Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile will field a completely new Cutlass Supreme midway through this model year. It is also putting new engines in several of its 1988s and offering sporty "International Series" versions of some models. The new Cutlass Supreme coupe is Olds' version of the new GM10 car, which means it will be front drive instead of rear drive - and shorter, lighter and more economical than its 1987 predecessor. While it isn't quite as aerodynamic and aggressive-looking as its sister GM10 car at Pontiac, the Grand Prix, this new version of Oldsmobile's perennial best seller is still pretty sporty-looking, particularly in its International Series trim.

This month, General Motors decided to commit what it considers euthanasia upon the Oldsmobile. Others might call it murder. Reporting General Motors' decision to close down its Oldsmobile division, the New York Times called the car "dowdy. " Wall Street, it said, had been hankering for its abolition for some time and has applauded the decision by tacking 19 cents onto the value of GM stock. Selling a whole factory in Lansing, Mich., down the river for 19 cents? Dignified, I say, not dowdy.

The jury is still out on the ultimate success of Oldsmobile's comeback efforts. But it is already clear that the automaker's attempt to sweeten sour sales reports has been accompanied by some good hardware. The Aurora is a handsome, solid luxury sedan, and the Alero is a nifty compact. The conservatively styled Intrigue is the most refined and European of General Motors' popularly priced midsize sedans, and, for my money, the most satisfying. The Bravada compact sport-utility vehicle is something else that Olds has done right recently.

A 1988 Oldsmobile and a city fire truck collided, damaging the house at 2601 W. Huntingdon St. and leaving the driver of the car in serious but stable condition at Allegheny University Hospitals/MCP. The accident happened as the truck from the 26th and York Street Station was en route to a call yesterday, authorities said.

A rush-hour fender-bender yesterday involving two eastbound cars on Woodhaven Road near Franklin Mills Boulevard led to a chain-reaction pileup with five other cars, including this 1992 Mazda that ran under a 1984 Oldsmobile, police said. The cars that started the 5:30 p.m. pileup fled. The Olds driver was injured, and was reported in good condition at Nazareth Hospital.

Two West Philadelphia teenagers were injured, one critically, yesterday when a stolen 1983 Oldsmobile being chased by state police ran into the rear of another car and then hit a tree on Route 295 in Camden County, Of the five people in the stolen car, the driver, Earl Freeman, 19, of the 700 block of North 47th Street in West Philadelphia, was listed in critical condition at Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, and a passenger, Michelle Brooks,...

Four people were injured, three critically, in a three-vehicle crash yesterday on Bath Road near the Bristol Township municipal building. Rescue workers worked to extricate three members of one family from their wrecked Oldsmobile, which was struck head-on, police said, by a vehicle that crossed the center line shortly after 10 a.m. The third vehicle, a Ford van, crashed into the rear of the Oldsmobile, police said. John Viglianese, 68, the driver of the Oldsmobile, his son Carmen, 36, and his son, Martin, 5, all of the 2300 block of Brownsville Road, Langhorne, were admitted to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township in critical condition.

A North Philadelphia teenager was shot and killed last night in what police said was possible retaliation for a fight he had been involved in a week ago. The youth, identified as Kevin Hillian, 15, of the 2900 block of North Taylor Street, was found shot in the 1500 block of West Ontario Street at 11:19 p.m. He was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:37 p.m. He had been shot in the chest. According to police, the youth was shot by one or more assailants who pulled up to the curb in a gray Oldsmobile.

A 26-year-old driver who allegedly had been drinking and smoking marijuana shortly before he sped north on West River Drive and struck and killed a bicycler was ordered to stand trial yesterday on murder and other charges. Municipal Judge James M. DeLeon ruled that the "totality of the circumstances" presented by the prosecution showed that defendant Ronald White's conduct was reckless and malicious when, driving 50 to 60 m.p.h., he swerved and struck University of Pennsylvania medical professor Maurice Attie, who was flung 50 feet in the air. "Then to put insult on top of injury, you keep rolling for 20 minutes until a cop pulls you over, a mile and a half from the scene," the judge told White at the conclusion of a three-hour preliminary hearing.

