1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser

For the 1984 model year, Oldsmobile discontinued the rear wheel drive G-body Cutlass wagon and moved the Cutlass Cruiser wagon nameplate over to the front wheel drive Cutlass Ciera. This was the same model year that all the GM A-bodies got station wagon versions: Chevy Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, and Buick Century.

Facelifted in 1985 and again in 1987, for 1988 all Olds Cutlass Ciera models got composite headlamps, giving the nose a sleeker look.

The row of little flags under the Cutlass Cruiser fender badge were part of Olds's advertising schtick from the late '70s through the early '90s, showing that Olds was trying to position itself as a competitor against sporty European and Asian competitors and set itself apart from its more traditionally 'Murrican-flavored GM stablemates. A tough sell when all you can really do to distinguish yourself from the herd is minor styling, suspension tuning, and powertrain differences.

The base motor in this Light Beechwood Metallic '89 Cutlass Cruiser would have been the pushrod 2.5L Tech IV, the latest evolution of the creaky old "Iron Duke" four banger, now with a balance shaft and throttle-body injection and making 98 SAE net horsepower. Optional motors were the 2.8L 125 horsepower V-6 or the 3.3L 3300 GM corporate V-6, which featured multiport fuel injection and 160 SAE net horses. (Incidentally, this was twenty more ponies than the 5.0L Olds 307 made in the 1988 Cutlass Supreme Classic, the last of the rear wheel drive G-bodies.)

The 14x6" aluminum alloy wheels would have come with the FE3 performance suspension package on an '89 Cutlass Cruiser, and they weren't available on the '88 model, and in 1990 the front seat shoulder harness anchors moved from the B-pillars to the door frames to comply with passive restraint requirements, so that nails down the model year.

It was photographed using an Olympus E-510 and a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in April of 2025.