Junkyard Find: 1984 Oldsmobile Firenza Wagon
Of all the GM J-bodies sold in America, the Olds Firenza may be the rarest. In 1984, most Oldsmobile wagon shoppers wanted a stately rear-wheel-drive behemoth with a V8 engine, not some newfangled small wagon with a little communist-inspired four-cylinder engine driving the wrong wheels. Thus, Firenza wagons are rarer today than early AC Cobras. Here’s one that I found in a San Francisco Bay Area self-serve yard last weekend, while I was in town for the fifth annual Sears Pointless 24 Hours of LeMons.
This is the 2.0 liter version of the GM 122 pushrod engine. The 122 was a little less thrashy and rattly than the Iron Duke, but it also made less power. This LQ5 put out 86 horsepower, which was pretty miserable even by 1984 standards.
However, at least this car had genuine electronic fuel injection. And not-so-genuine “wood paneling.”
Brown-and-tan velour bucket seats.
The last owner of this car must have had glaucoma or some other illness that requires the completely legitimate application of medical cannabis. If Mr. ex-Firenza Driver lived in my state, of course, he could just throw away the medical card, ride his Lambretta to the local dispensary, and buy some shatter hash.
I must assume that this pin was applied when the car still had That New GM Velour Smell.
Say what you will about the early J-bodies, but at least this one outlived most of its Japanese peers.
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.
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Surprised to hear that some commenters had HVAC issues with these. Say what you want about problematic GM products, over the decades their AC systems have been bulletproof. Every GM car I or family members have owned that was manufactured in the 60's through the 90's has had very reliable HVAC systems. In fact up until Rolls Royce was acquired by VW and subsequently BMW, GM supplied the Frigidaire units for models such as the Silver Cloud and Cornice. About 15 years ago an uncle of mine left the family the 4 door version of this car. It was gray with gray velour and the 1.8 OHC with auto. It was in decent shape but was sitting for a while. I managed to get it running but it's motor was making some tappet sounds which apparently is the norm for older Brazilian 1.8 OHC's. But once I ran it for a while and let it idle the noise dissipated. Ended up selling it to someone who need cheap wheels for $600. Last I heard they got a few years out of it.
The button was put on in 2004 when I got the car. My grandma gave it to me. I lost it when my parents got rid of the car. Those are my husband's union stickers on the back. I grew up going on fishing trips in that car. And took my daughter on her first fishing trip in it. This makes my day. Omg.... You found my dope ride. No idea who the cannabis guy is. That must have been after us. This is so crazy.Did somebody buy it, or is it still in a junkyard?