Never had a Firenza, or any J car. But back in the 80's we were taking used Vega Wagons and putting in Chevy small blocks and bigger diff's, now that was a fun car. We even had a Vega club called the "Vegabond's" Thanks to Adam for keeping automotive history alive...
I was issued one of the very first J cars produced, a silver-green colored Pontiac J2000 with manual transmission as a company demo. I was a Pontiac salesman. It was the two door fastback, and was stylish and fun to drive. I got it in July of 1981. We only put 6000 miles on the cars, at which time they were retired and sold as factory demonstrators.
My dad went into a GM dealership in 1984 to buy a car. He was going to by a Cadillac Cimmaron, but he found that the insurance rates in our state were higher for it due to it being badged as a Cadillac. Instead , he bought an Olds Firenza Cruiser wagon. He had that car for 10 years and put 155,000 trouble free miles on it. He only ended up trading it in when it started to rust out along the door panels. In my opinion, GM should have based the Cimmaron on the Firenza rather than the Cavalier since the Olds interior was far more luxurious.
I briefly had a ‘85 Firenza four-door with the 2.8 MPI V-6. The dealer wasn’t even aware it had the V-6 (Olds didn’t put any engine-related badging on the Firenza) and to me it was underpriced so I snagged it. I’d had a previous j (an ‘83 Skyhawk) but it had the dreadful 1.8 OHC. The Firenza could haul a** pretty well.
Thank you for covering the J cars on the same platform. You forget the Holden Camira. You still mentioned most of them and I say thank you. I liked that you mentioned and showed the Oldsmobile Cruisers as well. The interesting thing about the Firenza you see that front end styling showed up on future Oldsmobiles. The sedan looks like it influenced Saturn styling. I know the Firenza name appeared as a trim level on the Starfire from the late 1970's. I know that grille design on the 1988 Oldsmobile Firenza ended up on the Eighty-Eight and Ninety-Eight. Thank you Adam.
My Dad was sales manager at our local Buick store, so we all drove Buicks back in the seventies, eighties and nineties. Both my sisters had Skyhawks, my brother drove a Skylark and I drove a Century. They were all decent rides and never gave us any troubles.
Had a 1989 Buick, Skyhawk, station wagon version, and I drove that for over five years. It had great road manners, decent fuel economy, and I always took it on long trips. And I carried water heaters, furnaces and tools in the back and never had an issue.
Oldsmobile always was given enough tooling money to change front fascias and grilles more often than the other divisions. Firenza especially benefited from that. However, the buying public just wasn’t ready to buy this small Oldsmobile in large quantities. It did offer a nice alternative to the Chevrolet J bodies.
We had a 84 Sunbird GT with the Brazilian built 4 cylinder turbo and manual transmission. Dad kept it about 4 months when it stranded us in Virginia on a summer trip. Got it fixed by the local Pontiac dealer and Dad sold it when we got back to Texas. The Firenza had a nice front end, kind of a homage to the 67 Cutlass, but these cars had a lot of issues.
I had one, too. Went through 2 clutches in 4 years, sold it to my brother, who blew the turbo out within a year. The single belt squealed a lot, and the A/C moaned, but it was fun--except in traffic jams.
I had a 1983 olds delta 88 I loved that car . It rode and drove so comfortably and handling was good for such a car of that size though I’m 63 now and back then that would have been a compact car. It had the olds 307 and honestly it had decent power plus good gas mileage, it was a great car in my opinion and I kind of miss it now
@@christianpfister8280 no I didn't but if you grew up in the 60s you would definitely notice the difference in size Came from a station wagon family growing up and some of my first cars was a power 1970 Plymouth fury, some midsized Chevelles and the like so that Olds was definitely smaller than a 1972 like a friend of mine had.
My high school friends mother bought one of these new around 84 I think. It was the 4 door sedan. It had a 4cyl engine and got great gas mileage compared to the 70s cars they had before. Although it was underpowered, we didn’t mind as it was new, had AC, and got us where we wanted to go
I was fresh out of college and bought a new 1982 Chevy Cavalier which I ordered with the F41 sport handling option. The F41 included different tires, springs, shocks, and steering gear which really changed the personality. Not only was the car comfy and roomy, my 4'11'' wife could see out of it. We rejected the Honda Accord because she literally could not see out of it to drive; too bad, as the Honda was a very nice car otherwise. My wife's uncle bought a 1983 Cavalier with the 2.0L engine and the difference in power and torque was amazing, but without the F41 the handling was blah.
I special ordered a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird back in my senior year of high school. I later drove it from Detroit to Myrtle Beach. I also drove all the J car variants including the Firenza and Cavalier wagons, sedans and coupes for work. They were great little cars and yes, the Firenza had very comfortable seats.
I’ve never driven a Firenza but I have driven a Sunbird hatchback. I dated a girl in high school that had a Sunbird. It was a very well packaged little car and kinda fun to drive.
Of the lot of them, the Buick Skyhawk was the nicest looking, IMO. And they all looked decent in wagon form. Too bad wagons have fallen out of favor. Everyone wants to "sit high" these days. I get that, but wagons are missed.
One of my good friends mother had a 87 Wagon ! Great little car as i remember and had the wood grain option . I think the Olds and Buick tied for looks . Have always liked station wagons . Nice review as always .
