Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser

Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
Overview
Manufacturer	Oldsmobile
Production	1964–1977 (1969 model shown)
Body and chassis
Class	Mid-size
Body style	4-door station wagon 5-door optional (Dual Action tailgate, 1969-1972)
Layout	FR layout
Platform	A-body
Chronology
Successor	Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser

First generation
Overview
Production	1964–1967 (1965 model shown)
Body and chassis
Related	Buick Special Buick Sport Wagon Chevrolet Chevelle Oldsmobile Cutlass Pontiac Grand Prix Pontiac Tempest
Powertrain
Engine	330 in³ Rocket V8
Transmission	2-speed automatic 3-speed automatic 4-speed manual 3-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	Template:Auto in

Second generation
Overview
Production	1968–1972 (1969 model shown)
Body and chassis
Related	Buick Special Buick Sport Wagon Chevrolet Monte Carlo Oldsmobile Cutlass Pontiac Grand Prix Pontiac Tempest 400 in³ Rocket V8 (1968-69) 455 in³ Rocket V8 (1970-72)
Powertrain
Engine	350 in³ Rocket V8
Transmission	2-speed automatic 3-speed automatic 4-speed manual 3-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	Template:Auto in

Third generation
Overview
Production	1973–1977 (1976 model shown)
Body and chassis
Related	Buick Century Chevrolet Chevelle Chevrolet Monte Carlo Oldsmobile Cutlass Pontiac Grand Prix
Powertrain
Engine	350 in³ Rocket V8 403 in³ Rocket V8 (1977) 455 in³ Rocket V8 (1973-76)
Transmission	3-speed automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase	Template:Auto in

The Vista Cruiser is a station wagon built by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors from 1964 to 1977, which was based on the Oldsmobile Cutlass/F-85 model, but from 1964-1972 had a longer full-sized car wheelbase (120-121 inches) than the intermediate sedan chassis (115-116 inches) it was based upon.

Noted for the glass found in the roof over the second-row seating (which also included sun visors for the second row of seats) and for the smaller glass panels over the rear cargo area windows, this car was introduced to the public on February 4, 1964 as a 1964 model.

This body style was not unique to Oldsmobile, being shared with the Buick Sport Wagon, and was not repeated in future Oldsmobile mid-size wagons; however, the skylight concept was repeated with the 1991-92 full-size Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon and echoed by its corporate sibling, the 1991-96 Buick Roadmaster wagon. The forward facing third row seat is also unusual for car-based wagons, and is also seen on the Ford Freestyle/Taurus X (which is a crossover SUV) and Eagle Medallion.

1964-1967

The first-generation Vista Cruiser offered a split skylight over the second row of seats.

In 1964, the Vista Cruiser was one of three station wagons offered by Oldsmobile, the others being the F-85 built on the same wheelbase as other F-85/Cutlass intermediates and the full-sized Dynamic 88 Fiesta.

From 1965 to 1970, the Vista Cruiser became the division's largest wagon as Olds did not offer a station wagon in the full-sized 88 series and the intermediate F-85/Cutlass were also offered during each of those years on the shorter wheelbase.

Engine offerings in the Vista Cruiser paralleled other Olds intermediates with a 330 cubic-inch V8 offered from 1964 to 1967 with horsepower ratings from 210 to 320 depending on year and carburetion.

Transmission offerings included the two-speed Jetaway automatic transmission and two rarely-equipped manual transmissions including a three-speed column shift and a four-speed floor shift.

1968-1972

A major restyling of the GM A-body car line for 1968 replaced the split skylight with a one-piece skylight, and stretched the wheelbase from 120" to 121".

From 1968 to 1972, a 350 cubic-inch V8 became standard with a larger 400 cubic-inch V8 from the 442 muscle car optional in 1968-69 and a 455 cubic-inch V8 from the 442 available from 1970 to 1972.

Transmission offerings through the years included one of two automatics - the two-speed Jetaway (1968) or three-speed Turbo Hydramatic (1968-72), or very rarely, a standard three-speed manual with column shift or optional four-speed manual with floor-mounted Hurst shifter.

In 1969, the "Dual-Action" tailgate was first offered, as standard equipment on the three-row models and as optional equipment on the two-row models.

In 1970, a major redesign reshaped much of the exterior sheet metal. Although it closely resembled the 1968-69 models, and is essentially considered to be a second-generation car, many of the body parts were no longer interchangeable with the earlier second-generation cars. The dashboard was also completely redesigned. (The GM Skywagon Club recognizes the 1970-72 models as "Generation 2a")

For 1971, Olds brought back the full-sized Custom Cruiser wagon on the 98 chassis utilizing GM's disappearing clamshell tailgate, but the glass-roofed Vista Cruiser continued until 1972.

A small number of 1972 Vista Cruisers were modified by Hurst Performance, then based in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania for support car duties at the 1972 Indianapolis 500 and equipped with 455 cubic-inch Rocket V8s along with the official pace car, a 1972 Hurst/Olds, also powered by a 455 V8. Two are known to exist as of 2009, a press car and a medical director's car.

1973-77

Although the roof glass was substituted for an optional pop-up front-row sunroof and the wheelbase was shortened to the same 116-inch (2,946 mm)-length as Cutlass sedans for the 1973 model year when the Cutlass and other GM intermediates were completely restyled, the Vista Cruiser name continued for five more model years as an elevated trim level of the Cutlass Supreme station wagon until the Cutlass Cruiser was introduced for the 1978 model year. Engine offerings during this period included a standard 350 cubic-inch Rocket V8 or optional 455 cubic-inch Rocket V8 through 1976, which was replaced by a 403 cubic-inch Rocket V8 in 1977. The three-speed Turbo Hydra-matic transmission, power steering and power front disc brakes were standard equipment on Vista Cruisers during the 1973-77 period.

Pop culture

A second-generation 1969 Vista Cruiser was Eric Forman's car on That '70s Show. It was later sold to Wilmer Valderrama, the actor who played Fez, for $500 USD when the show ended in 2006.

At the beginning of National Lampoon's Vacation the car that gets crushed is a 1971 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. Also in the movie The Out-of-Towners the car appears in the beginning when the camera zooms into the suburban neighborhood in Ohio where George and Gwen live.

In the movie Desperation, based on the Stephen King novel, a Vista Cruiser that looks like the one from That '70s Show is seen in the town of Desperation toward the beginning of the movie.

Another second-generation Vista Cruiser appears in the Fox TV show, Fringe. In the show's plot, it was recovered from storage after 17 years when the show's lead character, Walter Bishop, is released from an insane asylum and remembered where he parked his car.

A first-generation Vista Cruiser with a 1965-base Pennsylvania license plate appears in the movie Radio Flyer.

A second-generation Vista Cruiser appears in the 2002 English movie, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.

A Mexico City-based music band, Los Twangers, made a YouTube video called "Vista Cruiser '69" in 2008.

A first generation Vista Cruiser is the estate that can be seen in the film "A Lot Like Love"

External links

• Oldsmobile Club of America
• GM Skywagon Club