80s Olds 98 Regency Page-1980-1984 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency

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Background | 19801981 | 1982 | 1983/1984 | End of the Road

The 1980 -1984 Oldsmobile 98 Regency is one of the classiest and most elegant designs to ever come out of Detroit. Debuting in the fall of 1979, the classic design proved to be a very popular seller at Oldsmobile and many hundreds of thousands of vehicles hit the road in the first few years of the 1980s.

GM's love affair with front-wheel-drive (FWD), however, eventually doomed the classic "traditional" rear-wheel-drive (RWD) luxury cars which had been so popular on American roads for decades prior to the 1980s. In 1985 the luxury flagship models from Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Buick were downsized, followed by their family-car counterparts in 1986. Only the full-size Cadillac Fleetwood and the various station wagon models remained.


In 1991, responding to popular demand, GM updated the classic RWD American luxury car in the form of an all-new Chevrolet Caprice which, based on its appearance, could have been an updated design for a new Olds 98. This was followed by the Buick Roadmaster in 1992 and the Cadillac Fleetwood in 1993. These vehicles were built on the same chassis which powered the classic Olds 98 of the '80s. A lack of updates, however, coupled with a general decline in demand prompted GM to discontinue all their RWD sedans in 1996. After that, Ford became the only manufacturer to offer a "traditional" American luxury car in the form of the Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Ford Crown Victoria.

BACKGROUND

The C-Body chassis or "platform" upon which the1980-1984 Olds 98 was based first debuted in 1977. Even though the vehicles to be built on the new platform would some of the largest on American roadways, the series was actually marketed as "downsized!" This is true because the vehicles made prior to 1977 were even larger than their late-'70s counterparts.

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