My favorite of the J-bodies was the Buick Skyhawk. Had pop-up headlights available, even on the wagon models. Someone a few years ahead of me in school had both a Cavalier hatchback and a Firenza hatchback in the early 2000s.
I remember here in Ireland in the 80s these cavaliers were everywhere ,,,,In the 90s they had the Vauxhall senator with the 3 litre v6 ,,,A beautiful looking car,,,
In all Honesty, I was selling used cars on the side and one I picked up was a early Cavalier hatchback that was top of the line trim. The car was loaded. It rode like a bigger car and was QUIET and felt SOLID. The door panels in Crushed Burgundy Velour with chrome accents and carpeted lower door trim and seats were extremely nice and matched for this sized car. I also picked up a ‘84 Cavalier 4 dr lowest trim model a few years later and that car felt low class in every area with the basic all black interior.
I had a couple of J cars as company cars, The Pontiac J2000 and Chevrolet Cavalier.. But I preferred my medium periwinkle blue metallic T-top 1984 Camaro Berlinetta. That was a really special car.
I am 28 years old and can confidently say that I have never seen a Firenza in the wild. Hell, as time goes on, it's very rare to see even a final gen Cavalier on the roads any more. For the size, era, and price point, these definitely fall into the "throw away" car segment. If I ever found one of these Firenzas for sale in reasonable condition for a fair price, I'd probably buy it as I'm a huge Oldsmobile fan.
The J cars got some criticism, but they were fairly okay for the time, especially in the 'malaise' era. My mother had a Cavalier wagon which got her to work, me to school, and groceries without fuss or bother. I learned to drive in that car... Somehow, it survived that experience!
Called the Holden Camira in Australia. The engines in Australia were 1.6 litre carby in the first model to the 2.0 fuel injected missile at the end of its development. The engine was called the ‘ family 2 ‘ and millions of engines were build and exported around the world from Melbourne Australia
My first car was a 84 firenza hatchback and i had the wheel caps and original red rims i loved that car it got me where i needed to go i do miss that car at times
I bet Olds picked up the Firenza name through Vauxhall, which was a name affixed to a sporty model that ran from 1971-75. Olds first used the Firenza name on a sporty appearance/handling package on the Starfire beginning in 1978, not dissimilar to the 1979-80 Buick Skyhawk Road Hawk. So they just translated the Firenza name over to the J-Car replacement for the Starfire. Also, I didn’t realize until now that Olds didn’t add the 2-door sedan until 1986. Much like how the Skyhawk didn’t add the hatchback coupe until 1986.
Our families were diehard Olds customers, and my wife had a loaded, new 1984 Firenza ES when we met in high school. It wasn't the worst car, but we switched to Mazdas shortly after. Of all the J cars though, that our friends had, it seemed to be pretty nice. Relatively. I'm 6'5 and I wholeheartedly agree that those seats were amazingly comfortable for such a small car. We spent many hours in it including long distances between home and college and it was always my preferred car between the two of us.
Wow! I rarely saw them when they were new but yes, that wagon is cute as a bug. I think the quad rectangular with the center parking signal lights look better than the composite headlamps. Pontiac named it's wagons Safari from the Astre all the way through to the top of the line Bonneville. I was told when I was in my late 20's that if I'm looking for a used GM car to look at the Buick and Oldsmobile (except for the Regals and Cutlass) because most were purchased by older buyers who tended to take better care of their cars. The Chevy and Pontiac J-Cars were usually purchased by younger drivers who drove them harder and didn't take care of them. I recently drive a 2002 Buick LeSabre I purchased from the original owner who's known me since I was a child. She took great care of it and knowing it's history I'm more motivated to keep up with maintenance and repairs.
Yes indeed, Adam. The J cars were really very attractive. But I`ll join to the poll about which is the most gorgeus one. For me, it`s the German/Brazilian/Colombian Opel Ascona or Chevrolet Monza (1985/1991). The US mandatory of square lamps I guess was a limitating design issue. But, in the other hand, more cheaper to replace or to labor fitting. The J station wagons all them had its positive styling features, among the Hatch backs, very sporty and practical as SW`s were.
Seeing that 72 Delta 88 in the begining brought me back to my childhood. My parent's first new car they bought was a 1971 Delta 88. It was dark blue with a white painted roof (not vinyl) and white vinyl seats. 2 doors - but I think it was just a 350 Olds motor and not the big engine. They traded it in 1977 for a Datsun 810 wagon.
Adam I'm 49. I grew up in a 84 Cavalier CL wagon 2 tone brown. I totaled it Octobet of 1992 with my best friend on my homecoming night. I hit a deer in the pouring rain as the floods of 1993 were beginning. It severed my parents well. It did develop the momring sickness you mentioned, but dad changed the rack in our front yard. I remember that.i found one last year on bring a trailer last year to make it up to mom. She loved that cat.
I'm a big fan of the obscure US nameplates (and even trim levels) from the 60s thru the 70's and 80's (even the early 90s), after which everything became homogenized all interiors became 'taupe'. One of my favorite obscurities is the Omega Brougham LS option back when it was a Nova. Very expensive (almost 2K), and I don't think I've ever seen one outside of the catalog. Or Grand Monarch Ghia - sort of a test run for the Versailles (those do pop up). Anyway thanks for the spotlight here.
My first new car was a 1983 Cavalier Coupe with 5 Spd manual. 209,000+ miles when I sold it to a friend in 1990. It was last registered in 2002. No major issues ever.... original clutch. Just shocks, tires, exhaust and belts. Only issue was bad starter in 1989. Miss it now.
