So I am the proud owner of a 1971 442 4 speed convertible with air. I actually am a w-30 guy but had never seen a 4 speed with air so I picked up the car. Low option posi, rally wheels, sport wheel am fm bucket console car. Anybody have one of these? Guessing they made about 500 4 speed convertibles and maybe 100 with ac. Who would order air on a 4 speed car. They are supposed to go fast. I will get some pictures up in a couple days when I get the car sorted. Lee Pearl

 

Don't know the exact numbers but that's gotta be a pretty rare bird. Congrats! Can't wait for the pictures.

 

Lee,
My good friend Rick is the original owner of a 71 442 4 speed AC hardtop. He ordered it and got AC because of the weather here in OK. He is hoping to get a 71 442 vert one day too. He is on the lookout for a bittersweet car to match his 442 and 71 bittersweet Cutlass wagon.
Can't wait to see pics of your new ride.


Matt

 

This one is sandalwood with black. Light yellow. Wish it was Viking blue or my first olds was lime green. Lee

 

Nice find Lee, looking forward to some pics also.

 

The better question is, who would order air on a convertible? The top is supposed to be down!

Nice score, Lee.

 

Nice cant wait to see pix. 183, 442, 4 sp, verts in 71! How many with AC??? Not many Im sure. Almost as rare if not rarer as a 71 W30 vert

 

Top down w/ hot sun beating down on you and cool air coming at you from the AC, is the ultimate blend of temperature luxury!

Congrats on the acquisition and looking forward to seeing the pics!

 

I agree Joe, top down especially where I live. Thanks for the good words all. I will get the pictures posted soon. Lee

 

In Texas, top down + summer sun + 100 degrees = an extremely painful drive. A/C during the day with the top up is necessary.

 

The production data I have shows 183 4 speed converts in 71 no breakdown on A/C.


Nice score Lee looking forward to seeing pix.

 

Hey Fred, How about some pics of your fleet? Specifically the 68-69s. Fouranado is beyond cool. Thank you for restoring this piece of Americana. Read the write-ups with with a bib on!
Steve

 

In my Mustang book, they are able to trace sales to zones or "districts." You would be surprised to learn that the top markets for convertibles were in the Rust Belt, NOT some place like Los Angeles. LA is certainly up there, but Boston and Buffalo had more Mustang ragtops in general.

So I could infer, correctly or not, that folks in areas with poor weather relish the opportunity for the top down, while people in Cali take the heat in stride because it's always there.

But the Rust Belt states also have high humidity. Considering the increased use of AC in 1971, I would not be surprised if a well-heeled individual would order a ragtop with AC in those areas. And a 1971 Mustang ragtop with AC? Approx 26%. I bet the 4-4-2 was higher by a lot. But then ya gotta factor in the 4-speed, which makes it more unique but, in the end, we just can't know how many were built like that.

For additional trivia, even though it may not be analogous:

1970 GTO RAIII convertible
43 with automatic/AC
33 with stick/AC

Same car with 455
136 autos/AC
33 sticks/AC

 

Steve


I don't want to hijack this thread but will post some pix in another thread tonight. I have been a little remiss with taking pix of the 68 and 69 cars so I have to look to see what I have. This is all I have for now.
low res pic of the what will be the 66 to 72 W30 poster my cars are 68 to 72
68 Hurst Olds at MCACN
71 W30 convert 4 speed
71 W30 convert when I bought it in 92 now is Viking blue with white stripe and yes I own it again sold it in 92 bought it back in Nov. of 14

 

Oh, the "whole" photo I haven't seen - that's great!

 

Diego. If I use your numbers it is one of about 50 which is almost as rare as my 71 w-30 4 speed convert. Fred you have added some cars since we last visited. Lee

 

Hi....You're comparing apples and oranges:

Conv>W-30>stick
Conv>455>stick>AC

As a numbers fan, I can say I am not a fan of estimating production numbers because we have enough misinformation out there already. But that's just me.

 

Totally agree.......the value difference is huge but I am just having fun with a new car and getting back in the game with my friends after some time off. Lee

 

I didn't mean the cars are different by value - it's just estimating rarity between the two is apples and oranges because you're factoring an extra option (AC) with one car, making four factors to consider, while the other car has only three factors to consider.

 

Fred, thread hijack or not who cares. Pretty sure Lee wont mind. Dam nice fleet. We'll call it Freds Fleet! Only one missing is the Fouranado. I was just in Mesa/Chandler. Should have looked you up Next time.

 

Isn't it about 2 years ago to the weekend that you sold your Galleon Gold , 70 . W-30 plus the 4 spd . W-27 , and story back to Day 1 from Hansel Olds - Holy Grail convert ? I knew that entire process took a lot out of you ..
The process of reading about your car , and the ensuing sale @ Russo Steele in Newport Beach , was a huge learning experience for me . It also introduced me to the Yenko Forum .. Which I only observe on , but has been hugely informative for real world descriptions , images , and hard facts on what makes real cars - Especially the real - real cars worth what they are .
I look forward to seeing what your new ride looks like , and seeing your wisdom and humility work it's way back into this forum..
Plus , we get to see the first images of Fred's upcoming W - 30 Poster .
2 big teases in one thread .. Um , time to clean the keyboard !!
JT

 

JT You are correct the car sold two years ago. It was part of our family. Fred has a collection, I had a car. When we sold the car we wanted it to go to a place where it would be appreciated. You can see from the video below that we did good. So happy to see the car get its legs stretched. Enjoy the video, we cried when we saw it.


