Custom Cruiser vs Estate Wagon HVAC

I don't know if anyone knows this, but I've always wondered...and it may play into my future wagon purchase...

I've always been a fan of the Custom Cruiser/Estate Wagons from 1980-90. I seem to be drawn toward the CC in style, but the EW has some features I like more. My fantasy is to combine the two. I like the seats in the EW more than the CC and I suspect they would transfer over just fine. The feature that I wonder more about, however, is the HVAC system.

In looking at the "Tempmatic" automatic HVAC system in the CC, it appears to be more like the standard HVAC than an automatic system. It appears you still have to still tell it where to direct the air and what speed to blow the air...it just moderates the temperature of the air is all. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The "touch panel" style automatic climate control in the EW appears to be more of a true automatic system, as it allows for more user control, but also has a completely automatic setting...where it will direct the air where and at what speed the system deems necessary to maintain the temp setting selected. I much prefer this type of fully-automatic HVAC system...I'm more of a "set it and forget it" type of guy.

If the Tempmatic system is a fully-automatic system, then I'll be thrilled, but if not, then I wonder if the head-unit from the Buick could be installed in the Oldsmobile without much fuss/muss. Plug-n-play, maybe???

I also wish the Custom Cruiser were offered with Twilight Sentinel, but I haven't found that it was...anybody know for sure?

I know this sounds rather shallow, but I'm willing to admit it...I'm attracted to the trappings and toys a car can offer me.

 

Having owned both cars, I suggest a 1988-90 Custom Cruiser, and yes, swapping in a set of Buick seats would be a big improvement over the rather industrial-grade Olds 88 seats.

The Buick also had fancier door panels, but that's a matter of taste. An easy upgrade on the Olds doors is to substitute the vinyl Olds ones with ones for a Pontiac Parisienne Brougham, which are the same design, but in cloth. Only other difference is the Pontiac used Cadillac-style door-pulls. Olds also offered similar door panels on the 84-95 Delta 88 Brougham. All are easy swaps.

We had a lot of issues with the electronic touch climate control on our '86 Estate wagon, to the point that the dealer had to replace the control head twice. Even when working it was slow to react and the beep-beep-beep every time you touched it got old.

The Olds does have a classy dashboard, they ride well, and I like the exterior styling on the Olds. The reason to look for an 88-90 is that those model years tend to be loaded with options.

Since GM went front-drive with the sedans, it's like they wanted to use up all the remaining B-Body RWD spare parts on these wagons. My '89 had twilight sentinal, cornering lights, fiber-optic signal repeaters on the upper fenders and in the headliner above the rear window. Power left and right seats with recliner, lighted visor mirrors on both sides, heated and powered outside mirrors, even the auto-dimming rear-view-mirror, which while common now was a real luxury car item in 1989.

Good luck in your hunt!

-Mike


Here's the "before and after" pics as I fixed the car up....and through selling it. I miss it!

Before Passeger Side

After Passenger Side

Before Rear View

After Rear View

Before Driver's Side

After Driver's Side

After a solid week of scraping off wood and cleaning:


Added the Turbine Wheels...still had White Walls....tinted windows:



Added T/A Radials:



Olds 307....a regular ball of fire...HA!

Sharp Dash and Interior!

 

My kiddo at the beach, Padre Island Texas....age 3!

Wally World Dad? That's right son! Roy Wally World!


And here is how it looked the last time I saw it. The guy I sold it too added red pin stripes to the bumpers and side chrome, blacked out the bare metal parts on the wheels, and added surfer stickers to the car....and removed my Wally World sticker. Boo. : (




It was sold at action as part of an "Olds set" with an early 70's 442. Went to an Olds collector in Kansas. I keep meaning to try to look him up.

 

Wow! What a car! That car was loaded. Nearly identical optioning as my Brougham...actually, my Brougham didn't even have the autodimming rearview mirror (it does now...it was an easy mod...one that every car I've had since 1999 received if the car didn't already have the option). The way you made the Buick wheels into Olds wheels is brilliant. I've seen the Olds version of the full cap on those wheels (not a common option on the Olds), but your version is 100% better.

I do love the Cruiser's styling. I wouldn't be unhappy with the Estate...just happier with the Cruiser, I think.

Great ideas for the door panels. I went to AutoTrader Classics and saw a 1986 Parisienne and I love the cloth panels with the Cadillac door pulls...fantastic...and very classy.

That's good info on the HVAC unit in the Buick...too bad, though. Really, I'm not so invested in the HVAC being a touch panel thing as I am in it being fully automatic. Unless I'm defrosting/defogging the windows, I almost never touch the HVAC system. I truly utilize that automatic feature.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

There was one interesting option available on the Olds that was not available on the Buick: A gauge package. If you look at the IP picture above, there was a filler panel for the recessed area around the steering column, and it housed temperature, oil pressure and voltage gauges. The panel was wood grained to match the rest of the dash. It worked in conjunction with the warning lights and chimes. I had the option on y 84 Delta 88 Royale. I have only seen it a couple of times since. Always nice to be able to monitor the status of the engine.

 

It's amazing what removing some peeling woodgrain and adding a tint can do! Wheels look good too. Nice ride!

 

I always wanted to add the gauge package to my '89 pictured above. I found a lot of them in the salvage yards, but all had the older style burled wood, and not the lighter-colored wood GM moved to in the late 80's.

