tcolt

I realize I'm hogging the site a bit lately, but I'm really excited about my Vista Cruiser. I feel pretty lucky that of all the brands of American cars I might have stumbled into (and I did stumble upon the Vista Cruiser), it was Oldsmobile, which seems to have had more of a philosophy of engineering and performance, rather than just marketing and fluff found with other brands. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons many of you guys are in the Olds camp too?

I came across this trailer hitch for a Cutlass and was wondering if it was the factory option as the seller claims. I'm hoping it would also be correct for my Vista Cruiser, as that's my new work truck. I've already hauled 8 railroad ties in the cargo bed and two loads of half a scoop of gravel from my local builders supply. I'm sure it's been a while since the folks in Hollywood have seen a car used for some heavy duty work, besides tough 4 wheel drive Escalades, dropping off kids to school, but it's been fun driving past the Kodak theater at a snail's pace to avoid pot holes...

The question is. Was this the factory option for my 1972 Vista too?

Thanks, Tom

RetroRanger

IDK if its factory but i have one the same or similar that came off my dads 71 supreme....

Allan R

I'm pretty sure that Olds (or GM ) didn't offer a trailer hitch in their RPOs. They only specified what motor, cooling, suspension and gears were recommended for various weights/sizes of trailers. I believe the addition of a trailer hitch was left to the owner and a fab shop or hitch shop. That's a light duty hitch that could practically be bought anywhere back in the day.

tcolt

Thanks guys. Then I guess it's not as rare as I thought it would be. The guy says it was dealer installed. He wants $40, but then there's $25 shipping...

joe_padavano

Allan is correct. The factory did not offer trailer hitches. When these cars were new, there were many aftermarket options available. Dealers would usually install one if the buyer wanted.

CRUZN 66

For $65 investment, I would first check with some place like U-Haul.... They use to sell all kinds of hitches custom fit to your vehicle... I purchased a heavy duty Class 3 for one of my Custom Cruisers years ago, in fact I still have it, removed it from the vehicle before I sold it....

Greg Rogers

I have a trailer hitch that came of a 72 Cutlass that I used for a time on my 71 Cutlass. I later wanted to put that hitch on my 70 Vista Cruiser and it wont fit. I later did find a hitch for the Vista and it is shaped different than the Cutlass one. If this is the hitch that is on ebay, I looked at it also. I think it's missing something. It looks like there only 2 mounting points. The 2 hitches I own have 4 mounting points. It seems like there should be another set of mounts back by the safety chain loops....

orange442

I have a hitch I pulled off my 72 Vista parts car. I will see if I can find it and post a pic.

lemoldsnut

As the Manager of the Body Shop in our local Oldsmobile/Chevrolet dealership it was our job to install accessories if a customer requested them. Hitches was a big part of that. We installed many and in fact had one guy who did hitches and trailer wiring almost exclusively. All was aftermarket parts.

CRUZN 66

With the photo as shown, there is definitely no support for any real tongue weight load..... It would appear there is a piece missing to support the load that should most likely bolt to the face of the rear bumper....

Allan R

That's what would scare me about this hitch too. Where the load is carried. It looks like part of it was bolted through the floor of the trunk, but even being attached to the bumper doesn't make it a very strong hitch. I doubt it would be good for more than a light tent trailer at best.

We had a trailer hitch installed on our 67 and 72. both were welded to the frame rails. Back then it seems a lot of the hitches were custom at the shop. (unless there was a standard one they could use).

joe_padavano

Yes, this type of hitch typically had a connection to the bottom edge of the rear bumper. It's still only a Class I hitch, good for about 100 lb tongue weight and 1000 lb trailer weight total. That's barely enough to carry a BBO in a small trailer.

DewChugr

My car (71) had one of those, or similar on it when my parents bought it in 74. I don't know where it was installed, but it left to not so nice holes in the bumper and trunk. You can have it if you want, I think I still have it.

tcolt

I'd love to see pictures of your hitch and thanks for all the other great posts. Clearly there is some kind of bracket or U-bolt and maybe a backing plate or two missing. Just to give some of you an idea where I am coming from. On classic German cars a factory trailer hitch was usually a rare accessory that was often engineered together with the factory to tie into parts of the mostly unibody cars and sub frames. There were strict regulations by the government for such a critical piece of equipment, which is why not just any after-market company would undertake the task of getting approval to build a trailer hitch specifically for each car model out there. (Especially not for car models that were not intended mostly with towing in mind, such as sports cars.) When I came across this hitch on Ebay, I thought it might be an opportunity to get something that would be rare and useful for my VC for it's new occasional use as my work truck. It already dawned on me that the last foot or two of the rear pan is probably different than the Cutlass that it came off and your posts seem to support this. I still like the idea of having towing capability in the future, but I'm not in a hurry and I'd rather wait for a hitch that is specifically designed for the VC and preferably doesn't require drilling into body panels.

