5k: 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham Diesel
The Oldsmobile 88 was a full sized car sold by General Motors from 1949 to 1999, a stunning 50 year production history that started in 1949 as a car that a 30 year old would like. The 88 continued to court that same buyer until he was 80 in 1999…and like its customers, faded into the great unknown. Lucky for us, some of these Olds 88s have been spared the crusher or crematorium – like this 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham Diesel for sale in Snyder NE for the low price of $3000 via craigslist. Hat tip to tipster Andrew L.
We will get to what makes this Delta 88 a diesel later – but first let’s focus on understanding what a Delta 88 Royale Brougham means. Back in 1977 the 8th generation of Olds 88 was built on the GM B-body, (the next generation of Olds 88 would be built on the front wheel drive H-platform) so it maintains the classic rear wheel drive and general heft of a full sized GM car – lots of ‘road hugging’ weight. The Royale Brougham package added plush pillowed seats, a padded vinyl top, Brougham badges and general awesome to the Olds 88. Getting parts for one of these will be simple for the next few years because you can’t go to a junk yard anywhere in the country without falling over stacks of plush seat equipped Broughams of various lineage. Get a nice one now before they are all crushed…
Now on to the dubious claim of 28 miles per gallon and the oil burning elephant under the hood. This Oldsmobile comes equipped with the Olds LF9, a 5.7 liter V8 that burns diesel fuel and puts out a measly 105 horsepower and 205 ft-lbs of torque. The Olds LF9 has the dubious honor of being about the worst diesel engine ever produced as it was a hasty diesel conversion of the gasoline Olds Rocket V8. Diesel direct injection combustion events are very different from gasoline spark ignition and create extreme cylinder pressure peaks even at idle conditions (hence the ping ping clackety clack rattle from most diesels) as opposed to the smoother flame front burn of the gasoline engine. The end result is that a diesel engine needs appropriately sized bearings, rods, caps, skirt, block, head bolts, et cetera, to deal with the increased forces associated with this pressure peak. The Olds engineers did not understand or did not have time/budget to redesign the appropriate components and released into the Olds, Pontiac, Buick, Chevy, Cadillac & GMC lines what was essentially a gasoline engine with direct injection diesel fuel system added to it. The resulting warranty fiasco was nothing short of disastrous. It likely soured a generation of Americans on this confounded diesel thing and only recently have diesel engines made a respectable comeback on this side of the Atlantic.
The inside of this Brougham carriage is well kept considering its age and we can only hope that the plush interior is free from the sweet smell of diesel fuel. The only thing wrong on the inside is that the cruise control does not work, something that isn’t a problem for freeway clogged places like Los Angeles, but would be a problem if you are planning to use this for a long distance commuter in Nebraska.
It is probably an optical illusion, but the rims in the back look smaller than the front…likely just due to the white-wall stripe on the front tires and would be an easy fix by mounting the front tires outside-in or rear tires inside-out. Bottom line; if you are looking for a mid 80’s Brougham diesel sedan (which you shouldn’t be), they don’t get much cleaner than this one.
See a better diesel for cheap? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
Horridly underpowered and as mentioned, poor engine design. At $3k its way overpriced as a very clean gas engined one in the South West will cost about the same… No real economy over gas. This is a $1k car at best
~ 29 years old and hasn't been scrapped or converted to gas. one of a precious few, i'd bet.
official losermobile
I just said NO! NO! NO! as soon as I saw this…
UNLESS YOU POUR DIESEL FUEL INSIDE,WHY WOULD IT SMELL LIKE DIESEL INSIDE? ALSO GM ENGINEERS HAD RECOMMENDED 18 HEAD BOLTS PER CYL. HEAD BUT WAS IGNORED,PASSED OVER FOR PROFIT,LOL,THE POWER IS NOT THAT BAD,FAR BETTER THAN SOME OF THE IMPORT DIESELS OF THE TIME.I HAVE HAD A LOT OF THE EARLIER ENGINES AND THEY WERE PROBLEMATIC,AND DID NOT DO WELL IF YOU WERE TOWING BUT IN THIS FORM WORK WELL WITH THE 350 DX ENGINE THAT IT HAS IN IT. THE DX WAS THE UPGRADED ENGINE AND IF PROPERLY CARED FOR WILL GO 400K OR MORE
I know someone that had a 350 dx that was completely studded and and girdled,had performance rebuid with gapless rings and multi angle vavle job,victor reinz head gaskets,had great power and 35 mpg!!!
As the No! No! No! guy from abaove – to clarify – I worked in an Olds shop when these were new. The guy in the bay next to me worked on the diesels exclusively. His nickname was Slick – and he was well-coated with sooty oil replacing bent rods (etc.) on a regular basis. They were not good cars from the factory, one after another they rolled back in, usually with major issues. Vastly under-engineered….
these were good cars. they did have head gasket issues and they were a little slow but with a little work and diesel no how you can get this up and running. they are getting to be collectable. i had the mark 7 diesel 2. kc
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