Of course a few months after I sold the car, a blue 89 showed up at my local Wrench-A-Part with the full gauge package. Doh!

-Mike

 

Oh and in comparing the Tempmatic in the Olds vrs the Electonic Touch Climate Control in the Buicks, other than the control head, the idea is basically the same. The fan and floor/dash/defrost doors do not change automatically, only the blend door moves.

On the dash, you set the lever in the Olds or beep-beep-beep the light in the Buick to the temp you want, and the blend door will vary the amount of cool or hot air to try to hold the temp you set.

Personally I hated both designs and wished for a traditional cold-hot manual slide like in my old Caprice.

The problem was, here in Texas at least, after starting the car up driving a while at full MAX cold to cool the Olds down, I'd slide the Tempmatic off full cold and whatever senses the temp would blend in WAY too much hot right away in an attempt to warm the vent air to 65-70 degrees. I just wanted it a little less cold, not NO cold!!

As soon as ti sensed the temp move up it would start to cool off again, but by them I was warm and would move the lever back down to full cold. After a while I just used the fan and dash vents to control the airflow in the summer and always left the temp at full cold.



I will say the FULL elctronic climate control in my '96 Roadmaster wagon is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better thought-out system.

-Mike

 

And a LOT of polishing compound! I had to have the plastic bumper fillers painted white, and also the driver's rear quarter panel had to be painted because GM paints the gas door and around it brown.

The tailgate window on these is also surrounded by wood, and I peeled all of it off and painted that area black. REALLY liked how it came out.

That car only had 46K miles on it when I bought it. Was an older-person's car, and was traded in at the local Toyota dealer. Car always sat outside though, and Texas sun killed the wood.

I spent a full week with a hair dryer, WD-40, and razor blades, on a roll-around in my garage, getting all that wood off. Where the wood was not totally burned/dried out, down on the lower body, it would peel off fairly easily with some heat on it. On the upper body, it was a nighmare of penetrating grease and razor blazes. My fingers still hurt remembering it!

That said, once the trim was painted and the paint was all compounded and waxed, it looked like a brand new car.

-Mike

 

Thanks, Mike, for the insight into the Tempmatic system. Very helpful.

I had suspected that it would only adjust the temp of the air, but not the airflow. I've never had an Oldsmobile with the Tempmatic system (and I've owned several Olds').

I had a 95 Roadmaster sedan and, yes, the fully-automatic system in that car is great. I've had the automatic climate control in several cars, including the Roadmaster, an 85 Town Car, an 01 Park Avenue, an 06 Town&Country and our 2 Cadillacs that we own currently. All seemed to work really well...no problems with too much or too little heat...and they all would direct the air where it was needed without any input from me.

I guess I've spoiled myself. Really, my Park Avenue is what truly spoiled me with the Electronic Climate Control, auto-dimming rearview mirrors (inside and outside-drivers side), Parking Sensors on the rear bumper, Rainsense automatic windshield wipers, Heads-Up Display, Twilight Sentinel, memory settings (for seat/mirror positions, music and HVAC settings), parallel park assist (moving the passenger side rearview mirror down to see the curb while in reverse). All you had to do was point the car in the direction you wanted to go and it did the rest.

Man, now I'm jones-ing...I know I don't NEED all those trappings, but they sure can be nice...

And to MikeT ~ I hear you on the gauge package. My Cadillac only tells you how fast you're going, how much fuel is in the tank and that's it...for the rest you have to guess. I've had a few car troubles the past couple days with the Brougham (hauling the kiddo's over Hell's half-acre during Spring Break) and wish I had any sort of gauge package in that car. I remember seeing Delta 88's, 98 Regency's and Custom Cruisers with the package, but didn't even think about whether or not the Estate Wagon had the option. Good point.

 

Depending on how handy you are, the full gauge package from an X-body Buick Skylark, 1980-85, can be made to work in and Electra/LeSabre. While the B-bodies have just a fuel gauge on the right of the column, the X-body with the optional gauge package had fuel, temp, oil, and volts I believe.

Also this cluster was rumored to be used or designed for use in the 78 V6-Turbo LeSabre and stillborn '79 B-Body Riviera Turbo...but instead Buick went FWD with the Riv in '79.

I'm not finding a good full Skylark dash pic, but squint a little an see here, best I can do!




Also notice the PRNDL is moved below the speedometer, and the little circle above the column where the PRNDL is on the B-body cars now is used for idiot lights.

Such fun!

-Mike

 

I didn't remember that the Skylarks had the gauge package, but that's a great idea. I don't know that the idiot lights in the Estate Wagons are in the right-hand pod...aren't they in the center dash area near the HVAC system? If that's the case, then you wouldn't need to move the gear designation as it is in the Skylark...it could stay in the little center pod.

 

Correct, B-body cars have the idiot lights above the climate control head.

 

When I was buying new in the fall of 83, I bought the Olds because the gauges were available, and the Buick did not have a proper set of gauges at all. Let me tell you, it was some fun navigating through the options book to get the gauge package without the air conditioning or radio! Back then, an AM radio was $125, and no way was I forking out over $1,000 for a/c, either. As it was, the car was a full year's income to buy.

 

Hahahaha, that's funny about the a/c. I didn't even know you could delete a/c for a credit. Moot point in Texas anyway unless you're insane.