Olds name comes down. LSJ

[prototype66]

For Lansing resident car enthusiests this is a sad sight . The removal of the Oldsmobile name from the Olds world headquarters.

Oldsmobile sign to stay in Lansing

GM giving letters and sculpture to R.E. Olds museum

By Barbara Wieland

Lansing State Journal

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

A visible piece of Oldsmobile history will get a permanent home in Lansing.

General Motors Corp. said Friday it will donate the large Oldsmobile lettering atop the former car division's headquarters to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. The museum also will be given an abstract sculpture that stood at the south end of the building for about 40 years.

The fate of those items, as well as that of other reminders of Oldsmobile, have been in doubt since GM made the last Oldsmobile car in April 2004.

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GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said the Detroit automaker thought it fitting the landmark sign and statue should remain in Oldsmobile's hometown.

"They're a part of Lansing history and Oldsmobile history," she said. "It's good that we can keep them (in Lansing)."

GM isn't yet saying what it will do with the rest of the building or with the Lansing Car Assembly factory sites that used to make Oldsmobiles and other cars.

The sign and the sculpture come from the 41-year-old Oldsmobile building that housed the division's marketing operations until 1998, when the work was moved to Detroit. The items will be given to the museum "by the end of the year," a GM statement said.

The R.E. Olds museum is on holiday break, and Director Deborah Horstik couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

But Jim Walkinshaw, a former GM employee and Oldsmobile historian, said the donations will make a great addition to the museum at 240 Museum Drive.

"These are bits and pieces of Oldsmobile history. To save them is a worthwhile effort," Walkinshaw said.

The sculpture will be located outside the museum, while museum officials try to find a suitable way to display the sign.

Contact Barbara Wieland at 267-1348 or bwieland @lsj.com.

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Idea for the letters Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:43 am

Hey, how about this: our baseball stadium is called Oldsmobile Park, and from what I understand will continue to be called by that name. Perhaps we could find a way to incorporate the "Oldsmobile" letters from their world HQ into the ballpark. That could be kinda cool!

Edited December 28, 2006 by prototype66

[big blue]

Am I the only not seeing anything when I click?

[ellives]

For Lansing resident car enthusiests this is a sad sight . The removal of the Oldsmobile name from the Olds world headquarters. http://cmsimg.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?

The link doesn't seem to work....

[Sixty8panther]

I want to see but the link is dead for me too...

EDIT: thanks for the fix Proto66.

What makes this so damn gut wrenching & depressing for me is that it's even the

same font as the emblems on the leading edge of my Super 88's hood & trunk.

I think a moment of silence is appropriate here.

Edited December 28, 2006 by Sixty8panther

[torobud]

been there... seen those... SAD

[MyerShift]

You know, I'm not sure why and Olds was never my favourite GM brand, but looking at the pictures at LSJ's website really tugged at my emotions. It really is, well, sad.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

why is it that old HQs are always located in ugly buildings?

[ellives]

why is it that old HQs are always located in ugly buildings?

Buildings age either physically or esthetically. I'm sure it wasn't considered ugly when it was built.

[mustang84]

A damn shame...

[I hope GMRULES again]

Sad. I have pics of me and my Cutlass in front of that building when I was there in 97 for the centennial.

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

I will continue to drive my two Oldsmobiles( 1995 Ninety Eight and 1992 Toronado). I think it is sad even after all this time. I have accepted this happened. Seeing this does bring back not so nice memories. I also disagree when critics keep saying Saturn is filling Oldsmobile spot or they are what Oldsmobile was. They are not. Saturns are Opels not Oldsmobiles.

Saturn should a brand that develops on its own merit as it is now doing.

I own Oldsmobiles and there is no no way I feel Saturn fills that spot. That is like saying your father died, and your step father or your mom's new friend replaces your dad. He does not.

Right now most Oldsmobile owners feel orphaned. Instead of buying new GM, they are buying used Oldsmobiles or keeping the Oldsmobiles they have or buying outside of GM. I still support GM and like their cars, but they do not make anything for me anymore. Buying a Buick is not an option for me. If I wanted a Buick, I would have bought a Park Avenue and a Riviera.

Personally, I would have rather seen Oldsmobile become a smaller brand under Chevrolet or Cadillac with 4 or 5 cars. Bob Lutz said he would have made Oldsmobile a smaller brand under another division.

One thing people fail to see is the new Oldsmobile failed because of poor execution and marketing. No one believed in that "import car" image either.

