“97 Aurora for sale. Dealer maintained since new. Just moved here from Kansas, no rust. New tires 6mo ago. Runs great, when it starts (mechanic says it needs new starter). $700 firm. Call Lisa, anytime after 5pm.”
Needless to say, I had the trailer hooked up in less time than it took you to read this sentence.
Whenever I go out chasing a possible new-to-me vehicle, I always bring a trailer. You never know whether the object of your conquest will be roadworthy or not… and often times, immobile cars (even those whose problems are very minor) end up going cheap.
For towing disabled vehicles, I generally insist on using a 3/4 ton or larger vehicle. It just makes the job that much easier. Things like this…
…and this…
…and this…
…are pretty much painless when you’ve got an appropriately sized truck and trailer.
In the case of this Aurora, I might not have needed the trailer. The owner told me on the phone that it did indeed crank slowly, but that once running it would stay running, with the voltmeter reading a respectable fourteen volts, and the battery having just passed a load test with flying colors.
Still, the car was a good eighty miles away. Could I really trust it to make the trip? Maybe, maybe not. So as always, I decided to burn the extra gas and bring the trailer.
Upon arrival, I found the car to be everything the owner said it was. “Lisa” (whose name I’ve changed, mostly because I don’t remember her real name) was a woman in her thirties who’d moved to Minneapolis for work. Her family owned a GM dealership back in Kansas, and had set her up with this car several years ago.
Seems the original owner had bought it new at the dealership and kept it for a decade or so, driving it sparingly and always bringing it in for service per the recommended schedule. When the time came to trade up, the original owner got a fancy new something-or-other, and Lisa got to hang onto this well-kept Olds.
But with the family dealership now hundreds of miles away, keeping the car maintained was more of a hassle–and considerably more expensive. So when Lisa’s new mechanic quoted her $500 to replace the Aurora’s starter, she decided to call it quits. Some Camcord-type thing now sat in her driveway, brand new and still wearing dealer tags. Meanwhile the Olds sat beside the curb, collecting leaves and looking forgotten.
I gave it a thorough once-over. For a car with 170K miles, it was unbelievably clean and straight. There was nary a flaw in the body to be found. The interior was likewise nice; though the leather was clearly broken in, and the carpet looked like it could benefit from a good shampooing, it was in pretty good shape overall.
The starter was barely able to turn the engine over, but amazingly, it did manage to get it started. Once running, the engine sounded good. Of course I was nervous about taking on anything with a late ’90s Northstar engine (and equally apprehensive about finding a buyer for one down the road), but all signs pointed to “yes.”
When Lisa said “$700 firm” in the ad, she meant it. I had to try haggling, of course–my rule of thumb on craigslist cars is that one should always be able to get the price down by at least ten percent–but she wasn’t budging. I couldn’t blame her for standing firm, and I told her so. It had been kept in good shape, and if all worked out, it’d be a great deal for me.
With the transaction completed, I winched the car onto the trailer and headed home.
On the way back up north, I stopped at the U-Pull and bought a starter. This was the first time I’d ever had to remove an intake manifold to get at a starter–a strange arrangement, to be sure. I also picked up what few other pieces it needed, such as a driver’s window switch assembly (one of the switches was finicky) and a plastic wheel cap (one of the four was missing).
I wasted no time getting my latest acquisition into the garage for repairs. After spending some time under the hood, it wasn’t difficult to see what had caused the starter’s failure: it had been bathing in an oil-like substance, which I eventually determined was power steering fluid.
Turns out a leaking power steering hose fitting had been squirting fluid near the plastic upper intake manifold, where it had been collecting in the valley below. Over time, the fluid had built up, finally rising to a level where it was able to drown the starter.
Determining the source of the leak took several rounds of soaking up the fluid, reassembling the manifold, running the engine, then disassembling again and looking for evidence. But eventually I found the offending fitting, and was able to stop the leak.
I also got to hone my skills in quickly assembling and disassembling Northstar intakes. By the third time or so, I could have held my own against any flat-rate mechanic.
After the starter issue was solved, the car ran like a dream. I was still nervous about owning a Northstar, but I could certainly see their appeal–plenty of torque, nice and smooth, just an all-around pleasant driving experience.
