W30Olds

Anyone have any reference to what or what isn't rare options on our 442's specifically 1970-72?

I can't remember where I read it, but supposedly air shocks are one of them for the 70-72's. What about things like the electric trunk opener inside the glove box?

redoldsman

The outside thermometer that mounted on the drivers door was pretty rare. I think the trunk opener was fairly common. Cruise control was probably not real rare but not real common either. These are my guesses and no scientific data or research was done.

mmurphy77

My '71 has the optional electric rear window defroster which I believe wasn't available until late in the year that I think is pretty rare.

oldspackrat

Some that pop into my head...Nite watch is very rare, speedminder speedo, power bucket seat, W27 rear end, block heater, rear seat shoulder belts, over flow tank, rim blow steering wheel, pulse wiper in end of column shifter handle, 8 track players, AM-FM stereo, painted top instead of vinyl, external transmission cooler.....

Funkwagon455

These are some pretty good ones, I don't believe the outside thermometer was available until '71 or '72. I've also seen a CO member's '72 Hurst that had a seatbelt reminder light mounted on the dash with buzzer. Also the T44 hood lock is fairly uncommon.

Hairy Olds

Second on the nite watch.
W-27

oldspackrat

That seat belt buzzer was only in '72 cars that had the rally pack option. I believe the gooberment mandated a seat belt warning light/buzzer in '72 cars & a non rally pack car (regular gas gauge), had the light at the bottom of the fuel gauge cluster. If your car had the rally pack, there was not room for the big "fasten seat belt" light in with the 3 gauges, so they put that little bezel on top of the dash. I think it was a mid year thing as I have 2 early build '72s with rally packs that do not have that bezel. The wiring for the bezel is integral with the dash harness in these cars, but no bezel. I've seen this same bezel in some '73 cars too.

Funkwagon455

Thanks for the info!

costpenn

The B85 wide lower exterior window trim is another. I remember someone telling me that less than 1% of the Cutlasses built were so equipped. Of course, I do not have any verfication of that statistic.

W-25 OAI equipped cars that are not W cars or Rallye 350's are pretty rare. It was optional on 442's and believe it was an option on other power train combos.

joe_padavano

They USED to be rare. Now,442s WITHOUT the O.A.I. hood are far more rare...

Kinda like W-36 stripes on 68s.

Fun71

Shoulder belts in convertibles, perhaps.

costpenn

Did Olds offer the reclining passenger seat option?

Koda

In 67 they did, and it was rather rare then. I don't know nearly as much about any other year.

sparky44268

Can't remember for sure but wasn't there an oai air filter assembly for cars without the hood(oai hood).sort of a dual snorkel for non ram air cars?

Yellowstatue

W37...Dual disc clutch!

mmurphy77

I thought the coolant recovery jar was a T.S.B. remedy and not an RPO.

Olds Dad

I parted a 72 Supreme years ago that had solenoid actuated bucket seat back release (instead of pushing the button on the back of the seat)

I think it worked with the power lock switch -

I saved the components because I had never heard of it or seen it - anyone have any info on this? I've always wondered about it

joe_padavano

I've seen this in other GMs (like Cadillacs) but not in Cutlii. The solenoid is supposed to be connected to the door jamb switch. Open the door and the seatback lock releases. Close the door and it latches.

joe_padavano

Are you talking about the 1966-69 O.A.I. systems with the bumper (or grille for 67) scoops? Or are you talking about the non-O.A.I. dual snorkel air cleaners on the 71-72 442s?

66400

66-69 in the earlier years, then mid '70's and later.

Henry

66400

I have a loaded 72 Pontiac GrandPrix with bucket seats with this option. It has an additional plunger switch on the cowl that works when the door is opened.

Henry

wmachine

Rare is a vague term that means different things to different people. Like to an Ebay seller, rare is anything under 60%. Define rare as a % and I can give you some specific statistical answers.

Olds Dad

Thinking about it, maybe that's what it had - the additional jamb switch (this was 15+ years ago) - was a loaded car - even had a H/O style power moon roof - I never was able to confirm if the roof was factory or not but I did get a thick wad of cash for the roof panel and the associated wiring and switch.

