(first posted 5/21/2012) So far, I’ve found all the versions of GM’s fabulous X-bodies (even a Phoenix coupe) except for the Olds Omega. So when I saw this fine example posted at the Cohort by improbocat, how could I resist? Now of course it was the Citation that was the big seller of the bunch, and the Skylark did quite well too, but the Omega and Pontiac Phoenix were the laggards. So which of those two was on the bottom of the sales barrel?
The Omega and Phoenix (Iron)duked it out for that spot. The Omega was last in 1980, and then traded places with the Phoenix for 1981, which is what this car is.
Now here we have a fine example indeed, and it has the rather uncommon steel wheels with puppy dish hub caps. I like!
Now if one is to see an Omega, it’s almost certainly to be a four door. The coupes were very uncommon indeed; especially as a Brougham,
or even more so as the sporty SX. It’s been so long, I almost forgot about the kick up over the rear wheels. Oooh; SXy!
Let’s take in the Omega’s fine waterfall grille before we bid it adieu.
I love these. And yes, I would want one. The back story alone and historical context of them make them interesting. I had an 84 Citation 2 door Club Coupe and loved it.
And if you find one today….most of the bugs will have been worked out.
“{There are} No Boring Cars”.
While I’m no fan of the X-cars in general, an early Omega like this would probably be my favorite of the bunch. The details were extremely well-executed, such as the wrapover grille and taillights–it still had a modicum of “Oldsmobileness” to it. It also managed to be squared-off without being blocky. Plus, on this particular example, the body-color wheels with trim caps are nothing short of fantastic! Like several others have noted, I don’t know that I’d want to own or even drive this car–but I quite enjoy looking at it. Unlike the X-body Skylarks, which I find singularly unattractive for some reason.
Found a coupe in 2011; not sure if it was driveable or not but it didn’t seem in too bad shape:
My Mother bought a new 81 Olds Omega Brougham coupe, it was white on the sides and the trunk and metallic navy blue on the hood and front roof, the back portion of the roof was white paint, no vinyl. Navy blue interior like the add above, it was very quite and had a great 8 track sound system….other than that, I hated it. Too stubby on both ends, too bad they didn’t lengthen it a bit more, because the interior was comfy. I’ll always remember that the power antenna worked with the radio off on switch, if you shut the radio the antenna would lower…
The overall impression is of a red-haired fellow with walleyes and heavy eyebrows. In short a Simpsons character.
It seems like the Omegas were never a big seller-way back in the ’70s I saw a lot of Novas and Apollo/Skylarks but Omegas were like hen’s teeth. In the ’80s with the X-cars again the popular versions were the Citations and Skylarks-at least in the area I lived in. Personally, the Omegas simply left me cold, I thought they were totally dull cars. In 1980, there was an Oldsmobile dealership near where I lived, I would pass by walking my dog. The dealer had an Omega, judging by the interior a top of line model; a four door with manual transmission, black wall tires, dog dish wheel covers, manual steering and brakes, no a/c. It sat there for months, one day I passed the dealership walking the dog and it was gone. Perhaps some cheapskate purchased it.
I used to have a Majorette diescast of this, in the metallic blue, sadly lost when I moved.
https://majorette-model-cars.fandom.com/wiki/Oldsmobile_(Omega)
Don’t think the claimed scale is right though.
Omega was overshadowed by the popular Cutlass line. Ventura/Phoenix were also in the corner, ignored by buyers and dealers.
However, Buick customers liked the compact Skylark, since seemed to be better trimmed than the Olds and Pontiac, and had name recognition with the previous mid size versions. Also, it got the ‘Buick on a budget’ buyers, all the way to the N body.
Wow – my namesake uncle was notorious for choosing bad cars and his list of cars included going into the Oldsmobile dealership and buying a new Olds Omega right off the showroom floor. It was optioned to not include options – to be the cheapest version of the new X car. His was a white coupe with a radio and a/c. I don’t know what he paid for it.
It was a 1980. White. Vinyl bench seat. No power anything. Naturally he shows up with it at home and surprised my saintly aunt. He did this every time he got a new car. He would just show up with it at home. My aunt was never consulted. While she ran the house, was a vital part of his business, she let him handle automobiles. You would think that after suffering through a pair of Crosleys thirty years earlier, she’d never let him buy another car. Love conquered all.
It was a horrible car. Just like the Oldsmobile Delta he traded it in with. Just like the Chrysler Newport before that. Just like the Jeep Wagoneer before that. My uncle had the worst luck with automobiles.
So, the showroom-floor purchased Omega lasted two years of constant nightmares. He traded it in for a for a Ford Tempo. His bad luck streak continued. When he passed away ten years ago, it was one of the things we laughed about. He was an accomplished gentleman and community leader – just don’t listen to his auto recommendations.
Your uncle and my father had similar taste – an ’81 Omega Brougham coupe, followed by a Tempo, though that one was a company car. Before the Omega was a Pacer. Before that…a Gremlin, so there you go.
