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How would you build your ultimate Oldsmobile? What year, engine, trans, rear, suspension etc? Wether your ultimate olds is a race car, street car, cruiser, pro touring or whatever. Money is no object how would you build it?
If I ordered a car new it would have been a white 70 W-30. White bucket seat interior. Dual gate. Sport mirrors. No air. Gauges. Sport wheel. Power windows and locks. Probably go with a W-27 rear while I was at it. Sport wheels.
For me, it would have to be one of the 54 66 track pack w-30 tri power 442. Then a 68 hurst Olds. A 70 442 in Emerald Green. A 87 442 with t tops. A vista cruiser wagon. A 71 Olds 98. Maybe a Toronado, just for some variety. I’m sure there are a few others I just couldn’t live without that have slipped my mind. 😏
Personally, I love my '71 Viking Blue Cutlass Supreme convertible. For me, she's almost perfect. A great top down cruiser. I'm setting aside money now to rebuild the motor and maybe upgrade the suspension (most likely next year). But other than that, I'm very happy and satisfied.
I'd build a tribute to one of the two (?) '68 H/O Vert exhibition cars, since finding one of the originals is next to impossible. Dual gate, A/C, power everything.
I would like a 67 “442” hardtop, yellow, black vinyl top and interior. Bill Travato built 455, about 475 hp, 500 lb ft. torque and a built 200 4R. That would suit me just fine. Oh yeah, probably 391’s out back.
I love my 56 Super 88 but if given a choice and money were no object it would be a 1957 Olds Golden Rocket 88
I would keep it all stock in appearance with performance mods that couldn't bee seen, fuel injection, electronic ignition, and power disc brakes
and also a hidden kick *** rock the block sound system !!
second would be a 34 Olds coupe street Rod with the same mods.
X code, nicely optioned 72 H/O would be good, or a low option stick 70 w-30, black hardtop, black interior, red stripes; bench, 4 speed, gauges, and an FM mono radio would be about all I needed.
How would you build your ultimate Oldsmobile? What year, engine, trans, rear, suspension etc?
1970 Supreme convertible, early 400 engine with roller cam, TH200-4R overdrive transmission, 3.90:1 limited slip rearend, front bucket seats, Dual Gate w/ OD conversion, air, PDB, F-41 suspension. What more could I want?
I kind of already built my ultimate Olds back in '78 to '80. I started with a decent '68. It was a nicely optioned automatic car with a/c, tilt, am-fm & bucket seats with column shift. I had the body redone & swapped in a '70 455, 4spd drive train. The engine was built to '68 W45 specs with headers, an Edelbrock O4B intake & some mild head porting. The "308" cam worked pretty well with the a/c & power brakes & it just sounded so good!! I had 3.42s out back most of the time but I also had a 3.90 rear that I'd swap in from time to time. While I was putting it back together I added every option I could get my hands on! No one cared about build sheets or "matching numbers" back then. I added disc brakes to the front, power windows, rear defogger ,power antenna, rally-pac & the courtesy lights. It was a fun car to drive!! I still regret selling it but that's how it goes, plus there was nothing original about it. I'm very happy that after searching for quite awhile I finally found a nice matching numbers '68 with factory a/c & a 4spd. I plan to keep this one 'til I can't drive a stick anymore!! Of course I'd love a '68 or '69 H/O!! or a '68 Ram-Rod! I've put the pic up before of my first '68, it's from 1980 right after I finished it at the ripe old age of 20! I added OAI to it a couple years later, I actually found a pair of red fender wells in a junkyard!
That is a nice ride, Rob! I had my '68 Cutlass S in the same time frame. But being apparently a couple years younger than you (I turned 18 in late '80), I was in HS and didn't have the $$ to do the upgrades that you did. BTW, what is the significance of the "FMW" on you license plate? In your pic, you look amazingly like a friend of mine at the time, who also had a Cutlass. We both yearned for 4-4-2s!
In keeping with the thread of the thread, If $$ were no issue, I'd start with a '68 Holiday Coupe body, and upgrade darn near everything to today's modern mechanics and interior luxuries! But I might just put in an M-22 because, well - M-22! I love that body style!