I'm 98% certain the seat back release was factory and they were Olds buckets - I need to go through my bins and find the setup - I know I saved it

GAOldsman

Love this thread Several RPOs mentioned above makes me smile wider A few not mentioned... V36 bumper guards, U58 AM-Fm pushbutton sterophonic radio with rear speaker and maybe FE2 suspension on a non-442.

Koda

Let's call rare under 20% of cars had it.

Was Night Watch the headlight delay that worked off of diminishing oil pressure for a timer? If it was, was the 70s version of the Autronic Eye automatic dimming headlights an option for 1970?

GAOldsman

Yes and yes RPO T81 not available with U21 Rocket Rally Pac.

How about M55 auxiliary automatic trans oil cooler for trailer towing.

BlackGold

Here's some numbers from actual Olds production data for the 1970 model year, through June of 1970 only. These are options I've researched before. If I get a change later, I'll post again with numbers for exceedingly rare options.

What's shown below is for the 442 model only.
------------------

1/ Over two thirds (71.6%) were automatics. One quarter (26.3%) had the 4-speed. The remaining 414 cars (2.2%) must have had the 3-speed manual.
2/ Only about half (55.9%) had posi.
3/ About half (52.7%) had A/C.
4/ Despite the high number of automatics, only one in five 442s (19.8%) had the Hurst dual-gate shifter, so that's about a quarter of the automatics.
5/ Only a quarter (28.3%) had the Rocket Rally Pack gauges.
6/ A whopping half (47.3%) of all W-30s were optioned with both M40 (automatic) and JL2 (power disc brakes). I estimate that means about 66% of automatic W-30s had power disc brakes. (The exact number of automatic W-30s is not broken out in the production numbers.)
7/ The SS-I and SS-II wheels were quite popular, with about 38% of production each. Only 11.4% of the cars received the plain steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps (though that is still considerably more than any of the other wheel trim options).
8/ Only a third (34.8%) had the N34 custom sports steering wheel.
9/ Only 1.3% had the W27 aluminum axle carrier.
10/ More than half (50.9%) of the coupes had a vinyl roof. When you add in convertibles, this means only about 41% of 442s had a painted roof.
11/ Only 2.1% of coupes had two-tone paint (though this is over 4% of the coupes without vinyl roof).
12/ A surprisingly large number (15.2%) had special-order paint.
13/ Only 20 cars had both special-order and two-tone paint.
14/ One in eight (12.8%), not counting W-30s, had the W25 outside air induction system. Once you include the W-30 cars, almost a third (29.1%) had OAI.
15/ Only 294 cars (1.8% of coupes) had the rear spoiler. Contrast this to how many you see at shows now.

stevengerard

My convertible has this option, it is a second door jamb switch connected to the actuators in the seat backs. It was only available if you had electric door locks on the Cutlii/442. The door jamb switches are unique and different then the courtesy lamp switch. These were mostly in E body cars

I have only seen a few other convertibles with shoulder belts from 1970. Have seen only one car (a hardtop) with back seat choulderbelts

I have never seen the wiper delay on a column shift installed in a car - seen it for sale once as a part.

What about that rare HO gauge for the 72s, that was an expensive item back then and even more so today.

70 cruise is not all that common.

how many electric bench seats have you seen in an A-body.

How many 1972 F87s have you seen? I have only seen one but guessing a lot were made - just don't know how many are left.

of course all the little odds and ends like tissue holders, seat-belt holders, under seat garbage can, clip on vanity mirror.

GAOldsman

Brian do you have the #'s for '72?

brown7373

My 70 Bonneville Convertible has rear shoulder belts, door locks that actuate the seat backs and Instant Aire, which is a vacuum operated (off intake manifold) tires and accessory pump. It was available for the various GM lines 68-70 and maybe a few years later. I have only seen one other, and that was a GTO in a magazine.

Run to Rund

In some ways, the 66 W30 was simpler. None had AC, no convertibles, no power steering or brakes [on any I have heard about]. All had the rare Tri-Carb option; all had M21 4-speed with Hurst shifter, 4.11 posi. Rare options on them were rally pack, C48 heater delete, shoulder belts. I know this thread is about "late models" but it is hard for me to get past 1966, lol. Given that there were only 54 of them built in Lansing, something that is rare on that year is rare indeed.