My '91 Cavalier RS 3.1 (J body) was a blast, ran circles around the imports. Donated to my daughterr for university, the car would quit at red lights. Explained, over the phone, how to disconnect the torque converter harness plug, and it ran properly until the body fell off. Salt....great channel
Thank you. The Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, same car with a different badge, did very well overhere in Europe. They were for example very popular cars as company cars for sales reps.
It's difficult to watch GM cars from this era without thinking how far they had fallen from where they were in the 1960s, when GM absolutely dominated with class leading vehicles, with muscular good looks and high output performance. GM was king of the road in the 1960s.
GM struck gold in the 80s in Europe with their FWD and OHC equipped range. The Nova/Corsa, Astra/Kadett and Cavalier/Ascona were all huge sellers, and really caught Ford napping; their range felt really old fashioned in comparison. (I’m talking about the bread and butter stuff, not the performance models.)
The 88 Firenza was the best looking of all the model years with the flush headlights. The 88 Firenza cruiser was the most rare model selling less than a 1000 units!
These were neither common nor uncommon here in California at the time. They just were. This was another of the "me-too" GM cars that really didn't have much truly unique to offer, IMHO. Those wire wheel covers were certainly doing them no favors! Nice seats, I agree -- mixed with particularly plasticky dash. Of all the variants, I'd say the best one was the Skyhawk T Type Turbo. I drove one when new and it was quite the performer for the day.
I bought a used 88 red Firenza back in 1998 for 800$ and drove it from Washington to California. I ended up blowing a head gasket, tore it down and decked the head and drove it another six months then traded it in for 1,200$ for a 93 Dakota still have that Dakota. Other then the head gasket it was reliable transportation.
The Opel Ascona verstion was a good seller, but unfortunately it rusted a lot and the camshaft lobes were made out of too soft steel. Most Opels had that defect, I remember it also occured in the Opel Senator 3.0 CD.
Our family had an ‘83 4 door with the 1.8 OHC. My Mother loved her car; I just remember it started burning oil at 60k miles and torque steer was terrible.
We had an ‘82 Pontiac J2000, til I was in a near head-on wreck. It got replaced with an ‘84 Firenza, the same ugly cream color as the one at 8:35. It overheated in bumper to bumper traffic trying to get into the Kruse Auction in Auburn; we were rescued by a guy driving a 1930 American Bantam!
If you look at Florence as a city,,It is a small compact city,,,,The streets and alleyways are very narrow and compact cobble stone streets,,,,I think this is the link they were trying to portray in this car...
I always thought these J cars were nice. I had an 83 Cavalier and I loved it! It was red, 2.0 liter engine, with a 4 speed manual transmission. It had pretty good power for a small engine of the time period. I'm originally from Pittsburgh which is very hilly and I remember how excited I was to have a front wheel drive car in the winter. You could go up any hill with no problem, no rear wheels spinning.
I had an '89 Z24 with the 2.8 v6 and it moved through the snow and snowpacked roads like nobody's business. Even for sitting so low to the ground. All around the car always drove and handled very well.
I worked at a used car dealer in the late 80s early 90s. I hated selling the J body cars to people and did my best to steer them to something better. Nothing but problems.
My grandparents were Oldsmobile people for a few decades. My grandfather always drove VW Beetles to work, but their family/going out car was an Oldsmobile. As early as I can remember, they had about a 1975 Cutlass Supreme. Sometime around 1987 they decided to get rid of it and they purchased a Firenza due to its price, relative comfort, and decent fuel economy. It had the 1.8L OHC engine. After the first summer, my grandfather complained about the amount of steering wheel vibration, particularly at idle with the A/C on. He took it to the dealer several times to have it repaired, but as we all know that was inherent to the vehicle's drivetrain so there was nothing to fix. It drove him so mad that they didn't keep it very long and ended up with a FWD Cutlass Supreme, 1989 or 1990. I don't think the Firenza ever gave them any real trouble, he just couldn't stand that steering wheel vibration. Lol Another Firenza related story; I worked as a tech at an Oldsmobile dealer starting in the mid 1990s. One of the other techs had to replace an engine in a Firenza (I think the owner let the timing belt go too far and the pistons and valves danced, but I can't remember 100%). Anyway, the fuel inlet pipe has a sealing o-ring that he lost, and obtaining one was going to take several days. So, he put some teflon tape on it just to road test it after the engine replacement (fully intending on replacing the o-ring when it arrived). That car ended up burning to the ground on 8 Mile Road. Lesson learned kids, don't drive with a known fuel system issue. Luckily, no one was hurt as a result of this "thermal event".
Went to an auction 2 weeks ago and there was a cool j car up for auction. Pontiac sunbird gt turbo convertible. Raised my hand a millisecond too late and it sold
I remember all of those cars as a kid. My mom had a 86 Caprice. You need a videos about the 80s cutless supreme. The one with the square wheel wells. Those were also all over the place when I was a kid. Not they are all gone.
Later generation of Cavalier was exported to Japan as a Toyota. Just saw a Cavalier wagon at the grocery store a couple days ago. I had a 1986 sedan from new, and a wagon from 111,000 miles. I put 125,000 miles on the sedan and another 35,000 miles on the wagon. I wish I still had the wagon.
