I think I know the answer to this, but I wanted other input. My 72 Cutlass has the typical black plastic wheel liners that it was born with. Can't really see any reason to change them.

My conundrum (fancy word for question, huh?) :
Some of the higher priced "full restorations" I've seen as flaunting 71 and 72 Cutass or 442's as original with red fender liners. IMO, they're wrong. Far as I remember, only the 1970 came with red liners. Anyone out there who knows for sure?

 

Hello Allen
I'm not an expert, but that's what similar to what I've heard. That the red fender wells for W30's started in 1967 then went through 1970 with them going back to black in 1971. We'll have to let someone with more knowledge than us verify it though. John

 

Red inner fenders were first introduced on the 1967 W-30 cars and were used on all W-30s through mid-1971 (as well as the 1968 H/O). When the supply ran out part-way through the 1971 model year, Olds went back to all black.

 

Cool! So now we know Allen. Thanks for the info Joe!

 

I once looked at a 72 w-30 x in the vin it seemed to be all origional never even painted, a barn find so to speak. Anyway it had red fender wells and they seemed to always have been in there factory leftovers mabey??

 

A friend of mine back in the early eighties showed me his 71 W-30 and it only had a left side red fender well the other side was black. He ordered it new and thats the way it came in. He had the dealer order the right side in red but the part # came back discontinued. The factory did run out of red wells in 71 and in 72 did not have any to put into the 72 W-30s. If you see a 72 W with red wells they have been put in after the fact.

 

Could be it was an early production 72 (as Joe alluded they ran out in mid 71). Production on the 72's probably started in July for distribution to the dealers in September. You might very well have seen one of these?

W30s would only have the 455 and TH400 right? Never heard of a 350 being badged as a w30, but who knows? Any info on that??

Also, the red fender liners are available for about 400 bucks from Fusicks and Parts place - a little pricey but WTH. Would they be incorrect to add into the car as long as its represented correctly? I think they look sharp in the engine bay, just like the ramrod orange/red air cleaner did.

 

Should have held onto that car. It would have been the 1 in 200000 that was factory unique. Don't understand why the factory would do that though. Maybe the earlier "quality control" was a little lacking. (I have a really neat factory release on the QC that Olds introduced in 1972 to take care of issues like this.) Thanks for the info.

 

I thought the same thing , about them being added , but the 72 I looked at was in pretty rough shape and I believe the last inspection sticker on it was 79 ... anyway if you like the looks add 'em I have a 70 cutlass I'm putting together with a bunch of w-31 parts I've had stored in the garage, I already added the 442 rear bumper and have been kicking around the idea of adding the red fenderwells, like you say they are cool it's going to be my version of a w-31

 

I have been wanting to make my fenderwells on my 86 Cutlass red but it is kinda tough when they are black plastic.

 

The "real" W-30 package (1966 through 1972) was a short stroke 400 for 66-67, a long stroke 400 for 68-69, and a 455 for 70-72. Available transmissions were either 4 spd Muncie or special TH400. The 73-75 H/Os used the W-30 designation for the 455 option (and the W-25 designation for the 350 option). The 1979 H/O used W-30 decals with a 350 motor.

 

I agree, it would be tough. Especially since all the road crud would likely ruin the finish if you painted them.

For kicks and giggles, Google this search "high durability plastic coating". APPARENTLY you could get your plastic liners coated / baked with a color plastic finish. Don't know how much it costs. The process is ISO 9000 compliant. There appears to be quite a few places that could do this or direct you to someone who might be of assistance.

 

Hey Joe, I knew you would be able to help!
What is the special thing for a W30 TH400? (I remember one thread a while ago that spoke to the TH375 and I'm wondering if this is the same tranny) I'm guessing it would be heavy duty clutch packs and torque converter? Also how would you tell the W30 TH400 from a regular one? Special casting #'s maybe?

 

Maybe the 72 guys are doing it just b/c they think its cool, not necessarily to be correct. I've considered doing it on my regular Cutlass with a 350.

 

I just saw that Parts Place has a NEW type of red fender liners for the 70-72 Cutlass line. And they're a loss leader for UNDER 400 bucks. I'm thinking that if it really doesn't matter to the value of the car, the red ones definitely have the look I want. At the new price it's not that bad. Shipping will probably be killer though.

 

There were two different TH375 transmissions. The first is based on the TH400 case but is less capable. It was used in heavy cars (D88, Vista Cruiser) behind the small block. The TH375B was a beefed up TH350 for similar applications. Neither is the trans used for the W-30. That version of the TH400 (which carried an OW code tag) had different shift points, a different stall speed converter, and possibly additional clutch plates. My OH trans in my 69 H/O (as an example) has a six plate direct clutch instead of the normal five plate unit.