The car itself wasn’t anything to sneeze at, either. The paint shined like new with minimal effort, and the interior cleaned up decently as well. It was comfortable, it had plenty of options, and the frameless windows were a refreshing change of pace for a FWD GM product.
But even with the Olds in tip-top shape, I wasn’t putting all that many miles on it. Most of my driving was work-related, and for that I needed a work truck. The Aurora, nice as it was, really wasn’t the tool for the job when it came to hauling parts.
As many of you already know, my work truck is a 1/2 ton Chevy. It has a 4.3 V6 and a 4L60E transmission. As a result, I try to avoid towing with it. That job usually falls to one of the larger vehicles, as seen above. But sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you’d like them to.
So after too much of this…
That Firebird was so low, I had to take the wheels off the dolly in order to load it!
…and this…
The new flatbed, pre-restoration
…and this…
At least this was light enough to be a non-issue
…my work truck’s tranny finally said uncle. Everything was going great, and then “ping, zing!”–no more reverse.
I searched high and low for a reasonably-priced replacement transmission. The best one I could find was located about 100 miles away, kind of a long haul for one of the gas guzzling 1-tons. So I popped the trunk on the Aurora, laid down a piece of plywood and several pieces of old carpet, and headed out. A few hours later, the Oldsmobile and I returned with the new transmission–mission accomplished!
Though I had enjoyed driving the Aurora, I couldn’t quite find the same level of enjoyment when looking at its profile. Besides, I’d bought it with resale in mind. So now that I’d sorted out its problems and had a little fun, it was time to sell it.
The first person who saw it, bought it. He was an older gentleman who’d been specifically seeking a first-generation Aurora, and could find no reason to reject mine. Just like before, no haggling took place–we exchanged cash for title, and both parties walked away happy.
So, there you have it: one more car successfully placed in a loving home.
Great story Keith, and that car looks in great condition! It’s even a nice color, you don’t see many of these around anymore, and certainly not in that condition.
First of all, I have to say that the 1st generation Aurora is my favorite ‘90s Oldsmobile. Your’s was a great color combination too. I have a love for that forrest green color of the 90s. My grandfather owned a 1997 Eighty-Eight in a similar (probably the same) color.
It’s truly sad that the Aurora never lived up to its full potential. As it’s been discussed before here, the Aurora was supposed to be introduced several years earlier. I bet it would’ve fared better had that happened, and would’ve made a bigger impact in helping Olds.
The same can be said for the 2nd generation as well. It was originally supposed to be larger and even more premium than the original, but then its platform was cancelled due to the Buick Riviera’s demise. The 2nd generation was originally supposed to be a separate model below the Aurora in Oldsmobile’s lineup. While still a decent car, it was no doubt a disappointment after the original.
Not saying either of these changes would’ve saved Oldsmobile, but one can only wonder though.
Correct, the 2nd gen Aurora was actually an 88 replacement that was supposed to be named Antares.
The 1st gen Aurora sold well for the first several years, but then it started to tapper off, it was a great looking car, I always liked them as well.
What really hurt Oldsmobile was the gap between the introduction of the Aurora and the Intrigue. The Aurora was a nice “halo” car, but Oldsmobile’s bread-and-butter in those days should have been the family sedan segment. The Intrigue didn’t debut until the summer of 1997, or over three years after the Aurora debuted (that was the spring of 1994, if I recall correctly).
People who liked the Aurora, but couldn’t afford one, went to the Oldsmobile dealer and found that the aged Cutlass Supreme or even more aged Cutlass Ciera were still being sold, and promptly went elsewhere for a new car.
Yeah, there should have been a lower priced companion, the Intrigue was also well received at first, but it should have been launched alongside the Aurora.
I disagree with Oldsmobile being hurt by not offering the Intrigue sooner and that they lost customers by keeping the old Cutlass Ciera and Supreme around for so long. The last year the Ciera was sold(1996) it sold strongly( With just under 125,000 made) and was still Oldsmobile’s most popular and strongest selling model right up until the end and all Ciera’s from about 1988 were profit as the everything related to its production had been paid back
Likewise the Cutlass Supreme was still a strong seller by the time it got axed for the Intrigue.