I had an ‘88 2 door white Buick Sky Hawk. I was 20 years old, and it was my first new car. It was very nice, but the lower panels of the doors were badly rusted by the time I bought my next car, a ‘99 Honda Civic.
Both the Opel and the Vauxhall had “full fenders” and “full hoods” that ran right right up to the grille and the headlights. It gives a much more integrated look to the car when compared to the “front clip” approach to cutting off the hood and fenders at a single line and just changing out the clip in front based on the brand.
If you take the valve covers off the 2.8 V6, you'll see that half of the sealing surface is provided by the intake manifold and half by the head. The gap between the two was huge and a major source of oil leaks.
One minor nitpick: this video, at about 2:45, identifies the J-cars as compacts. GM compacts of that era were the X-cars. The J-cars were sub-compacts. It would be very interesting if Adam could interview someone involved in the X- and J-car projects who could explain the reputed problems and quality/duarability concerns.
Folks were buying a car fall 83 into 84. Looked at Firenze, cavalier, cutlass ciera, 6000, Ltd II. Always thought the olds had nice interiors. Ended up getting an 84 chrysler e class. Folks liked the more traditional styling. I wanted pontiac, olds, or buick
I owned many J SkyHawks. My favorite car. Faster than a 4cyl Mustang 🤣Almost all of the J’s have unfortunately disappeared. I also had that exact Custom Cruiser pictured in the video.
In 2010 i bought a Firenza cruiser at auction for $375.00. It was donated by a nursing home when the 92 year old owner finally admitted she wasn't going to drive anymore. It had very low mileage as it had been parked for several years. It was able to drive the 5 miles to home with only a jump BUT upon pulling in my garage smoke started pouring out from under hood. Seems engine gaskets don't like lack of lubrication. It was fine for several years of ownership after engine reseal.
The obvious Cutlass Firenza joke. Well, at least the Firenza had a decent dashboard and interesting front clip. Such a shame the were no composite headlights for 85 or 86 MY. There were 2 another "Chevrolet" J-cars: the Monza and the Aska (rebadged Opel and Isuzu).
These were excellent for what they were and definitely drove, rode and presented much better than the Cavaliers. I think they were nicer than some of the early Cimarrons.
Watching these videos of GM cars from the 60’s, 70’s, and even 80’s makes me nostalgic….. I never owned a J car although I did sit in a Chevy Cavalier hatchback for 2 seconds because of a rude salesman basically chasing me off the lot. It was the time everyone in my family switched to Toyotas and later on Hondas. My dad drove a four door Honda Accord in emerald green. A neighbor had the same car and referred to it as his baby Mercedes. But after this video I might see if I can find a V6 Firenza, in any of their models (fastback, sedan, or “Cruiser”) they look like interesting cars…..
Im a Ford guy and love it. A perfectly sized, attractive wagon. Stylish, well engineered and sold excellent...with only two real flaws:, I read the voluminous press at the time it came out, and it was universally agreed that the cars came out a little heavier than target weights, and subsequent engine performance and economy suffered. Other than that, this little family of attractive & versatile cars were a success compared to their primitive import competition.
Nice car and good I think your opinion is very accurate. How would you rate them against the Chrysler K-cars? I have been a passenger in one of those a long time ago and found them pretty cramped inside.
Never had a Firenza, or any J car. But back in the 80's we were taking used Vega Wagons and putting in Chevy small blocks and bigger diff's, now that was a fun car. We even had a Vega club called the "Vegabond's" Thanks to Adam for keeping automotive history alive...
Sounds like fun, is Blackjack still in business?@@HelicopterDad-xk5sx
I was issued one of the very first J cars produced, a silver-green colored Pontiac J2000 with manual transmission as a company demo. I was a Pontiac salesman. It was the two door fastback, and was stylish and fun to drive. I got it in July of 1981. We only put 6000 miles on the cars, at which time they were retired and sold as factory demonstrators.
My dad went into a GM dealership in 1984 to buy a car. He was going to by a Cadillac Cimmaron, but he found that the insurance rates in our state were higher for it due to it being badged as a Cadillac. Instead , he bought an Olds Firenza Cruiser wagon. He had that car for 10 years and put 155,000 trouble free miles on it. He only ended up trading it in when it started to rust out along the door panels. In my opinion, GM should have based the Cimmaron on the Firenza rather than the Cavalier since the Olds interior was far more luxurious.
You think Cadillac used the Chevrolet interior? Cimarron came with leather seating. Cavalier did not.
I briefly had a ‘85 Firenza four-door with the 2.8 MPI V-6. The dealer wasn’t even aware it had the V-6 (Olds didn’t put any engine-related badging on the Firenza) and to me it was underpriced so I snagged it. I’d had a previous j (an ‘83 Skyhawk) but it had the dreadful 1.8 OHC. The Firenza could haul a** pretty well.
Thank you for covering the J cars on the same platform. You forget the Holden Camira. You still mentioned most of them and I say thank you. I liked that you mentioned and showed the Oldsmobile Cruisers as well. The interesting thing about the Firenza you see that front end styling showed up on future Oldsmobiles. The sedan looks like it influenced Saturn styling. I know the Firenza name appeared as a trim level on the Starfire from the late 1970's. I know that grille design on the 1988 Oldsmobile Firenza ended up on the Eighty-Eight and Ninety-Eight. Thank you Adam.
