Am I the only one who HATES the term “cutty”? Also, “four forty-two”. Referring to any Olds V-8 as a Rocket. While I’m on a roll, chevelle stripes on the trunk.

ok, I feel better now.

 

How do you really feel Matt. I agree with you on most points. Chevelle strips don't bother me. Maybe because I don't have a Cutlass anymore.

 

How about Oldsmobubble.... I never liked that one

 

Lazy slang, along the lines of "I'm funna help u out"

Prettysure all Olds V8s are Rocket motors, because its just a marketing gimmick.

 

I'm too old to let crap like this bother me.

 

It is stupid, but, most people are, so who cares?

 

I'm with you on all counts, plus nimrods who insist on calling the Jetaway a "Powerglide".

 

Chevelle stripes are not the same as Oldsmobile. I figured Oldsmobile didn't finish the job, so I had Oldsmobile stripes added (by the dealer body shop) to the trunk, three months after it was delivered.......I call mine "dealer installed" and feel better.
Acronyms bother me more when people make them up. ATM was a recent one. It was meant as Automatic Transmission Modulator. You'll look real hard to find a modulator on manual/synchro mesh transmission.
.......Just my two cents worth.

 

442 = 10.....Always asked about my "10" when cruising through the big city...When I had 3 time Grammy winner and actor Ludacris in my car for the Indy 500 parade that is exactly how he referred to it as a "10". Ludacris also owned one I went to an inner city HS and that's how it was always referred to as back in the day.
When I had a 70 GTO it got tagged as..."Get the Tools Out".."Garbage Truck Option"...from my Ford/Mopar friends...I had a few for them as well..."Flip Over Read Directions"..."F***ed On Race day".."Fix Or Repair Daily"..."Mostly Old Parts Arraigned Ridiculously"

 

I'd take "cutty" over "gutless" any day.

 

I think people use those weird terms to try to help bond with the Olds owner. As if to say "I know a little about Oldsmobiles". But it usually comes out corny. I had a "NOTA442" plate on the front of my Cutlass for 10-15 years. I finally took it off after being at a generic cruise in and hearing all the comments, "What does that mean?" Is it a 441 or 443? What size engine doe's it have then? what? When I would go to the Nationals or Olds Homecoming people would know what it meant. I know that all classic car owners get weird comments,etc. "I had a 440 Hemi back in the day in my 1985 Charger.... " Or "I had a Boss 428 Cobra-Jet is my 1965 Mustang, ,,,,"

 

haaaa, i think my good friend Clay ( VI CUTTY ) may have an opinion on this thread
but i do hate when people talk about the olds motor as 442 cubic inch

 

Hahahaha Stan! :-D

As long as people don't judge a book by it's cover...I created my username before I owned my first Olds, and have now had several pass through my hands. All Cutlii (never Cuttys!) and I take them seriously. I have to agree with Johnny..."Gutless" has always irked me.

"It's a Gold Rocket wide block so it must be worth a lot..."

 

 

Maybe they think they are Indy Pace Car or Hurst Olds stripes?

 

Terms don't bother me too much. The term "Rocket" engine/motor actually helped me get the price down twice. Once on a 1966 Delta 425 2V (but hi-comp "red" air cleaner). The 90 y/o Owners son told me, "it's got the Rocket motor in it." When looking at the "engine", I jokingly said, "oh darn it. That's not the "Rocket" engine. The Rocket engine had the "big" 4 barrel on it." He oh, I didn't know, I thought it was the Rocket engine. Price went down.
Same thing happened on a 1968 Delmont that was a 455 2V, I had my line already when I was told it was the "Rocket motor."
Now one term that bugs me a bit is using "motor" instead of engine. Jmo.

 

" no problem "

 

When I hear a car has a big motor, I think to myself, "That will defog the windshield FAST."

However, some Teslas really do have big motors.

 

And yet we still have no issue with "Motor Trend". WTF?

 

I'm guessing it sounded better to them than "Engine Trend".

 

Probably true on that one. Motor and engine has been used interchangeably since I can't recall when. Even "mill" had been bandied about when I was a teenager. Showing my age. Growing up I used to read "CARtoons" and the drag racing rags when I could find them.

I'm not one to be annoyed by one's vernacular in most cases. Although, Cutty does sound lazy. Means "short" or "stumpy" in old Scottish. Dumbazzes that use the term probably don't even realize what it means.

 

And at the dawn of the automobile age the term was motorcar (and many used electric motors as well).

I don't correct anyone when I hear them say motor. It just sounds odd to me.

 

An engine and a motor are not the same thing, although they are close enough to be used almost interchangeably.

A motor is something that takes some energy other than mechanical and makes mechanical energy. An electric motor, an air motor, a hydraulic motor, a muscle is a chemical motor, a combustion motor.

An engine is something that takes combustion pressure and converts it into mechanical energy. Internal combustion engines, steam engines (which are external combustion), and heat engines.

So, your 455 is an internal combustion engine. It also is a motor, specifically a combustion motor. It's like saying your footwear you wear hiking are boots, they're both right.

You can be an engine of something, like change or destruction.

 

When mapping out my last engine build I actually thought about a bit more bore size just so I could round it off @ 442 ci. I then thought about how much more explaining that might take to Both the Olds Person and those with less knowledge of the brand. 434 will do.

 

One I cant stand is TORO!

 

Growing up in SF Bay Area, we got used to hearing terms like Cutty, Caddy, Chevy, Duece and a quarter, Four Four Duece, droptop, ragtop, big block chevy was always a Rat, SBC mouse, Oldsmobile engines were Rockets, Ford has always been a turd etc. none of that bothers me at all.

However call my Cutty Gutless those are fighting words.

 

How about when people call a 4-4-2 a "Cutlass 4-4-2" or worse, a "Cutty Four-Forty-Two"? Do you correct them? Or just beat them up?

 

Do you have one? I do, and I call it a Toro at least half the time. When I want to take it out for a drive, I tell my wife, "I'm taking the Toro for a spin." In fact, I call it going for a "Torospin." Very handy, minimizes the number of words needed, and she knows just what I mean. Sometimes she even goes with me. Then I say, "darling, want to go for a Torospin?"

Really? Even for the years when the 442 was an option package on the Cutlass?


Here's the '65 Dealer Specs Book page for the Cutlass. There's "4-4-2 Performance Package" right there in the lower right. But that pesky word "Cutlass" is right there at the top of the page. It was an option on the Cutlass line. I understand the purists preferring simply "4-4-2," especially for the years when it was its own series, but it seems that it would hardly have been a crime for someone back then or even now to call a '65 4-4-2 a "Cutlass 4-4-2." Ditto for the '66s and '67s (and '72s).






One term I do detest, and it's not limited to Oldsmobiles, is calling a convertible a "ragtop." What a derogatory name for a car, I always thought. I have a convertible, and I don't consider its convertible top a "rag." I wipe oil spills with a rag. But when I mentioned this dislike a couple of years ago or so on this site, I got ripped a new one. I guess people like calling their convertibles "rags." To each his own.

 

Yes.

Well, aren't you special. For that matter, I don't much like the word "jaunty".

 

Toro... it could be worse. A friend had a beat up Toronado & we called it the Turdnado.

 

Finding things to bother you, like what's being discussed in this thread, is it really worth it?

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

C'mon, guys... this is exactly the type of stuff that chases people away from otherwise great groups / forums.

 

Nah, I think what chases people away is the cars' lack of appeal.