Oldsmobile. No matter what GM did to make this brand appealing to younger drivers, it didn't work. Bringing on Ringo Starr and his daughter to remind us that "this is NOT your father's Oldsmobile" certainly didn't help the cause much.
Yes, Olds is long gone, and in the New York area, the brand's demise took the Good Olds Guys with it. Don't know the Good Olds Guys? You're definitely under 30. The Good Olds Guys were simply a consortium of the tri-state Olds dealerships, and they became a household name in the 1970s and '80s thanks to the power of television.
That fame came from a five-second spot that would run at the end of every Oldsmobile commercial. It was a disco-infused jingle that simply said, "At Your Good Olds, Good Olds Guys," coupled with some wicked '70s strings.
The image was a rotating photo grid of Olds dealers. Most were men, but at one point, The Brady Bunch-style grid did include a woman.
So here, from 1983, is a commercial for Oldsmobile Cutlass, available "At Your Good Olds, Good Olds Guys!"
-- Rolando Pujol