GTP Cool Wall: 1978-1984 Oldsmobile Delta Ninety-Eight Diesel

1978-1984 Oldsmobile Delta Ninety-Eight Diesel

  • Total voters
    112
  • Poll closed .
White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

4,209
United States
Wasilla, AK
1978-1984 Oldsmobile Delta Ninety-Eight Diesel nominated by BerettaGTZ

1979-oldsmobile-98-diesel-san-diego-offered-on-craigslist-feb-2013_100420086_m.jpg


Stats:
Production: 1978-1984
Style: 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan
Engine: LF9 350 ci/5,737? cc naturally aspirated OHV diesel V8 (rated 120 HP & 220 lb-ft in early form and 105 HP & 205 lb-ft in later form)
Transmission: THM350 3-speed automatic, THM400 3-speed automatic, THM200-4R 4-speed automatic
Layout: Front-engine, Rear-drive
Related: Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, Cadillac De Ville, Buick Electra, other tenth-generation Oldsmobile Ninety-Eights​

It's not a Chevy 350! The displacement is very similar, but the Oldsmobile 350 is a very similar engine. Also, the nomination post listed only the THM200-4R transmission, but that was not available until 1981. I'm not sure which of the two others were used (if not both), but I'd suspect it would have been the THM400 due to its greater strength and reliability. Finally, the nomination post listed its production as beginning in 1977, but the diesel engine was apparently not produced until 1978.
 
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Seriously uncool. Nothing redeeming about it whatsoever, and ruined the reputation of diesels for America - this is still the sort of car people in the States think of when they think diesel.

Ultimately, an anachronism, but not one with the pleasant rose-tint of other slightly odd cars from different eras.
 
Looks like all the other US barges they made in the '70s and to make a 350ci diesel and make it produce practically no power at all drops it right down. Uncool.
 
If you like American '70-'80s cars, it might be cool... But since I don't, I find it seriously uncool.
 
Went with cool.

GM's attempt at making a diesel out of a gas engine didn't go too well, but I love that era of Oldsmobiles.
 
Famine
You what?

How? How did they manage to make a diesel V8 with no power or torque?
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Because they took a 350 and tacked on high compression heads and called it a diesel. In short, this is what turned us off from diesels until recently. As you can imagine, there was a ton of reliability issues and people engine up converting them back to regular gasoline engines.

The car looks ok. Engine blows. Meh.

Custom878
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter
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This has absolutely nothing to do with this engines power output.
 
Famine
You what?

How? How did they manage to make a diesel V8 with no power or torque?
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It's hard to do much of anything when it has exploded on the side of the road.


What's truly impressive is that it made less power and torque than the emissions castrated 307 Oldsmobile, 350 Oldsmobile and the 350 Chevrolet engines you could already get in the Delta 88.
 
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I've been waiting for this car to come up ever since it was nominated, and I must say I really smiled when I saw it on the list of posts.

Sub. Freaking. Zero. It's one of the worst American cars of all time. Everyone hated them. That alone is enough for a cool.
 
The thing about Oldsmobiles is that...well no young guys are gonna give any respect to the guy driving that. And chances are if the driver's young, he's got that car out of necessity instead of because he wants it. Unless he has a warped taste in cars or something.

Oldsmobiles tend to be associated with...well old people. They're the only ones who really remember these cars and are the only ones who could respect them. If you're an older guy I guess it's something appropriate to be seen in.

I'd say it's uncool if you're young, and cool-ish if you're an old dude with some old friends.
 
Modern day diesels don't have 1970's engine controls. The Oldsmobile diesel was crap, even at the time, and even before the reliability problems, but modern cars are irrelevant in the comparison.
 
I love the look of these cars.

Having said that, there seems to be nothing good about how it performs, and it doesn't stand out as well because there were many cars with similar styling characteristics from the same era.

Uncool.
 
Big boat of a car.
Very bad engine, heck my 3 year old nephew outputs more torque than this engine.
Owned by GM.
Color is horrid on that car, but I do like the same color on Eric The Car Guys Ford Fairmont.
Same boxy shape as other cars from the time.


