The Oldsmobile Omega is a

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However ...

manufactured and marketed from 1973-1984 by

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

, as the brand's most affordable, entry level vehicle — across three distinct generations. The first two generations of the Omega used

rear-wheel-drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-wheel ...

configuration, as a

badge engineered In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a ma ...

variant of the

Chevrolet Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

. The third generation was marketed from 1980–1984 in a

front-wheel-drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

, as a variation of the

Chevrolet Citation The Chevrolet Citation is a range of compact cars that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. The first Chevrolet sold with front-wheel drive, a single generation of the Citation was sold from the 1980 to 1985 model years. The s ...

. The ''

omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/ isopsephy ( gematria), it has a value of 800. The ...

'' nameplate derived from the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

First generation (1973–1974)

The Omega was one of three X-body Chevrolet Nova clones. It and the

Buick Apollo The Buick Apollo is a compact car that was manufactured from 1973 to 1975 by Buick. It was based on the GM X platform along with the Oldsmobile Omega, Chevrolet Nova, and the Pontiac Ventura. The car was named for the Greek god Apollo. It wa ...

were introduced in 1973; the Pontiac Ventura had been introduced in 1971. Naturally it shared the Nova's body and many of its mechanicals, but it had its own unique nose and tail, and, being an Oldsmobile, it had a little fancier trim than the Nova. It even borrowed the Nova's dashboard, but Olds added woodgrain trim to it for a more upscale look. The front grille sported Oldsmobile's trademark split "waterfall" grille design, round headlights set into square recesses, and parking lights directly below in the bumper. Body styles mirrored that of the Nova, including a 2-door coupe, 3-door hatchback, or a 4-door sedan. Engine choices were the standard Chevy-built 4.1-litre (250 cid) I6 with a 3-speed manual transmission standard, with a 4-speed manual or a 2- or 3-speed automatic optional. The lone V8 was Oldsmobile's 5.7 L (350 cid) "Rocket" V8, which had a 4-speed manual as standard with the 3-speed automatic optional. V8 models with the fifth VIN digit being the letter "K" received a 4-barrel Rochester carburetor. All other V8 engines received the standard 2-barrel version. There were also 53 "Doctor Oldsmobile Omega" built in 1973. All were V8's built in Van Nuys, California, and were sold at Century Oldsmobile in Van Nuys, California. This decal option was canceled in 1974. There were few changes in 1974. There was a base model and the upper-level Brougham and the S option was added. The parking lights were relocated inboard below the grille instead of the headlights and there was a new rear bumper design which met the federal government's new 5-mph impact standards. The 2-speed

Powerglide The Powerglide is a two-speed automatic transmission designed by General Motors. It was available primarily on Chevrolet from January 1950 through 1973, although some Pontiac models also used this automatic transmission after the fire at the Hyd ...

transmission was dropped.

Second generation (1975–1979)

This car was the top of the X-body line along with Buick's Apollo and Skylark, having more luxury trimming, more noise insulation, rear anti-roll bars, and other features not found on the Chevrolet Nova. There were four basic Oldsmobile X bodied cars, the F-85 (the base car), the Omega, Omega SX, and the Omega Brougham. During the 1975-76 model years, the top engine choice was a 350 cu. in. (5.7 Liter) V8 from GM's

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

division. During that time, the base engine was the 250 cu. in. (4.1 Liter)

inline-6 The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...

from Chevrolet, until 1977 when it was dropped in favor of the lighter Buick 231 V6. It saw few changes through its life being limited mostly to the front end (with three different grille designs) and to the rear lights, changing the number of lenses through the years. The Oldsmobile 260 (4.3-liter) V8 was available as an option from 1975-79. 1978 Oldsmobile Omega coupe, rear right

Third generation (1980–1984)

The X-bodies were all-new front-wheel drive cars for 1980. Engine choices included Pontiac's Iron Duke

inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

and the new corporate 2.8 L LE2 V6 designed specifically for this platform. Transmissions were the 4 speed manual or the TH125 3-speed automatic. Unlike the

, which the car was based on, the Omega range consisted of a 2-door coupe and 4-door sedan, with upright styling and a split grille. Aside from the standard and Brougham models offered of the duration of production, sportier models were also offered. These included the SX coupe (replaced by the ES in 1982), ES sedan. The SportOmega pioneered urethane plastic fenders in 1981 and featured red-and-orange striping, white-over-gray paint, and a sloping front grille shared with the SX and ES. Notably, the sportier models were available with both the L4 and V6 engines.1981 and 1983 Sales Brochures Beginning in 1982, the Chevrolet high-output (130 horsepower) 2.8L V6 became available on ES models. In 1983, the ES was only available in the sedan body style. The X-body Omega, like its

rebadged In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...

variants (the

Pontiac Phoenix The Pontiac Phoenix was a compact car that was sold from 1977 to 1984 by Pontiac. There were two generations of the Phoenix, both based on popular Chevrolet models, and both using the GM X platform designation. It was named for the mythologic ...

and

Buick Skylark The Buick Skylark is a passenger car formerly produced by Buick. The model was made in six production runs, during 46 years, over which the car's design varied dramatically due to changing technology, tastes, and new standards implemented over t ...

), proved fairly trouble-prone early on, necessitating a number of government-mandated

recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatc ...

s for braking problems, fluid leaks and suspension issues. While Omega was the only one of the four X-cars to sell better in 1981 than in 1980 (147,918 versus 134,323), starting in 1982, production fell dramatically. Only 77,469 Omegas were built in '82, with 53,926 in 1983 and 52,986 in swan-song 1984. For 1985, the Omega was replaced by the

N-body In physics and astronomy, an ''N''-body simulation is a simulation of a dynamical system of particles, usually under the influence of physical forces, such as gravity (see ''n''-body problem for other applications). ''N''-body simulations ar ...

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

References

{{Authority control Compact cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles

Omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/ isopsephy ( gematria), it has a value of 800. The ...

Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Coupés Sedans Hatchbacks 1970s cars 1980s cars