I have two power antenna set-ups. In the 80s. when 60s and 70s Olds were in abundance, I would occasionally spend whole days on at a junkyard (what I called "my Disneyland"!), just pulling accessory parts that I found interesting. Parts were cheap then, too. For instance, I got the gauges and tach for my '68 for a grand sum of $25. Also got an AM-FM radio with the entire 8-track set-up out of a '68 Vista for the same price - just $25 - which is now in my niece's '68 4-4-2 holiday. Got the vacuum trunk release for just $5 and yes, I didn't get the swivel piece that comes out of the lock and into the trunk release mechanism but I have since obtained one!


And so it was with my power antenna set-ups - got the wiring harnesses and all for next to nothing. Now, some 27 years later, I'm putting one of the power antenna set-ups in my '69 4-4-2 convertible. Trouble is, as I look closely at the two set-ups, I now see a very slight difference in the two, and that is with the antenna tips, of which I have pictured below. One is somewhat elongated while the other is a bit more stubby.


I know the elongated one (yellow tape) came off of a '68 Cutlass convertible. I don't recall what the stubby one came from (it had to be an Olds convertible as Oldsmobiles were all I generally looked at) and was wondering if any of you had ideas. Both power antenna assemblies look and appear exactly the same, with the same part numbers where you can read them.


The elongated one is clearly dated April 12, 1968 on the canister. But the stubby one has something on the canister that I can barely read - it looks like "42-64". I'm wondering if the stubby one was a replacement to the car I took it from and that "42-64" means the 42nd week of 1964 which would mean it originally could have been in a '65 model year car. The wiring harnesses I have for both set-ups is exactly the same - the switch bezel is for '68 and '69 model years.


Any thoughts?


Randy C.


The antenna bodies are exactly the same as well.