1980 Olds Omegas (Dealer Film)

Please excuse the quality, laserdiscs degrade with time and this disc required a gas-laser player to rescue the contents. Digitized from the dealer laserdisc "1980 Oldsmobile Instant Access Disc Library". See playlist for other videos.

[@Akronkangaroo]

This car left us stranded so many times, I just remember my granny saying something about the engine choke was messed up

[@christhomas835]

Smooth during wild turning episodes so passenger can accurately fire pistol..nice!

[@624radicalham]

No comments on that AMAZING yellow colored SX at 1:22? In magazines at the time it looked like something SO experimental and futuristic. And the pale yellow and black accents really put it over the top. Oldsmobile had balls to bring that out and I'm glad they did. Made it look like a trans-am. There are probably zero survivors today.

[@juanpabloarena2724]

Sad but so.

[@thirdintegra]

There's a guy who rescued one from a junkyard and restored it. If I come across a link I'll post it here

[@jmpecore]

This car is an essential part of my childhood. I was 8 years old and had a real a-hole baseball little league coach who was wound too tight and he would essentially bully me for not hitting the ball had one. The next year I got better and played against his team. As I came up he yelled "easy out!". I hit a solid line drive which bounced in the outfield and then hit the hood of his Omega. As I stood on 2nd base (after driving in the leading run) I looked over at him and yelled "sorry about your car Mr. xxxxx" He was not happy. That's when I learned about karma.

[@cpellercpeller5463]

Great story! Karma is REAL. Every single one of us feels warm & fuzzy inside! Except of course that coach.

[@jmpecore]

@cpellercpeller5463 since then I saw that guy picking up a pizza. He's probably 80 and was trying to bully the foreign workers there asking "where's boss??!!" very condescending as he deserves to see the owner when plunking down his $15 for a pizza. They just kept working and didn't give him a straight answer which I could tell was pissing him off. I just looked at him and started laughing quietly to myself as he walked out into his GMC Acadia. Tough guy. Lol

[@averyparticularsetofskills]

​@@jmpecore So he still hadn't learned his lesson...you should've handed the workers a bat and/or ball and told em to aim for the GMC 😄

[@stevebier710]

Love how the panic stop doesn’t show the brakes locking up…

[@rogercamp6071]

I had a '68 Dart with the larger front drum brakes and it would stop as well or better than the Omega does in this video

[@SnepperStepTV]

Neither did your mom but i put up with it anyways last night

[@CalledbyGrace-zs1dl]

That's what I said too 😂

[@wyhop6071]

I purchased my 1980 Omega during the summer of that year. Saying it was a bad experience is putting it mildly. So many problems; many which were never corrected properly while it was still under warranty. It's only saving grace was that'll it looked sharp!

[@danmccarthy4700]

The one thing I learned from this video is that the 1980 Oldsmobile Omega is a better offroader than most of today's SUVs.

[@terminallygray]

That's because they showed somebody actually driving it off road. Not sure you'd want to take one of today's SUV's off road. It's so out of place there. Like using a luxury Yacht to go fishing in a pond.

[@Ccyawn123]

Oh my goodness at the way it wallowed around that turn, like a hog in a puddle 🤣🤣🤣

[@Drchainsaw77]

That's what the front-drive fetish does for you

[@terminallygray]

@Ccyawn123 Did you hear those tires squeal too !! Why would they put THAT in the video ??

[@andreasergiopugliese3571]

Hi from Rimini Italy. In the early 90s, when I was in the army, I have an American friend Who sold me his Olds Omega 2.8 V6 brougham coupé, Gold and Brown with AFI plate registered. For me was a fantastic car with no rust and well done. The few problems were the lights bulb that were sealed and I replace with lights of fiat 131 (sold in Usa as Fiat Brava) and the front seat with a failure in the latches that doesen't blocked.

[@garywalters3007]

oh my God...those clothes at 4:40. just goes to show drugs/alcohol flowed freely back in those days.

[@terminallygray]

Even the oldsters in the back seat were getting in on the action !!

[@paulparoma]

An L4 and a manual transmission?! Wow, that's truly advanced engineering! Take that, Honda and Toyota!

[@VTCharley13]

Pushrod power

[@paulparoma]

@@VTCharley13 Watch your language.

[@terminallygray]

you're SO NAUGHTY.

[@COYGunners]

Rumour has it it’s still sliding after that stop

[@StevieinSF]

Had a used 1983 Omega 2 door - it was roomy in a smaller package - WAS another GM disaster Americans rushed out to buy. In the 4 years I had it, it required the following: new transmission, new struts, 2 new master cylinders, fuse box short out repair and when the steering rack needed replacing, I dumped it.

[@75aces97]

Good times!

[@metop33]

Wow! That’s pretty bad!

