Earlier this week, in an example of cross-magazine synergy, both Automobile and Car and Driver ran April Fool's gags trumpeting the return of a rejuvenated, Toyota-owned Oldsmobile. The pubs even shared the same images, which depicted Oldsmofied versions of the Toyota Sequoia (Oldsmobile Super 88) and 4Runner (Oldsmobile Intrigue). It was goofy fun, and we all had a laugh and moved on. It would appear that not everyone caught the joke, however, and this is where things get substantially more amusing.April 1st came and went, and the associated April Foolery instantly became old news... almost. You see, the Oldsmobile joke wound up having legs thanks to ABC Radio's Paul Harvey news update. Guest host Ron Chapman, filling in for the legendary Mr. Harvey, reported the Oldsmobile story as fact during the Noon news update on April 2nd. It went like this:
Date April 02, 2008
Time 11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
Station Syndicated Radio
Location Network
Program Paul Harvey
RON CHAPMAN, anchor:
And remember about four years ago, General Motors
discontinued their car line known as Oldsmobile. I saw
this story yesterday and I kind of thought it was an April
Fools'. It turns out it's not.
General Motors stopped manufacturing Oldsmobiles, stopped
making them in 2004. David Gluckman of Automobile Magazine
says they apparently also stopped paying any attention to
the name Oldsmobile as well and the copyright on the
Oldsmobile name ran out and nobody at General Motors
noticed. But one person in the US Copyright Office did,
saw the name was freely available, called a relative who
worked for Toyota.
So, as of this day, the name Oldsmobile belongs not to GM
but to Toyota. And they're thinking of using it on a new
mid-level luxury model to be marketed where? Right here in
the United States.
You can listen to the clip at PaulHarvey.com. Choose the Wednesday noon update and fast-forward to 3:12 into the broadcast.
Poor Ron. They got him good. Oldsmobile is still dead and GM still controls the name, but now he knows... the rest of the story.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Avinash machado @ Apr 5th 2008 7:42AM
GM holds the rights to the Oldsmobile name till 2011.
Jason @ Apr 5th 2008 8:02AM
They are lots of lame brains who would believe this. This article only gives more fuel to those who like to put down or ridicule our country.
BOB @ Apr 5th 2008 3:52PM
"Ridiculing our country'????
GM and the UAW disrespected our country like crazy, as their greed and stupidity took away so much American pride and American jobs.
IF YOU CANT MAKE FUN OF YOURSELF AND TELL THE TRUTH - your mistakes repeat and repeat.
And yes Saturn (the planet on the hood ornament of 50's Oldsmobiles) was some misguided, botched attempt to build cars outside the Detroit and UAW restrictions. and got the $$ and attention that Olds needed.
Jason @ Apr 5th 2008 7:06PM
To Bob,
It's true about GM's past but we do not live in the past. Today, GM is making some of the finest cars in the world and they will continue to do so. Forget the past and give them credit for finally getting their act together. Knocking GM down at this point, I find senseless. Today, you can take pride for what they are doing.
Stéphane Dumas @ Apr 5th 2008 8:33AM
maybe we should begin to think of ideas for next year April fool jokes like how about?
-Toyota's Georgetown and Honda's Marysvilles employees plant joined the UAW
-spyshots: next-gen Accord bigger as the Ford Crown Victoria
-the Turbine engine strike back
-etc....
the friendly grizzly @ Apr 5th 2008 10:57AM
More April Fools stories:
VW switches from Bosch to Delphi, ending melting coil-pack problems.
Chrysler releases new Sebring and Stratus models that prove to be sales leaders.
Ford Motors reports six months without a single fire-related recall.
Toyota Motors opens styling department.
Honda showed sneak views of its new, overhead valve, 2 valve per cylinder 4-banger.
Nissan, with their entire car fleet now using CVTs, enters into negotiations with GM to acquire the Dynaflow name and patents.
Tata enters the US market. Rural newspaper road tests one and declares the Tata "bodacious!"
Mercury will release yet still another further different variation of a Ford. Sales go up 762%: they sold 124 cars this quarter.
Chrysler president Nardelli is offered a new position as CEO of Lowe's.
...and so on.
John @ Apr 5th 2008 2:26PM
The joke is on GM who have been making bad decisions for decades, including their treatment of Oldsmobile. Read 'Setting the Pace' written by two former GM marketing executives to learn how corporate thinking gutted a brand long devoted to innovation, quality and fair treatment of workers. Is it any wonder the US auto industry is on the rocks?
Egon @ Apr 5th 2008 8:34AM
Wow. That's pretty funny.
I find it amazing that there are still folks out there that try to pass off Mr. Harvey's infomercial/commentary as 'The News'. Granted, many seem to be in the silver-haired demographic, but still...
Has anyone in the Paul Harvey 'news'room sent out a retraction?
Derek @ Apr 5th 2008 8:39AM
Why would a reporter ever need to cross-check facts on a story? What? Nahhhhh...
Oh, wait, maybe his watch was off one day? I'm sure GM has an office full of lawyers and other guys like that so they don't just forget about stuff like this.
JayP @ Apr 5th 2008 9:04AM
Ha! The bag of p-ss was pwned!
f3rg @ Apr 5th 2008 9:26AM
Wow, what a moron. It's even funnier listening to him report it, as opposed to just reading the transcript above. It also makes you wonder how much more "news" he reads and believes on a daily basis.
ltclloyd @ Apr 5th 2008 10:43AM
This is funny since some of the last olds' I sold are still under factory warranty, yea they forgot. I had one of the last 04 alero's and it was a model of reliability. I am saddened that GM had chosen to revive Saturn rather then reviving a car with 100+ year history. But Ransom Olds had no Idea his namesake would sound dated and therefore unmarketable a century later.
R Wiggler @ Apr 5th 2008 11:57AM
I always thought they should have dumped Buick instead of Oldsmobile. At least GM was having a little luck getting people under 55 to buy Olds. Buick hasn't had much luck with this despite the millions wasted on paying Tiger Woods.
Esprit bird @ Apr 5th 2008 12:53PM
Buick has turned out to be doing pretty good after the dropping of the 2004 models and using only the 3 new models. I see a lot of them around. Olds did have SOME potential but it just was not enough to survive. I love my Aura, it has the nicest interior of any car GM had around at the time and the Alero was a cheap outlet to the lower class older generation and th Intreigue with its little 3.5 was actually fun to drive....oh well =)
jamie @ Apr 5th 2008 1:43PM
SATURN is the new Oldsmobile! LMFAO.
Rususeruru @ Apr 5th 2008 6:07PM
I would think that GM would retain the rights to the Olds name through a trademark which is decidedly more strict than any copyright though I suppose I'm nitpicking semantics with the point. Though thanks to Disney copyright will eventually mean retaining the rights for eternity.
Jeremy B @ Apr 9th 2008 4:02PM
Y did GM even choose to dump oldsmobile! Dumbest mistake of their life!