I know this has likely been around before, but does anyone know the production numbers for how many 1970 442 W-30's came with air conditioning? I have looked back in the older threads and have not seen this questioned. Thanks for your help, Dan

 

The question may have been asked before, but I don't know that anyone has provided an answer. I doubt that production figures at the time were kept to this level of detail, but I could be wrong. Let's see if anyone answers.

 

one - just kidding, many of the W30s I have seen do have AC including the convertibles but I have not ever heard of even an estimate

 

Working in round numbers here (because I don't remember the exact numbers), there were about 2500 1970 W-30s built, with about 1500 of those being automatics. Since A/C was not available on the manual W-30s, we know there were less than 1500 with A/C.

A/C was not a very common option back in 1970, even for a make like Oldsmobile. I'd guess that fleet-wide maybe 10% of cars had A/C? Now, on the one hand, the W-30 was a performance car, so you would think a smaller percentage of people wanted A/C. But on the other hand, it was an expensive car, so that might mean a larger percentage of buyers could afford A/C. If you were going to use the 10% number, then it would be more appropriate to apply it to the total number of W-30s (2500), since its unavailability on the manual cars may have simply convinced those buyers to get an automatic.

So my estimate would lie between 100 and 500 cars. But this is PURE speculation.

 

You going to be surprised. (I have to say I am)
I cannot give you any figures on how many W30s had AC, but I *do* have figures on how many 442s had AC and how many F-85 series cars had it.
Approx 52% of the 442s had AC in 1970.
Leading the way, understandably was the Cutlass Supreme models with approx 85% having AC.
Approx 66% of the entire F85 line had AC.
So we definitively cannot say it was not very common.

This is why it is *so* important to have actual figures. Our minds don't make good data banks.

 

I have owned 2 1970 Olds A-Bodies and a 72 Supreme. A Cutlass S and my 442. All of them came out of the factory with A/C so I don't know how that figures in the equation.
I have never personally seen under the hood of a factory W30 so I can't comment on that.
Wmachine is the man when it comes down to Olds facts though for sure.

 

As mentioned the few W30 convertibles I have seen had AC and I don't remember the last 442 or Cutlass convertible I saw from 1970 that didn't have air. The three W30 converts I know of either were original owners or had the protecto plate and other docs

 

Thank you guys for the info. I had seen in an old magazine article of a w-30 that a/c was extremely rare, but several of other articles on these cars showed a/c in the photos, so I thought I'd ask to see what you all knew on the subject. Thanks again, Dan

 

Wow! You're right, I'm surprised. Thanks for posting.
I based my response in part on what I know (or think I know) about cruise control. I've seen year-end data for factory serial numbers for TH400 transmissions by type. Since some models used a different TH400 if they had cruise control than if they didn't, I was able to calculate the precentage with cruise control. Off the top of my head, it was in the neighborhoood of 1 or 2%. I dno't suppose you have those numbers, too, so you can embarass me again, do you?

 

not to hijack the thread - but I guess I will - it would be cool to know how many cars had cruise control, I bet most cars that have cruise control have AC.... mine does but who knows

 

Okay, the cruise control part of this thread is moved:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post203135