It used to be the brightest point in General Motors Co.'s powertrain firmament, but now the company's once-famous Northstar V8 is ending production after a 17-year run, a GM spokesman confirmed to Inside Line. The last Northstar will be made sometime near the end of July.
The 4.6-liter Northstar was huge news when GM launched the overhead-cam, all-aluminum V8 in 1992 for the '93 Cadillac Allante. It was the company's first overhead-cam V8 and brought to market a number of then-innovative features, including 100,000-mile sparkplugs and a "limp home" mode designed to keep the engine from melting itself even if all the coolant was lost.
For a decade, Cadillac and the Northstar were inextricably linked, as GM kept the "Northstar System" a Cadillac exclusive. In later years, however, the Northstar - if not in name, the engine architecture itself - was pressed into service for other brands, mostly Oldsmobile and Buick. There have been three different Northstar displacements over the years, although the 4.6-liter by far was the most widely used. A short-lived 3.5-liter V6 was derived from the Northstar for Oldsmobile before the brand was discontinued.
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Categories: Auto Industry,Buick,Cadillac,General Motors,Luxury Cars,Oldsmobile
You really don't need money or material resources to be a car guy. You just are. And so it is with Mahfouz Caberetti. He lives in the Gaza Strip, and in his humble garage, he wrenches on an early '50s Oldsmobile with one of the "Rocket" V8s and a Ponton-era '61 Mercedes-Benz sedan.
Caberetti is featured in a cool slideshow with audio on the BBC news Web site today; we recommend you watch it just to see some of the photos.
Working on the cars, Caberetti says, gives him something to do and eases tension in the otherwise difficult living conditions in Gaza. His biggest problem? Getting spare parts for the cars.
BBC News via Jalopnik
Categories: Classic Cars,Mercedes-Benz,Oldsmobile
Senator Ted Kennedy died tonight after a bout with brain cancer. The long-time senator from Massachusetts was the youngest brother of former president John F. Kennedy.
Ted Kennedy was a rising political star that had eyes on the presidency himself until he was involved in a much-publicized car crash on Chappaquiddick island in the summer of 1969.
Aftter leaving a party in his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88, Kennedy got lost in the dark and crashed into a pond. He was able to escape, but his female passenger drowned. The incident became a national scandal known as the Chappaquiddick incident and ended any hopes for Kennedy's presidency.
CNN: Ted Kennedy dead at 77
Categories: Celebrities,Oldsmobile
After yesterday's pace car clunker fest, we're proud to present some of the 500's more prestigious pace cars. These cars actually did their production namesakes some good, or at least looked great trying.
Indy500.Com: Pace Cars of the Indianapolis 500
Categories: Chevrolet,Chrysler,Classic Cars,Ford,General Motors,Motorsports,Oldsmobile,Pontiac
With the 2009 Indianapolis 500 fast approaching, the hype machine is in full swing. Danica this, Danica that, Helio on pole, and of course the official 2009 Indy pace car.
This year it's the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS, a solid, almost inevitable choice. Such decisions haven't always been so clear cut. During much of the 70s and 80s, the choices were slim. But they had to slap stickers on something, so you had some dodgy representatives like the Oldsmobile Calias and Cadillac Eldorado.
So what do you think? Which car deserves the title "Worst Indy Pace Car Ever"?
Categories: Buick,Cadillac,Chevrolet,Chrysler,Classic Cars,General Motors,Motorsports,Oldsmobile,Pontiac
There's an interesting video on the 1942 Oldsmobile B-44 over at
Jalopnik (
sorry, couldn't get it to post properly here
)
. It gives a good glimpse into the wartime mentality that was pervasive at that time, and how that filtered down into the marketing of products of that era, such as this car.
It should be noted that the 1942 model year for all cars was cut short due to the fact that factories were converted over to the war effort. Production of cars for civilians didn't resume until 1946, and those cars were really nothing more than just 1942 models with few if any tweaks...
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Categories: Classic Cars,Oldsmobile
My pick for the pimpest ride at the 2007 SEMA Show is this. It's an ambulance. A 1968 Oldsmobile Cotner Bevington Ninety-Eight Ambulance, and I found it to be a beacon of light in the SEMA sea of strange.
Built by JKR Racing in just 2 weeks, the big Olds features a midmounted 496-cubic-inch big-block Chevy engine with two big carburetors and nitrous oxide. Owned and driven by Shannon Speer, RN, otherwise known as Nurse Ratchet, the ambulance also packs an airbag suspension, a full roll cage, wheelie bars and 9-inch Ford rear end with 4.56 gears...
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Categories: Oldsmobile,SEMA Show
