THE CARS | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal
GM has rolled plenty of vehicles off Lansing-area assembly lines in the past century. Some contained groundbreaking features, others were big sellers. We take a look at 10 of the more notable vehicles.
Oldsmobile Limited
The Oldsmobile Limited Touring car, made in the 1910 to 1912 model years, was never a financial success.
But it did succeed in setting a new standard for style. In its day, the car cost a staggering $5,000 — the equivalent of $109,972 in today’s dollars. It’s easy to see why this car, though pretty to look at, never became a big seller.
Fewer than 700 of the top-of-the-line cars were made. There were several variants and body styles, including a seven-passenger limo, a five- or seven-passenger touring model and
a two-passenger roadster.
The car took its name from the 20th Century Limited, a train that ran between Albany, N.Y., and New York City. A 1909 painting by William Hardner Foster that showed an Oldsmobile Limited racing that train was entitled “Setting the Pace,” the name that later would be used for the comprehensive history of Oldsmobile written by Helen Earley and James Walkinshaw, Lansing-area residents and General Motors Corp. retirees.
Oldsmobile Viking
On the eve of the Great Depression, Oldsmobile again came out with a show-stopping luxury vehicle.
The Oldsmobile Viking debuted in 1929. In its two-year run, just 8,003 were made.
The top-end Viking came with an $1,855 price tag - or $22,266 in today's dollars.
When the stock market crashed on Oct. 29, 1929, most Americans lost the will - and the ability - to buy luxury items, and the Viking stalled. But the car remains an example of the splendor that Oldsmobile once represented.
Oldsmobile ‘Rocket 88’
When World War II ended, Americans resumed their love affair with the automobile.
Production had ground to a halt during the war, with Lansing’s car factories transformed into ammunition plants. But GM restarted car production. In Lansing, it rolled out the first Oldsmobile 88 for the 1949 model year. Its relatively small and light body and powerful engine made it a precursor to the muscle cars.
The car’s nickname, the “Rocket 88,” referred to the new engine. Made in Lansing, the Rocket engine (originally named the Kettering engine after GM’s chief engineer), was the first mass-produced overhead valve V-8 engine. It quickly became a hit with car enthusiasts.
The Rocket 88 was immortalized in 1951 when Ike Turner recorded what many music historians consider the first rock ’n’ roll song to be recorded — “Rocket 88,” which extolled the powerful car.
Oldsmobile Cutlass 442
First introduced as an option package on the 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass and F-85, the Cutlass 442 became a model in its own right four years later.
In 1966, the car was clocked going from
0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds by Car and Driver magazine. Such reviews bumped up the 442’s popularity.
The car got another boost when Oldsmobile worked with Hurst Performance Research Corp. to put out the Hurst/Olds 442 in 1968.
By 1970, the year the 442 was the Indianapolis 500 pace car, Motor Trend named the car “the most identifiable super car in the GM house.”
It was popular in movie houses, too.
The 442 appeared in many films and television shows, including Sylvester Stallone’s “Demolition Man.” Mark Wahlberg drove a 442 in the film “Four Brothers.”
In song, the 442 was mentioned in Primus’ “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.”
Oldsmobile Toronado
The two-door Toronado coupe, made from 1966 to 1992, was the first front-wheel-drive car made in the United States since 1937.
At first, the car had doubters. The automotive press wondered how well the front-wheel-drive would work, while leaders at the Cadillac division rebuffed Oldsmobile’s request to work with them on the new technology.
Test versions of the Toronado logged more than 1 million miles to prove its safety and reliability.
According to the book “Setting the Pace,” trial lawyers eagerly anticipated the car’s release because they thought there would be many accident and product failure lawsuits.
But that didn’t happen.
The Toronado won Car of the Year from Motor Trend magazine the first year off the production line.
The Toronado would become one of Oldsmobile’s enduring models, remaining in production for 26 years.
Pontiac Grand Am
The Grand Am’s history runs in stops and starts.
