twilightblue28A

I ordered a new 1970 442 with a temperature and oil pressure gauge from the factory. I also ordered a tachometer without a clock from the factory.
Other Oldsmobile owners dispute that a tachometer was available from the factory without a clock
My opposition has taken the position that my car was delivered with a tic tac clock as part of a rally-Pac.
I disagree.
Please help settle this ongoing dispute.

rob1960

All they ever had was the optional rally-pac that came with the 3 gauges in the left pod & the tick-toc tach on the right.

svnt442

This is what was available.

joe_padavano

You are mistaken. There was NEVER a tach-only gauge pod for the 1968-72 cars. The only ones that exist are aftermarket creations, and they certainly didn't exist in 1970 when the car was ordered from the factory.

Greg Rogers

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...l00570-143474/
Check out this thread, maybe this is what you had and the dealer installer it for you when you bought it??

joe_padavano

Those aftermarket tachs did not exist in 1970, so unless the dealer had a time machine, that's a "no".

Mr Shifty Sidney

Maybe his car had the optional flux capacitor also???

Don W

joe_padavano

Yeah, somebody had to say it...

twilightblue28A

Mr. Shifty Sidney,
I know that my car was not ordered, nor was my car equipped with the optional flux capacitor.
Please post a photograph and the part number for reference.
Thank you!!

Mr Shifty Sidney

twilightblue28A

Thank you!! This was not a factory option in the 1970 model year......what was the RPO code?

svnt442

It was 121GW

69HO43

Unless someone has some Wayback machine (the original W-machine) photos of a 1970 tic-toc-tach without the tic-toc, I ain't buyin' it one bit. Pics or it didn't happen, as they say. There was no "U20-1/2" option to my knowledge.

I realize weird options could be ordered back in the 60s/70s, but you either got the whole option or none of it. Even a W-30 could be ordered nugget gold w/black stripes and A52 standard bench column-shift TH400 and a GREEN vinyl interior back then. It was a two tone green as well. The dash, headliner and belts and other trim were dark green, and the seats were Kermit the Frog green. I almost bought that car in the early 80s. Not even a sport wheel. But it had the U21, and C60 A/C and power brakes. I had to see the build card and window sticker to believe it myself about the interior. I would have been the third owner. Came with all the original paperwork. I always asked "Why would someone order a car that color with that interior?" Still, it was uniquely odd.

joe_padavano

The difference is that the RPO codes for that combination are all documented, including RPO Y68 Regular Paint Used with Trim Combinations Not Recommended by Paint & Trim Spec. Chart. As you said, there was no RPO U20.5.

VC455

Picture of U20.5 herewith.

69HO43

Looks home made to me. What year was the picture made? What's the code tag on the back of it say? Conveniently missing? Factory tick tocks were 7000 rpm with redline at 6000. Not convinced. May be a factory tach, but not from a 442.

VC455

Just messin' with you.

This was made from a 1970 clock.

The conclusion on this thread that there was no C20.5 is correct, but I thought you all would enjoy a laugh in these stressful times.

Be well.

69HO43

I gotta admit, you had me cycling on station there for a bit. I'm like, what the? I've never seen this kind of tach before and although it looks pretty good, it just can't be a factory 442 tach. If I had aftermarket gages and such, I could see rocking this tach. After looking at it again, it does look pretty cool. Of course, at a glance I'd probably think it was the speedometer and keep my foot in it trying to get to 70 mph!!

cherokeepeople

could just a tach only be ordered??

joe_padavano

You might want to scroll up and re-read this thread, especially Post #3.

69HO43

Probably should have saved that pic until April 1st.

twilightblue28A

I am not being argumentative or combative. Here's what I know:
I ordered my car new from Faulkner Oldsmobile in Philadelphia. I made no changes to any factory ordered equipment, except the hood, to run in a lower class.
I raced my car and used my tachometer during time trials and competition to determine shift points. I also checked my tachometer at idle.
In order to cool my engine between runs, I would spray my engine with cold water and check my temperature gauge to verify sufficient temperature drop.
I know my car did not have a clock. I know this because I have never worn a watch.
I acknowledge your comments made in this thread regarding Rally Pac gauges only available with a tic tac clock and tachometer.
My observations were before the advent of coronavirus......lol

69HO43

Nobody is saying you are. But there's no known evidence to back up your claim. You couldn't just get half a U21 option from the factory.
You can go to your grave knowing what's right in your heart, but there's a few of us that require more solid evidence to upend the factory installed equipment. If the dealer put it in, that's one thing, because they would do just about anything to keep the customer happy to buy the car. And they had more leeway to do it way back when. Headers? no problem. Just pay extra. Add stripes the factory didn't make available? No problem. Just pay extra. You need that accessory mirror on the passenger side? No problem. Just pay extra.

All I am asking is a "show me." I'm sure some of us old farts have seen a lot of strange crap from the dealerships, but one thing I've never seen is a 442 that has the tick tock tach without the tick tock part from the factory.

cherokeepeople

this is weird as twilight mentioned a plain tach as i looked at a 70 about year and a half ago out of the des moines/altoona iowa area it was a sherwood green 442 buckets and a plain tach no clock and i thought that is weird as i had never seen just a tach without the clock i wish i would have kept the pics,but i do not remember if it had the gauges.thats why i asked if just a tach was available..

w-30dreamin

Some or all of this may or may not have happened,the tach without a clock did not happen as a factory installed item.

svnt442

If it had factory appearing numbers it most likely was one of these aftermarket tachs that was sold through Restoparts are not available right now.

joe_padavano

I had a 1968 442 with a plain tach back in the 1970s. I know this for a fact, because I put it there. I found a tach from a 1969 Camaro in a wrecking yard and modified it to fit in place of the clock blank. It looked perfectly factory, because it WAS a GM tach, just not from Oldsmobile.

I'll point out again, that after half a century, there has not been one scrap of evidence to prove the existence of a tach-only option from Olds. It is not mentioned in the CSM. It is not mentioned in the dealer sales brochures. There is no RPO code listed in the Inspectors Guide. There are no service bulletins that talk about servicing it. There is no mention of it in any version of the parts book. There is no mention of it in any period magazine. As I've pointed out time and again on these one-of-none claims, anything that came from the factory also came with a factory warranty and thus needed both repair documentation and replacement parts support. The early W30 packages are documented. The 1966-67 Rally Pac is documented. The W27 is well documented.

Can we use a little common sense people? Or has the use of critical thinking and logic become a lost art?

Yellowstatue

The factory RPO code would have been GW121.