Had an 81 Buick Skylark back in the day. A plush comfortable ride but fell apart after six years. Just too saddled with reliability problems to recommend. But the Buick Skylark with it's heavy cushioned velour seats and carpeting was the most quiet and comfortable of the x cars.
Seen March 2019. Way back in 1980, I ordered a new 1981 four door. As I recall, not a bad car for the times. Technology has come along way since. Bluetooth is the most amazing device to have in a Automobile today. Thank you
My dad bought a 1980 Olds Omega back in the Spring of 1979 when they first became available. It was white with the burgendy interior, 2 door 4 on the floor. Looked a lot like this one, that's what caught my eye to this video.
I got the first model year of this car, a 1980 Omega brougham sedan with the 2.8 V6 in brown. Although the body on mine is in better condition. Great to see another one still around.
We had the 82 omega with a 2.5 TBI engine. I was the best car we ever owned. My wife was driving it and the block heater fell out of it and it locked up. We pulled it home and I started working on it. I removed the bad block heater and found the original frost plug still in the water jacket. I was able to fish and pry the plug out of the block. I put some permatex aviation form a gasket on the plug and pounded it back in the hole, filled the block up with water and hit the starter a couple of times and all the sudden it cranked over and started. It rattled a bit but ran fairly decent on three and a half cylinders so we drove it that way and later pulled the engine out and had it bored and new pistons installed. That was one tough little motor that Iron Duke. They were noisy little things if the phenolic cam gear was wore out. GM came out with a procedure to remove and replace that pressed on gear in the car that I had perfected. The mechanics would have me do that part because I had it down to a science. I was just the lowly parts guy that had a two year trade school degree in diesel mechanics. I had an Omega and two Citations and my Mom had a Skylark. I owned one of the Citations twice after a guy I sold it to ran it into the ditch and messed up front RH side. I bought it back for pennies on the dollar and sold it again for a small profit. Those were the good old days.
You know those engines well !!... yes, I'd have the local machine shop R and R those plastic gears as they had no holes for a "puller"... WOW what memories. So GM had a tool for that ? They were nice engines, the throttle body was trouble free. Occasionally I'd see one with a cracked head, up around the valve springs. Would leak coolant into the oil. That was about it. Thanks for the memories !
Mark Osborne They had a slightly different variation 2.5 I think they called the Tech IV in the grand am that seemed to to be really prone to cam hear noise. The design was definitely Pontiacs as the bore and stroke matched the 301 V8 that was in the B and F body Pontiacs. You could hear an iron duke engine coming down the road a mile away. We replaced a ton of these engines under that water coolant leak warranty from a casting issue they had in the lifter cover area.
Cool info! I had a 1982 Chevy Citation myself. A 4dr hump back with the 2.8 and 3 speed auto. I bought it in 1994 from my grandmother with less than 50K on it. At first it was a love hate relation. The computer controlled carb was always giving me problems, but I eventually bought a used one at a junk yard and rebuilt it. In 1995 I drove it all the way from NC to OR and then a year and a 1/2 later All the way back again. I kept it all the way up to 2002 when It finally spun a lower bearing on start up. It had 150K and since the trans was already having some hard shift issues I decided it was time to retire it. By that time I had bought and installed a X-11 snorkel hood and rear fin, and also installed some flashy (by early 80's standards) 14 inch X-11 rims. Although it was not a very pretty car, it was mostly reliable and I'd buy a nice one to drive on Sundays If I came across one at a good price.
Yes Yes Crazynorlander- you are spot on, I had forgot the name "Tech IV", but it came screaming back. Do you think the only difference in the block was to provide for the roller lifters ?
There might have been some external mount differences also. Do you remember the DOHC Quad 4. My boss made sure all of his mechanics, service and parts managers attended the early morning tech meeting where we would watch the training videos. I could have papered a wall with all my certificates. I kinda miss that. When we got the video on the quad four I decided that I would never tackle doing a rebuild job on one of those. I think it was Oldsmobile's brain child if I am not mistaken. It was supposed to be pretty powerful for the size. Wikipedia says production went from 87 to 02. I thought it was done by the mid 90s. I never had the desire to own one. Maybe they were good. I don't know.