It debuted as a mid-size car, made from 1973 to 1975 at GM’s plant in Pontiac. It was revived from 1978 to 1980 as a limited-run production that offered new features, such as power windows, locks and seats. It also was made in Pontiac. It wasn’t until the third generation of the Grand Am in 1984 that the model really took off. Pontiac’s best-selling vehicle would be made in Lansing. It also would be one of the first non-Oldsmobile products made by GM’s Lansing workers.
The Grand Am would receive two updates during its local run. When production at Lansing Car Assembly began to falter as Oldsmobile was discontinued and GM prepared to move production to the new Lansing Delta Township plant, it was the Grand Am, along with the Chevrolet Classic, that kept workers on the job.
Despite the Grand Am’s long-running success, GM opted to discontinue the model in 2005. It was replaced with the Pontiac G6 and production was shifted out of Lansing.
EV1
Before the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s high-profile electric vehicle due to hit showrooms in 2010, came the EV1. The first all-electric car from a major manufacturer was developed because California had enacted a “Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate,” requiring the largest automakers to make pollution-free vehicles available.
GM responded with an all-electric car in the mid-1990s but took a unique marketing path. The EV1 was only available for lease. Many of the takers were environmental activists, including actor Ed Begley Jr.
For production of the niche vehicle, GM turned to the Lansing Craft Centre. Unlike all other GM assembly plants, the facility was designed specifically to make low-volume vehicles.
That’s what the EV1 was, with fewer than 1,200 of them made in its three-year production run from 1996 to 1999.
Despite an enthusiastic following and a list of people waiting for a new generation of the car, GM pulled the plug on the EV1 in 2003. Many with leases asked to buy their EV1s, but GM required all of the cars to be returned.
Cadillac CTS
When GM opened its Lansing Grand River plant in 2001, workers had more than new equipment to work with — they also had a brand new Cadillac model.
The CTS was edgy — literally. Its crisp lines indicated that Cadillac was about to turn in a new direction.
The CTS quickly proved to be a winner. The entry-level luxury sedan was featured in a chase scene in “Matrix Reloaded” — the second of a trio of “Matrix” sci-fi movies starring Keanu Reeves. It also was at the forefront of what has been dubbed the “Cadillac Renaissance.”
A high-powered CTS-V version of the car also was introduced, pushing the image of Cadillac away from the golf club crowd and toward younger generations.
The enthusiasm for the CTS has led to creation of new variants based on the original sedan body. Next year, Lansing Grand River’s 1,800 workers will begin making two-door coupe CTSes as well as a wagon version of the car.
There were 57,029 CTSes sold last year. This year, the CTS is on track to beat last year’s sales.
Chevrolet SSR
Before it was released in 2003, the development of the Chevrolet SSR drew intense interest from car enthusiasts who eagerly anticipated the retro-themed roadster.
But it wasn’t a sales winner.
Workers at the Lansing Craft Centre built the SSR. And it had a promising start — the SSR was the pace car at the 2003 Indianapolis 500.
But the enthusiasm among diehard fans didn’t translate into mass sales, which fell from 9,648 vehicles in 2004 to 3,803 in 2006, the year it went out of production.
Part of the problem was price. With a price tag topping $42,000, some would-be buyers backed away.
Even so, the SSR generated a hard-core following. Self-proclaimed SSR fanatics held get-togethers on the lawn of the Craft Centre and took tours of the plant.
But that wasn’t enough to save the vehicle. Faltering sales led to several months of layoffs at the Craft Centre in 2005, and both the plant and the vehicle were killed off the following year.
Buick Enclave
After years of speculation about what vehicles would be made at the new Lansing Delta Township plant, GM gave its answer at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
There, it released the concept version of the Buick Enclave crossover.
Elegance would be the emphasis of its styling. With smooth, graceful lines, the Enclave won the hearts of automotive reviewers. And inside the crossover, GM took care to make the ride as quiet as possible, something that would be key in winning over buyers from brands such as Lexus and Infiniti.
It worked. Reviewers fawned over the vehicle once it was put into production in April 2007. And car buyers added themselves to lists, sometimes waiting for months to get their ideal Enclave delivered. There were 29,286 of them sold last year.
The success of the Enclave also led its interior designer, Lansing native Michael Burton, to be featured in ads for the crossover
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