Oldsmobile had strong names and recognition. If GM had called Intrigue the Cutlass and Aurora the Toronado, it would have been a different story.

Edited December 31, 2006 by NINETY EIGHT REGENCY

[Brougham-Holiday]

Very sad to see the Oldsmobile building loose its signage. I always thought it was a cool building.

[ketch]

sad, just sad. Thanks Zarella . Some of the best cars GM made, right up to the end.

In honor, I continue to drive my '00 Intrigue, 7 years and many more to come.

[trinacriabob]

So sad...I learned to drive on an Oldsmobile and a hand-me down Cutlass Supreme in pristine condition was my first car. It took me to grad school 2 hours south of Chicago and after each spring semester, I would take "the sled" to northern New Jersey (9 miles from NYC) to see an uncle, then down to Florida to sleep on the beach, and then back to Cali on Interstate 10. For some of us here on C&G, Oldsmobile was a part of our coming of age. Yep, Cutlass Supremes with plush velour interiors, 80s music (of the bad kind) and some disco thrown in, and "Greg Brady hair"...who can ever forget?

[prototype66]

I am looking for my 68 Cutlass S I traded years ago.(some of you have heard before). To this day I will keep looking for it!! $1,000 for it in 1989 w/ 64000 miles, garage kept always. It was my wifes Grandfathers car her dad sold to me! stupid stupid stupid to get rid of it!!!

[ellives]

So sad...I learned to drive on an Oldsmobile and a hand-me down Cutlass Supreme in pristine condition was my first car. It took me to grad school 2 hours south of Chicago and after each spring semester, I would take "the sled" to northern New Jersey (9 miles from NYC) to see an uncle, then down to Florida to sleep on the beach, and then back to Cali on Interstate 10. For some of us here on C&G, Oldsmobile was a part of our coming of age. Yep, Cutlass Supremes with plush velour interiors, 80s music (of the bad kind) and some disco thrown in, and "Greg Brady hair"...who can ever forget?

Greg Brady hair? Some memories are best left forgotten... :AH-HA_wink:

[Robert Hall]

So sad...I learned to drive on an Oldsmobile and a hand-me down Cutlass Supreme in pristine condition was my first car. It took me to grad school 2 hours south of Chicago and after each spring semester, I would take "the sled" to northern New Jersey (9 miles from NYC) to see an uncle, then down to Florida to sleep on the beach, and then back to Cali on Interstate 10. For some of us here on C&G, Oldsmobile was a part of our coming of age. Yep, Cutlass Supremes with plush velour interiors, 80s music (of the bad kind) and some disco thrown in, and "Greg Brady hair"...who can ever forget?

Yes... I can relate...I didn't have an Olds myself, but friends did in high school..back in the big '80s, one of my best friends had a hand-me-down '81 Delta 88 4dr with a diesel and the red velour interior..sunroof., tape deck..I remember many times riding around with 6 or more high school students crammed in it...listening to the Cure, Dead Kennedys, the Clash, Van Halen, Def Leppard...tearing around Marathon, Florida, out to the beach, down to Key West, up to Miami a few times to hang out at Cutler Ridge mall.....another friend had a pale blue '77 88, and another had a gold (with brown velour interior) '83 Cutlass Supreme, another a silver w/ silver leather interior Caddy Fleetwood Brougham with Olds diesel engine. My girlfriend drove her dad's '85 Caprice wagon, another girl I hung out with drove an '83 Parissiene. All with whitewall tires and wire wheel covers, IIRC..

Those cars were as much a part of my high school culture and the times as were Mustang 5.0s, Camaro IROC-Zs, and Trans AM GTAs..

Good times...long ago and far away, when I still had hair and weighed 150 lbs..

[ellives]

Strange reading the just prior post made me think of a friend I had in high school that *was* an Olds family. He had a '69 Cutlass when I met him that I think he wrecked and then moved on to a '72 that he shared with his sister. When they bought the '78 you could tell things were changing. It was a box and nobody liked it, whereas the older ones had great lines and the Olds 350. I don't think GM ever recovered from the mixing of the engines amongst the brands.

Edited December 30, 2006 by ellives

[Paolino]

Ugh, this is so depressing. I really wanted a new Olds one day... it'll just never happen.

My best friend learned to drive on his parents' `82 and `83 Ninety-Eights... we had some good times with those cars. They ran perfect 15 years later. It wasn't until a couple of years ago they got rid of the `82.

[Turbojett]

sad. very sad.