Last edited by BackInTheGame; Apr 12, 2021 at 07:25 AM.
Reason: run-on mitigation
I'll be honest if money were no issue I'd probably build something else. With that said, a 66 W30, track pack, with tri power would be at the top of the list of Oldsmobile's.
BackInTheGame, Thanks for the compliment, it was an awesome car!! It was my first serious goal in life(other then finishing high-school). I was going to restore that car come hell or high water!!! The "FMW" on my license plate was just random, Ohio's plates at the time had 3 letters & 3 numbers. I had a friend that worked at the bmv & she saved the 442 plate for me when it came up.
Too much to choose from. Maybe one of those late 70s Toronados with the pillow-top seats, or a 70's 98 Regency Coupe with the biggest available engine. I wish I could've enjoyed the 87 442 that I had for one week in 1991 until it was stolen, never to be seen again.
It would have to be a 1976 Cutlass Salon 2dr with t-tops, 455, fully loaded, power everything, rallye gauges, SS IIIs, either light blue or dark blue exterior, blue interior. Going all in on the 70's!
Lime green 71 Olds 442 convertible with everything I like including the wing and the ram air hood and a custom front spoiler. Not quite "money is no object" but not too far from that. It's my dream car. It will probably never be done but vision is for it to be setup for 1/4 mile or 1/8 mile runs, autocross events, and long comfy cruises with the top down. Currently with 520+hp and 560+tq with the 6 speed trans and 4.10 rear end gears, ice cold AC, and an incredible sound system all while looking mostly stock. Still trying to get some final projects done for the autocross setup then will have to get all the paint and body work done and interior. Trying to keep as many Olds only iconic items on the car as possible while still accomplishing all the performance and comfort goals including: BBO motor (468) made to look as close to stock as possible including fully functional breather over Torker intake with Ebrock heads all painted Olds blue , Go EFI 8 FiTech w/Aeromotive Phantom Stealth 340 in-tank electric pump, stock console around Magnum 6 speed trans, hyd clutch, 2 step (at 4,500) and line lock that works with factory cruise control button, 67 -69 shifter handle with "442" on it, factory 8 track player, white Strato bucket seats, Olds SSI wheels. Performance upgrades include 18" wheels, big 4 way disk brakes with hydroboost, aluminum aftermarket AC compressor with full conversion to R134, fiberglass hood, fenders and rear deck to drop lots of weight, permanent 4 pt roll bar with door bars that can be added for 6 pt, with 5 pt harness for racing or custom shoulder belts for street. Complete suspension upgrade front and rear to eliminate all suspension and steering geometry issues with the stock frame = AFX alum spindles and steering arms, tubular upper and lower control arms, 4 x dbl adjustable shocks, fast ratio steering box, chassis brace, sway bars, and rear upper and lower control arms that articulate 30 degrees. Everything is adjustable for street, or autocross, or 1/4 mile, 1/8 mile racing. Permanent day time running lights. Custom trunk with battery (hidden on passenger side with shut off switch), amp on driver's side, subs (hidden behind seat), and plenty of room for the golf clubs. Factory trunk button in glove box upgraded to work with "shocks" and key fab to open trunk like a new car (see video below). The car can be granny driven by my wife on long cruises or pounded and abused with 4500 RPM hard launches and 6k RPM shifts or hard autocross runs. The 4.10 gears make banging through 1st thru 4th an incredible ride to say the least but put it in 6th on the highway and it's a nice smooth ride at 80 mph with the top down and stereo blasting or up with the AC blowing cold. Bottom line is trying to build my version/dream of the Ultimate Olds!!
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Not a hard choice, bought this '65 in '75 and still have it. Originally forest mist green, the Edelbrock dual quad intake was in the trunk along with a pile of Q-jets.
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Not a hard choice, bought this '65 in '75 and still have it. Originally forest mist green, the Edelbrock dual quad intake was in the trunk along with a pile of Q-jets.
