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I have heard stories over the years that I have always believed to be just that, stories. I assume these stories to not be true but was it possible for a factory employee or engineer to order a car that was a little different optioned than the general public could get? Like a different color paint or maybe a Starfire engine in a Dynamic 88, things like that.
My dad was an auditor for the Fisher Body Division of General Motors. Although white collar, he was not high enough up in the ranks to order what he wanted. He worked at the West Mifflin (Pa.) stamping plant. there only the plant manager and department heads could order a new car every 6 months, from any GM Division with the equipment they wanted. At the end of the 6 month time frame they had the option to purchase the vehicle at a greatly reduced price, put it up for employee purchase, or turn it back in. As an aside, one of the department heads had ordered a new 66 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed ragtop, black with a red interior. When the 6 month time frame was up the department head bought it for his 16 year old son for $1800. as my dad put it the kid is so stupid he will get killed in it, he doesn't know how to handle that kind of power.
I had a 1967 Pontiac Gran Prix convertible that was special ordered by a factory rep that came with almost any option that you could think of. It had some factory options that conflicted with other factory options that were available, but not together. The one that stood out the most to me, was cruise control along with the speed alert speedometer. While there was no "engineering" challenges that would have made it difficult to have both, GM ordering sheets said you could have one or the other, but not both. Another item that stood out to me, was the rear antenna which wasn't available with the AM-FM stereo radio, which this car had both.
Another instance that I know of is the Corvair FC (forward control) van, which was available as both a "truck" and a "car/station wagon". You could get either a hot air heater that sourced the engine heat, or a gasoline heater, that mounted up front under the windshield in the cowling. Once again, it was an either one, but not both. If the vehicle was ordered to be converted into an ambulance by a company called Automotive Conversion Corp (Michigan), they would install both heaters. I even saw a picture of a Corvair FC that had center doors on both sides, however, the leading door was the second door to open, unlike the standard production, where it was always the forward door that opened first. In this case, they reversed the right side door opening with the left, to accomplish this change. This change had to have been planned in advance at the Fischer Body assembly plant, which would have required "special" attention to detail.
I am inclined to believe that if a customer wanted it, that GM would accommodate the purchaser whenever possible.
It had some factory options that conflicted with other factory options that were available, but not together. The one that stood out the most to me, was cruise control along with the speed alert speedometer.
My father bought new both '71 and '73 Custom Cruisers, and both of them had both cruise control and the speed sentinel. There was no restriction on his getting both options, and it's not unreasonable to want both. Cruise control is for steady, high speed driving on uncrowded highways. You wouldn't use it on more congested roads, but you might still want to know if your speed exceeded a certain number.
Here's the Custom Cruiser page out of the '71 Dealer Specs book. Cruise control is option K30, and all it says is that M40, automatic transmission, was required.
The "speedometer package" is option UB7, and there's no mention that it can't be gotten if you also got option K30. Even more importantly, the trip odometer was also part of this package, so if you wanted a trip odometer to go along with your cruise control, a popular option combination, you had no choice but to get the safety sentinel as well.
I am going to assume that they were mechanically compatible in 67 (as the safety sentinel was simply a circuit running through the speedo, and the cruise control had nothing to do with the speedo other than driving it) but I would think they would be at cross purposes when used at the same time, as cruise control then was not as precise as now. 3 mph +/- I believe was acceptable on the set point, and the hills would change your speed temporarily. If I set the cruise at 65, and the speed sentinel at 67, I would think cresting a hill would set it off briefly.
Special paint could be ordered by at least some dealerships. The owner of the dealership where my car was delivered and sold said he could basically get any color he wanted in 1970, with the added benefit that this special paint ordering method did not count against his allotment of 442s, at least for about a year.
I actually own a "special Paint" 70 442 - documented on several different ways. Mine is Viking Blue Blue. There have been at least two others appear here on this forum, one in Regency Rose and the other in Mopar Plum Crazy, both with documentation. I'm sure there are numerous others. It would actually be kind of cool to find more. As odd as it may sound special paint was actually a regular production option with its own code Y62 and price. I don't think special paint was what Eric had in mind when he started this thread though.
Special paint could be ordered by at least some dealerships. The owner of the dealership where my car was delivered and sold said he could basically get any color he wanted in 1970, with the added benefit that this special paint ordering method did not count against his allotment of 442s, at least for about a year.
There were RPO codes for all kinds of special paint, including non-Olds colors. This page from the 1972 Inspector's Guide lists the various options.
There is zero factory documents to show a 62 Cutlass convertible was ever made with the Jetfire engine and trim. A Jetfire was its own model and that was a hardtop with no other body style available. I was contacted about a Jetfire convertible that was a factory employee's car and was ordered by him like this. I have not see pictures yet or any documents but he said he has the 1962 documents to back up the fact it was ordered this way. I still do not believe this to be true but the guy did know some details about Jetfire cars that very few know. I suspected fraud from the start but I am going to play along for a while and see where this goes. I did Goggle the phone number and Name and it tossed no red flags at all. In fact, The name and number come up with very interesting information that makes me have a hard time believing this is fraud. Sill don't believe the car was made by GM but maybe there is more to the story before them... It was the father in laws car new and he has recently died as the story I am getting goes.
I am supposed to be getting pictures soon.
When I worked at the Framingham GM plant in 1972, every car had a build sheet. That was exactly how the car was built. Someone in the GM organization approved these build sheets. On the line, there was no variation.
August 23rd, 2017, 04:11 AM
