There was a period of time when some of the most American of American cars desperately wanted to seem more exotic, more cosmopolitan, more, oh, international. Often this would be expressed by a company blacking out all the chrome on a car to make it more “European,” but sometimes companies just slapped a lot of flags on the car.
That’s what Oldsmobile’s approach was for their “International Series,” a trim level for Cutlass Cieras and Cutlass Calais that emphasized performance, with five-speed manual transmissions and 160 horsepower quad-four engines and, most importantly, badges all over the car with a series of flags on them.
Let’s look at these flags!
Oh yes, this was also the era when Oldsmobile felt it was important to remind you that you weren’t buying your dad’s car. But let’s look closer at the badge:
Okay, so what countries were lucky enough to be included in Oldsmobile’s idea of “international?” There’s 14 countries represented here, vexillologically. They are, going clockwise:
United States of America
United Kingdom
Mexico, I think?
Sweden
Portugal (?)
The Netherlands
Switzerland
Belgium
Denmark
Italy
Spain (Franco era)
France
Germany
and Canada!
So, almost all European countries, save for the US, Canada, and Mexico; zero representation for Asia, and if this was supposed to represent notable car-making countries, Japan’s absence is pretty significant, and you know, Belgium or Denmark is kinda questionable. And there’s no African representation, or Middle Eastern or South Pacific or South American or most parts of the Earth. So, it’s less international and more European/North American, really.
That Portugal flag is maybe the most compromised one, too.
The bar version of the badge had a slightly different order:
This bar version actually has 15 flags, with what looks like another Italy, but I suspect may be Ireland? If the red is sorta more orange?
I guess they tried, at least?
Olds and Buicks were still kitschy, oldtimey grandpa mobiles through the 90s no matter how hard they tried. “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” well it was his father’s then.
“Damn your flag. Damn all flags. It’s too late in the world for flags.”
Larry Gates as Jameson in The Sand Pebbles.
Also popular at the time: World music and the United Colors of Benetton. I can just imagine the GM marketing meetings then…
Looking at that particular list of countries, it seems like GM was doing the polar opposite of what the Benetton ads were doing.
My vocabulary has been expanded today – vexillology, the study of flags. I thought it was going to be along the lines of “vexingly”.
Also, I don’t know if any Danish cars but I OWNED a Belgian one. A Holden Astra. It was okay. I think Belgians are better at beer and chocolate personally though.
I had a Cutlass Ciera International for a bit. It was not the gutless one. While an auto it had the 3.8 v6 in it and was a 2 door. Fully loaded and a blast to drive. Until the steering pump blew and set it on fire.
„Fun with Flags“, General Motors style 🙂
Why is there a Finnish flag in the flag-bar but not in the round version?
PS. Suomi mainittu, torille!
That‘s easy: Because a circle doesn’t have a finnish line.
I can think of multiple oddly-shaped “circles” that would debate you on this point *cough, Daytona, Indy *
I see your point, However, I chose not to let Indy brick my pun.
COTD!!!
I second the motion.
I suspect the flags and their arrangement are the result of someone picking what looked pretty out of an encyclopedia page. FWIW there are a lot NATO members on the badge.
I’m trying to imagine a world where an Olds is puttering around the 1980s with a hammer and sickle flag…
Greetings from Amsterdam—they really botched the blue on the Dutch flag, which should be much darker, akin to the blue on the US / France flags. (Also the “radial” version has our white stripe off-center vertically, but Italy/Canada/Mexico have the same problem horizontally, so I guess that’s just a bad job with the printing.)
The one to the left of Switzerland appears to be Luxembourg, with its paler blue shade.
Very intriguing choice.
When I was in Spain for part of every year from 1985 to 1988, I saw an unreasonably large number of GM A-body cars, usually Cutlass notchback sedans. Properly equipped with regulation amber turn signals and some even with a bolted-on rear fog light below the bumper. Apparently, they achieved some level of popularity overseas, and I have absolutely no idea why. Either they were brought over by American servicepeople and left there (and were therefore cheap oddball used cars), or they had some sort of appeal to (insane?) Europeans who thought an American car was cool because it was well, not European. (Nevermind that they were pure American malaise on wheels…)
Anyway, I wonder if those flags could possibly correspond to each country where a Cutlass was actually sold and/or registered at one time. Somewhat frighteningly, it might have been possible — as improbable as it sounds.
