I didn't know there was a police package... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OLDSM...Q5fAccessories

 

My guess is it's just a standard 71 455. There is no way to "run the numbers" and find out that it's this particular 455 or that one.
The casting numbers on the shelf behind the water pump are the same for 68-72 blocks with only the addition of an A on the 73-76 blocks.
The stamped numbers on the machined pad below the #1 spark plug will only tell you what year the engine is, where the car it was going into was made and the last 6 of the VIN from the car it was in. There is a date code on the block and a time stamp as well as what has been concluded to be a casting form number, but that's about it.
You can disassemble the engine to see what pistons and cam are in it and that can narrow it down, but if it's been majorly worked on there just is no way of knowing exactly what it was.

 

'71 Heads (G's) on a '70 motor? There was a Police Option in one of the big cars though.

 

they had delta 88 cop cars in camp hill,pa in 71 & 72 when i lived there.

but this seller is just repeating crap from 442.com

 

Yes, there was a W-33 O.A.I. package on the Delta 88 for 1970. It did NOT come with 1971 heads, however. This ad is so full of misinformation that it isn't even funny.

 

that's what I figured. It bugs me when people try to make the non-rare into some ooooo look it's a super rare whatnot!!!

 

CHP used 67 Delmont 88s with W33. I don't recall the engine itself being so special that you would start with it instead of some other 455 for a build-up.

 

Well the 67 would have a 425 anyway, but still.

 

another one of those "RARE" finds on eBay.

 

While there was a Police Package for the Delmonts that year, the W-33 designation did not exist in 1967, nor was there an O.A.I. package for the full size cars that year.

 

Yes, except that the '70 W33 and W34, though called "O.A.I." by Oldsmobile, had no Outside Air Induction, but just regular air cleaners

Yes, a pretty pathetic and totally misrepresenting ad.

In '67, the police option was the L77 375 hp 425, slight variant of the L75 375 hp Starfire engine.

The W33 designation was only used in 1970, but was essentially the same 390 hp L32 engine of '68 and '69.
The W33 was available to the public, like the L32, and was *not* a police option, though it was the engine of choice *with* the B01 and B07 police options. So a W33 may or may not come from a police car.
But the W33 came with '70 issue E heads.

 

Well, at least the idiots that post this stuff on e-bay give us something to talk about...it does make one nervous to buy something off of there now.

 

Curt Anderson has a 67 Delmont ex-CHP car and he told me the option code was W33.

 

Interesting. I've never seen it used that far back.

 

I believe there has to be some misunderstanding there somewhere. I have multiple and in depth listings of RPO options, police and otherwise, and for '67 everything is covered with no W33. There isn't anything missing that it could be.