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I have an opportunity to go look at a 1972 CS pace car that may be coming up for sale. What do I need to look for in the VIN or data plate to make sure it is authentic? I know about the VIN and trany and engine numbers but not whats what in a true pace car. Help as always, much appreciated.
I have an opportunity to go look at a 1972 CS pace car that may be coming up for sale. What do I need to look for in the VIN or data plate to make sure it is authentic? I know about the VIN and trany and engine numbers but not whats what in a true pace car. Help as always, much appreciated.
The only 1972 Indy pace cars were H/Os. Yes, the H/O was built on the Cutlass Supreme that year, but did you really mean "CS"?
Y74 is for the pace car designation on the 1970 cars, W45 for the 72's.
im glad to hear the useless info I have managed to hold onto for years turned out to be correct. Now I can add W45 to that list. Unless I hit the lottery, ch are about the same as ever finding myself in a position to buy a pace car. Bummer
All 1972 H/O Indy pace cars are Cutlass Supremes. Not all Cutlass Supremes are H/Os or pace cars. Usually when someone refers to one of these, they call it an Hurst/Olds. The fact that the OP call it a Cutlass Supreme suggests that it might not be real. It's a weird way to refer to the car, and that sets off warning alarms.
So if you put the decals on and it did not participate as a pace car was that false advertising?
Technically, NO, because GM sold the car with the decals. They realized that not every buyer wanted the (personal opinion) gaudy graphics on the side of the car.
There were 629 1972 H/Os. 130 of those were convertibles. All came with the pace car decals in the trunk.
629 H/Os or 629 H/O Pace Cars...and were all H/Os Pace Cars?
A '72 H/O just sold locally for what seemed to me a very low price, supposedly real deal and in great condition but I've never actually seen the car. The owner of another local '72 H/O Pace Car in nice condition (but missing some key original parts) had his out last year.
I keep a casual eye on these since they fall under my '72 Supreme area of specialty. A very decent driver/cruise-quality example should be in the $24-$32K range. Seems that the padded top is the achilles heel on these, like any '70s-era H/O.
Terry
Last edited by vette442; Jan 29, 2019 at 01:02 PM.
This one has been on the Pittsburgh Craigslist for several weeks. Looks very decent for the money. If I wasn't on the V Code Supreme hunt again, I'd probably take a look at it.
629 H/Os or 629 H/O Pace Cars...and were all H/Os Pace Cars?
A '72 H/O just sold locally for what seemed to me a very low price, supposedly real deal and in great condition but I've never actually seen the car. The owner of another local '72 H/O Pace Car in nice condition (but missing some key original parts) had his out last year.
There were exactly TWO pace cars. As I noted above, there were 68 of the 629 used at the race as parade cars. All 629 came with the pace car decals.
Seems that the padded top is the achilles heel on these, like any '70s-era H/O.
Terry
Yeah, but at least it was the really unattractive half padded top, so it had that going for it...
Back in the early 80s, I looked a a 72 H/O hardtop in the San Fernando valley that had been repainted and the vinyl top left off. It looked a lot better that way, if not correct.
I really like the look of the original top . Not many left with original
Sorry, not feeling the love. The leading edge of the top doesn't line up with anything; it just cuts across the roof randomly. There's no aesthetic sense. At least on the 73s, the top lines up with the leading edge of the B-pillar.
I know of at least three '72 Supremes from Southern California that had the half tops added when they were new or close to new. Someone out there was doing conversions. (There were two of the white ones like this almost identically equipped on Ebay and maybe 442.com around 2000/2001 out west - this one had been donated to a charity in L.A. for sale. The other may have been in Washington state. Both were Cameo White / U Code / full OAI / Dual Gate cars, but were not H/Os.)
This one had a couple of conversions done. For everyone that says they weren't cloning them back then...
First, don't confuse an oh-so-trendy 1970s aftermarket vinyl top with a clone. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Hurst actually used this existing aftermarket top on the H/Os and not the other way around.
Second, adding 442 emblems has been done since these cars were new. Heck, I added 442 emblems to the 68 Vista hand-me-down that was my first car in 1974. Of course, I could still walk into the dealership and buy a new grill and emblems then.
Third, don't confuse the half-fast things we were doing to these cars in the early 70s with the clones being pushed for high dollars today. We weren't doing this to bilk unsuspecting buyers out of big bucks, we were doing it to be cool (and the definition of "cool" is relative... ).
Fourth, it is almost as likely that this whole front end was just a crash replacement. I've seen more-doors with one red inner fender, likely because it was attached to the outer fender that the body shop pulled out of a wrecking yard. I personally saw more than a couple of 442s and W-cars in yards in the mid-70s.
