The Oldsmobile Calais was named after a small northern French port city that was for many years occupied by the English and used as a shipping point as it is only 21 miles away from the white cliffs of Dover. The costs of maintaining a naturally indefensible city (once used by Julius Caesar as a staging point for his invasion of Britannia) were high and the British historian Sir Geoffrey Elton once remarked "Calais—expensive and useless—was better lost than kept." A fitting quote for the 4-wheeled Calais, or even better, for the Oldsmobile marque in general. However, today's featured Calais isn't your average GM N-platform junker. Find this 1985 Oldsmobile Calais Indy 500 Pace Car edition with 6,100 miles on the odometer currently bidding on ebay for $3,850 reserve-not-met with 3 days to go, located in Lansing, MI.
The Calais Official Indy 500 Pace Car edition was no more than a few badges slapped on a standard Calais and in no way did this actual vehicle participate in events at the Brickyard. It is however a well preserved example of the Calais and looks great...for an N-body.
The interior shows very nicely and we are apt to believe the 6,100 miles on the odometer as real. Is the Calais such a horrible car that you would only drive it 218 miles a year?
In case you need to run a few quick calculations, the car has an in-dash digital calculator. If you think cell phones are distracting, just imagine the owners trying to do trigonometry on the highway via their in-dash calculator. "Sorry for weaving officer, I was just trying to calculate the square root of 42..."
The designers of this interior must have been huge Logan's run fans because they used only the best futuristic silver material left over from a 1970s movie set to upholster the seats. Maybe it only has 6100 miles on the odometer because it is a near-light speed time machine that bends space to reach long distances in a shorter relative reference frame time.
One thing is for certain, if you want the best looking Calais on the block, this is your chance to pick one up for cheap.
See a better 80s pacemaker car? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
' "Calais - expensive and useless - was better lost than kept." A fitting quote for the 4-wheeled Calais, or even better, for the Oldsmobile marque in general.'
ReplyDeleteWhoa. Careful - them's fightin' words. I'll grant you the N-body, but to ignore the many milestones produced during Olds' history (the original Rocket V-8, the Hydramatic, the Jetfire, Starfire, 4-4-2 and the first-gen Aurora) is a careless and ignorant comment. Pontiac's gone, too -
would you say the same about them?
Them's indeed fightn' words!
DeleteEver heard of Hurst Olds?
What about a w-30 442?
442 is where it's at
#Dynamic 88
Spent a lot of time back in Michigan with the GM Powetrain guys in Lansing in the 1980s. The early Quad-4 engine produced gobs of torque and the HO versions were around 190HP - not too shabby, IMO. That HO engine also fit into the the Baretta and I drove one the "Unofficial" factory-built turbo that put out 250+ HP with limited slip. Aside from the (pushing a rope) cable-actuated shifter, these things were awesome.
DeleteI also drove an HO-powered Calais to a class-win at Lake City ice racing time trials in the early 1990s, embarrassing the slightly hung-over owner.
Oh, and on't forget the Olds Quad-4 Aerotech, AJ Foyt and the closed course speed record at Talledega.
"The designers of this interior must have been huge Logan's run fans because they used only the best futuristic silver material left over from a 1970s movie set to upholster the seats."
ReplyDeleteNothing so complicated. This is probably the leftover silver leather they had for the Corvette pace car from a few years earlier. GM built one hell of a lot more of those dogs than I've ever seen of these. Thank God for good reason.
Remember, kids- if it has to market itself as a special, collector or limited edition, it usually isn't.
I understand why it was not driven. The interior would keep any seeing person from ever getting into the car
ReplyDeleteWho the hell buys the gussied-up version of an N-Body and options for the tin-foil wheel covers instead of the body color "Rallye" wheels that came with the package? I'd buy this car just to scare trailer park kids straight and away from a life of crime, illegal drugs and unwanted pregnancies...
ReplyDeleteI bought one of these in the early 90s, I loved it!
ReplyDeleteThe interior was the best... felt like a space ship!
My wife bought this car new in 1985. When she went into the show room the dealer was removing the lettering because it had been in the show room too long and hadn't sold. We got a good deal. I really liked the car and with the V6 it was fairly quick for the time. The first distributorless, multiport injected car I bought. The interior was gaudy but cool. Stuck in "Money for Nothing and Chicks for Free" cassette and took off on the test drive. After a slight accident that damaged a couple of wheels, I installed black mesh center chrome wheels that looked really good for the 1980s.
ReplyDelete