The 12-year-old Camden boy who died in a hail of gunfire with $500 in his pockets may not have been his killer's intended target, relatives said yesterday. Martin "Pee Wee" Coleman, a fifth grader whom police described as living by himself on the crime-plagued city streets, may have died because he was sitting in the back seat of an Oldsmobile that belonged to the person the gunman wanted to kill, said the boy's mother and grandmother. "Pee Wee was just looking for family," said his grandmother, Jackie Coleman, as she greeted mourners near a makeshift memorial of stuffed animals, balloons, and empty malt liquor bottles a few yards from where the boy's life ended shortly after 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July.

Two men were awaiting arraignment yesterday on murder and other charges in the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of a third on a streetcorner in the city's Kensington section. Police said Angel Maldonado, 28, of the 5000 block of Rorer Street, and Angel Martinez, 22, of the 1400 block of East Bristol Street in the Juniata section, were arrested shortly after the shooting, which occurred at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, with the gunfire coming from a white Oldsmobile in the 4400 block of North Ninth Street.

Family called 5-year-old Casha'e Rivers "Mama. " "She was like a little old soul," her aunt Kimberly Carter-Ford said yesterday as relatives gathered to console one another on North 29th Street in North Philadelphia, not far from where Casha'e was shot to death after getting caught in an apparent shoot-out on Sunday morning. Casha'e, who had just started kindergarten at William H. Harrison Elementary School, was smart and wise beyond her years, Carter-Ford said. Alisha Corley, Casha'e's mother, said the little girl surprised her when she was 2 years old by proclaiming she wanted underpants and began going on the toilet.

The driver of a stolen car was fatally shot Monday night by state troopers after a foot chase into woods off Interstate 295 in Camden County, authorities said. Authorities withheld the man's identity pending the results of an autopsy and notification of relatives, and a state police spokesman declined to identify the troopers involved. The slain man was from South Jersey and recently had been paroled after serving time for aggravated assault, police said. An area near Exit 28 at milepost 27.7 was cordoned off, and a lane of I-295 was closed yesterday as investigators searched the underbrush for evidence, said John R. Hagerty, spokesman for New Jersey's Division of Criminal Justice.

A man who supervised juveniles accused of crimes has been charged with attempting to murder a rape victim after she testified in court this week. Reginald Nesmith, 29, and another man, Kevin Holmes, 24, were arrested Monday evening and charged with attempted murder, conspiracy, retaliating against a witness or victim, intimidation, and firearms violations in the incident outside Family Court. Until this week, Nesmith had worked for VisionQuest, checking up on troubled youths at school and home in Delaware County.

This month, General Motors decided to commit what it considers euthanasia upon the Oldsmobile. Others might call it murder. Reporting General Motors' decision to close down its Oldsmobile division, the New York Times called the car "dowdy. " Wall Street, it said, had been hankering for its abolition for some time and has applauded the decision by tacking 19 cents onto the value of GM stock. Selling a whole factory in Lansing, Mich., down the river for 19 cents? Dignified, I say, not dowdy.

Oldsmobile, the oldest American automaker, will be phased out over the next several years, General Motors Corp. said yesterday. The company also said it would cut more than 13,000 jobs. GM also said it would not meet profit forecasts for the 2000 fourth quarter. The announcements were the latest signal of trouble in the nation's automobile industry. DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co. had previously warned of lower profits, and all three major U.S. automakers had slashed production schedules.

Four people were injured, three critically, in a three-vehicle crash yesterday on Bath Road near the Bristol Township municipal building. Rescue workers worked to extricate three members of one family from their wrecked Oldsmobile, which was struck head-on, police said, by a vehicle that crossed the center line shortly after 10 a.m. The third vehicle, a Ford van, crashed into the rear of the Oldsmobile, police said. John Viglianese, 68, the driver of the Oldsmobile, his son Carmen, 36, and his son, Martin, 5, all of the 2300 block of Brownsville Road, Langhorne, were admitted to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township in critical condition.

I was intrigued by the derivation of the word Alero, and soon found myself lost in research. Finally, my exhaustive etymological detective work paid off. Alero, I learned, is an ancient Aztec term meaning "helicopter beanie. " In other words, the recently redesigned Oldsmobile compact, in coupe and sedan versions, has a name almost as silly as that of its predecessor, the Achieva. That's a distinct disservice, because this is a nice car - stylish, solid, comfortable, and fun to drive.