Uncool, really really really really uncool.
 
Tornado
Modern day diesels don't have 1970's engine controls. The Oldsmobile diesel was crap, even at the time, and even before the reliability problems, but modern cars are irrelevant in the comparison.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M21

Made the same power, but only displaced 2.4 litres. It was also used in the Lincoln Continental Mark VII, so it must have been US emissions compliant. Admittedly it came 5 years later, but that doesn't change the fact that the Olds was a turd.
 
guywithanAE86
The thing about Oldsmobiles is that...well no young guys are gonna give any respect to the guy driving that. And chances are if the driver's young, he's got that car out of necessity instead of because he wants it. Unless he has a warped taste in cars or something.

Oldsmobiles tend to be associated with...well old people. They're the only ones who really remember these cars and are the only ones who could respect them. If you're an older guy I guess it's something appropriate to be seen in.

I'd say it's uncool if you're young, and cool-ish if you're an old dude with some old friends.
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...that is nice misconception considering the varying car cultures and that c and g-bodies like this are popular with rap culture and hood culture, which is usually not something a lot of old people take part of. These are what make good lowriders and/or those big wheeled things called donks
 
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As a huge diesel engine fan and advocate, this car is absolutely seriously uncool.
 
Elderly people driving old big cars is a common stereotype nowadays. Rarely will you see any old person (or anyone at all) drive a 70s or 80s full size car. Old people moved on to 90s-00s Cadillacs, Buicks, and Lincolns. If you see an old person driving a big car, it's likely going to be a collector car, not a DD.
 
NoobMan DS
Having said that, there seems to be nothing good about how it performs, and it doesn't stand out as well because there were many cars with similar styling characteristics from the same era.
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Most of which were built by General Motors (Bonneville, Parisienne, Caprice, Seville) and all of which were better cars than anything afflicted with the Oldsmobile Diesel.

:lol:


The Seville and Caprice could even be made up in a way so that they had what reasonably resembled handling capability.


Beeblebrox237
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M21
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Which is a turbodiesel.
 
Tornado
Which is a turbodiesel.
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So? GM could have made it a turbodiesel. After all, they were one of the pioneers of turbocharging with the Corvair Monza/Corsa. And the first turbocharged road car was an Oldsmobile, the Cutlass Jetfire.

To me, it shows how American manufacturers stopped innovating in the 70's, and instead made huge, underengineered land yachts.
 
Beeblebrox237
So?
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So the comparison is irrelevant, just like comparing it to an engine in a 2014 Honda.

Beeblebrox237
GM could have made it a turbodiesel.
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Yeah, if they had the experience and history with diesel engines that Mercedes Benz (who was the only manufacturer pushing diesels heavily prior to then) did. Which GM didn't, since the Oldsmobile diesel was their first effort into the market. That same Mercedes Benz, who was the first manufacturer to introduce a turbodiesel in a passenger car. Which they did the same year the Oldsmobile diesel came out.

Beeblebrox237
After all, they were one of the pioneers of turbocharging with the Corvair Monza/Corsa. And the first turbocharged road car was an Oldsmobile, the Cutlass Jetfire.
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Which were all junk, as was turbocharging cars in general before Porsche took up the mantle with the 911 (and even then it took them several years to sort out the major problems with it). Finicky, unreliable and not actually good at increasing power in a car.

Beeblebrox237
To me, it shows how American manufacturers stopped innovating in the 70's, and instead made huge, underengineered land yachts.
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Offering a diesel engine at all was a massive innovation in 1977; as were the changes Delta 88 and its B-Body brethren in general. Mercedes had them. Volkswagen just introduced their first one the year prior (which is the engine most other manufacturers started licencing to get a diesel in their lineup). No one else had any, or did anything resembling attempting to make them mainstream. GM even went so far as to make the engine standard equipment on several cars, which Mercedes and certainly Volkswagen never did.
 
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