Those prospective buyers going to the Oldsmobile dealer in the 1990’s were of the WWII generation and not 25-30 year old folks. Those buyers ether bought Pontiac or Chevy or went to Toyota, Honda or other imports. Oldsmobile had a OAP (Old Age Pensioner) stigma to it(which is a shame as a 1970 Olds 442 could tear up the tarmac easily). The older generation wanted value and comfortable rides and not a shapely halo car. sales of the Aurora never exceeded 60,000 in its time and less then 210,000 cars were sold over 2 generations. Sadly had the Aurora been a Pontiac or Chevy it might have had double the sales. Instead the outgoing 1991-1996 98 sold more over its lifetime then the Aurora did in its lifetime.
What hurt Oldsmobile is that they dropped the Ciera and dragged the Cutlass name in the mud by applying it to a Malibu clone.
I dunno how continuing to sell the 1982 Ciera in 1996 would have helped, the fact that the ancient Ciera was Oldsmobile best seller was already a telling sign of trouble.
Boomers bought Cutlasses like hot cakes in the 70s, even my Dad had three of them in his early 20s. An influx of elderly buyers had everything to do with product and nothing to do with Olds supposedly being defined the as pensioners brand of choice. That label existed because of keeping out of date cars like the Ciera with giant cataract proof dashboards in production for so long.
And keeping old and redundant cars in production past their sell by date may maximise short term profits for the corporation but it’s not a good business model. If it were cars would never be updated.
The missing wheel cap thing seems to be an Aurora phenomenon, somewhere, there is a alternate dimension where they all disappeared to, I always see these missing only ONE of the caps.
That starter in the valley always seemed like it would be a massive pain in the ass on a Northstar, never done one though.
That starter in the valley always seemed like it would be a massive pain in the ass on a Northstar, never done one though.
The Ford 3.5 V6 in my Taurus X and a lot of other Fords, has the water pump in the valley. Plenty of owners on Edmund’s crying about the $1,000 cost to replace it.
How about when said water pump fails in spectacular fashion and introduces coolant into the oil. 3.5 in the MKZ, dead at 75k miles. Thank goodness for Ford ESP. $8000 job for a $100 deductable.
The Toyota/Lexus 1UZ-FE has its starter buried underneath the intake, but it usually lasts for quite a long time.
Nice find on a nice ride.
Great car and article. There should be a special place in hell for dealers who place their badge right onto the tailight like that!
+1
Here in Cleveland we have a dealer (Spitzer) that isn’t happy with a sticker, they drill a couple of holes and stick a chrome emblem on the car. Too often they put them on crooked. Primary reason I’d never buy from them.
Good grief, are they still using those? I can remember those Spitzer plates on cars from the 70s, and considered them retro even then. That was once very common, and you will still find those things on a lot of original 50s cars. But in 2014? Yikes!
I can give you a thousand reasons NOT to buy a car from Spitzer, and none of those reasons have anything to do with their silly dealer badges 😀 …
Here in North Carolina, I’ve come across cars with the “Spitzer” nameplate. The script was “old fashioned” looking and seemed to stretch out for about half a mile. Definitely a ’50 vintage look, as seen below…
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
When you show up with a trailer to look at a car for sale doesn’t that hurt your bargaining power? Even if the vehicle is immobile the seller might assume that you really want the car and won’t come down in price.
I figure just the opposite. I have bought and sold quite a few cars, and when selling it is always some motivation when you have someone really ready to buy, rather than the guy who says he is interested but wants to think about it or will have the money in 3 weeks. When the guy in the trailer starts to walk away, there is some incentive to drop your price a bit.
+1
Too many sellers get sick of craigslist in particular because of all the flaky buyers. Showing up when/where you say is a good start. Having your cash and trailer is excellent reinforcement – if they do the deal now, they’ll get paid and be relieved of the vehicle now.
I often include “have cash and trailer ready to go” in my initial responses. It’s a great motivator.
Only one seller ever tried that on me – “you towed that trailer all the way out here, and yet you tell me you’re gonna walk over $100?” My response? “I tow that thing everywhere, and I’ve got two more to look at tonight anyways. We got a deal or not?”
Having a flatbed trailer is like having a pickup truck or a station wagon. Once you roll with one, you wonder how you could ever go without. A winch or come-alongs are great too.
Yes, yes, yes.
Buying the dolly was a huge step up for me back when. No more having to worry about rented dollies arriving broken, being returned late, or falling apart during the job. Given the dolly, a come-along, and some magnetic taillights, I could move just about anything – and it paid for itself within the first few months.
