When General Motors created the first-ever front-wheel-drive Chevrolet, the 1980 Citation, the stage seemed set for sales domination of the brand new decade with an import-crushing compact that looked and drove like a correct slab of real Detroit Iron. Alongside the Citation got here three other models on the identical X Platform: the Buick Skylark, Pontiac Phoenix and Oldsmobile Omega. All 4 sold well at first, but well-publicized quality problems and recalls took their toll, and the ultimate model yr for the X-Body Omega was 1984. Here’s considered one of those cars, present in a Northern California boneyard recently.
Parked with its hatch facing the Omega’s trunk is one other interesting piece of mid-Nineteen Eighties GM history: a 1987 Chevrolet Sprint ER, the Suzuki-built fuel-economy champion of America in its day.
The Omega name had been used on the Oldsmobile-badged sibling of the Chevrolet Nova for the 1973 through 1979 model years. Because the Citation replaced the Nova, it made sense to maintain the Omega name alive on the Oldsmobized Citation. The identical thing happened with the Nova-sibling Phoenix and Skylark names.
Apart from the prestige of the Oldsmobile name, there wasn’t much difference between this automobile and its cheaper Chevrolet and Pontiac twins.
The most affordable 1984 Omega was the bottom two-door, which listed at $7,625 (about $23,031 in 2023 dollars). This automobile is the top-of-the-range Brougham Sedan, which had an MSRP of $8,095 ($24,451 after inflation). Meanwhile, a brand new 1984 Chevy Citation four-door cost $7,037 ($21,255 now).
The Omega, like its siblings, could possibly be purchased with an optional 2.8-liter V6 engine. This one has the bottom engine, nonetheless: an Iron Duke 2.5-liter pushrod straight-four and its 92 horsepower. The Duke (referred to as the Tech IV when equipped with fuel injection, as is the case here) held together well but was a hilariously outdated rough-runner.
This one is noteworthy since it’s a substitute crate motor swapped in long after the automobile was out of warranty. Because the sticker on the valve cover reads “Goodwrench” as a substitute of the sooner “Mr. Goodwrench,” we all know that this engine was sold after 1997. GM ditched the complete Goodwrench brand for good in 2010.
The column shifter is gone, but this automobile was built with the three-speed automatic transmission. That added $425 to the underside line ($1,284 in today’s money).
This automobile also has air-con ($730, or $2,205 today) and the AM/FM/cassette four-speaker audio system you see here added a staggering $469 ($1,417 in 2023 bucks) to the out-the-door price. Features we take with no consideration within the cars of the 2020s were brutally expensive in the course of the Nineteen Eighties.
I believe that La Virgen de Guadalupe wouldn’t be terribly impressed with a totally stock ’84 Omega, Goodwrench crate Iron Duke or no. Let’s hope the previous owner of this automobile now has at the very least a ’54 Plymouth Savoy.
At every angle, the Chevrolet Oldsmobile styling heritage shows through.
Why accept a featureless white box, when you might have an Olds Omega?
Truly, the Reliable Men of Olds™ understood The Future™.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
