The Buick folks on aaca.org have a thread going about their favorite "Buick thing" so I think we should have an "Oldsmobile thang" thread here. After all, even though several of them over there are singing praises of DynaFlow, Oldsmobile invented the first successful fully automatic transmission- AND IT SHIFTED GEARS! No slushbucket DynaFlow for an Oldsmobile... or a Pontiac, or a Cadillac, or a Rolls-Royce, or myriad others. Until the 1953 HMT plant fire no one else in GM wanted DynaFlow, and except for a few in tanks in WW2 I don't think anyone else did either!




So- in addition to HydraMatic, my first is the obvious Rocket engine followed by the Toronado. Things like those were why Oldsmobile Engineering WAS the unquestioned engineering leader of GM for many years.

 

The concept of putting a engine from a full size car into a smaller mid size car comes to mind. Quite unique in 1949....Tedd

 

The Hurst dual-gate shifter, any year.
Or any of the 4-speed console shift units.
Very cool, IMHO.

 

X2 on Hurst Dual Gate, made the car way more fun to drive.

Thank you charlierogers for a great deal on a center console and Dual gate Shifter.

 

Trumpet exhaust extensions on the '68-'72 4-4-2 models with the cut-outs in the bumpers to accommodate the trumpets.


Randy C.

 

Agreed Randy. Another Olds 1st.
You can see it in the plasti-cars.
The modern Ram truck is a nice example.
Well, cut out bumpers anyway. 67 toro comes to mind.

 

I can't list just one.

1. The entire jetfire turbo engine setup with the fluid injection. Was ahead if it's time but did have issues. The overall concept was great. They wanted great power with great economy and hit that mark very solid. 300 torque, 215 HP, out of a 215 engine and got 20 MPG
2. 70-72 OAI hood
3. W-27 rear end

 

A couble Olds things I think are cool are easily accessable oil filler tube and big block/small block heads being interchangable.

 

Rear sway bar standard on the 442 way back in '64.

 

i like how olds 'select fit' parts in 1969 (other years also) basically a factory blueprinted engine

 

The 425 engine did it for me.

 

I just like my car.... It's what I had for my first, and hopefully it will be my last.

 

When I came home from Viet Nam in 1968, I wanted a new Vette. Placed an order at my local Chebby dealer, but the car never came in. After waiting a month, I said screw it and started shopping localy for a fast car. A friend told me about a guy that had a 442 for sale. I had never even ridden in an Olds before that. Took it for a test ride....... turned the tires in all 4 gears, and I couldn't get the money out of my wallet fast enough. Turned out it was an L69, manual steering & brakes. Shortly after buying it, another guy I knew bought a brand new 1968 427/435 hp vette. He thought he was pretty special. We were hanging out at the local drive-in and he comes cruising in with the radio blasting, acting like King ****. We started to shoot the bull and he was loud taliking about how fast it was. I asked him if wanted to race my 442. He kind of smirked and said 'Sure'. So we went out to a spot that we used to race at (had 1/4 mile measured off) and had at it. We ended up racing 4 times, from a dead stop (where he almost spun it around), from a rolling start, from a 20 mph roll, and from a 40 mph roll. I kicked his *** 4 times in a row, he went home to sulk, and never said a word about how fast his car was again........
It took me about a week to wipe the smile off............ and the rest is history

 

Thats a neat story but to be honest i dont know how it beat a 427 corvette unless the vette driver was a bad driver and your car was modified quite a bit....weight and HP advantage to the vette

 

Smooth ride and lots of low end torque from the V8s! Classy looks on many as well.

 

So the vette was around 13.4 in the quarter i thought it was quicker...not sure what the trak pak was capable of

 

I don't really see the 88 as a mid-size car. And besides, the Buick folks would take issue with that anyway as they've been doing that since 1936.

Anyway, I always liked the OAI under the bumpers. The '67s never really looked interesting in comparison.

 

1970-1972 OAI & trumpeted rear bumper the same years. Nothing says Oldsmobile to me as much as those two styling features.

 

30 plus years ago, when I had my '66 GTO, a co worker said that his '66 GTO was quicker than his '69 427 Vette, now I don't know what gearing, carbs etc. that either car had, but, he had them both, and swore by it.

 

68/69 under the bumper ram air, one of the most effective ram air systems. Back in the day test's reported per (Dave Bunch) that it was effective at 20 mph being forced up off those big front bumpers !!!!!!!!!!

 

My car was 100% stock. Advance kit in the dizzy, bigger jets in all 3 carbs, M21, 3.90 posi rear.

I beat him in the 1/4 mile........ he was just shifting in to 4th gear

That L69 was just one of those special cars, never lost a race. It beat 454 Chevelles, 383 Roadrunners, 427 Vettes, 389 GTO's (I suppose the driver wasn't bad either........)