My Dad was sales manager at our local Buick store, so we all drove Buicks back in the seventies, eighties and nineties. Both my sisters had Skyhawks, my brother drove a Skylark and I drove a Century. They were all decent rides and never gave us any troubles.
I think Buick was always the better quality of them all.
Thank you for covering the Firenza, I have a 86 Firenza Cruiser with 269k miles and I just purchased another 86 Firenza LX sedan
Had a 1989 Buick, Skyhawk, station wagon version, and I drove that for over five years. It had great road manners, decent fuel economy, and I always took it on long trips. And I carried water heaters, furnaces and tools in the back and never had an issue.
Oldsmobile always was given enough tooling money to change front fascias and grilles more often than the other divisions. Firenza especially benefited from that. However, the buying public just wasn’t ready to buy this small Oldsmobile in large quantities. It did offer a nice alternative to the Chevrolet J bodies.
We had a 84 Sunbird GT with the Brazilian built 4 cylinder turbo and manual transmission. Dad kept it about 4 months when it stranded us in Virginia on a summer trip. Got it fixed by the local Pontiac dealer and Dad sold it when we got back to Texas. The Firenza had a nice front end, kind of a homage to the 67 Cutlass, but these cars had a lot of issues.
I had one, too. Went through 2 clutches in 4 years, sold it to my brother, who blew the turbo out within a year. The single belt squealed a lot, and the A/C moaned, but it was fun--except in traffic jams.
The Firenza is actually quite a handsome car. Simple and elegant with nice proportions me thinks.
Agree...and the build quality of a Jenga tower
The hatchbacks were cool looking. 👍
I had a 1983 olds delta 88
I loved that car . It rode and drove so comfortably and handling was good for such a car of that size though I’m 63 now and back then that would have been a compact car.
It had the olds 307 and honestly it had decent power plus good gas mileage, it was a great car in my opinion and I kind of miss it now
Did you buy it new? It was definitely full-sized that year. Cutlass was mid-sized.
@@christianpfister8280 no I didn't but if you grew up in the 60s you would definitely notice the difference in size
Came from a station wagon family growing up and some of my first cars was a power 1970 Plymouth fury, some midsized Chevelles and the like so that Olds was definitely smaller than a 1972 like a friend of mine had.
My high school friends mother bought one of these new around 84 I think. It was the 4 door sedan. It had a 4cyl engine and got great gas mileage compared to the 70s cars they had before. Although it was underpowered, we didn’t mind as it was new, had AC, and got us where we wanted to go
I was fresh out of college and bought a new 1982 Chevy Cavalier which I ordered with the F41 sport handling option. The F41 included different tires, springs, shocks, and steering gear which really changed the personality. Not only was the car comfy and roomy, my 4'11'' wife could see out of it. We rejected the Honda Accord because she literally could not see out of it to drive; too bad, as the Honda was a very nice car otherwise. My wife's uncle bought a 1983 Cavalier with the 2.0L engine and the difference in power and torque was amazing, but without the F41 the handling was blah.
I special ordered a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird back in my senior year of high school. I later drove it from Detroit to Myrtle Beach. I also drove all the J car variants including the Firenza and Cavalier wagons, sedans and coupes for work. They were great little cars and yes, the Firenza had very comfortable seats.
I’ve never driven a Firenza but I have driven a Sunbird hatchback. I dated a girl in high school that had a Sunbird. It was a very well packaged little car and kinda fun to drive.
Of the lot of them, the Buick Skyhawk was the nicest looking, IMO. And they all looked decent in wagon form. Too bad wagons have fallen out of favor. Everyone wants to "sit high" these days. I get that, but wagons are missed.
That '88 wagon is actually quite handsome.
One of my good friends mother had a 87 Wagon ! Great little car as i remember and had the wood grain option . I think the Olds and Buick tied for looks . Have always liked station wagons . Nice review as always .
The beginning of the end for American cars and Oldsmobile specifically....
My favorite of the J-bodies was the Buick Skyhawk. Had pop-up headlights available, even on the wagon models. Someone a few years ahead of me in school had both a Cavalier hatchback and a Firenza hatchback in the early 2000s.
I remember here in Ireland in the 80s these cavaliers were everywhere ,,,,In the 90s they had the Vauxhall senator with the 3 litre v6 ,,,A beautiful looking car,,,
In all Honesty, I was selling used cars on the side and one I picked up was a early Cavalier hatchback that was top of the line trim. The car was loaded. It rode like a bigger car and was QUIET and felt SOLID. The door panels in Crushed Burgundy Velour with chrome accents and carpeted lower door trim and seats were extremely nice and matched for this sized car. I also picked up a ‘84 Cavalier 4 dr lowest trim model a few years later and that car felt low class in every area with the basic all black interior.
I had a couple of J cars as company cars, The Pontiac J2000 and Chevrolet Cavalier.. But I preferred my medium periwinkle blue metallic T-top 1984 Camaro Berlinetta. That was a really special car.
I always appreciated the influence of the early 60's Skylark and F85 dashboards in the Buick and Olds J car dash.
I am 28 years old and can confidently say that I have never seen a Firenza in the wild. Hell, as time goes on, it's very rare to see even a final gen Cavalier on the roads any more. For the size, era, and price point, these definitely fall into the "throw away" car segment. If I ever found one of these Firenzas for sale in reasonable condition for a fair price, I'd probably buy it as I'm a huge Oldsmobile fan.