It did put me out of the game for a couple years but I just brought my 71 w-30 out of storage and plan to enjoy it this summer as a driver. I will never again have a car like the gold one but will remain an Olds guy forever. Not sure what I will do with the new 71 which I pick up today but when I told the owner about his car with my expertise and the true price value he took the bottom of the range I offered him and I pick it up today. It may even be in our local parade on Sunday. I am in charge of getting the VIP cars. Lee


You need to scroll down to see my old car.

http://musclecaroftheweek.com/index....le-muscle-cars

 

A few more pix of the collection

 

Tenmidget is right. Top down on a hot sun blaring day with the cool air of ac blowing across you is the ultimate. I say that from the dry high desert of eastern Oregon. I could not imagine driving one on one of those southern days at 100 plus with the extreme humidity you guys get. AC in a convertible is awesome.

 

Looking forward to some pix. I have a 71 442 conv. with ac just not a 4 spd. I'm looking to convert to a 4 spd. What rear ratio is in your car? Original cam?
Watched the video of your old car too, just simply awsome!

 

Welcome back Lee. X3 on the pics. Top down with the a/c blowing on high is the only
way to go in Summer in Central TX. Gotta have a white interior though, ha.

 

Here in Central/Eastern Oregon we can get hot during the day but almost always it cools off nicely in the evening. We did our little Sonic run last night with the top down. We were talking about this thread and how here in a convertible you could be driving with the top down in the morning at 50 degrees with the heater on to take that chill off and mid afternoon at 90 with the ac on. to take off that getting sun baked feeling. We were talking about this at about 8:30 last night with the top down and the heater on low to take off the chill. Yes you could rough it either way. But, we enjoy cruising in the convertible so much why not make it the best of all worlds?

Enjoy those rag tops.

Larry

 

Thanks Fred! I would love to examine the Fouranado up close to see how they grafted everything in. Read the articles but up close visuals would better appease my curiosity. I see you are also into the Colonnades. They are cool in their own right. Smooth cruzers and easy on the eye. The guy I purchased the red 68 off of had a W30 and a W25 as drivers both were white and he had a condition "0" 73 H/O in the garage...museum piece, way over restored. West coast OCA chapter member you all probably know.

 

Small low res pictures of the car, more to come soon. I am going on vacation and just parked the car for a few weeks.


An update on the car. I have cleaned it up a bit and enjoyed going to the summer car shows. I will be selling the car soon. So don't be surprised to see it on ebay or other sites. I live in a place with no room for extra cars and don't want to sell my other 1971. I updated the pictures too. Lee

 

Thanks for the pics!

I wasn't expecting it to be a W-30 clone of sorts, but it sounds like a nice car.

 

Not a w-30 clone at all. The person that painted it liked a wider stripe. No attempt to make it a w machine but it is a M made car. Lee

 

Congratulations on your purchase. That is a very nice rare 442.


I never understood why a person would order black interior for a convertible whether it was an a/c or not. Makes no sense to me when white or another light color would be more user friendly.

 

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to imply it was a full-one clone, but I am just in the habit of using that term when someone paints W-30 stripes on anything.

In my mind, I had pictured a beige convertible with the narrow side stripes and the standard hood with center stripe. In fact, I think that look is one of the improvements made for 1971 (I'm not entering the 1970 vs. 1971 facelift debate!).

You certainly are a great person to be the caretaker of such a special car!

 

I have a book produced by Marti Auto Works that tabulates Mustang production, and I can tell you black interiors are quite popular for ragtops. Here's some 1969 stats:

Black: 129/283
Maroon: 279/485
Black Jade: about 450/1268
Gulfstream Aqua: 329/475

 

Hi w-27 guy. That is so funny the first thing I wanted to know when I drove it. But....it was a quiet transmission. That way you can hear the cold air blowing on you. Lee

 

Kool car Lee, congrats.

 

Very nice, love the color

 

very cool car congrats

 

I also own a '71 442 4-speed with air. Mine has the unusual, if not 1 of, color combo of Black with a Dark Blue interior adding to it's "rarity". I've been poking around the web attempting to ascertain the rarity of my car as well. What I did find, that may be of interest, is a '71 442 hardtop that sold at Barrett Jackson several years back. In the description of the car it stated "1 of 89 '71 4-speeds with A/C". I will try to find the link to it for you. The car sold for $100,000. I'm wondering where they came up with this information and am trying to track down the seller through OCA, as the car won at Nationals in 2007 I think it was. Anyway.....congrats on that 4-speed A/C car. I never run my A/C, but it's nice to know I can if I'm having an absolute meltdown here in the south central Texas heat. It just doesn't feel right driving her with the windows up.

 

Welcome Huntress. Please post in the newbie section and tell us about your car. Don't forget to post some pics. I'm in Marble Falls, where are you?