 

they were special those were the good 400's lol unlike the G block
they didn't dominate C class in NHRA for nothing in 66/67

 

Bucket seat, console setup 70-72

 

Two things:


The smooth ride and torque power of my first big Olds that led me back to the 63 I have now.


And Oldsmobiles long and prolific association with Hurst.

 

dual gates are a pontiac thing....back to 63-4 big cars..they where so popular they where standard in automatic floor shift 67 68 GTOs....not saying it isnt cool in an Olds...but if youre crediting cars for innovations and bringing something new to the game etc..id give that one to Pontiac/Hurst...but i do think they are cool in a cutlass...

I love the 70 OAI hoods...the trumpet exhaust..and the car that got me hooked..was a burnt orange 71 4 speed 442 ...I cant remember the names of many people in high school..but i remember Phil W.......it was a bench seat 4 speed car....it changed me..really...when all my friends where buying Black Bandit Trans Ams in 78-79....i was hunting down 442 and GTOs..

 

I like the 67's OAI.

 

Spark plugs also easy access.
And the distributor doesn't go through intake.A Couple years ago I took the heads off and had some work done on them.When I reassembled the engine I didn't have to mess with timing.
I always wondered about the heads being interchanging.Why don't I hear more about this.
railguy

 

+1. Pontiac may have trade-marked the term "Ram Air", but Olds engineers were the first to make it actually WORK effectively, 1st w/ the bumper scoops, then the big scoops way forward on the '70-'72 hoods. And a "small block" (350 ci) in an A-body capable of 13s, I don't think any other GM division could make that claim.

The 442's trumpet exhaust tips were another of my favorite Olds things. And the rear-view mirror map light.

 

1. Nothing beats the coolness of a 1970-72 OAI (Ok, the '70-'72 Plymouth Air Grabber hood is pretty cool, too.)
2. NOTHING beats the awesomeness of the bumper and tail lights of a Rallye 350.
3. Hurst/Olds...Hurst/Olds...Hurst/Olds
4. 1970 and 1972 Indy Pace Cars, the two most awesome Indy Pace Cars...EVER! Then throw the 1974 Indy Pace Car, just for good measure!

 

455, wonderbar radio, trumpets, ram air...all nice stuff.

But the best is simply building a large 5 or 6 passenger car that could carry a half dozen suitcases ( talking samsonite here) at 100 mph like riding on silk without stressing anything but the nervous mother up front.

That's awesome!

 

The awesome sound from a 455 and a 4speed

 

Everyone is always surprised when they hear an Oldsmobile making all that noise!

 

Actually Hurst developed the D/G for both Olds and Pontiac HydraMatic big cars in 63, marketed for the Starfire and GP. The Pontiac console shifters are a little more common, but I've owned both Olds and Pontiac pieces as well as the sales flyers. In 64 they developed one for Mopars with floor shift automatics. They were also available with black plastic Hurst "consolette".

The original design D/G had a key lockout on the ratchet shift side. That disappeared on factory versions.

 

Woud be great if we could watch the vids- they say watch on youtube as it's disabled on other sites by its owner.

The 49-50 88 was built on GM's A or small body in those years along with Chevy and Pontiac, so you're right, not a mid-size car-a small car. Buick dropped the 320 inch straight eight into the Series 40 Special body which necessitated using Roadmaster front sheetmetal- so all things considered, I don't consider the 1st gen Century adhering to the formula of dropping the hot engine into the lightest car because of the sheetmetal alterations. Olds did it using their existing A body, as did Pontiac with the 1964 GTO.

I will grant that the original Century was a qualified performance car, just not a bonafide "musclecar". Had they not had to alter the front end sheetmetal to fit the big engine, I would think differently. For the record, I feel the same way about Ford Thunderbolts for much the same reasons, but those, like lightweight Pontiacs and Mopars, were purpose-built cars not generally available to the masses.

So, we give props to Olds for the first musclecar- all 135 horsepower of it! Might not sound like much now but the 88 was deadly in its day. Earlier cars with high horsepower were crippled by their sheer weight. Once they got moving... but by that time the 88 had lifted up on its haunches and was in the next county.

 

OAI induction. Kinda partial to the 68-69...Stealth with a coolness factor that hasn't been matched yet!

 

What are those funny things under the bumper?


Thanks to our friends at Fusick for the pic!

 

I noticed this video issue with windows but doesn't show on my apple..still same when im not signed in to google..if you click the lower right youtube icon it will take you directly to the video in another window..i have to figure out how it is disabled so I can change it..thanks for watching or try watching anyway.

 

Ok the videos should be enabled.. Thanks for noticing.

 

One little thing that I don't think ever gets mentioned is the tiny little Olds rockets that are molded into many ABS plastic parts. I have no idea when they started doing this or if any other brands did this or even why they did it, but I always get a kick out of seeing those.

 

Has anybody mentioned the Cutlass signature dual grill design starting in '69