Junkyard Find: 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette
Examples of the first-generation GM “Dustbuster” minivan abound at self-service wrecking yards these days, even as they disappear from the street, and every time I pass a Trans Sport or Lumina APV on my way to shoot something older and/or more interesting I say to myself, “I really need to do a Dustbuster Junkyard Find one of these days.” Well, that day has come!
These vans were startlingly weird-looking when they first showed up in 1990, but then we became jaded and the Dustbuster just looked ugly.
We keep hoping to see one of GM’s long-snouted minivans in a 24 Hours of LeMons race, but so far we’ve had just a single post-Dustbuster Montana in a race.
The dash surface of these things was deep enough that you could lose items if they rolled all the way forward to the windshield. I’ve heard that an extra-large pizza box will fit well here.
Many members of the GM V6 family (both 60° and 90° types) were installed here.
Futuristic!
Let’s riiiiiiide!
It’s the King’s ride.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
I can recall when these vans debut back in late 89 as a 90 model. As a little boy they were actually exciting to see however, my parents refused to look at them as my mother loved the Aerostar and my father was sold on Astro :(.
Truly dreadful. If you ever rode in one, sitting in the middle row of seats there was a droning and ear buffeting sound that was very uncomfortable - it was non-stop and grew worse the longer you rode in the garbage can. I've ridden in station wagons and other minivans and never had such an experience. I'm glad these failed.