Wait a minute, wasn’t there an article a while back about a tarted-up A-body (or other GM platform) conversion that was sold by a Swiss company as a Euro-American luxury car? Was there some deep, twisted and obscure obsession with crappy mid-size American malaisemobiles in Europe at one time? This seems like some sort of investigative assignment we should send Torch and Mercedes on…
That weirdness would be the Monteverdi Sierra which was a Dodge Aspen or Plymouth Volare with an Italian looking front end, Renault 12 taillights and a leather interior.
Monteverdi also tarted up International Harvester Scout IIs into pseudo Range Rovers, before building 4 door Range Rovers
I don’t know all that much about Monteverdi, even though I’m Swiss and there aren’t many cars built in Switzerland (it was a Swiss company, but M. Monteverdi was an immigrant from Italy, I think).
If I’m not mistaken, Monteverdi didn’t just ‘tart up’ imported cars, I heard that the few vehicles that he built were actually quite good. Apparently they were really well made (quality-wise), with powerful engines (American V8s, I think), luxurious interiors and attractive exteriors
American cars were considered luxury cars in Europe (and in most of the world, for that matter), regardless of make and model. The reasons for that were simple:
1) most countries outside of the US taxed cars based on engine displacement, anything larger than 2 liters was expensive to register and insure.
2) Fuel was a lot more expensive, so US cars were expensive to run.
3) US dollars were expensive, which made American cars expensive to buy even if there weren’t high import taxes (that was a problem for British cars as well, they were much more expensive abroad than in the UK).
Other than that, they were larger, more powerful and better equipped than the average Euro car, even during the malaise era. Most affordable European cars had engines with between 50-100 horsepower and no such things as power steering, power locks, power windows or A/C.
I would argue the “forbidden fruit” aspect plays into this, as well. When car enthusiasts in the States see a 1970s-1980s UK market vehicle on our shores, tell me you don’t do a double take. The very fact that “we never had those here” makes something more appealing to some. Also, it’s funny that American cars were considered luxury; here in the states, Mercedes-Benz is a luxury marque, while they manufacture somewhat plebian vehicles like the original A-Class for their home market.
Mercedes has always positioned themselves at the upper end of the car market, even their small cars (A-class, C-class) were/are more expensive than most other similarly sized vehicles. Even the Smart car was quite expensive (one of the reasons that it was a commercial failure, it was just too expensive for a second or third vehicle).
However, the ‘forbidden fruit’ aspect certainly made US cars even more appealing, you’re right about that.
This is 100% true. Cars that I’m sure most of you Yanks wouldn’t looks twice at become interesting over here, because not only are you probably the only person in your town driving a (eg) 1980’s Buick, you’re probably the only person in the whole country. Certainly you’ll be the only person on the road driving a massive land yacht that’s the size of a lorry.
It might not be very good as a car, and they certainly don’t have a reputation for luxury*, but they are unique, and for some people, that’s what they’re after in a car.
*some of them might be somewhat luxurious, but for the cost of buying and owning a US-only car, you could buy a Mercedes Benz, or even an older Rolls. Or if you have to live that import life, you could get something like a Toyota Century, which will be better built, and have the steering wheel on the right side.
I had a 79 Ford Fiesta with flags under the Fiesta name on the tail gate. They didn’t look out of place on an actual world car!
I pulled these off of some Oldsmobiles in a junkyards a few times back in the day. They made great jacket pocket decorations. It always cracked me up one of the least worldly of cars would have flags of the world stuck on it. I’m sure that no one in Switzerland, for example, lusted after a chrome laden softly sprung Cutlass! These flags initially appeared on the mid 70’s Cutlass Salon models.
I snagged one at some point too.
And you’d be surprised about what some of the Swiss think about American cars.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/04/switzerland-loves-old-american-cars/
Fascinating! I know one of the you tubers I subscribe to from the Netherlands loves old American barges. He has a 78 T-bird Diamond jubilee Edition and just acquired a 69 Lincoln mark lll. You must admit, though, putting international flags on an American car is somewhat comical.
Another friend of Ed’s Auto Reviews, I see! Great channel!
Yup! I ordered some of his artwork, was very happy with it. Part of the charm of his channel is his Dutch accent. I had fun watching his recent Packard video, I chuckled every time he said Packard.
Well in 1948 to 1957, Oldsmobile had a ringed-globe emblem, so the world was their logo.
Well, Belgium has a bunch of car factories, and famous brands before WWII , Denmark not so much. A 10 person supercar company I think.
