Tom442

Or is there just one decal for the underside of the trunk lid for 68 442's? I see the decals for regular steel wheels but nothing for SSI's or SSII's.

rcorrigan5

Good question! I don't see any application for super stock wheels for the '68 trunk. The assembly manual covers it in manual section 10 page 117 but it appears the buyer of a '68 with super stock wheels would just have to know how to properly stow the jack and spare tire.


It appears this issue was addressed on the same page in the '69 assembly manual, however (see '69 assembly manual section 0 page 122 below). It shows a separate sticker for the "custom trim wheel and jack stowage (35P05, 35N66)" addressed in manual section 10 page 117 of the '69 assembly manual.


So, in short, I don't believe there is a separate sticker for the super stock wheel & jack stowage for the '68 model year.


Randy C.

Allan R

Usually if there's a stowage decal Dr. Decal (Marc Cornea) will have it. This is the only decal he shows for the 1968 A body lineup. Image courtesy of Dr. Decal website.

Tom442

Well, I guess we'll go with the regular wheel and jack stowage decal from the Dr. I also see that the blue GM Manufacturers decal for inside the drivers door didn't start until 1969? One less sticker!

rcorrigan5

Do you mean the sticker that has the VIN and month and date produced? That sticker didn't start until the 1970 model year.


Randy C.

rob1960

Olds was having a parts problem getting the SS2s(PO5) wheels in time for production. There was a merchandising bulletin that went out in 8-67 telling the dealers that the new wheels wouldn't be available 'til Oct-67. My '68 was built in Nov & it has all 5 of the '68 only SS2s but it has the original standard jack stowage decal in the trunk. I would guess that by the time the wheels got into the pipeline it was to late to worry about a proper decal. I'd bet that the dealers swapped out many sets of wheels for customers that originally wanted the SS2s when they finally became available.

dnmfranco

My build date is March 68 and also has the standard jack storage decal

droldsmorland

Current 68 is September 67 build, same deal. I've never seen a decal that shows the SS1 or 2 wheel stowage with the special hold down nut and lug wrench clips that mount into the rear of the trunk pan kick up panel on a 68. Fusick has the sticker(DC95) but its for 69.

Tried to load it up but clicking and copying the image on page 114, but that yields you 8.2MB to load up here which is the whole catalog...doh

dnmfranco

Here is explanation from Guro Kurt, a wealth of knowledge to say the least . He has a vast array of documents from official bulletins which I will post later.


https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...968-442-a.html

I would guess that by the time the wheels got into the pipeline it was to late to worry about a proper decal. I'd bet that the dealers swapped out many sets of wheels for customers that originally wanted the SS2s when they finally became available.

The decal really has nothing to do with the late beginning of the SSII wheels you reference. As far as the decal goes, what I’ve been able to determine is that there was only one stowage decal used from ’66-’68, regardless of what wheel it came with. So even though the ’66-’68 Super Stock wheels we stowed differently, they only used the regular steel wheel stowage decal. In ’69, they came out with a separate SS stowage decal. Also, ’66-’67 used the same decal, different from the one used in ’68.

Now the “SSI story in ‘68” is a whole situation in itself. Olds did not plan to use the SSI in 1968 at all. But as you noted, the arrival of the new SSII caused delays in the initial production cars getting SSII wheels. But the cars that were supposed to get SSII wheels got SSI wheels instead (not steel wheels). So the customer did get “Super Sport” wheels, just not the SSII wheels they thought they were getting. What is unknown now is when exactly was the changeover from SSI to SSII. And we don’t know if the changeover was “in total” or if there was a period of time that *both* were installed (an incomplete supply of SSIIs were used). Sure, bulletin NC 68-4 says the changeover did occur and it is dated 3/25/68. But we do know that the changeover was well before that date. Best guess was that it was before the end of the year, at least at Lansing.

What really complicates nailing down this changeover information is that for 1968, Olds used the P05 designation for the new SSII, as their intention was to replace the SSI with the SSII. But they ran into a lot of consumer backlash because of the late-coming of the SSIIs and the fact that the SSIs were still popular. Dealers had people with SSIs that wanted SSIIs and the other way around. By late in the model year they made plans to offer both in ’69, and came out with the N66 designation for the SSII wheel. In 1969 then, the P05 went back to the SSI. But for 1968, that means that one does not know what wheel (SSI or SSII) came with the car when the option call out was P05. And dealers swapped a *lot* of SS wheels that year. So it is extremely hard *even with paperwork* to prove which SS wheels came on a ’68. The irony is that you could not order SSIs *from the factory* in 1968. You only got them if they were used in lieu of the SSIIs during the shortage.
--
Kurt Shubert
Vice President

WE'RE WILD ABOUT CARS
Kurt.Shubert@ahpsoc.org
www.ahpsoc.com

droldsmorland

Dam good info Kurt. I just learned something. I thought you had the choice to order SS1 or 2s. I was always suspicious though that something wasn't right and didnt add up with the PO5 des. As I have seen original cars with PO5 called out on build sheets yet both style wheels...The psychedelic era holds true here. TX!