Rare Rides: Get Some SCX in a 1992 Oldsmobile Achieva
Not just any regular old Achieva, the SCX was a cut above its siblings. In adding actual performance to the SCX trim, the Oldsmobile brand had one last hurrah with a performance coupe.
And someone’s taken care not to drive this one much at all.
By the early Nineties, General Motors saw it was time to replace Oldsmobile’s compact car offering. The N-body Cutlass Calais (nee Calais) held the compact banner for the Rocket brand ever since the 1985 model year. It was time for something entirely new.
Enter the Achieva, which was… an N-body. On dealer lots for the 1992 model year, the new Achieva matched the prior Cutlass Calais’ wheelbase, but offered a more modern, aerodynamic body. Achieva was available in either coupe or sedan guises, and in four total trim levels: S and SL were available on both coupe and sedan, while upmarket SC and SCX trims were reserved for the coupe only.
A W41 designation appeared late in the run for the Cutlass Calais, joining the 442 badging on the most sporty coupe model for 1991. Though the 442 nomenclature went away, the W41 stuck around, paired with the SCX trim on the Achieva in 1992.
Buyers who sprang for the SCX W41 received revised front and rear bumpers, a pair of fog lamps, and cladding around the sides of their sports coupe. In addition to exterior detailing, the interior saw a revised speedometer with 140 miles an hour listed (the standard car read 120).
That speed was made possible by a higher output engine than other models. The naturally aspirated inline-four engine was officially the W41 version of the Oldsmobile Quad 4. Ten more horsepower were on tap over the standard engine, for a total of 190. This was achieved via a less restricted exhaust system and different camshafts. Meanwhile, a recalibrated ECU upped the engine’s redline to 7,200 RPM. GM even built a special version of the five-speed manual for use in the SCX, with revised gearing assisting in acceleration and peak performance.
Underneath, the car rode on wider tires supported by a modified FX3 suspension package. FX3 changes included a wider rear axle with dual sway bars, a larger sway bar up front, and electronically adjustable shocks and struts.
Though it did offer exciting performance, the SCX W41 was not long for the world. Olds cancelled it after the 1993 model year. In total, 1,146 examples were produced in ’92, and 500 escaped the factory in ’93. Today’s 1992 example is in black, a medium-rare choice amongst the colors on offer that year. Just 218 black cars were produced. This one’s at a dealer in Ohio with just over 17,000 miles under its belt. Said dealer is willing to take $14,990 or thereabouts.
A small price to pay for the very last W-branded performance Oldsmobile.
H/t to Adam Tonge for finding this Achieva via his love of… looking at Achievas.
[Images: seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Crush it and recycle it into something decent.
Even funnier (Comically pathetic) was when Chrysler bought AMC, a Chrysler executive who requested anonymity made a hilarious comment on what Chrysler was going to call the new brand. He said something like:
"They should name it LeBaron. They name EVERYTHING LeBaron.".
Remmeber how many Chrysler LeBarons' there were back then?