1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal Brougham 350 from North America
Summary:
My third Olds ('74 Cutlass, '66 Vista Cruiser, 1977 Delta 88). Every one a winner, baby!
Faults:
What went wrong with this car? Let me count the ways.
Transmission (rebuilt twice).
Brakes (approx every 20K).
Tires (about every 35K).
Starter motor (100K).
Freeze plugs (90K).
Alternator (every 45K or so).
Front-end (120k).
Water-pump (100k) and so on and so forth... you get the general idea.
General Comments:
Did I love this car?
It cost me $1500 in 1989 with 60K on the engine.
I drove it for 100K and scrapped it for $500 under a California State buyback program for pre-1978 heavily polluting vehicles.
Damn, I loved that car. It was like driving your living-room couch down the freeway. It had some serious power under the hood too. Total respect driving that 20-year old jalopy round the hood.
Every-day was an adventure just driving that thing. Basically a reliable workhorse, but then-again, you just never knew what might go wrong with it. Always kept you on your toes. Drove a hard bargain, you might say.
Now I drive a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry with 100K trouble-free driving miles on it. Guess what? I'm totally miserable driving in this car, but that old Delta 88, now that was a car that had some serious personality!
C'est la vie! C'est la guerre!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 15th June, 2003
26th Jul 2007, 07:04
I agree & disagree. I had a 1974 Olds Delta 88 Royal Brougham that was great! Yes, it was like driving your luxury living room couch, all souped up. But I never had ANY problems with mine. Tires at 35k would have been bias ply tires, should have went with steel belted radials. The 455 was kind of weak in the horse power department, but still made for good burn-outs & effortless highway cruising. I know the gas stations loved the 455, watch the speed go up & the gas gauge go down. I would buy another one in a heart beat, build more power into the motor & make a super cruiser out of it.
16th Dec 2004, 15:48
And yet you gave it a blue frownie-face?