Thoughts?

 

ram rod shouldn't have power brakes

 

Good catch!

But the other one? :-)

 

Convertible?

 

Supposedly no W31 ragtops built.

 

Nope, there were convertibles, at least from what I read.

But there weren't any Cutlass Supreme Ram-Rods.

 

http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot...m-rod-350.html

 

I wonder if this another case of someone thinking S means Supreme?

 

There weren't any Cutlass Supreme ragtops either.

But it's not uncommon to call a Cutlass S a Supreme.

Still, prevailing wisdom suggests no ragtops were equipped with the Ram-Rod, but some people claim they've seen one, knew someone with one, etc.

 

OK, I gotta question an article with a picture claimed to be from 1968 showing a Ram Rod convertible and saying it had SSI wheels when it obviously has SSII. No, make that SSIII as they look to be body color, which wasn't an option until 1971. Maybe it's just a bad picture.

 

They also quote 26 convertibles, which is the number for 1969.

 

I fully admit to spitballing here; I know nothing on 68s of import.

 

The first one is just BS because there were no Cutlass Supreme convertibles build in 68, Only Cutlass S models.


and there was no such color as "Willow Green", it was "Willow Gold"


They both have about as much documentation as 99% of the other Ram Rods that have ever been for sale in the last 30 years. A six line advertisement in a 30-40 year old newspaper is meaningless

 

Is it?

 

You've got an ad for a 68 Cutlass Supreme Convertible that didn't exist and an ad for a 68 Cutlass Convertible with power brakes.


Yeah......that's definitive documentation that a Ram Rod convertible exists.....


Why are you even stirring this up???

 

I think your Cutlass Supreme argument has been dispelled before you even posted.

 

The Willow Green one....


Diego, give it up, these are newspaper ads from 30-40 years ago.


I absolutely believe they made a few 68 Ram Rod convertibles. Unfortunately, unless they were imported into Canada or you and Kurt can figure out the cryptic Oldsmobile records that you have access to, it's next to impossible to verify it.

 

Those wheels do not look red to me, they look grey. Would that not be correct for a '68?


FWIW, there was a thread on ROP a few years ago that linked to an ad for what was claimed to be a '68 Ram Rod Cutlass S 'vert that was a dark green w/ a lighter green interior. I copied the photos that were provided, and it looked like it could've been legit, but I'm no expert on these.

 

I don't.

 

Hey, I'm color blind so what do I know? They look darker than the typical argent wheels, but then again it's not a high quality picture.

 

Part of the reason I do is Dave said it was possible. He said that there were a few more than the 500 that have been advertised. It would also make sense that they would have released a few for racing. Even though they weighed more Olds liked to promote with convertibles



They are gray in that pic


There's a whole article somewhere about that red convertible somewhere. I remember it from ten of more years ago. It was probably in MCR


edit.... I see in the credits that it was posted on oldspower.com. I wasn't ever a member there and rarely trolled it. I remember the story about the guy traveling cross country in the car....

 

And their 'evidence' seems to have come from these posts (& others) by oledawg.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...nvertible.html
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post795770

Two things I noticed in the pic were the SSIIs - which might be correct. Argent, painted hole trim and brushed trim rings. Hard to tell. The other was the lack of wheel well trim. AFAIK, all verts got this and , to me, it missing suggested a re-paint during which a Ram Rod sticker was applied.

My take on the '68 ads is that they were just using the 'ram-rod' adjective for the 350 because it had recently been introduced, they didn't (or care to) know that it was different from standard 4bbl 350, and suggested something special.

Kinda like now when you see an ad for an Olds with a special 'Rocket 350' engine (or my favorite, special 'gold block 350' !)

 

The wheel well trim was optional on the cutlass S and standard on the 442