Fourth, it is almost as likely that this whole front end was just a crash replacement. I've seen more-doors with one red inner fender, likely because it was attached to the outer fender that the body shop pulled out of a wrecking yard. I personally saw more than a couple of 442s and W-cars in yards in the mid-70s.
I would disagree with this on this particular car for two reasons: The front fender still has the thin Supreme side stainless trim which is so often discarded. Nobody would put that back on if they dropped a 442 nose on it. Secondly, I saw two nearly identical cars done like this as I mentioned, both from the west coast. My hunch for 18 years has been that there may have been a regional package of some sort. I even created a web page for this one on my V Code site years ago (see the link). Sure wish I still had the pics and ad for the other one. As a '72 Supreme nut, I would have loved to have purchased this car or one just like it, but wife 1.0 was still around and would have put the kaibosh on that plan back then...
I As a '72 Supreme nut, I would have loved to have purchased this car or one just like it, but wife 1.0 was still around and would have put the kaibosh on that plan back then...
Yeah, been to that movie. The future ex-wife #2 similarly stopped me from buying a 1970 442 pace car for $10K back in the mid-90s. It was the car used on the cover of the Year One catalog.
Yeah, been to that movie. The future ex-wife #2 similarly stopped me from buying a 1970 442 pace car for $10K back in the mid-90s. It was the car used on the cover of the Year One catalog.
The Roger Ward car on the turquoise covered catalog?
Second, adding 442 emblems has been done since these cars were new. Heck, I added 442 emblems to the 68 Vista hand-me-down that was my first car in 1974. Of course, I could still walk into the dealership and buy a new grill and emblems then.
Third, don't confuse the half-fast things we were doing to these cars in the early 70s with the clones being pushed for high dollars today. We weren't doing this to bilk unsuspecting buyers out of big bucks, we were doing it to be cool (and the definition of "cool" is relative... )....
Well, I know a guy that bought 442 emblems and put them on his 1938 Chebby before it had the Olds engine and transmission back in the 1960's. Later, he bought several 442's in succession.
I wonder what a '69 OAI system would look like on a '64 Olds Starfire ?
What do you guys think is the market value on a 72 Hurst/Olds Convert. In driver condition needing paint with a clean interior? No rust or holes to deal with. Numbers matching engine/trans.
Since the conversation is focused on 72 Hurst Olds and W45 on the cowl tag,lets not forget about Geralds old car that did not have W45 on the cowl tag but Gerald says the car was authenticated by Helen Early.
What do you guys think is the market value on a 72 Hurst/Olds Convert. In driver condition needing paint with a clean interior? No rust or holes to deal with. Numbers matching engine/trans.
Old Car Price Guide 2019 has the following:
That's 6 5 4 3 2 1 in conditions. 1 being a museum piece, 2 being a sometimes driven, but mainly trailer queen car show winner. 3 is your best of show weekend car show winner. 4 is a driver. 5 is a project. 6 is a pile of parts. Your car is worth, by this guide, 15,000.
A 72 Hurst Olds is not like the previous years where they were more powerful than the w-30s. In 72, they were basically a pretty 442, with the exception of the X vin w-30 engine cars. In fact, some 442 level items did not make it onto the H/O.
These are 442 numbers here, though we have to do some math. I'd say an automatic U code 455 442 in 72 would be +20% for 455 and +50% for 442 so that's 170% of those values
meaning $6400 for a driver 442 U code, which seems a little low, but not too far off.
FYI, 270 was the HP rating for manual trans, with AT (as were all 1972 H/Os), the rating was 250 HP. As I have pointed out, there aren't enough of these cars sold at high-end auctions to formulate a statistically valid sample on which to base these numbers. They have 12 different prices listed here. I bet there haven't been 12 1972 H/Os sold at the big auctions (which is where they get their data) in the last few years. There definitely haven't been any sold in less than no. 2 condition. These are extrapolations based on a very limited number of data points. Use with caution. The error bars are huge.
I would disagree with this on this particular car for two reasons: The front fender still has the thin Supreme side stainless trim which is so often discarded. Nobody would put that back on if they dropped a 442 nose on it. Secondly, I saw two nearly identical cars done like this as I mentioned, both from the west coast. My hunch for 18 years has been that there may have been a regional package of some sort. I even created a web page for this one on my V Code site years ago (see the link). Sure wish I still had the pics and ad for the other one. As a '72 Supreme nut, I would have loved to have purchased this car or one just like it, but wife 1.0 was still around and would have put the kaibosh on that plan back then...
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