crystal59

I am a new member and I have a 1969 442 W32 convertible which I purchased brand new on June 6, 1969 of which there are four remaining out of the original twenty five.

Also, I have a1969 Cutlass Supreme convertible 4 speed factory is one of eighteen from the factory. I will take a photograph and post. Gary

L69

nice car, is it for sale or are you just showing off , lol

crystal59

Never for sale. I have had the W32 long enough that no longer need to show it off but thought the forum members may be interested as chances are you may never see another one.

L69

well continue to enjoy it and good luck

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

Love those 69's

stevengerard

Wow, more pics, I for one have never seen one. And I'm betting you can help a lot of us with what was what with those cars and restoring cars in genral. Very cool, welcome

crystal59

GAOldsman

Welcome aboard! What a beautiful W32 you have there

qjetolds

Very cool any under hood pictures ? Welcome

joe_padavano

VERY COOL! The 69 W-32 convert has always been one of my favorite Oldsmobiles, due to rarity. Beautiful car.

lshlsh2

Welcome.

Can you tell me what makes W-32 a W-32. I'm fairly new and don't know this designation.
It's a beautiful car.

Thanks Larry

crystal59

Thank You for the kind welcome. To answer some of the posts, all of the twenty five W32 convertibles were automatics. I was referring to the 4 speed 1969 Cutlass Supreme convertible which I also have and which only eighteen were built. I am on holidays and when I return next week I will post further photographs of the W32 including under the hood, interior,etc. and also of the 4 speed which is Burgandy with a black interior. To answer the post about what makes a W32, there were a set of items which I will post including ram air induction, posi traction, pin striping, etc. My W32 has the only one that had the option of a ring rim horn and I will post a photograph. Also, the hood on the W32 is much heavier than the hood on the Cutlass. I bought the Cutlass for potential body parts before I found out that it was more rare than the W32 but when the two cars are side by side there is a very small difference with the W32 a little more edgy and heavier looking. Certainly as I said the hood is much heavier.

66400

No 3 or 4 speed manual transmissions in the W-34's. W-32 package consisted of automatic transmission only with the 350 hp 4spd engine instead of the normal 325 hp engine teamed with the 442 automatic transmission. Also all W-32's had OIA and were not available with factory air cinditioning.

Henry

crystal59

I should have been more clear in my first post. All of the twenty five 1969 W32 convertibles were automatic. I was referring to a 1969 Cutlass Supreme factory 4 speed convertible which I am also fortunate to own and in it's own way is more rare because only eighteen were built. I will post photographs next week.

crystal59

All of the W32 convertibles have a 400 engine. Factory air conditioning could have been ordered along with an am/fm radio which I wanted but the car was too far down the line so I added both later.

66400

That's news to me! (I've owned a couple of 69 W32's) I've paid notice to these W32 cars for many years and never saw factory ac W32 even living in Tx. Also Olds dealer literature specs excludes AC with W32 package

Do you have any proof that factory air conditioning was available on the W32?

mmurphy77

I always thought the whole purpose of the W-32 option WAS to allow the benefits of the W-30 engine but with a slightly milder cam to run A/C and P/B - a kind of 'cake and eat it too' version.

crystal59

The only proof I have was being there. The W32 was originally ordered by another person in Feb/March 1969 but fortunately for me he could not take delivery. I took over the order in May 1969 and said change the options to air and am/fm and originally was told by the dealership that they had sent a change of options. They never said it could not be done. When the W32 arrived there was no air or am/fm radio. Needless to say I was annoyed because I took delivery of a car that I did not choose the colour or other options and the only two added options I wanted were not there. I was told by the dealership that the car was too far down the line for those changes. I was able to later add factory air and am/fm radio easily without modifications.

oldsmobiledave

Please explain how you know only 4 remain out of the 20 built.

Also does your four remaining include the car in Alberta Canada? It is white with red stripes & interior if that matters.

Great cars by the way & welcome to the site. Thanks for sharing.

crystal59

I should have added to the previous post one could get any option they wanted as long as they were prepared to pay for it. In those days you could have a GM car with a Ford colour if you were prepared to pay the price. As it relates to only four left, a couple of years ago I was watching Barrett Jackson when a 1969 442 W32 convertible came down the block owned by Lenny Kravitz and the auctioneer as well as
the brochure set out only three known to exist. I sent them an email setting out that they were wrong and that there were four and I had the green one and please tell Mr Kravitz his hood stripes were wrong. Bad idea as I keep getting emails to run it down the block and see what the bid is. Lenny Kravitz car went for 140K and maybe because it belonged to him but one never knows.

qjetolds

This is a w-32 that a friend of my dad's had when new white with red guts.

crystal59

Nice car. The W32 hardtop were easier to come by and I do not know the number of production.