[@ThePauliebuck]

Out to the backroads With a can of lighter fluid would fix these cars...100% JUNK

[@DrCharlesMontague]

All of the X-body cars look like they were taking a dump the way the rear ends squat in their own promo videos!

[@litespeedga]

Taking a dump because they were pieces of shtt!

[@DTD110865]

I've been worried about the fate of surviving Chevrolet Citations for a while, but now I think I should be equally concerned about the Olds Omega, Pontiac Phoenix and Buick Skylark of the same period.

[@DMETS519]

"Built in the front wheel drive tradition of the Toronado." Lol, you mean built with same crap components as the Citation.

[@litespeedga]

My dad bought a 1980 citation nothing but problems….after it died he bought Honda, Toyota…

[@litespeedga]

@@LearnAboutFlow it’s a shame that the America car companies are like the keystone cops… so many opportunities to succeed and the fact the gm decide that EV1 wouldn’t be a good idea…oh brother

[@cpellercpeller5463]

My pal had a new '81 Toro. I had a '79 Cutlass 231V6 THM200 & 2.41 axle. My car would regularly outrun his Toro - on any road or hills.

[@jasonfarnsworth5880]

It’s a mini cutlass

[@oliverrojas3185]

It looks great. A General Motors revolutioary evolution of design.

[@compu85]

I've got some old GM laserdiscs that refuse to read in my newer players. I've tried to track down one of the original Helium Neon laser machines... they're hard to get these days!

[@Cincy32]

Both helium & neon are virtually banned for all us peasants now in 2022. If they have their way then gas too will be joining that list soon.

[@planetwisconsin9901]

in 40 years whats normal now will be laughed at.

[@donaldblankenship8057]

Gorgeous.

[@markmaiello9180]

Monumental opening for an Olds that needed it...Mixed bag assessment: lots of room, but the car had no power...& there were some chronic problems....

[@bethcook8582]

I was an auto mechanic working on the 1980 Oldsmobile Omega back when they were new. These cars were an absolute pile of junk. Words can not describe how bad they were. All the years that they made the Omega were the same. Nothing but problem after problem. Good riddance that I have not seen one of these in years. The best I can say about Oldsmobile and the Omega is R.I.P.(Rust in Peace).

[@litespeedga]

What a piece of shot no wonder why ppl don’t buy American made cars anymore…

[@75aces97]

It was cars from right around this time that soureded most people from my parents' generation off of the big 3. In some cases, for good.

[@peterhogan9537]

all the GM cars by 1980 looked like the Seville.

[@ENDTIMEsVideoLibrary]

I think you mean a Stripped Down Seville!

[@blautens]

I hooned X cars back in the 80s - but I didn't get paid for it like these guys.

[@sweetdaddy77]

My father had the 1980 Skylark variant with the 2.8 V6. Thing fell apart long before the warranty was up and they would fix anything. Had a rear main seal leak at like 3,000 miles and their bright idea was to caulk the exterior to stem the flow. Not a fix. When growing up I remember it would just die indiscriminately in the middle of an intersection. Was a dangerous car that GM used the pubic to beta test on. Fast forward 8 years, bought a first year LeSabre with the 3800. Could not kill it if you tried. Go figure.

[@terminallygray]

The X body and 1980's FWD LeSabre are 2 entirely different beasts with 8 years in between. Bad as GM is, you're still gonna learn a couple of things in 8 years to pass along to your customers.

[@sweetdaddy77]

Absolutely. Two very different beasts. The X car needed another year or two of proving to be legit IMO but cafe and import pressure was knocking on their door. @@terminallygray

[@pgtmr2713]

L4 and performance in the same sentence? That gas-laser player used to extract the video sounds interesting. Before I read that I was amazed by the degradation

[@semectual]

They talk about these cars being "People Engineered" and "The Small Car Just Grew Up". Notice how they talk about the roomines of head and knee, showing only the front and trunk area but not the back area where the adult gentlemen and women were occupying. Those cars were not roomy in the back for a 4 door car and a 2 door car is worse with those front adjustable seats! If you had a family, those cars were only ment for those riding in the front and maybe small children in the back. I remember these cars when I was a child. Maybe to some, the gas milleage was great, but it sucks to have 4 adults riding in those type of cars.

[@75aces97]

I remember these. I never knew just how GM did it, but these cars looked old soon after you drove them home.

[@daveo532]

Your quality may vary...

[@fourdoorglory]

It’s ironic that the film talks about the extensive testing the Omega went through then shows the brakes being locked up when you consider that this “X car” and its other GM cousins the Citation and Skylark all had the highly publicized brake problems. 😂😂

[@vwestlife]

I was just going to mention that! The X-cars were notorious for the brakes locking up easily during panic braking, so you'd think GM wouldn't want to show it happening multiple times in the video!