But moving up to the flatbed was even better. The dolly was beginning to suffer from old age and wear, with many things on it being welded and rewelded (I quite literally was working towards having used it to death). That made the difference even more dramatic. My first haul with it was a 3/4 ton high roof Chevy conversion van, and it towed like a dream.
I lucked out on finding the trailer. It was a name-brand unit built in 2006, a tandem with 5-lugs which was licensed for 8000lbs and weighed 2000 empty. It’d been used and abused by a scrapper, so it needed some serious TLC – but I was able to keep the axles, frame, and much of the wood (all the “big” stuff). It was sold to me in not-quite-roadworthy shape for $600.
(Interestingly enough, the young couple selling it mentioned that they were late for our appointment because they were closing a deal to buy a junkyard. Turned out the yard was one I frequented; its soon-to-be-former owner was a client of mine who’d recently begun inventorying there with my assistance. Small world!)
Shortly thereafter, I bought a late-model 10,000 lb. Superwinch from a guy on craigslist, then fabbed up a mounting plate and installed it on the flatbed. That was the best $100 I’d spent in a long time.
If anyone reading this ever has an opportunity to buy a flatbed trailer for a reasonable price, DO IT. You’ll be glad you did.
Great-looking car, but I like the first-gen Aurora best. Why? The “Robbie the Robot” tail lights!
I wish I had the ability to find a cream-puff when car-shopping, but rarely have I had good fortune. That’s why I buy new when I can.
Sweet. Very sweet.
Nice story!
Nice story and car.It looks a lot like the Mazda Xedos a car I’ve admired at but never owned
I owned a V6 Xedos6 for a year and it was a fantastic car, loved the styling and never had a single problem. However, I would give (almost) everything to have a 1st gen Aurora in the right color and trim. Too bad most of them are beat to hell now, they don’t seem to be the most reliable cars either.
A very nice design, marred by very poorly judged proportions. It was the sort of design I wanted to love, but couldn’t. As an adult, though, it’s easier to appreciate was Olds was aiming for, and for the most part, that interior is absolutely gorgeous. I think they should’ve executed the stitching on the back of the front seats better, though. When it simply stretches over the backs of the chair, with no indentation for knees or a map pocket, the overall effect is cheap, especially without cloth.
Yeah the cheap looking quality of the leather in both this Aurora and the second generation is probably what bothers me most about the Aurora. I mean they sprung for real burl walnut and soft touch door surfaces but they couldn’t give it some nicer leather? The leather in Honda Accords during that time was softer and of higher grade.
A 20 year old car that has 170K miles on it, doesn’t appear to have any rips or cracks in the leather and it is “cheap”?
When was the last time you saw a 20 year old Honda with leather seats that weren’t ripped and cracked beyond use?
Probably because it’s largely vinyl. The softer, gathered leather wears the easiest. And those look like a great number of cracks on the Aurora’s front seats.
Those aren’t cracks in the leather, they’re cracks in the colored pigment on the outside of the leather, much like a leather jacket will get broken in from use.
“Those aren’t cracks in the leather, they’re cracks in the colored pigment on the outside of the leather, much like a leather jacket will get broken in from use.”
Correct. That’s what I was trying to say – though simply referring to it as “broken in” was as close as I got.
None of the lines you see were in danger of becoming holes. That being said, I still wasn’t wild about the look. But it was better than the alternative (cracked, shredded-up leather).
I don’t know if I’d go quite that far. If anything, the Olds’s leather was better. Actually, Honda really had no business selling cars with leather if it was going to be as cheap as it was.
Honda doesn’t have any less business selling cars with leather than any other non-luxury marque. My experience with ’90s Honda leather has been very positive. I’ve known several people with leather-equipped Hondas of this age and was always more impressed than the leather in any pre-mid 2000s GM car sans Cadillac.
Here’s a 1999 Accord coupe with leather, currently on eBay:
Lol, I meant “they have no business,” not a lack of business experience. I was thinking more of the ’94-’97 models, which always seem to have coarse leather. Acuras are much better, as were later models. In the 5th gen Accords, as well as the first Acura CLs, it wasn’t convincing.
Dude, its got 40K miles on it and is from Miami. Of course it is in good shape! Now find one with 170K miles on it that looks as good as that Aurora and you’ll have a let to stand on.
the V8 in the Porsche Cayenne also buries the starter inside the vee, as I found out on TTAC. I supposed it makes sense when you have an OHC engine with an open valley.
