Junkyard Find: 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette

Friday, August 9, 2013

Junkyard Find: 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette

15 - 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin Examples of the first-generation GM "Dustbuster" minivan abound at self-service wrecking yards these days, even as they disappear from the street, and every time I pass a Trans Sport or Lumina APV on my way to shoot something older and/or more interesting I say to myself, "I really need to do a Dustbuster Junkyard Find one of these days." Well, that day has come!
10 - 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin These vans were startlingly weird-looking when they first showed up in 1990, but then we became jaded and the Dustbuster just looked ugly.
06 - 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin We keep hoping to see one of GM's long-snouted minivans in a 24 Hours of LeMons race, but so far we've had just a single post-Dustbuster Montana in a race.
08 - 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin The dash surface of these things was deep enough that you could lose items if they rolled all the way forward to the windshield. I've heard that an extra-large pizza box will fit well here.
13 - 1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin Many members of the GM V6 family (both 60° and 90° types) were installed here.