Last new Oldsmobile in Cape Girardeau sold

For more than 100 years, Oldsmobiles were the model mode of transportation for America's discerning middle class -- more expensive than Chevrolet and Pontiac, just a notch on the money belt below Cadillac and Buick.

On Monday, that ended as Katina Koyle of Marble Hill, Mo., rolled away in her 2004 Oldsmobile Alero -- an event that marked the last time a new Oldsmobile will be sold in Cape Girardeau.

"It's the end of an era for us. It's a little bittersweet for us," said Joe Lage, floor manager for Crown Cadillac Oldsmobile Nissan in Cape Girardeau, which has sold Oldsmobiles in the area since 1992.

Following the decision by General Motors to discontinue the Oldsmobile brand in December 2000, as each model was phased out, a run of 500 vehicles was made as a tribute to the Oldsmobile name and as a special offering to customers to purchase limited-edition collectibles.

First, there was the Intrigue, which rolled off the assembly line for the final time in 2002. Then the Aurora in 2003 and the Bravada and the Silhouette in 2004. The last Oldsmobile model to be phased out was the Alero.

Crown got two of the limited 500 Alero editions, which carry Final 500 markings, including a medallion just inside the door that indicates the order that it was made.

One sold quickly, Lage said, and another sat in the showroom for nearly a year.

Meanwhile, Katina Koyle and her husband had wanted an Alero but had heard they were being discontinued so they decided to look for something else -- until they recently came across the limited-edition Alero -- No. 333 in the run of 500 -- at Crown and decided to buy it.

"We had given up on getting an Oldsmobile," she said Monday, sitting in the seat of her new car. "But I saw this one and thought, 'We found one.'"

She initially was drawn to the Alero because there's room enough for her two children, but then she found out it was a limited edition.

"That made it even more appealing," she said. "We're holding onto a little piece of history."

Gary Stanley bought the Oldsmobile dealership in 1992. His wife, Jane, was there Monday morning to take pictures of the last Oldsmobile sale.

"Olds has been a great franchise for us," she said. "We're sad to see it go."

Lage said Crown has sold and delivered more than 1,000 new Oldsmobile vehicles since 1992. He said they will continue to offer services and parts for all Olds vehicles that they've sold.

Crown will hold the Olds franchise until it expires on Nov. 1. Then the dealership will be renamed Crown Cadillac Nissan, Lage said.

Oldsmobile is named for Ransom E. Olds, who started the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Mich., in 1897. The company became part of General Motors in 1908.

In the mid-1980s, however, buyers began moving from midsize cars that Oldsmobile was known for to minivans and sport utility vehicles. Imports and "transplants," cars from import automakers built in the United States, took larger shares of the midsize market.

Oldsmobile made 25.2 million automobiles during its 106-year lifespan. Oldsmobile says it was the first company, not Ford, to mass-produce cars and that it pioneered the use of chrome and automatic transmissions in American cars.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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