GM built cars in Denmark from 1923-1973, Ford from 1919-1966
We had a Citroën plant also, on the other side of the road from the Ford plant 🙂
Is it weird I’ve never seen a Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo? Or a Pontiac Parisienne in Paris?
An Olds Calais in Calais perhaps? A Ford Torino in Turin?
Last time I was on Mercury all I saw were Saturns.
And did you see Mercuries on Saturn?
Nope, but I did see two comets, three meteors, and one big galaxie.
look up and you’ll catch a Nova
I’m going to do this because I must. You won’t see a Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo because the Monte Carlo is the loser’s car of choice.
Think about what Chevrolet had to offer when the first Monte showed up. You could buy a Camaro, and you got your sporty two door coupe with muscle. If you wanted a sedan, you could buy a Malibu with all of the same engine/drivetrain choices as the Monte or even a far cooler El Camino. Of course, you could have also had a Chevelle. Really of all the OTHER choices, the Monte was the ugliest and made the least sense against it’s stablemates.
Anyone who looked at everything else in the showroom and STILL picked a Monte must have had eaten a big bowl of lead paint chips for breakfast. Thusly, it’s the loser’s car.
As time went on, people grew to collect and restore their Camaros, El Caminos, Chevelles and even Malibus. Growing up in the 80s, the Monte was largely the one that got left in the yard to rot. Then all the rednecks and mullet-wearing, dip chewing gas station clerks of the world figured out that some of the Montes had a half-decent engine in them and clearly, nobody else wanted them. So now you have the cheapest of the bunch being driven by goobers. Usually in all states of disrepair, but big plans to “fix her up” that never came to fruition.
My memories of them were always some loser who bragged about how it had a Camaro engine or something even though theirs had a 302. I worked at a hotel and the security guard drove one, it was a white SS. It was pretty clean for the day, but was utterly gutless. He at least had a sense of humor about it and when we told him to do a burnout, he admitted that it wouldn’t–unless it were in reverse. So he did a big long one-tire burnout across the parking lot backward. THAT is peak Monte.
The later rebirth of it as a FWD Lumina in drag was just embarrassing. I won’t make fun of that sad machine as it feels like punching down. Making fun of the special needs kid is just mean, that “new” Monte looks like it had down’s syndrome, so I’ll just leave it in peace.
Even in the movie Training Day, they put Denzel in that black Monte to try and be a badass–and it almost worked. Until you realized he was the dirty cop and was indeed, a loser.
So there it is, the Monte is perhaps the most losery of loser cars. You can make fun of Camaro drivers saying that they are all mullet-driving hicks, drag up images of Joe Dirt in his Charger, but the real deal is the Monte. Cue the folks talking about how the Monte had the 454 when the Camaro did not ignoring the fact that it was still slower. It had a bigger engine and was slower–that is some big loser energy right there.
Hey, my brother had a ’70 Monte! OK, it was a little sad in retrospect. Silver that had long ago surrendered its clearcoat, with a black vinyl top and a little corona of rust around each rear wheel arch, which he clumsily Bondo’d. And oh, the cowl shake.
For my sister’s wedding, he was assigned to pick up the flowers, because what better car for that than a Monte? After he loaded them in the back seat, the car wouldn’t start. Someone came to rescue the flowers, and after the transfer, of course the Monte started right up. Allergic? No, when he flipped the driver’s sear forward to load the flowers, it hit the steering wheel and jarred something in the ignition wiring. Another hit with the driver’s seat, and all was right again.
I wish I could give this a thousand likes
Monte Carlo’s (Monaco’s) gambling revenue, despite the aura, is like 1/50 that of Macau’s.
I guess the car does fit its namesake.
ps: the Macau Grand Prix is this weekend. It’s all live on YT.
When I was a lad, we’d often take the Monterey to Monterey.
And when I was in Paris 10 years ago, I saw a big brown Delta 88 Royale Sedan. Which also tracks.
While I don’t think GM every had operations in Denmark, way back in the 80’s there was a Danish car called Mini-El, El-City, Ellert, and probably several other names. It was an electric car before anyone knew what an EV was, or maybe more like an electric tricycle with a fiberglass cover. Back in the early 90’s when I was in school they were a daily sight.
Up in the 50ties (and 60ties?) Ford and Opel (GM) assembled knockdowns in DK, but yeah:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CityEl
Plenty of parts manufacturing, like hydro.com, nissens.com, sbs.dk.