66400

297 total 69 W32's

25 converts

25 2dr posts

247 2dr hardtops

qjetolds

How much of your car is still original? How many miles do you have on it,what other options did you get,what dealership did u get it from ? Do you have a picture of the car in 1969 ? That is a good looking car !

crystal59

crystal59

Thank You. I did not know the production numbers other than the W32 convertible. The interesting thing is that although the W32 convertible gets all the attention, the 1969 Cutlass Supreme 4 speed convertible is more rare with only eighteen built but it does not have the flash of the W32 convertible. To make it feel better and look better I added ram air and trumpet tail pipes.

crystal59

That is the only sad part of the story. The W32 paid it's dues and was driven by my wife for many years without much attention. She told me there was a tick sound in the engine. I started the W32 up and there was a tick. I phoned my mechanic of the day and asked if I should have it towed or drive it to his shop. He suggested I drive it. The engine blew. The car was towed to the mechanic to fix and a few days later my wife said the car is ready and finally she did not have to drive such a powerful car. I asked what do you mean by that. She said our mechanic said the car would run better for her with a 350 in it. I was furious and got on the phone demanding my engine. He said it has been sold. All this within 24 hours and the 350 was in the car. He said he did not know the name of the person who paid cash for the engine and no way of finding the engine. I still think he has it and some day. Anyway I was so annoyed because the 350 did not work properly with the linkage etc. I dropped a 455 into the car and it works just fine. The options the car had was rim horn, trunk release, eight track, and I added air conditioning and am/fm radio.

crystal59

Also, after the engine nonsense, the W32 came back into my care. There is approximately 20,000 miles on the 455 engine and everything else is original. I purchased the W32 from Westminster Olds Chevrolet. The person who originally ordered the W32 put down 2500 which was credited to the car I was told by the dealership. I traded in my completly restored 1956 Thunderbird and still owed 2300 for a car I had not seen. Nervous time until the W32 arrived and then I
found out only twenty five were built and I had the green one. That was a terrific day.

501Paratrooper

Nice car, welcome to CO

GAOldsman

I've counted 6 so far. A lot of these rare birds will reside with private collectors and remain private, so it's really tough to put an actual number on those that are remaining. Super rare bird none the less

crystal59

I just went with what Barrett Jackson said a few years ago but that may have been inaccurate. I think I am the only original owner.

joe_padavano

For those not familiar with the 1969 W-32, here's a little more information. Prior to this option package being released, there were three drivetrains available in the 442 for 1969, all based on the G-block 400, the 325 HP version with the TH400, the 350 HP version with the 3 spd HD or 4 spd manual transmissions, or the W-30 with either the 4 spd manual or special OW code TH400. Of course the W-30 also had O.A.I. The primary difference between the three motors was the cam (yes, and the D heads on the W-30).

I'm guessing that the base TH400 was not considered robust enough to live behind the 350 HP motor, though obviously the OW version of the TH400 could take it. The W-32 motor is simply the manual trans version of the 400 and used the same cam as the MT motors. There is some uncertainty as to whether the W-32 used the OW version of the TH400 or the base version (I've seen documents that show both), though it would seem to make more sense that the OW was used. Unlike the W-30, the milder cam in the W-32 allowed power disk brakes to be offered.

And while A/C WAS offered on the manual trans versions, I too have seen factory documentation that A/C was NOT available with the W-32 package. I attribute this more to the problem with routing the O.A.I. hose around the compressor (look at an underhood photo of a 1968 H/O with air sometime) than with engine vacuum levels. The fact that a dealer claimed to be able to order A/C (and then failed to deliver) is unfortunately not proof that the option was available, only that the dealer thought it was.