In 1994, 14-year-old me desperately wanted my mother to buy a new Aurora. She was finally upgrading from a lemon-y ’91 Olds 88 Royale, and it came down to Aurora vs. Camry.
In the end, the Camry won out—I purchased it from her and still own it—but I really wish she would’ve got the Aurora. Such a cool car, and 250 hp was nothing to sneeze at in ’94.
the Camry v. Aurora is a huge price spread in 94, hard to believe (I’m not doubting you) that they were cross shopped by anyone. Maybe she was just being nice to 14 year old you, but instead was holding the carrot just too far away to grab…
She was dead serious. It was to be a 25th anniversary gift from my father.
The Camry was (is) a fully decked-out XLE with power everything. I could go fetch the window sticker (it’s in the glovebox) but I don’t recall the Aurora being in a completely different class price-wise, at least in our case. This was at a time when Toyota dealers offered no discounts. Pretty sure the difference was a matter of $2-4k.
I had to look, curiosity got me.
A Base Aurora was $34K
A “base” V6 Camry XLE was $24K.
That’s like $15000.00 difference in todays money.
You could probably get a 94 Camry up to 26K if you tried, and the Aurora could also go to 36K if the same options were added.
Curiousity got me too.
I’m seeing a base price of $31,370 for the Aurora (with possible discounts), and $24,795 for the ’95 XLE V6 Camry (as mentioned, no discounts offered). As I said, the Camry has every option that I’m aware of except for a CD player, which I’m not even sure was available.
Regardless, I can report with complete confidence that she DID cross-shop the Aurora (she was trading in an Olds, and knew the dealership personnel) and the Camry. I know because I was there during the test drives and lot walks. In the end, she chose the Camry.
Sorry, you must have missed the part when I said that I don’t doubt that it happened, it is just a weird cross shop that’s all.
Always liked these cars, almost bought one about a year ago, too. But I was terrified of the Northstar. They sure look great.
Wasn’t an Aurora the last Oldsmobile?What a shame they pulled the plug on them after all those great cars
The last Oldsmobile produced was a 2004 Alero.
The last new Oldsmobile introduced to the public was the 2002 Bravada.
I thought it was emblematic of Olds’ demise that the last car produced was an Alero, of which more were rented or leased than bought.
Thanks still a shame they’re no more
My two favorite exterior and interior colors, green and tan. I’ve loved the first generation Aurora since seeing it at the NAIAS the year it was released. My father was there as well and though he is a long time Oldsmobile Man I have rarely seen him so “ga ga” over a new vehicle.
The Aurora is one of the few 90s sedans I still lust after.
Nice Aurora, looks like it could have come straight from Gustafson Oldsmobile, doncha know?
This may be my favorite 90s GM car. The Riviera that came out at the same time never looked quite right, but this one seemed perfect. More than once I have thought about grabbing one of these.
Then I started to actually learn something about them. They scare me now. I guess it is now a perfect car for a co-worker to buy so I can ride to lunch in it, but not have to worry about repairs.
Never knew about that starter placement. What a pain. And there is truth to what you say – any guy with some intelligence can get pretty good at about any car procedure once you have done it two or three times.
This is also my favorite 90s GM color. Beautiful car. If I owned one of these, I would spend a lot of time with that “Hail to the Princess Aurora” song from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty going through my head. Like it is now. And now it is going through yours (if you are old enough). 🙂
Hail to the King, Hail to the Queen…. 🙂
The Riviera was an original design, and from the side and front was quite handsome. The back end was the problem for me – it looked “pinched” and too narrow. The full-width taillights somehow exacerbated the perception.
Another problem was the interior – far too much plastic and vinyl for a premium car. The Aurora had a much nicer interior, in my opinion.
I was a member of the Oldsmobile Club of America in the 1990s, and a few members bought these cars. What scared me off were the consistent reports of four-figure repairs to the transmission and HVAC system that started filtering in after the cars had racked up over 60,000 miles.
Those repair costs, like the car itself, would simply seem to be ahead of their time. There are few decently-optioned cars made today that I would feel comfortable driving past 10 years.
