Oldsmobile is long gone. By the time the brand was phased out in the early 2000s it was a shell of its former self, but Oldsmobile used to make interesting cars like the 442, Trofeo and Aurora. One of the brand’s last interesting cars, and likely one of the rarest, was a badge job of General Motors’ full-size wagon from the early 1990s: the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser.
The Custom Cruiser wasn’t a new nameplate for the brand. The model had been around since the early 1970s, and it was always Old’s version of GM’s full-size B-body cars, models like the Pontiac Parisienne/Safari, Buick Electra and Chevy Caprice. By the 1990s, only three of these full-size B-Bodies were left in GM’s portfolio: the Chevy Caprice, Buick Roadmaster and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. All had recently received rounded, aerodynamic redesigns in 1991, making the previous generations square designs look archaic in comparison. While the Caprice and Roadmaster were available in both sedan and wagon body styles, the Custom Cruiser was only available as a wagon. Olds did this so it could still market the Ninety-Eight as its full-size sedan.
Save for things like brand-specific trim and features, the Custom Cruiser was nearly identical to the Roadmaster and Caprice. Up front, the Custom Cruiser had the same exact grille as the Caprice, just bisected by a body color panel with the Oldsmobile badge. The roof kept the second-row skylights that had always been a feature of the Custom Cruiser, but this time around the feature was shared with the Roadmaster.
Low-skirted rear fender wells were also shared with the Roadmaster and made the wagon look lower than it really was. One big difference that the Custom Cruiser had over its platform-mates was the exterior trim. Olds did away with things like bright chrome trim, wire wheels and wood paneling for the Custom Cruiser, instead going for alloy wheels and two-tone or body color paint and bumpers.
Inside, the dashboard design was an identical bi-level setup to the Caprice and Roadmaster. The only unique things were the seats, wood trim, and analog gauges; Caprices and Roadmasters had an old school 85-mph speedo or optional digital gauges.
Thankfully, that copy and paste engineering extended to the Custom Cruiser’s powertrain. One of the things that made these wagons great was their standard V8 power. When the Custom Cruiser (and Caprice and Roadmaster) debuted for 1991, it was available with Chevy’s 5.0-liter Small Block V8 that made 170 horsepower and 255 lb-ft of torque. Power was sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission. When 1992 rolled around, GM dropped in Chevy’s 5.7-liter Small Block V8. While horsepower compared to the 5.0 was just up 10, torque jumped to 300 lb-ft.
Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be of interest to buyers. Sales of the Custom Cruiser in its first year were just 7,663, less than half of Caprice sales. In 1992 sales were even worse, dropping over 43 percent to just 4,347. It seems buyers wanted the Caprice and Roadmaster more. The Custom Cruiser was killed after 1992, with the brand focusing its efforts more on the Bravada SUV and Silhouette minivan. Just 12,010 Custom Cruisers were ever built, way less than the over 50,000 units of Caprice and Roadmaster wagons that were made over their five years of production.
It also became the last rear-wheel-drive V8-powered Oldsmobile. This rarity comes up when you try to find one for sale. Just two 1991-1992 Custom Cruisers have appeared on Bring A Trailer in the last year, and there’s only one currently for sale on car buying sites like Cargurus and Auto Trader. If you ever come across one and have a chance to get your hands on it for cheap, grab it and never let go.