Thanks, Tom

Greg Rogers

My Vista is also my "work truck". It does a good job with my 5x8 utility trailer behind it. The other day a friend and I took a hay wagon full of hay bales to a farm auction with it. That one made facebook.( You never know who's snapping your picture now a days- I'm not paranoid but I'm sure they're out to get me!!)

DewChugr

The one that was in my car had to rounded head bolts through the floor of the trunk, we had to grind those off because they were rusted so badly. There were also two bolts through the bottom of the bumper. If I remember right those were the same types of bolts. It must have been a dealer or owner add-on because the wiring was a hack job and not professional in any way. Unfortunately I now have two holes in the trunk floor and two holes in the bumper.

This shows where the holes in the trunk are.

hitch_zpsbxtgk5zt.jpg

64Rocket

This one came from a Vista.
A little hard to ship, but fastenal can do it.

Gene

tcolt

That looks like the one and yes, it would be hard to ship. What's fastenal?

DewChugr

They mainly sell fasteners, screws, etc, but also sell tools, PB Blaster and a lot of other things. They will also ship large items from one of their stores to another cheaper than most. Some of their other services.

joe_padavano

Fastenal is one of the best kept secrets in the auto hobby. They are typically THE low-cost solution for shipping large or heavy parts. As noted, they are a logistics company. The third party shipping business is a fill-in between their stores to keep their trucks full. Your shipment may take weeks until space is available between the two stores you are shipping from/to, but it is really cheap. You have to crate or palletize the thing you are shipping and drop it at one of their stores. The party at the other end needs to pick it up at the receiving store. They have many facilities in major metro areas around the country.

The funny thing is, this is all pretty much word-of-mouth. They don't really advertise this service. When I picked up a shipment earlier this year at their Frederick, MD facility, I mentioned this to the manager there. He wasn't even aware that the auto hobby was such a big customer of theirs.

crimsoncolby

I've got a GM 1977 Accessories Catalog that shows a "Dead Weight Trailer Hitch (Class 1)" advertised as available..."just ask your salesman for details". "For light utility and boat trailers - up to 2,00 pounds with a 200 pound tongue weight". Also claims "Equalizer hitches are available, too". My '77 Monte Carlo had one. Wish I knew how to post pics on here.

tcolt

Chugger and Joe. That is really good information. I've used Greyhound a few times, but this sounds like a really good service as well.

copper128

The hitch the OP is talking about is missing a U bolt that went through the bottom edge of the bumper and sandwiched the drawbar with a heavy bracket underneath.

joe_padavano

In the REPLY TO THREAD page, scroll down to ADDITIONAL OPTIONS and click on MANAGE ATTACHMENTS. Upload your photos, paying attention to the file size limits.

slooow72

Gonna have to go look and see what I got. Wanted to add a hitched bike rack for beach days!

originally shipped to a Texas dealer so maybe I have a chance

mrolds69

That's incorrect about GM cars not getting hitches from the factory. My 70 GS455 came with a GM trailer hitch and harness, it's documented on my build sheet and though Buick's historical files (Sloan Museum). I also have an NOS 72 GS trailer hitch here. The hitches from GM were very heavy duty and attached to the frame. It's not like the hitch in the pics above. It's possible that Olds were different...

joe_padavano

As was pointed out seven years ago in this thread, Oldsmobile did NOT offer a factory trailer hitch in the 1960s-70s. This is from the 1971 SPECS booklet. Other years have the same note.

mrolds69

Well, I believe you, Joe. I've never researched this for Olds. I believe Buick A bodys had a more HD frame than Olds. They also had more body mounts than Olds, a lot of stuff...I just didn't like the blanket statement above that GM didn't offer a hitch from the factory. My GS 455 came with a class III hitch, beats me what they were pulling with it!

joe_padavano

Buick frames are the same P/N as Olds frames. Buick body mounts are the same as on any other A-body of the same year. And Buick only offered dealer-installed hitches, and none of them were Class III. Buick specifically did not recommend towing Class III trailers with the A-body cars. This is from the 1970 Buick Trailering Brochure.

oldolds88

fisher body installed trailer harness's on cars. ive had a few right from the factory harness's in for my gm vehicles.not the hitch,but the snap in harness

wr1970

I have a hitch on my U code I guess I need to look.🤔

joe_padavano

RPO U89, Wire Harness, Trailer Electrical. About a $10 option in the late 60s-early 70s. People will note that there is no RPO code for a trailer hitch.