I remember the Omega being very uncomfortable, especially the back seat, which was too upright. Definitely not good mechanically – there was an issue with the wheel pack losing lubrication, or something to that effect, and it was in the shop a lot. He eventually sold it to his former secretary when he got a new job that included the company Tempo.
Curbside Classic effect. Saw one of these on the road a coupla days ago. Old man driver may have been the original owner, the car looked like it had 40 years of patina. Shocking how small these are among the giant SUVs and pickups around it.
Believe it or don’t—see for yourself!—they went to the trouble and expense of making and homologating a European-spec version.
Quick Photoshop. Think I prefer how the Delta 88 handled this. Larger light assemblies and lenses for safety. And move the backup lights to either side of the licence plate. To clean up the design, and for family resemblance to the 88.
I especially think the larger taillights would be the big advantage. Lights on the Omega look too small.
Yup, yours is an improvement. You’ve got a good point about safety, too, but the European regs don’t care about this; they allow brake and turn signal lights to be much too small and much too dim. They don’t have the minimum-lit-area requirements that exist in the American regs.
I think GM went as narrow as they could with the taillights, to maximize the width of the smallish truck opening. Interesting, as I thought European makers often made their lights larger than the American makers. This, in spite of not being required to, by law.
Sometimes the European makers’ lamps are large, but often the lit area for the brake light and/or turn signal is small—at least outside the North American regulatory island.
An acquaintance of mine bought one of these Omegas brand new, when they first came out. It was a stripper, two-door in medium gray, a trim that actually enhanced the basically good lines.
I chided him about it.
He was about 30 years old, stolid, not very bright and not very handsome. But he was a loyal kind of guy, practical and hands-on, with a big heart and without a grain of pretension.
In hindsight, I believe he chose the car very carefully. Visually, size-wise, equipment wise and brand wise it was a solid choice, reflecting his own personality.
Lots of people saw these as a welcome departure from typical American marketing, a sensible and attractive alternative to the power, bloat and bling that infects American automobile sales and preys upon insecure psychology.
Too bad that GM double-crossed him.
So much potential, yet GM was in the habit of dropping the ball with each pass during this time period (8-6-4 V8, Iron duke, diesel, HT 4.1, Cimarron, etc, etc, etc). Appears that GM has not learned its lessons considering the EV Bolt is on fire!!
Have not entertained the purchase of a GM product since my ’83 Cutlass Supreme. How many others have been alienated.
My Uncle had one of these, briefly, he must have bought new around 1980. Drove it to (my sister’s, my mother’s and my) College graduation, he brought my Grandmother with him….thinking back on it, that’s probably the last time my surviving grandparents, uncles (and aunts) and cousins got together at our house. We were still living in Vermont (only 2 years later moved to central Texas, have been here 40 years now). Other than my immediate family, most of my relatives still live in the Northeast or Atlantic states, so haven’t seen them much since then (though we had a period where we’d drive up every year or so, we didn’t get to see all of them).
Don’t know how long he kept the Omega, but think his next car was his favorite, a 1984 Audi 4000. Must not have liked the Omega much, when my Dad bought his Impala my Uncle kind of chided him for buying “a GM”. My Dad actually copied my Uncle in 1969 when my Uncle bought a new ’69 LTD with 302, a 4 door coupe with drum brakes. My Dad even bought from the same dealership (sounds normal, but we didn’t even live in the same state as my Uncle) his ’69 Country Squire, 351 2bbl, with front discs.
I drove Omegas for Hertz when I was a transporter in ’77 and ’78, but those were the prior RWD version…never drove the X car one, though I guess I dodged a bullet when I test drove a Pontiac Phoenix in ’81….don’t know what I was doing, at the time I was newly hired, and really couldn’t swing a new car yet, but I like hatchbacks, and needed a car with better traction than my ’74 Datsun 710, which hit some black ice and slid it into a guardrail earlier that year. Ended up with a ’78 Scirocco, financed at the credit union where I worked, my boss was actually president of the credit union (odd situation, the president was a non-paid voluntary position on the board…neither my boss nor I had a job that involved banking nor finance). I got $500 extra on the loan than I was entitled to by my dates of service (the loan amounts were also based on how long a time you’d been a member and as a new hire I hadn’t been a member long).
It was probably the last Oldsmobile in our family. I had a pair of spinster Aunts who’d made a habit of buying Oldsmobiles from the 30’s to 1969, and my Dad bought a ’65 Olds F85 wagon new after his ’63 Rambler Classic Wagon got clobbered in front of our hotel room when we’d moved out of our house and were just about to leave for new home in Vermont (we actually moved there two times, ’65 and ’75, my Dad’s job had him moving a lot in his younger days).
Too bad GM didn’t spend more time/money making these right. They could have been a great thing for them, but turned to be an early 80’s black eye that probably persists to this day. Even like the styling (but I tend to like “blocky” cars or ones with sharp edges rather than “swoopy, rounded” cars).
I owned one of these p.o.s. cars! I bought it used from a construction worker. It was in burnt orange like this, with a standard a.m. only radio, vinyl tan bench seats front and back and a four on the floor manual shifter. Carpeted floors with a decade of ground in construction dirt.