You didn’t miss much😂
If ur gonna go j car at least get a cavalier Z24 or a sunbird turbo
Had an 84 with the Brazilian 4 cylinder, head gasket after head gasket. Only redeeming quality. Went anywhere in the snow ❄️
The J cars got some criticism, but they were fairly okay for the time, especially in the 'malaise' era. My mother had a Cavalier wagon which got her to work, me to school, and groceries without fuss or bother. I learned to drive in that car... Somehow, it survived that experience!
Beautiful car. My neighbor had 84 green Firenza. Kinda good car. Lastest a few years for him thru teenage wild years of abuse and still ran so kudos
Called the Holden Camira in Australia. The engines in Australia were 1.6 litre carby in the first model to the 2.0 fuel injected missile at the end of its development. The engine was called the ‘ family 2 ‘ and millions of engines were build and exported around the world from Melbourne Australia
My first car was a 84 firenza hatchback and i had the wheel caps and original red rims i loved that car it got me where i needed to go i do miss that car at times
I bet Olds picked up the Firenza name through Vauxhall, which was a name affixed to a sporty model that ran from 1971-75.
Olds first used the Firenza name on a sporty appearance/handling package on the Starfire beginning in 1978, not dissimilar to the 1979-80 Buick Skyhawk Road Hawk. So they just translated the Firenza name over to the J-Car replacement for the Starfire.
Also, I didn’t realize until now that Olds didn’t add the 2-door sedan until 1986. Much like how the Skyhawk didn’t add the hatchback coupe until 1986.
Our families were diehard Olds customers, and my wife had a loaded, new 1984 Firenza ES when we met in high school. It wasn't the worst car, but we switched to Mazdas shortly after. Of all the J cars though, that our friends had, it seemed to be pretty nice. Relatively. I'm 6'5 and I wholeheartedly agree that those seats were amazingly comfortable for such a small car. We spent many hours in it including long distances between home and college and it was always my preferred car between the two of us.
Like the Oldsmobiles! Firenza was the snazziest J body.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane
Wow! I rarely saw them when they were new but yes, that wagon is cute as a bug. I think the quad rectangular with the center parking signal lights look better than the composite headlamps. Pontiac named it's wagons Safari from the Astre all the way through to the top of the line Bonneville. I was told when I was in my late 20's that if I'm looking for a used GM car to look at the Buick and Oldsmobile (except for the Regals and Cutlass) because most were purchased by older buyers who tended to take better care of their cars. The Chevy and Pontiac J-Cars were usually purchased by younger drivers who drove them harder and didn't take care of them. I recently drive a 2002 Buick LeSabre I purchased from the original owner who's known me since I was a child. She took great care of it and knowing it's history I'm more motivated to keep up with maintenance and repairs.
Yes indeed, Adam. The J cars were really very attractive. But I`ll join to the poll about which is the most gorgeus one. For me, it`s the German/Brazilian/Colombian Opel Ascona or Chevrolet Monza (1985/1991). The US mandatory of square lamps I guess was a limitating design issue. But, in the other hand, more cheaper to replace or to labor fitting. The J station wagons all them had its positive styling features, among the Hatch backs, very sporty and practical as SW`s were.
My first car was a Firenza hatchback. Loved that car!
The Opel Ascona had a very good reputation in its days... countless many of those were around
Those were cool looking pictures. Too bad GM didn't put those on US roads. I heard that the Ascona was a big Euro rental car too.
Seeing that 72 Delta 88 in the begining brought me back to my childhood. My parent's first new car they bought was a 1971 Delta 88. It was dark blue with a white painted roof (not vinyl) and white vinyl seats. 2 doors - but I think it was just a 350 Olds motor and not the big engine. They traded it in 1977 for a Datsun 810 wagon.
Adam I'm 49. I grew up in a 84 Cavalier CL wagon 2 tone brown. I totaled it Octobet of 1992 with my best friend on my homecoming night. I hit a deer in the pouring rain as the floods of 1993 were beginning. It severed my parents well. It did develop the momring sickness you mentioned, but dad changed the rack in our front yard. I remember that.i found one last year on bring a trailer last year to make it up to mom. She loved that cat.
I was a fan of the 1986 Buick Skyhawk Turbo T Type Coupe
It seems to me that Olds was tying the "Cruiser" name to the earlier Vista Cruiser wagon.
It was kind of a letdown, since the original Vista cruiser had the unusual high roof, edge windows and front-facing 3rd seat.
I had an 84 cavalier type 10 hatchback and I loved it.
I'm a big fan of the obscure US nameplates (and even trim levels) from the 60s thru the 70's and 80's (even the early 90s), after which everything became homogenized all interiors became 'taupe'. One of my favorite obscurities is the Omega Brougham LS option back when it was a Nova. Very expensive (almost 2K), and I don't think I've ever seen one outside of the catalog. Or Grand Monarch Ghia - sort of a test run for the Versailles (those do pop up). Anyway thanks for the spotlight here.
I haven't seen a Oldsmobile Firenza since 2005, they were one car I never saw much of growing up in the 1990's
My first new car was a 1983 Cavalier Coupe with 5 Spd manual. 209,000+ miles when I sold it to a friend in 1990. It was last registered in 2002. No major issues ever.... original clutch. Just shocks, tires, exhaust and belts. Only issue was bad starter in 1989. Miss it now.