I agree with you. The Riv’s rear end was too low and “pinched”. The interior was just funky weird. All those circular vents, that huge curved chunk of plastic, and the oversized controls for “mature buyers”. Some came with wood applique that was applied over the plastic, but it was all to fake looking.
I felt like a lot of GM cars of the Chuck Jordan era had the problem that they looked fabulous on the outside, but the inside is where the accountants won the day. I also thought the Riviera’s interior design was peculiar and not especially attractive aside from the materials.
I appreciated what they were trying to do with the Aurora, the sort of four-door Toronado effect, but the detailing didn’t quite do it for me and there are oddities like the smallish trunk opening. (I know they did that because they wanted to make the body more rigid, but with a car this big, it seems like, come on, you can do better.)
“Then I started to actually learn something about them. They scare me now.”
Yup. Finding and choosing the right one took some skill – both in my sizing it up, and on the behalf of the car’s former owners and caretakers – but I’m not about to deny that there was a boatload of luck involved as well.
It seems that owning any aging Northstar is like playing hot potato. I could easily have been unlucky and had a head gasket failure on my first trip out.
Seeing the car’s condition (and the fact that it was one of a very few I’ve ever found with more-or-less complete maintenance receipts included) was somewhat reassuring. But still, I was mighty nervous until I got to rip into it.
It’s no coincidence that, then and now, every other first-gen Aurora listed for under $2K on craigslist on an average day has powertrain issues. I found the proverbial rose growing up out of the manure pile – but that doesn’t mean every (or any) other would have turned out the same way.
I always liked these, until I read about their problems here. I guess I still like them, maybe I just don’t have a desire to own one anymore.
I used to like that color too until I bought a Grand Caravan in a similar hue called Magnesium Pearl. Not sure what it is about it, but I grew tired of it quickly.
BTW curious about the options, did she have the Aurora Autobahn package that included the high speed rubber and no speed limiter? What about the Bose Accoustimass system?
It had the Delco AM/FM/CD/cassette, with the “Concert Sound” (or whatever they were calling them by that time) speakers. Not base, but not Bose – just the in-between.
And no, no Autobahn package either.
The power sunroof, and the power everything else, were good selling points. About the only other thing I recall wishing it had was the high-polish wheels… would have made it look even sharper.
I’m sure it’s an OK car to drive, probably comfortable, but the design is horrible bland 90s. Way too many curves. Reminiscent of the awful Riviera of those days.
IMO this and the Riviera were the most gorgeous designs from GM back then. I see nothing bland. To this day this design is still absolutely gorgeous.
I agree, I loved that Riviera, and since it had the 3800, it’s overall, the more durable choice, though I would have both. I sold that vintage Riviera new, they were a fantastic car, extremely quiet, even at high speeds.
I’m very fond of the design as well. It wouldn’t have made a bad Jaguar.
I like the styling of these Auroras, but I can never figure out why General Motors did not make the headlights flush with the rest of the front fascia. Wonder if rear headroom was compromised by the styling?
I’ve always liked these cars. The fact that they are rare adds to it.
That shot of the front end dead on looks really nice and the full width tail lights always looked good. kinda hard to imagine it debuted in 1994 as it looks very modern.
I too know about the Northstar quirks but I can’t help but still want one, if nothing more than to experience it. Most likely in an STS from the 90s.
My grandfather got a 1997 STS a couple of years ago but it was crashed before I could ride in it. Now it sits in his garage, hopeful that one day it is repaired.
I gotta say though, that’s probably one of the nicest GM interiors I’ve seen. Lots of buttons, nice cockpit layout, vey nice.
My grandfather had a 1992 (I think) Bonneville SSE and it too had a really nice dash. I always liked the little screen that showed the doors opened and the really wide gauge cluster.
I’m also curious about the options that Aurora had. Looks pretty loaded.
Here’s one owner’s experience with a 1994 Cadillac STS. Rapacious dealer service, shoddy workmanship and ignorant service writers.Then there are the typical GM electric windows of the era with short lifespans and high repair costs; a/c compressor gone at 100k along with the transmission. That was only a $5700 fix. When the opportunity presented itself I got rid of the turd and will never own another Cadillac as long as I live.
It’s a shame that your Cadillac was a lemon. That Seville/STS and the Aurora were two very handsome cars, and probably GM’s best designs of the 1990s. Their designs have held up well over the years.
