Junkyard Find: 1979 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency Coupe
The greatest Oldsmobile song of all time is Public Enemy’s 1987 masterpiece, “ You’re Gonna Get Yours” (from all the many great Oldsmobile songs out there), but just what kind of Olds 98 was it that Chuck D used to get all those suckers to the side? I say it was the 1977-1984 tenth-generation 98, and here’s an example of a luxurious ’79 Regency Coupe, complete with landau roof and plenty of fake wood trim inside.
The Ninety-Eight was downsized by 800 pounds in 1977, along with its Cadillac de Ville and Buick Electra brethren, and the depiction of the unstoppable Ninety-Eight in “You’re Gonna Get Yours” gives the impression that it must be the monstrous 1971-1976 version. However, if you look at the cover of the 12″ single release for “ Rebel Without a Pause” and “ Miuzi Weighs a Ton” (released on the same album as “You’re Gonna Get Yours”), you will see two 1977-1984 Olds Ninety-Eights plus a Cadillac Eldorado. That’s proof enough for me.
The Regency was the plushest Ninety-Eight you could get in 1979, and the coupe was far more stylish than the sedan.
If you like “wood” in your interior, this car has plenty.
Embossed beige velour aplenty in here.
This car is the same model and color as the one on the brochure page for the Regency Coupe. The Malaise-style luxury is mostly gone now, but you can still detect faint echoes if you listen hard over the sound of The Crusher chomping cars.
Archie Manning could have put you behind the wheel of a nice Ninety-Eight Regency Coupe, if you lived in New Orleans in 1979.
[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars; Courtesy Old Car Brochures]
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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Since we have so many experts here, can someone tell me if those are factory wheels, off a Buick, or aftermarket? I'm thinking the second option.
Those down-sized full-sized GM products were some of the last products that GM built that were any good (except diesel versions). After that, it was all down hill for the company as it could not make a decent front-driver. Today it builds junk and its fetish for rear drive is a throwback that is in congruent with the upcoming CAFE standards imposed by this regime and the need to become more efficient with space utilization.