The name was used first on the up spec Vauxhall Viva, usually with the 2.3 engine
My '91 Cavalier RS 3.1 (J body) was a blast, ran circles around the imports. Donated to my daughterr for university, the car would quit at red lights. Explained, over the phone, how to disconnect the torque converter harness plug, and it ran properly until the body fell off. Salt....great channel
Thank you. The Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, same car with a different badge, did very well overhere in Europe. They were for example very popular cars as company cars for sales reps.
High school and a few years after I have owned 4 Buick Skyhawks and a sunbird late 80s early 90s is when loved them.
Lovely and efficient design
It's difficult to watch GM cars from this era without thinking how far they had fallen from where they were in the 1960s, when GM absolutely dominated with class leading vehicles, with muscular good looks and high output performance. GM was king of the road in the 1960s.
I'm not a GM fan. But I love the Coke Bottle era cars. I think the later 60's Cutlass and GTO did it best.
My mom had a 83....maybe a 84 Firenza Cruiser. She had it for 4-5 years. Never had any serious issues with it.
Firenza was a Vauxhall model name.
GM struck gold in the 80s in Europe with their FWD and OHC equipped range. The Nova/Corsa, Astra/Kadett and Cavalier/Ascona were all huge sellers, and really caught Ford napping; their range felt really old fashioned in comparison. (I’m talking about the bread and butter stuff, not the performance models.)
The 88 Firenza was the best looking of all the model years with the flush headlights. The 88 Firenza cruiser was the most rare model selling less than a 1000 units!
These were neither common nor uncommon here in California at the time. They just were. This was another of the "me-too" GM cars that really didn't have much truly unique to offer, IMHO. Those wire wheel covers were certainly doing them no favors! Nice seats, I agree -- mixed with particularly plasticky dash. Of all the variants, I'd say the best one was the Skyhawk T Type Turbo. I drove one when new and it was quite the performer for the day.
I bought a used 88 red Firenza back in 1998 for 800$ and drove it from Washington to California. I ended up blowing a head gasket, tore it down and decked the head and drove it another six months then traded it in for 1,200$ for a 93 Dakota still have that Dakota. Other then the head gasket it was reliable transportation.
I had a 1987 Cavalier. Really liked it.
The Opel Ascona verstion was a good seller, but unfortunately it rusted a lot and the camshaft lobes were made out of too soft steel. Most Opels had that defect, I remember it also occured in the Opel Senator 3.0 CD.
Rarer to see nowadays than a Nissan GTR, great video this nice lady in my neighborhood had one
The Cadillac Cimarron was easily the best looking of the J cars.
Our family had an ‘83 4 door with the 1.8 OHC. My Mother loved her car; I just remember it started burning oil at 60k miles and torque steer was terrible.
We had an ‘82 Pontiac J2000, til I was in a near head-on wreck. It got replaced with an ‘84 Firenza, the same ugly cream color as the one at 8:35. It overheated in bumper to bumper traffic trying to get into the Kruse Auction in Auburn; we were rescued by a guy driving a 1930 American Bantam!
In 1981, I researched the 1982 offerings and decided on buying the Mazda 626 sedan.
If you look at Florence as a city,,It is a small compact city,,,,The streets and alleyways are very narrow and compact cobble stone streets,,,,I think this is the link they were trying to portray in this car...
I had an 82 Firenza 4 door in a 2 tone blue, it was actually a pretty sharp car!
That Delta 88 is sweet!
I always thought these J cars were nice. I had an 83 Cavalier and I loved it! It was red, 2.0 liter engine, with a 4 speed manual transmission. It had pretty good power for a small engine of the time period. I'm originally from Pittsburgh which is very hilly and I remember how excited I was to have a front wheel drive car in the winter. You could go up any hill with no problem, no rear wheels spinning.
I had an '89 Z24 with the 2.8 v6 and it moved through the snow and snowpacked roads like nobody's business. Even for sitting so low to the ground.
All around the car always drove and handled very well.
I worked at a used car dealer in the late 80s early 90s. I hated selling the J body cars to people and did my best to steer them to something better. Nothing but problems.
My mom had the Buick Skyhawk variant, hers was an 87 and had flip up headlights.
Our family car in the late 80s was a Firenza! Had a 5 speed manual!
I had an 83 powder blue wagon with the 1.8 l ohc. A non interference engine... u could break timing belts and just put a new one on 😅
That happened to me, twice!
My grandparents were Oldsmobile people for a few decades. My grandfather always drove VW Beetles to work, but their family/going out car was an Oldsmobile. As early as I can remember, they had about a 1975 Cutlass Supreme. Sometime around 1987 they decided to get rid of it and they purchased a Firenza due to its price, relative comfort, and decent fuel economy. It had the 1.8L OHC engine. After the first summer, my grandfather complained about the amount of steering wheel vibration, particularly at idle with the A/C on. He took it to the dealer several times to have it repaired, but as we all know that was inherent to the vehicle's drivetrain so there was nothing to fix. It drove him so mad that they didn't keep it very long and ended up with a FWD Cutlass Supreme, 1989 or 1990. I don't think the Firenza ever gave them any real trouble, he just couldn't stand that steering wheel vibration. Lol
Another Firenza related story; I worked as a tech at an Oldsmobile dealer starting in the mid 1990s. One of the other techs had to replace an engine in a Firenza (I think the owner let the timing belt go too far and the pistons and valves danced, but I can't remember 100%). Anyway, the fuel inlet pipe has a sealing o-ring that he lost, and obtaining one was going to take several days. So, he put some teflon tape on it just to road test it after the engine replacement (fully intending on replacing the o-ring when it arrived). That car ended up burning to the ground on 8 Mile Road. Lesson learned kids, don't drive with a known fuel system issue. Luckily, no one was hurt as a result of this "thermal event".