“That shot of the front end dead on looks really nice and the full width tail lights always looked good. kinda hard to imagine it debuted in 1994 as it looks very modern.”
The dead-on front and rear shots were my favorites of the bunch. The angle helped take the “sloped” shape of the car out of the equation, and highlighted some of its most handsome individual features.
But when you see it from the sides, there’s no overlooking that slope. It’s the one thing that keeps me from loving this body style.
Granted, it’s nowhere near as extreme as the “rounded” treatment given to Rivs of the same vintage. That I couldn’t live with – as evidenced by the fact that I’ve never owned one, despite multiple opportunities over the years.
Never was a fan, looks too much like a four-wheeled suppository…
I’ve heard the same about the Porsche Boxster when it came out.
Yea, that’s another one… LOL
Was the Chevrolet Alero the “counterpart” of this Oldsmobile ? I remember them from the nineties, when this Chevy model was officially imported. Together with other GM cars like the Seville, Eldorado and Park Avenue. Most of the Alero sedans had a 2.4 liter engine.
In those days GM and the Chrysler Group had official importers and the 3 FoMoCo brands were imported by Hessing De Bilt, a private company. When it comes to sedans and coupes I saw the Seville and Thunderbird quite frequently in the nineties.
The Alero was a cheaper car, it replaced the Acheiva, it was based on the N-body, the Aurora was a much higher end car, it shared a new G-body structure that later permeated through all the high end GM cars like the Park Avenue, DeVille, Seville, etc.
Thanks. Of all high end US cars the 1992 and later Sevilles sold best, by far.
Mercury and Lincoln were mostly used as cars in funeral processions.
The Seville was more “Joie de Vivre”, as the founder of Detroit would say….
If I remember correctly, this car was originally supposed to be a four-door Toronado. But Oldsmobile decided to ditch all of its “old school” names, so Toronado was out and Aurora was in.
At one point, there were serious plans to change the division’s name to Aurora. That is why early Auroras don’t feature the Oldsmobile name or rocket symbol on the exterior. I believe that the Oldsmobile name was only applied to the stereo system!
There were all sorts of aborted plans, one of them was a combination of Saturn and Oldsmobile, where Saturn would have handled all the small cars that Olds was never all the successful with, Oldsmobile would handled the bread and butter Cutlass, 88, Silhouette and Bravada and then Aurora would have been like Oldsmobiles Lexus, with the Aurora and possibly another companion car.
Auroras weren’t initially offered at all Oldsmobile dealers, you had to be selected to sell Auroras at first.
Beautiful, beautiful car, one of the best GM produced in the past 30 years. Almost makes me weep. Muscular but not macho. Taut but not bland. Somehow it manages to avoid the weirdness that every other “spaceshippy” car seems to suffer from. The only flaw is that the rear windscreen looks odd in the rear 3/4 view, something I never noticed before. I feel dirty even pointing it out.
Aurora was the car driven by the Special Prosecutor assigned to investigate the Bill Clinton-Lewinski scandal–Ken Starr. I will never forget a period press photo of him driving away in his light colored beige Aurora. Probably a pool vehicle purchased by the Feds.
Actually Ken Star was legal counsel for General Motors during the 90’s, he defended GM against some liability lawsuits. I remember the photos of the Aurora too, it might have been corporate freebee.
I used to know the lawyer who represented a local Dodge dealer for years. In the early 90s, he was driving a Dynasty. Poor bastard.
Someone I worked for back then bought one of these new. I loved the car, but hated the color he picked. A light green metallic that I felt really took away from the good looks of the car. Anyhow… I always thought the interior on Gen 1 was near perfection.
I rarely have use for most any new car, and I don’t need another car, so it would have to be a big ‘want’. But if this car were built right now, just as it shows here with a few updates:
A current reliable & proven drivetrain, some cosmetic updating of the black plastic dash areas with a Nav head-unit, and a conservative freshening/update of the headlight area.
If those things were addressed w/o touching the sides or the rear, I’d lay down my cash $ to buy a new 2014 Aurora right now.
And that would be the 1st car other than just two recent models, that have even crossed my mind as a possible new car purchase in a long time. That is how much I like this car.
I neglected to mention, Keith, how impressive it was that you assembled and disassembled the manifold multiple times while trying to pinpoint the leak.
A nice reminder of what’s required of someone who wants to become a GOOD mechanic.