LOL they came at the time when the stupid 25-year shit was implemented, and of course, different-0but-not-better standards
Typical GM/Detroit, they just want to look international rather than actually having to *compete*
United States, Canada
Mexico, Panama
Haiti, Jamaica, Peru…
Oh man, don’t get my 10 year old started!
REPUBLIC DOMINICAN
CUBA, CARIBBEAN
GREENLAND, EL SALVADOR, TOO
😀
I have just had an insomiaic six year old on my knee, Eswatini
This is annoying, but charming
Almost as I type, just before total inananity took hold
I said I was going throw myself in a river
Which river,
Fish river
thats a river in Namibia, their flag has a sun on it with sideways stripes ooffff diffffert colousesand thinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngs said child is now asleep on a comphyumphy sofa with a duvet on top, and pillows
Who would ever have thought, a mixture of Mr. Torchinsky and obscure Oldsmobiles was the thing, albeit at half past four in the morning, that would work.
A bonus question; Which internationally recognised flag has the largest number of colours? No, it is not Namibia, and googling is cheating!
My son knew every flag, country and capital in the world. He is now 10 and we watch Jeopardy on the regs. He kills it in any of those categories. At school he crushes it in geography. So, I guess it’s good in some ways? Like you can show him a freestanding upside-down outline of a country and he’s like, Estonia.
That’s impressive! Better than most of our politicians and diplomats.
That’s excellent! 😀 Sounds like some good parenting there
…brain stem, brain stem?
I remember seeing these badges as a kid and wondering why they did that. Had no idea these were all 5 speed cars, though I feel like I saw it on automatic ones that a friends parents had as well.
I’m sure 99% were ordered with autos
Me too which is why them saying it was on 5 speed cars in the article confused me.
Now is a good time to point out that Oldsmobile just started putting flags on a lot of their cars, ‘International Series’ trim level or not. Especially Cutlass Cieras, for some reason – they all seem to have the flags, even though extremely few of them were actually ‘International Series’.
Came looking for this. The flags maybe helped inspire the naming of International Series? Since that didn’t arrive until later in the 80s.
Hear me out: Cadillac = crest = fancy. If you didn’t have some fancy flag-adjacent nonsense on your car, you wished you did. Olds was giving their customers a chance to cosplay as Cadillac owners.
I’m guessing the 2nd Italian flag on the bar style is actually a Mexican flag missing its cactus and eagle.
Today I learned that “vexillum” is Latin for Flag.
I think Bishop worked up a Jasonia flag, but how have you not already designed one for Autopia?!
GM: “eh, good enough. Who’s going to notice anyway?”
Most Americans apparently can’t even identify their own flag. Ref use of the Liberian flag in emoji’s.
My sister had a Cutlass Ciera 2-door coupe with these emblems. She thought they were so cool she ordered two extra new ones from the dealership, just to have.
Side note, that car was cool as hell. Leather bucket seats all around with a console shift, and it had the 3.8. Damn thing was a rocket for the time (no pun intended).
I remember that car, was really sharp in all-black. And by the time the 3.8s came along the As were very well-sorted.
I had heard an urban legend that it was supposed to be countries where GM had operations, but that is very clearly not the case, what with Denmark on there and not Australia, Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, etc. Hell, they had a plant in New Zealand until 1990. I never actually bothered to look closely at the flags, but it is kind of typically GM laziness to us the Spanish flag that had been obsolete for over a decade by then. Its like how you’d maybe buy like a novelty inflatable globe at a party supply store in 1999 that still showed Zaire and the Soviet Union
Yeah, the Franco-era Spanish flag appeared on the bar under the Cutlass Ciera emblem because it had been tooled up a decade earlier for the Cutlass Salon as seen in the topshot, but by the time they designed the roundel it was well into the ’80s.
And, even then, it was a pretty crappy rendition
Wow, nice backstory. I’m not going to co-opt Spain’s painful history for any manufactured outrage here, but it seems like the Franco flag is just a notch or two removed from a swastika.
Or maybe a more relevant example would be using a Three Percenter flag for the US.
Heh, I bought a map of Canada off AliExpress in late 2023, and it still had the territory Nunavut as being part of the Northwest Territories, even though it split off in 1999! I have to imagine some guy in China just googled “map of Canada,” grabbed one at random, and printed it up without any proofreading.
It’s kind of fun to have, though, and I just drew in the new border freehand
Map data is constantly going obsolete. Around here we have subdivisions going under for data centers and warehouses, but Google Maps still shows the vacated streets.