how great it looked. The car was stunning and set the design direction for future Oldsmobiles. Then I can remember seeing the look of the original Aurora, etc. --- all great cars, all great products. Even the Alero was a good car with nice styling. For a time, you could almost say that Olds made the very best looking and best appointed products at GM (with the exception of the Corvette).
Too bad it's all a fond memory now. I understand the reasons for killing Olds and I accept it --- but its still hard to see "what could have been", you know?
Carl @ Oct 2nd 2006 3:15PM
I remember going to look at a Buick Regal GS with my mom in 1995, and the salesman at the dealership gave me a fancy brochure for the Aurora (I was 13 at the time, still not completely smitten with Saab as I am today) and said "Hold onto that, kid... it'll be worth something some day". Come to think of it, where did I put that? I always liked the Aurora, and I've had the pleasure of driving a newer V8 variant. The Bravada lives on as the Saab 9-7x -- I drove one of those and felt a lot of Olds despite the key where the cupholder should be.
SherbornSean @ Oct 2nd 2006 3:18PM
John,
Did you just write a paragraph that included the phrase "strong car lineup" and the word "Alero"?
Come on.
Richard Warren @ Oct 2nd 2006 3:20PM
"sales sucked" Time for a reality check
Nice car, sad demise to a great name. For those too young or those that can’t remember:
1983-1986 Olds sold an average of 1million cars per year
1976-1981 The Cutlass name was the number one selling name in the country.
By 1999 through a series of blunders and plunders by upper GM management (read Roger Smith, the man who truly killed GM) Sales were down, but a nothing to sneeze at 352,000
On the way to demise and fueled by corporate BS and lack of action Olds in it’s decling years(known to be going out of business) still managed to sell
2001 233,745
2002 155,112
2003 125,000
2004 28,000
A total of 416,982 vehicles from a company known to be closing it’s doors. And folks say there was no market?
GM should have allowed Olds the resources to remain its technical leader (which it was for many years)
GM allowed Olds to stagnate and offered no image at all to speak of, despite its brand-management fantasy GM hired In the late 70s and '80s, import automakers -- Honda in particular -- targeted Oldsmobile dealers, apparently deciding they were, good, vulnerable, or both. Think about that all you Honda fans the market targeted was not the youth market at all but your supposed “old fogey” Oldsmobile buyer. Sort of puts a new light on the hot Honda’s dosen’t it?
The Cutlass was cash cow. GM corporate (not the division) dropped Cutlass and every other name that meant something to Olds buyers. Name that made GM billions over the life of Oldsmobile.
In addition to Cutlass, names like Toronado, 88 and 98 names with vast followings. Achieva, Alero, Bravada, Intrigue and Aurora. (ending with a vowel seemed great I guess) brought on the question. What was an Oldsmobile?.
Think about it an Accord is still an Accord, a Camry still a Camry.
And of course the real new namplate that hurt Chevrolet and Oldsmobile was Saturn, (still a non profit division, now loaded with Opel product). Money squandered off by Roger Smiths wet dream that should have gone to the established divisions for new product.