A nice car. I did not like the gen 2 looks but the first gen was a pretty car. If I had been in your area and saw that ad for it, I would have bought it also. It is a comfy car to drive and I do have experience working on the Shortstar and Northstar engines(they are difficult to work on in some respects but when you put it into context and compare it to working on the DOHC 3.4l in Lumina Z34’s it becomes a cake walk by way of comparison) and a whole rack of tools, so I could see owning this car for a weekend/long trip vehicle
One of my uncles (an old school mechanic who is almost in his 70s now) had a light blue ’97 Aurora about a decade ago. That has got to be one of the sharpest (if not the sharpest) cars he ever owned. I have always liked the look of the first generation Aurora, so sleek and futuristic looking. Unfortunately somebody stole his Aurora from right outside of his workplace one day, drove the snot out of it in about 30 miles and ditched it…my uncle didn’t want it back after that.
Keith, this piece reminds me of the quality of writing that Michael Lamm used to produce for Special Interest Autos. Your work is an excellent addition to this site.
Speaking of the quality of the interior bits on the Aurora, the shifter is massive! Did any other GM products use this shifter? It approaches the size of those basket handles on Fords XLs of the late 60’s.
Thanks! Always good to know that my work is being seen and appreciated.
(I always suspected the tales – and pictures – of my automotive misadventures would end up being good for something someday. CC has been the perfect outlet for sharing them… I doubt that a better place exists!)
As for the shifter, I think that was an Aurora-only thing. Or at least, I’ve yet to encounter a similar one elsewhere.
Does anybody remember which city was the first to get the Aurora? I recall reading (in AutoWeek, I think) that GM would debut it in Aurora, Illinois. My thought was what about Aurora, Ohio or Aurora, Colorado? And, like someone previously mentioned, I do recall reading that not all Olds dealers would get the car initially.
As others have said, I, too, liked the looks of the Aurora from the start. Especially like the interior. As the years have passed and the prices have come down, have even given thought to buying a decent used one. Have looked at a few in the $2K to $3995 range. Knew somebody who had had one and loved it. The biggest drawback for me would be the gas mileage. And, of course, finding one that wouldn’t need a bunch of expensive repairs. Going back to about 2000, I’ve done a lot of online research on any car that I consider buying in order to know what the common problems are to look out for. I’m kinda shocked that everybody who has access to a computer doesn’t do that.
CA Guy, I was a SIA subscriber for a time in years past, too. Still have the magazines in my basement with many, many boxes of other car magazines. And, yes, I recall Michael Lamm always did an outstanding job.
$2000-4000? I’m surprised they’re still bringing that kind of money. Anything over $2000 would have been optimistic for any 95-99 Aurora when I sold mine nearly two years ago.
And that’s private party pricing. At that time, no dealer would touch them because of engine fears. They still won’t touch them today – mostly because there’s no cash buyers to sell them to, financing them would be too risky, and there’s next to no decent examples left for them to buy anyways.
A few of my clients are used car dealers. At least one of them refuses to deal in anything with a Northstar, having been burned too often. One other isn’t opposed to taking a good running Northstar on the cheap, but will only sell them as “cash cars” – sticker price under $3000, no financing, no warranty, no returns.
Sorry, Keith. Didn’t mention that was like 5-10 years ago. Haven’t checked the going private party used car prices on them lately.
No worries.
I suspect the hardest part of buying an Aurora today would be finding one whose miles and condition would be acceptable. There just aren’t many good ones left.
A quick check of the local craigslist brings up nothing but beaters. There is, in fact, one ad for “four new Blizzak tires, $500, includes free Aurora with 245K miles and bad transmission”. No takers? 🙂
Old car acquisition stories are my favorite and this was a great tale Keith. I’m surprised you could fit anything let alone a transmission through the trunk opening, those were so narrow on the gen-1s for that 25 hz target.
Hated the interiors on these and most 90s cars with that puffy airbag cover. There’s a reason you see leather wrapped everything these days. The stitching breaks up the molded plastic look you see here.
The Northstar engine is sure pretty.
A well worth the read article, Keith.
I still drive my ’98 Aurora after 200 thousand plus Kms on it; had it’s start replaced just months ago. Too bad i’m that mechanically gifted yet. Planning to buy a cheaper Aurora this summer for parts and practice.
Thank you.