My parents each had a Touring Sedan, and my dad gave me his when it was three years old with 28K miles. I absolutely loved that car, and put 100K miles on it. Basically trouble free, except it had a voracious appetite for alternators, which I became very adept at replacing. She was white with a blue interior and I named her Grace, because grace is something wonderful you get even though you don't deserve it. I miss her to this very day. Thanks for the memories!
I believe the wheels (which look fantastic, IMO) were shared with the '90-'92 Toronado Trofeo. Impressed that they used real wood trim on the dash and console.
FE3 suspension package! I started selling these right out of high school in 1989. I can still vividly remember them and the smell of the brand new interiors. The FE3 suspension really brought out the best of every model it was offered in. As a 18 yr old car fanatic, I would have been more than happy to drive any of them. The 98, 88, Cutlass Ciera, Supreme and even the Calais…which btw, when the Quad 442 came out I tried to not like it but after driving the 5 sp demo our regional rep brought by, I became a fan of that also. It screwed. But those 98’s, especially the Touring Sedan were very sharp and rode great. Would love to find a nice example today. What’s rarer would be the limited production two door version.
I ran into problems in the early 2000's and had to get a car. I found a maroon 88 Touring Sedan. It had 235,000 miles on it. The 3800 was still running and still strong. Can't say enough about that motor. Best engine GM has ever made.
After owning Japanese and American vehicles for a number of years starting in the 1970's, by the 1990's I had largely dismssed any thoughts of ever owning any American CAR. After entering the auto business and being exposed to these Oldmobiles (and Buicks), I realized there were still people at GM who cared about building great cars. It truly is one of GM's best cars of the last 50 years.
This car deserved far more attention than it got. It did seem in those days that when GM did something wrong, it was big news, but when they got something right, no one noticed.
Another achilles heel under the hood on these motors is the CS-130 Alternators. I replaced quite a few of them, their rectifier bridge would typically burn up if your battery was low and a high load was placed on the alternator for charging. The CS-144 is much more desirable alternator to replace the CS130 with.
By 1990 GM had really worn out the sheer design and vertical rear window look across its divisions that Lincoln made fun of in its ads. It didn’t help that the rental car and fleet leasing companies were awash with them as well. Consumers were getting bored to death, made clear with Ford’s gigantic hit with the Taurus/Sable. Even so, this Touring Sedan is certainly one of the best examples of that design and the interior is awesome.
The farmer I work for had one I told her if you ever wanted to sell it to sell it to me which she did in 1999 that’s what made me fall in love with Oldsmobile. I still have it and when I pulled the motor out there was nothing wrong with it. It had over 300,000 miles, but I just wanted a newer 3800 and I still have it to this day
I think the reason why the seatbelts were on the door because of the U.S D.O.T law that all cars had to have passive restraints, other manufacturers used the motorized should belts
You should do a video on the Oldsmobile LSS. Especially the supercharged version. Had one with Olds Aurora 5 spokes what an awesome car. 220,000 miles and it took a crash to stop it.
The door-mounted seat belts weren't an engineering mistake. The law started requiring "passive restraints", intended to be airbags, but GM figured these seatbelts out as a loophole to save money since they could technically remain belted and thus be "passive". They knew they were worse but put money ahead of safety (I'm shocked; shocked!).
I always thought those fog lights looked like an after thought. I had one of those in the late90s loved it quiet and smooth and very dependable and gas mileage was pretty good to back then. Had almost 200 thousand on it when I was done with it
Such a looker, I loved this one! The C bodies had doors/hardware that opened and closed wonderfully. The smoothness in the way the button pushed in. The green, tinted glass on the ones that had it was super classy. The wheel on this white 98 Touring, wow so high end.
