The first Oldsmobile Calais ever produced has popped up for sale on an online car auction site, giving astute General Motors fans the rare opportunity to own a former GM Heritage Museum showpiece.
This 1985 Oldsmobile Calais, which appeared for sale this week on Cars and Bids, is not only the first Olds Calais, but the first production N-body GM vehicle built period. It was originally retained by GM after rolling off the production line in Lansing, Michigan and displayed in the GM Heritage Museum. It has never been registered or titled and still carries a manufacturer’s statement of origin. Despite this, it has a fairly significant 11,100 miles on the odometer, though it remains in like-new condition with a spotless exterior and showroom new interior.
This early Oldsmobile Calais features the Iron Duke 2.5L four-cylinder engine, which was rated at 92 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque when new, along with a three-speed automatic transmission sending power to the front wheels. It also came handsomely equipped (for 1985) with power windows and locks, an AM/FM cassette radio, air conditioning, a digital clock and carpeted floor mats.
The seller says this former GM museum piece has some small stone chips on the hood, a scratch on the rear bumper and some rust on the exhaust components, but it’s otherwise in like-new condition. There is also some slight discoloration of the front seat upholstery and the vehicle will not be sold with the original trunk carpeting.
While most N-body GM cars seem to exchange hands for $1,000 and under, this Calais will actually sell for a decent sum. Bidding sits at $6,000 as of this writing with five days left before the sale closes. Check out the listing here for more information and some additional photography.
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Comments
Wow. What an attractive little car. I always loved those models (Skylark and Calais) best and wasn’t quite as impressed with the Grand Am. Takes me back to the more simple days and I just love how clean all the lines are. Nearly no blind spots and just simple yet somewhat elegant. Back in 1988, my first “demo” was a 1988 Buick Skylark Custom 2 dr in ruby red. Ah, those were the days.
I test-drove one of these when they came out. A big fat nothing of a car.
My father owned one. Everyone in the family hated that car. It was ridiculously slow to accelerate, even by mid-eighties standards. It also had the bounciest suspension I’ve ever experienced in a car, along with the most imprecise steering imaginable.
Everyone is downvoting you, but it really was an example of everything GM was doing wrong at that time.
The N-bodies were probably the best-executed of GM’s earliest downsizing efforts, imo. I liked all three and still do, more than their successors. I remember wondering why Chevy didn’t get an N-body but of course they eventually got Beretta and Corsica, exclusively*, on the closely-related L-body.
*exclusively, that is, apart from the Canada-only, Corsica-derived Pontiac Tempest
I really liked these when they came out. This probably the most out of the three divisions back then. It still looks good as far as its styling I think.
I had a 1990 Grand Am at one point. I actually really liked that car. It wasn’t the fastest thing around, but it was fun in the curves.
Another piece of automotive history best forgotten.95 hp iron duck wow.
budlar: You do realize that no cars (and I mean NO CARS) of that era had huge HP. Not the imports. Not the Germans. Not the Japanese. Nobody. In fact, in that time a vehicle with a “lot” of HP would be in the 150 to 200 range.
So stop bagging on this for being quite in the norm. And BTW, the Iron Duke was a very reliable engine.
If you have something half ass cool RWD from mid 70s through the 90s put an ls in it,the rest scrap ASAP.
What? I can’t even make sense of anything you just said. If I understand any of it, why would you compare this to any 70’s muscle cars? Not even in the same realm. But if you want to talk about rear wheel drive cars in this same decade (80’s), the average car falls directly in the HP range I stated above. Don’t make silly comments and then try to defend them with apples to watermelon comparisons.
No, he has a real point. The 2.5 was pathetic in this car, even for that era.
It’s cool more of a old lady’s car
Was never impressed with any gm fwd from this era. Made mistake of buy a new Chevy Citation. Looked good but was cheap from day I picked it up. Syncros in manual trans were messed up. He all kinds of trouble with car stalling till warmed up. Was in shop more than in my driveway. Was a Lemon.
You work for Ford or jap crap?
I daresay probably neither. The Citation and its brandmates were nothing to write home about when introduced. We had several of the V6 X-bodies in a company fleet. One of our salesmen moaned about how much he wanted one of the then-new 5-cylinder Audis. We suggested he drive his Citation V6 for 40,000 miles, and when one of the center cylinders went to sleep, he would have his 5-banger.
Later GM FWD cars worked very well indeed, but the X cars were not among them.
Neither. Was first new car I ordered. Total disappointment. Had less than 2 years. Traded back to dealer for Chevette and cash. Truth hurts sometimes. Still drive gm.
The Chevette was 12 years old when new. But, STURDY. Once they put some proper tires and other bits on it the second year, they were great little cars in that segment. They were on the road for a long time.
This has got to be one of the PLAINEST cars ever made by a man next to Chrysler K cars.
I’ll play deviil’s advocate here. Plain certainly beats all the bends, creases, folds, and other gimcrackery found on so many of the CUVs. Acura comes to mind. If they got into a side-swipe accident, no one could tell.
Dressed like this I think this car is really pretty. Still looks quite comfortable on the interior even by today’s standards. Ione’s a 1980 Buick Skylark X-body back in the late 1980s. It had the Iron Duke motor. I actually loved it! Great vehicle in the snow back in Pennsylvania.. continued running way WAY after 100,000 miles. I realized the early Iron Duke’s had their problems.. BUT if you got a hold of a really good one… it was just that.. really good and very reliable. And very quiet. Speaking from experience here.. not hearsay. 😉
I had a 1981 Skylark, and it’s only saving grace was that it had a lot of space inside for such a small car, and big comfy seats.
However, the power steering was garbage and went out more than once (because of a design flaw according to my father). I almost drove off the road on sharp turn once because of suddenly having no assist.
Also, the 81 had a crappy carburetor (early computer control) that caused it idle fine, but then stall right about when you tried to take off.
When it rusted away, nobody was sorry to see it go.
It took over 30 years for me to like these cars. I really like them now especially compared to the newer cars. I’ll say newer because these cars were the best in their first generation.As time marched on into the 90’s, they got kinda uglier as they went along. People either loved them or hated them for being FWD, as most cars went that way. Would I buy this car? Not now, they’re too old . If it was 2005 today I’d buy it to drive regularly, not as a classic. It does deserve to be preserved, in a museum. But I think that’s where it just came from. Museums are the way to go now- take the kids to look at yesteryear and leave your money in the bank.Save your money for an ELECTRIC car.
It would be nice to see this end up back in the GM Heritage Collection.
Yeah I remember seeing this exact car, and others being auctioned off when GM was going threw Bankruptcy. Think it Sold for $7K and had lot less miles. Aunt had this same model/yr that she helped build, me I had New 1989 loaded with a Quad 4
My grandfather drove me in one of these, and he keeps it in his garage all year. It didn’t take much to decide that I wanted one of these because I fell in love with it instantly! The dashboard was beautiful and I loved how it felt like we were driving on a blanket of clouds! The second that I can afford one, I am going to get it!