rgs455

I remember wrenching at the Olds dealership, we couldn’t give these cars away. We ended putting on trim rings and chrome bumpers to sell them. The parts department got stuck with the yellow bumpers.

no1oldsfan

Too bad they never offered that car with a W-31 engine. I know it was built as an entry level budget car but that sure would have helped sales I bet.

2blu442

I understand that was done on the 1977 Delta Pace Cars, but I'd not heard it happened with the Rallye 350. I had a very rusty Rallye 350 many years ago. I thought they were a very cool car with unique features like the coated bumpers.

joe_padavano

Guys, I moved these posts to their own thread rather than hijacking someone's for sale post. And yes, the body colored bumpers were too radical for some people in 1970. It's known that some dealers did resort to swapping out for chrome bumpers just to move the cars. And yes, a lot of dealers added the trim rings, but they were not part of the W45 package.

no1oldsfan

Is there any information out there or people in the know that have details about the "other" colored 69 Rallye 350's? Those are pictures that I have never seen. I have read that there were a few different colors.

Olds64

Interesting, I've never seen a pic of a Ralley 350 in a color other than yellow. I suppose it's plausible. I know GM did the Chevy Impala SS in 3 colors even though black is the most common.

IMHO, I never liked cars with "mono chrome" style bumpers, but to each his own.

no1oldsfan

I read there was purple for sure. I want to say green yellow and maybe orange?? Mopar-ish colors. Something about they had Oldsmobile engineers or workers driving them around to get feedback.

When I was a kid my one of my brother's bought one for the hood. The guy he bought it from taped off the stripes and painted the car gun metal grey. It looked good.


I have heard that Dodge and Plymouth dealers had a hard time unloading Charger Daytona's and Super bird's and that some dealers pulled the rear wings and the nose to sell them.

no1oldsfan

Mods could this be moved to General Discussion?

Koda

Green, red, and purple per one of the Dave's. These were 69s testing colors for the 70 program and it got dialed back and stopped. I think it was something to go after Mopar. I don't know what killed it, if it were the beginning of the emissions bullshit or what. 1970 was the end of a lot of things for GM.

no1oldsfan

Thanks Koda. I knew green and purple. I wasn't sure if it was red or orange.

Could be a kind of cool custom build. I wish someone had pictures. I am curious if the stripes were all the same or if they changed it up like Pontiac did with the Judge's.

GN1220

So what is code PO6 Wheel Trim Ring? It's listed on the option sheet he posted with all of the photos. Maybe a Canada thing?

rocketraider

Did you by chance work at Black Cad-Olds in Greensboro NC?

Apparently at the sales meeting that introduced the Rallye, a lot of dealers were mumbling about how did Oldsmobile expect them to sell a gaudy car like that. Bill Black Sr had had a snootful and announced that if the rest were afraid of the Rallye, Black would take 50, sell them all and order more.

Depending on the source they had to paint and put chrome bumpers on either 11 or 13 of them to finally sell them. There are a couple of the repainted cars still in central NC.

Black had billboards all over the Piedmont Triad touting the "curious yellow cars"- a play on the R-rated Swedish "I Am Curious (Yellow)" film of the time. Black beat Mopar to the punch on their 1971 Curious Yellow Hi-Impact color.

1969w3155

Trim ring not shown as being available.

joe_padavano

The RPO P06 trim rings were used on 14x7 steel wheels with dog dish caps. I guess a clever sales person could have special ordered P06 on a Rallye 350, but documenting that would be tough.

v8al

That wasn't so tough.... From Jimmy's post: GM of Canada documentation

Rallye469

No where near 100% sure…but my Rallye came to me with chrome bumper in just as crappy shape as the car.
Always thought it could have come from the dealership like this.

mister442

This is the window sticker from my Rallye 350 and it shows trim rings being order,, I was an Oldsmobile zone car from Omaha Nebraska

This is before I swaped out the lowering springs.

joe_padavano

From the dealership, yes. From the factory, no.

v8al

That Rallye was loaded! For the price though should have just bought a 442!

no1oldsfan

I was under the impression that the Rallye 350 option included the W-25 hood spoiler and sport mirrors as part of the package. Is that not correct?

Koda

It either included them, or called them as mandatory. I think, just for tracking and pricing, it may have been easier to list them on the form even though they were "included."

I'd like to see a 72 H/O window sticker and how they did w-45 and w-25.

no1oldsfan

Yeah I was surprised to see everything listed separately. I figured the Rallye 350 package included those items. To see them priced out individually was odd to see.

anthonyP

I believe they listed them as ‘mandatory options’. Sort of like some of the parts required for other W-cars. The sport mirrors, raised white letter tires, etc...

Seems Oldsmobile tooled around with possibly offering the Rallye 350 package for the 1971 model year. Possibly to fill the void for a small block performance package with the demise of the W31 option.

Fun71

Oh now you did it. We'll likely see them start showing up in the auction houses.

no1oldsfan

I have seen that 71 information before.

anthonyP

Does anyone have a copy of the 1971 Product Information Binder given to dealerships to show available equipment. Wondering if the illustrated Rallye 350 is shown anywhere else in PIB, especially showing the front of the Rallye.

rocketraider

"Absolutely correct and restored to original 1971 Oldsmobile Rallye 350! W31, factory airconditioning and power brakes! Special order chrome bumpers!"

Oh yeah.

no1oldsfan

Coming soon to a volo near you...