Seff

My '71 parts car (a Supreme) had four-way electric driver's seat (with a build sheet in it), electric rear window defog, full FE2 suspension, 2.56 posi.

My '72 original car (a Supreme as well) had a clip-on vanity mirror, seat belt warning light (dunno if it had a buzzer)

The rare wide exterior window trim is what, side windows, back window or windshield? What does it look like? I've had both narrow and wide door window trim on my cars.

sparky44268

Yup that's it , non oai dual snorkel. Well sort of a snorkel and a half. 👊

Koda

While I'll nod to superior knowledge, I thought the 66 W30 was early production and the U21 Rocket Rallye Pac was a late 66 production option, so I wasn't aware of any 66 W-30 with one.

I like the 67s myself. Best year of the 400, and best looking body in my opinion. If only the w-30 had been three carbed that year.

oldsmobiledave

I will jump in here with some thoughts on rare options on W-30 cars.


My 1972 W-30 came with the B-85 wide exterior trim option as well as plain steel wheels with dog dish hub caps. Also Radiant green is seldom seen color & when seen it is usually with black or white interior. Very rare to see one with the green interior.


My buddy Bill Bergeson in Medicine Hat AB has a 1972 W-30 4 speed car. it is original paint flame orange with saddle interior. Bill is the second owner of the car. This car was ordered WITHOUT a radio (it is not a radio delete car since a radio was not standard equipment on a 1972 Cutlass). The dash is uncut to this day.


There is a 1972 W-30 automatic in Gibbons AB that is Flame orange with saddle interior & white stripes. The rare option on this car is the factory two tone paint with a painted cream colored roof.


The last car is a 1971 W-30. This is a Matador Red automatic. The car has black hood stripes but the side stripes are white. Show me another one optioned that way. Bye the way this car is original paint & has less than 30,000 mi on it. This car is in a collection in Saskatoon SK.

brown7373

My Cutlass didn't originally have them, but I bought a pair of rear seat belt retractors. The female end is short and the male end pulls out to connect. Gives the back seat a nice neat appearance. I didn't know they were even offered until I bought them.

1001coins

72 cutlass and other gm cars had a cassette player, i think it was dealer installed

BlackGold

OK, I mined the production data for ultra-rare options in 1970. See below. Sorry, I don't have the gumption to look at other years. Maybe someday.
-----------------------------------------------------

*** Ultra rare options in 1970 ***

F-85 series (A-bodies) only.
Data accurate only through June.

Percentages are for all F-85 models on which you could legally order that option.

Note: Some options may appear to be rare because they were in fact standard on a particular model or already included as part of a popular package or mandatory when another option was ordered. For example, the G92 3.42 rear axle was standard on most 442s and thus was not as rare as the numbers below show.

AS1 Standard Front Shoulder Belts 0.1% (16 total)
AS4 Deluxe Rear Shoulder Belts 0.1% (213 total)
AS4 Standard Rear Shoulder Belts 0.0% (77 total)
AU5 Electric Seat and Door Locks 0.1% (206 total)
G66 Superlift Rear Shocks 0.8% (2290 total)
G88 3.91 Performance Axle 0.8% (1921 total) (but 6.4% of 442s)
G92 3.42 Performance Axle 0.7% (1655 total) (but 2.6% of 442s)
K30 Auto Throttle Control 1.7% (5037 total) (but 6.5% of wagons)
M14 Manual 3-speed 0.9% (1755 total)
M20 Maunal 4-speed 1.2% (2190 total)
M55 Aux Oil Cooler 0.8% (2171 total)
PC2 Wheel Option 0.2% (457 total)
P06 Wheel Trim Ring 0.6% (1582 total)
T81 Head Lamp Off Delay Control 0.8% (2469 total)
U89 Car Trailer Harness 1.0% (3040 total)
WJ5 Delete Emission System 0.0% (14 total)
W27 Aluminum Axle Carrier 0.2% (351 total)
W31 Air Induction System 1.3% (1352 total)
W32 455 4 bbl Engine 1.1% (852 total)
Y66 Special Paint Two Tone 0.1% (185 total)
Y76 Special Firemist Paint 0.0% (36 total)

66400

1966 w30's were built in June 1966, Rallye Pac was introduced around March 1966.

Henry

wmachine

It was introduced for production starting 5-15-66. Still in time.