Had a 1983 Omega 2 Door in that dusty rose color. Bought used, it handled pretty well from what I remember and got decent milage for the time had 4 cyl. It began imploding on itself with electrical, TBI vapor lock up and steering rack. Traded it for a new Renault Medallion which was a bigger mistake.
I remember the Renault Reliance and Encore. Nice looking cars, but they didn't stick around for long. My Citation had the larger V6, but it still had a lot of issues as it reached the 100K mark.
Swamp Fox - It's probably more of a "You mean that thing is still running?" reaction. I recently saw a Dodge K-car on the road and that was my (amazed) reaction.
The 1981 through 1984 Dodge Aires and Plymouth Reliant were also similar to the Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Citation, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix.
The later X-cars were actually decent cars as they've gotten many of the early model bugs worked out on them, I remember by 2000 the Omega's and Phoenix's were very rare but the Citation's and the Skylark's were still commonly seen.
Man I remember that old 79 yellow Cutlass! Purple window tint? If my memory serves You got it from Sarah's parents right? Those where the days old friend... those were the days. So much is going on in my life right now. We'll have to catch up soon.
Exactly right! Her older sister used to drive us around in it, and when they said they were moving, I figured it would be best to keep the car in Weston. Would love to catch up! How do I get a hold of you?
Had an 81 Buick Skylark back in the day. A plush comfortable ride but fell apart after six years. Just too saddled with reliability problems to recommend. But the Buick Skylark with it's heavy cushioned velour seats and carpeting was the most quiet and comfortable of the x cars.
Seen March 2019.
Way back in 1980, I ordered a new 1981 four door. As I recall, not a bad car for the times. Technology has come along way since. Bluetooth is the most amazing device to have in a Automobile today. Thank you
I had the 82 chevy citation hatchback and it was a decent riding car. very comfy for a smaller car.
My dad bought a 1980 Olds Omega back in the Spring of 1979 when they first became available. It was white with the burgendy interior, 2 door 4 on the floor. Looked a lot like this one, that's what caught my eye to this video.
I got the first model year of this car, a 1980 Omega brougham sedan with the 2.8 V6 in brown. Although the body on mine is in better condition. Great to see another one still around.
I had the 1982 Chevy Citation (Another X-Body car) It's long gone, but I sure loved it when it was around.
We had the 82 omega with a 2.5 TBI engine. I was the best car we ever owned. My wife was driving it and the block heater fell out of it and it locked up. We pulled it home and I started working on it. I removed the bad block heater and found the original frost plug still in the water jacket. I was able to fish and pry the plug out of the block. I put some permatex aviation form a gasket on the plug and pounded it back in the hole, filled the block up with water and hit the starter a couple of times and all the sudden it cranked over and started. It rattled a bit but ran fairly decent on three and a half cylinders so we drove it that way and later pulled the engine out and had it bored and new pistons installed. That was one tough little motor that Iron Duke. They were noisy little things if the phenolic cam gear was wore out. GM came out with a procedure to remove and replace that pressed on gear in the car that I had perfected. The mechanics would have me do that part because I had it down to a science. I was just the lowly parts guy that had a two year trade school degree in diesel mechanics.
I had an Omega and two Citations and my Mom had a Skylark. I owned one of the Citations twice after a guy I sold it to ran it into the ditch and messed up front RH side. I bought it back for pennies on the dollar and sold it again for a small profit. Those were the good old days.
You know those engines well !!... yes, I'd have the local machine shop R and R those plastic gears as they had no holes for a "puller"... WOW what memories. So GM had a tool for that ? They were nice engines, the throttle body was trouble free. Occasionally I'd see one with a cracked head, up around the valve springs. Would leak coolant into the oil. That was about it. Thanks for the memories !
Mark Osborne They had a slightly different variation 2.5 I think they called the Tech IV in the grand am that seemed to to be really prone to cam hear noise. The design was definitely Pontiacs as the bore and stroke matched the 301 V8 that was in the B and F body Pontiacs. You could hear an iron duke engine coming down the road a mile away. We replaced a ton of these engines under that water coolant leak warranty from a casting issue they had in the lifter cover area.
Cool info!