crystal59

I do not disagree with you. All I know is when the W32 arrived without AC or am/fm radio I was annoyed and said this is not the car I ordered. The response was it is a convertible and you do not need AC. I said tell that to the people in Texas during the summer. The end result was factory AC was added without problems or modifications that I am aware of and of course I had to pay for it. This was an established large dealership and I was not ordering from a sales person. I dealt directly with ownership and I
think that they would be aware of the options. It does not matter as I received what I ordered, and perhaps it was an add on but the W32 was an expensive car for it's day and I do not think if someone were prepared to order one but demanded AC because they lived in the desert or something, they would not be accommodated. No one would turn down such a sale. As I said in those days you could get whatever you wanted if you were prepared to pay the price. These were times of fierce competition between the car companies for the muscle car consumer business. I remember the Chrysler dealership trying to sell the cartoon muscles cars for under cost without success. The cost of my W32 was comparable to a Cadillac and there were a lot more potential Cadillac purchasers. The reason that only twenty five W32 convertibles were built is that that is all that was ordered. If more orders came in I have no doubt more W32 convertibles would have been built.

11971four4two

Nice cars! I had no idea a four speed 69 cutlass ragtop was that rare!

I had a 68 cutlass convert four speed I sold 20 some years ago. Would you know how many of those were built???

I sure miss that car. Today I touched base , thru classicOldsmobile , with the guy , Steve , who purchased my car all those years ago.

droldsmorland

Here is my compiled list of what was available on a 69 W32.
1. Built at any plant Ive seen this data several times. (Some data does point to the fact that this is false and it should be Lansing built only? Id like to see a non "M" W32 with legit paperwork)
2. 286*@ .472 lift cam
3. Could have power brakes(J50)
4. Regular RPO M40 TH400?
5. H.C. V8 performance engine (L78)
Manditory options:
1. G80 (limited slip) 391, 433, or 342s
2. V-01 or V-02 (HD radiator)
3. P-81 Fiberglass tires (another source says PK5 Good Year G70s)
4. Y-73 hood stripes( I have a mag article from 1994 that calls it the W42 hood stripe)
5. M40 Auto trans (calabrated differently with HD parts or standard issue TH400?) Most likely, you'd think its at least a 442 OG trans? Why wouldnt the factory put one there same as in a 325hp 442 from a warranty stand point.
Options not available:
1. P-door locks? (AU-3?)
2. Y-72 engine cooling?(HD cooling engine cooling)
3. A/C due to the rear gear options. Some say it also was due to the passenger OAI hose interference.

Of course as mentioned here from an original owner who ordered his car anything was possible in the 60s. Though it appears this was a dealer added option (the A/C).

crystal59 whats the tag say on your tranny? And post some pictures of how the hoses are routed. I'm just curious.

aliensatemybuick

Negative.

442much

Nice W32. A friend of mine has one also. His is white with red stripes. Can be seen at www.oldsclub.ca, go to the Rocket Round Up 2010. Didn't know there were so few.

Jamesbo

Crystal,

How about posting an under hood pic, I'd love to see the routing of the hoses around the a/c compressor-Thanks

crystal59

Sounds good except for a couple of things. I had my W32 professionally appraised for insurance purposes and the first thing the appraiser checked was the data plate because he said all 1969 W32 convertibles were built at Lansing plant only. This was crucial in determing that my W32 convertible was not a clone. Also I see where it sets out that it could have AC. I do not know and frankly do not care if my W32 convertible had this option or it was a dealer add on. My dealership did not consider it an add on. I knew that I wore a suit every working day and I needed AC because during the summer months I could not wear a suit as though I had slept in it. I am fortunate to also have a 1963 Split Window Corvette which I have had since 1986 and it was without AC and wearing a suit on a hot day was impossible.

crystal59

When I purchased the 1969 Cutlass Supreme convertible 15 years ago I did not know only eighteen factory 4 speed were built. I told the person after I purchased the car that my plan was to use the Curlass as potential body parts for the W32 as only twenty five W32 convertibles were built. His response was I do not know if you know what you just bought but only eighteen factory 4 speed were built. I was surprised as I bought the Cutlass because it had I thought the same body and I did not care for a 4 speed. I contacted GM research department and for eighteen dollars I received their research data which set out only eighteen 4 speed. When I got the Cutlass home my wife said now you have potential body parts for your W32. I said no she is too pretty to cut up and the Cutlass is more rare than the W32. She just shook her head. I am on holidays but upon my return I will post photographs of the W32 under the hood, interior, etc. and photographs of the Cutlass. The W32 is a more responsive car to drive but the Cutlass with headers and the 4 speed is a real fun drive.