It may sound a bit hard to believe, but it's been 10 years since General Motors officially shut down Oldsmobile. The last Olds to roll off the assembly line in Lansing, Michigan was a 2004 Alero, which is now on permanent display at the GM's Heritage Center in Sterling Heights. Residents of the city as well as long time Olds fan stook the brand's death quite hard, but it may have proven to be a blessing in disguise.

At the time of its closure, many wondered why Oldsmobile and not say, Buick, Pontiac or even Saturn, was given the axe. The simple answer is that Olds was simply no longer relevant. GM pretty much left it without a true identity, and it didn't have much appeal for younger buyers. But unlike Pontiac and Saturn, Oldsmobile's death was planned accordingly. It didn't have the shame of GM's bankruptcy surrounding it. Oldsmobile had a graceful passing. Still, for a brand that had so much history and many great cars over the decades, it's sad that GM allowed it to become nothing more than a badge-engineered brand that carried a price premium over Chevy and sometimes even Pontiac.