I had a 1982 Chevy Citation myself. A 4dr hump back with the 2.8 and 3 speed auto. I bought it in 1994 from my grandmother with less than 50K on it. At first it was a love hate relation. The computer controlled carb was always giving me problems, but I eventually bought a used one at a junk yard and rebuilt it. In 1995 I drove it all the way from NC to OR and then a year and a 1/2 later All the way back again.
I kept it all the way up to 2002 when It finally spun a lower bearing on start up. It had 150K and since the trans was already having some hard shift issues I decided it was time to retire it. By that time I had bought and installed a X-11 snorkel hood and rear fin, and also installed some flashy (by early 80's standards) 14 inch X-11 rims.
Although it was not a very pretty car, it was mostly reliable and I'd buy a nice one to drive on Sundays If I came across one at a good price.
Yes Yes Crazynorlander- you are spot on, I had forgot the name "Tech IV", but it came screaming back. Do you think the only difference in the block was to provide for the roller lifters ?
There might have been some external mount differences also. Do you remember the DOHC Quad 4. My boss made sure all of his mechanics, service and parts managers attended the early morning tech meeting where we would watch the training videos. I could have papered a wall with all my certificates. I kinda miss that. When we got the video on the quad four I decided that I would never tackle doing a rebuild job on one of those. I think it was Oldsmobile's brain child if I am not mistaken. It was supposed to be pretty powerful for the size. Wikipedia says production went from 87 to 02. I thought it was done by the mid 90s. I never had the desire to own one. Maybe they were good. I don't know.
Had a 1983 Omega 2 Door in that dusty rose color. Bought used, it handled pretty well from what I remember and got decent milage for the time had 4 cyl. It began imploding on itself with electrical, TBI vapor lock up and steering rack. Traded it for a new Renault Medallion which was a bigger mistake.
I remember the Renault Reliance and Encore. Nice looking cars, but they didn't stick around for long. My Citation had the larger V6, but it still had a lot of issues as it reached the 100K mark.
Do you notice that the cars that we saw back in the day we paid no attention to but when we see them now it's like cool, haven't seen that in a while.
Swamp Fox - It's probably more of a "You mean that thing is still running?" reaction.
I recently saw a Dodge K-car on the road and that was my (amazed) reaction.
A running K-car is a real stretch but not as bad as a Yugo...
The 1981 through 1984 Dodge Aires and Plymouth Reliant were also similar to the Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Citation, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix.
Had the 83 Park Avenue. Miss driving my sofa around.
the oldsmobuick is the official car of Minnesota for at least 30 years. great in the snow but the salt can rust the body off it in 15 min.
HA! I hear that... Dang salt destroys cars up here in the mountains in no time at all.
This sure looks like my hometown. Was this at Barefoot Landing? Nice find btw. I love those little X bodies, especially the Omega and the Skylark.
I think it was! X-car's for life!!
My first car. I had it from 1997 to 2006.
2.5 or 2.8 V6. This was the last year for the flat tappet 2.5, 1985 was the beginning of "roller lifters". There's some 'useless' trivia for ya :-)
The later X-cars were actually decent cars as they've gotten many of the early model bugs worked out on them, I remember by 2000 the Omega's and Phoenix's were very rare but the Citation's and the Skylark's were still commonly seen.
She inherited it from her grandma !
Nice set of wheels, but I prefer a Cutlass Supreme from about 5 years prior ;)
Man I remember that old 79 yellow Cutlass! Purple window tint? If my memory serves You got it from Sarah's parents right? Those where the days old friend... those were the days.
So much is going on in my life right now. We'll have to catch up soon.
Exactly right! Her older sister used to drive us around in it, and when they said they were moving, I figured it would be best to keep the car in Weston.
Would love to catch up! How do I get a hold of you?
There is a gold omega running around town here by me.
Buick Skyhawk although they did have skylarks the Skyhawk was on the same platform as the Omega and the citation
JNelson Performance I always thought the Buick Skyhawk was like the Oldsmobile Firenza and the Skylark was more like Omega. Had both when I was a kid.
@@70brine you are correct on that
I have one also it is still running
My old 1982 Chevy Citation is long gone, but I loved "The Blue Whale" while I had her. I took that car coast to coast twice and she never let me down.
I have one with only 3100 miles on it
WOW, now that is impresive
Best looking year was 1980-1983. Then got ugly(er).
I had an 81 skylark, piece of crap.
I have an 85 Skylark and it's a great car