[@terminallygray]

@@vwestlife Wish you good fortune with your channel. ANYWAY.... This is a sales training tool wasn't for public viewing. If only we DID get to see it !!!

[@Thomas63r2]

Sold like crazy when new - just try to find any survivors now.

[@terminallygray]

That was over 40 years ago. Those cars weren't well built in the first place, it would almost be considered an act of god.

[@Thomas63r2]

@@terminallygrayMost cars don't survive even 20years because they don't have any appeal to collectors. Plenty of poorly made and or underpowered old cars survived because some people liked the way they looked. The GM X body cars were commuter cars that have suffered low survival 40 years on just like all commuter cars - just look at the low survival rate of the so called well made Japanese commuter cars of the same era. Millions of those Japanese commuter cars were made, but you are still more likely to see an X-body car on the road than any of those Japanese commuter cars.

[@terminallygray]

@@Thomas63r2 I suppose so. It really more depends where you live and how much people in the local area regarded the cars that they owned. Or did they trade in for new more often.

[@karlpiepenburg127]

I wonder how many of these, if any, still survive

[@TheHelado36]

I would love to have one just because I am sure non actually survived !

[@terminallygray]

@Cory Heisterkamp Wow! I never knew they used Laserdiscs at Olds dealerships. I guess now we know why GM bled to death then, went broke; all the while closing Oldsmobile in the process.

[@vaskyappliance6144]

Shows the woman passenger turning the radio up? That doesn't happen in the real world!

[@pgtmr2713]

Don't get too excited, looks like she was turning it on. Paper speakers, underpowered, only a tone knob.

[@Freedonone]

Had new 1981. My wife did. Front wheel drive

[@WSNO]

I want to find this on a different day with different context because i think then i'd really like it but there's nothing good about today or the person i see in the mirror to relate it to right now.

[@debrastarke3996]

3:34 those brakes look hot

[@TheDarkPhoenix23]

Interesting that right when they mention "5 passenger" capability, they show the front seat (with driver) which is a bench seat. Wouldn't that make it 6? Though, I've never seen a bench seat in one.

[@terminallygray]

A bench seat was standard in those. Bucket seats were a "fancy extra" in those days on a regular sedan type car EVEN IF it was a 2 door. Probably not 6 because they have to provide a 3rd seatbelt in front to get 6. They weren't gonna spend extra $$ just to get 6 when 5 is good enough.

[@chryslerelectronicleanburn1676]

1:52-1:54 Has 1978-1980 Chevy Monza full wheel covers

[@JK_Chapman]

your mileage may vary 😉

[@cpark6721]

My parents owned one of these garbage cans. I was 9 or 10 at the time. They unfortunately purchased it used. What a disastrous motor vehicle. It was the beginning of GM building garbage and expecting the American public to accept it. See where they are now, and where Toyota and Honda is.

[@georgewilson1184]

X bodies all crap Skylark use to be very special all based off of Nova now these all based off of Citation Omega Phoenix Skylark were all little hot rods if you opted for the famous 350 V 8 what they did in 1980 was just introducing a little grocery short errand commuter unit

[@AaronGranda-g5r]

Comes with four wheels and an engine standard.

[@stkyfngrszmooth]

Wow, this is hideous compared to the older model. It reminds me of when Chrysler built a little grandma mobile with a four cylinder and slapped "Charger" emblems on it. What a way to take a dump on what used to be a beautiful car.

[@ThePauliebuck]

Truly one of the worst made vechiles ever to come out of Detroit.

[@terminallygray]

Ever own a Dodge Aspen or Plymouth Volare' ?? They're a close second.

[@JohnnyTyrone77]

Body and interior were nice...Engine and tranny were horrible...Typical GM throw away car of the 1980s

[@andregonsalvez9244]

Only the GM mid to full-sized RWD cars were worth buying back in the early 80s .😊

[@JohnnyTyrone77]

@@andregonsalvez9244 Yes!

[@tommywatterson5276]

GM's sad attempt for the small car, fuel efficient, Honda and Toyota buyers back in the day. GM was never good at making small compact cars, and that's because midsize was the limit on small size with them over the decades.

[@djsabourin101]

Well she's not pretty, but she'll last at least three years!

[@CalledbyGrace-zs1dl]

Lol at brakes.

[@brain8484]

american cars of the 80's were sooo bad , things broke as you drove them off the dealership.

[@johnpreston7037]

still a very ugly car!

[@terminallygray]

I agree. The Omega was an acquired taste. Even the plain Jane Chevy looked better.

[@JoeHynes284]

some lazy ass engineering...i had a 78 gutlass

[@brain8484]

how can anyone calling there self a designer come up with such a ugly car

[@VintageVaughnVehiclces]

The hood ornament lasted its mounted on. A display shelf with a hundred other hood ornaments