We have to make the distinction between those Buicks and Oldsmobiles that young people drove because they got used ones for cheap or free, and those that young people chose, even if they had other options.
I mean, my college boyfrend (early 1990s) drove his grandmother’s 1970 LeSabre, because he got it for free. (He actually found that he loved the car, as it was ginormous and really really powerful. How could a college guy not love a car that could hold a couple of kegs of beer and 8 people, and still win at a drag race off the red-light? )
And of course, there will always be a few young people here and there who buy any “old person” car. Some folks just have unusual taste.
So the question seems to be, did new and lightly used Buicks or Oldsmobiles ever have mass appeal to the younger demographic? Did teens and twenty-somethings ever make up a decent proportion of market share? Did the marques always have a “middle-aged” reputation? Were there models that transcended this reputation?
Yes, as I said before, the Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme were popular among younger people. The Buick Regal was similar. The Cutlass Supreme was for many young professionals the “car of choice” before cars like the Acura took over that segment.
I seem to remember that the Olds Rocket 88 was very popular among young people of the late 40’s and early 50’s. Could outrace just about anything with it’s ground breaking overheld valve V-8.
If you could afford an Olds you bought it. If you couldn’t you settled for a Ford Flathead V-8 and souped it up as much as you could.
Pontiac was just an old fart’s car at that time though with very slow in-line flat head sixes and eights. Wasn’t until the mid-60’s that Pontiac went for the youth image.------with the GTO.
Opel had an old ad where they showed an Opel having a tug-of-war with an elephant and winning. There was also the Opel GT, which was styled to look like a somewhat scaled down Stingray:
Back in 1997 when I was 27, I bought a 1995 Buick Riviera. One of the really rounded style cars. Had that 3.8 liter V6 Supercharged. Excellent engine, comfortable interior, loads of “stuff” (eg. heated seats, indoor/outdoor thermometer and so forth). Loved that car. I bought it used, and traded it in 2 years later for half of what I paid for it. Tragic really.
My co-workers called it my “old man car.” I didn’t mind, they asked me to drive to lunch almost every time we went out.
My first car, at age 19 or 20, was a 1975 Buick Apollo (looked like a 4-door Nova). It belonged to my grandmother, and then I got it. Whilst driving the Buick, I fell in love with the Cadillac Eldorado. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford an Eldorado, so I settled for the next best thing: A 1973 Oldsmobile Toronado. I haven’t owned a car since about 1994 (when I was 28), so the only two cars I’ve ever owned were a Buick and an Oldsmobile.
The first one was a 1976 Buick Electra (my brother and I were the primary drivers of it once when we each turned 16, although it technically belonged to my parents. Awesome car. Would do 100 mph like it was sitting still (not that I… ummmm… would know that personally… or anything). I was really sorry to see that one go.
My second car, which I bought right before I started college, was a 1982 Olds Delta 88. The thing should’ve come with it’s own oil refinery, since it got about 15 mpg under optimal conditions. Of course, around '98-99 gas was about $.90/gallon, so I didn’t really care too much. Gave it up about 6 months after I graduated from college, cause it sucked too much gas ($2.25/gallon at that point) and it needed about $500 in repairs which didn’t seem prudent for a car worth about $400. Gave it to my uncle, he drove it for a couple of years until he became ill. It’s still around though.
My third and current car is a 1997 Buick LeSabre Limited. 102k miles, still runs like a dream, 'cept for the little cracked intake manifold/hydrolocked engine incident 3 weeks ago ($1028 repair bill for that one). Nevertheless, I intend to keep it around as long as I can, hopefully another 5 years or so.
At the ripe old age of 25, my wife and I bought our first new car, a Buick Opel Isuzu (yes, it was made by Isuzu for Opel and sold in the U.S. by Buick.)
The answer to the original question would be that, starting in at least the mid-1960s, both Buick and Olds had models targeted to young and/or first-time buyers.
)