Went to an auction 2 weeks ago and there was a cool j car up for auction. Pontiac sunbird gt turbo convertible. Raised my hand a millisecond too late and it sold
I really miss the Olsmobiles and Buicks of the '80s.
My first new car was a '84 Cavalier T-type hatchback. It was quite the sporty looker for its time. They were in good demand so the price was $8400.
I remember all of those cars as a kid. My mom had a 86 Caprice. You need a videos about the 80s cutless supreme. The one with the square wheel wells. Those were also all over the place when I was a kid. Not they are all gone.
These was an Olds Vista Cruiser; 65-77. Cool wagon. Safari windows like the VW bus.
Later generation of Cavalier was exported to Japan as a Toyota. Just saw a Cavalier wagon at the grocery store a couple days ago.
I had a 1986 sedan from new, and a wagon from 111,000 miles. I put 125,000 miles on the sedan and another 35,000 miles on the wagon. I wish I still had the wagon.
The V6 powered Cimarron was actually the best of all J-bodies.
The radiator is full of HOT antifreeze!
I had an ‘88 2 door white Buick Sky Hawk. I was 20 years old, and it was my first new car. It was very nice, but the lower panels of the doors were badly rusted by the time I bought my next car, a ‘99 Honda Civic.
I had an 84 Cavileir wagon
Both the Opel and the Vauxhall had “full fenders” and “full hoods” that ran right right up to the grille and the headlights. It gives a much more integrated look to the car when compared to the “front clip” approach to cutting off the hood and fenders at a single line and just changing out the clip in front based on the brand.
I cant remember when the last time I have seen one of these things 😊
If you take the valve covers off the 2.8 V6, you'll see that half of the sealing surface is provided by the intake manifold and half by the head. The gap between the two was huge and a major source of oil leaks.
One minor nitpick: this video, at about 2:45, identifies the J-cars as compacts. GM compacts of that era were the X-cars. The J-cars were sub-compacts.
It would be very interesting if Adam could interview someone involved in the X- and J-car projects who could explain the reputed problems and quality/duarability concerns.
Adam,only you could make an Olds Firenza video interesting.Cheers from Eluethra Bahamas.
Takes me back, I learned to drive in my dad's Vauxhall Cavalier back in 1985. A competent but somewhat dull car, at least in the spec he bought.
Brings back memories , they all had bad rack and pinions .
Folks were buying a car fall 83 into 84. Looked at Firenze, cavalier, cutlass ciera, 6000, Ltd II. Always thought the olds had nice interiors. Ended up getting an 84 chrysler e class. Folks liked the more traditional styling. I wanted pontiac, olds, or buick
I owned many J SkyHawks. My favorite car. Faster than a 4cyl Mustang 🤣Almost all of the J’s have unfortunately disappeared. I also had that exact Custom Cruiser pictured in the video.
Faster than Mustang II from 1975? Nice joke.
In 2010 i bought a Firenza cruiser at auction for $375.00. It was donated by a nursing home when the 92 year old owner finally admitted she wasn't going to drive anymore. It had very low mileage as it had been parked for several years. It was able to drive the 5 miles to home with only a jump BUT upon pulling in my garage smoke started pouring out from under hood. Seems engine gaskets don't like lack of lubrication. It was fine for several years of ownership after engine reseal.
The Firenza is definitely the best-looking of the J Cars, Adam😊🙌
The obvious Cutlass Firenza joke.
Well, at least the Firenza had a decent dashboard and interesting front clip. Such a shame the were no composite headlights for 85 or 86 MY.
There were 2 another "Chevrolet" J-cars: the Monza and the Aska (rebadged Opel and Isuzu).
These were excellent for what they were and definitely drove, rode and presented much better than the Cavaliers. I think they were nicer than some of the early Cimarrons.
Watching these videos of GM cars from the 60’s, 70’s, and even 80’s makes me nostalgic…..
I never owned a J car although I did sit in a Chevy Cavalier hatchback for 2 seconds because of a rude salesman basically chasing me off the lot.
It was the time everyone in my family switched to Toyotas and later on Hondas.
My dad drove a four door Honda Accord in emerald green. A neighbor had the same car and referred to it as his baby Mercedes.
But after this video I might see if I can find a V6 Firenza, in any of their models (fastback, sedan, or “Cruiser”) they look like interesting cars…..
Im a Ford guy and love it. A perfectly sized, attractive wagon. Stylish, well engineered and sold excellent...with only two real flaws:,
I read the voluminous press at the time it came out, and it was universally agreed that the cars came out a little heavier than target weights, and subsequent engine performance and economy suffered.
Other than that, this little family of attractive & versatile cars were a success compared to their primitive import competition.
Nice car and good I think your opinion is very accurate. How would you rate them against the Chrysler K-cars? I have been a passenger in one of those a long time ago and found them pretty cramped inside.
Hang the name "Cruiser" on any Olds wagon and Olds tried to get you to think it was more closely related to the Vista Cruiser