71 4 speed aqua W-30 hits 200K

[SmallHurst]

Looks like the high bids have been retracted due to 'wrong amount entered'. Someone ended up fishing for the reserve price! The price is now sitting at $28 K which I think to be a little high but, it is still a good price for a rare car. A unrestored '69 H/O went for $30.5 K last week on E-bay.

[TimG]

I've got it, they put their decimal in the wrong place........

[GNT]

I was 20 years old in 1970.I was an avid street racer and back yard mechanic.I lived in Toronto Canada the 4th largest city in North America,so we had a fairly big street scene happening.I knew almost all cars that had a V8 and a 4 barrel.As mentioned before the W30 was considered the buisness man's muscle car.They were far too expensive for your average guy and frankly they were not that fast.A well tuned W31 could out run a stock W30 and compared to the heavy hitters like LS6 Chevelles,6 pack Runners and BB Vettes the W30 wasn't even in the game.Don't get me wrong.I love these cars and they can be made to run.I'm just giving a flash back to how things were back in the day.I still remember my first ride in one.A friend of a friend pulled into Harveys one night with a green W30 with headers,4:33 gear and some special tuning by Lance Hill.That car left like a bullet off the lights but once rolling not too much punch.I was a greasy kid who had been in a lot of hot rods and race cars.I couldn't believe how nice a ride it had and especially how quiet it was inside.You would put the power window up and it was like a sealed container.Amazing.The guy who owned it had way too much money and not much knowledge of cars.He showed up one night at a local street racing spot to watch the cars run.The big boys didn't usually run till about 2 or 3 in the morning so the preliminaries usually included about 500 340 Swingers and 383 Runners and some SB Chevies.One guy in a warmed over Duster called out the W30 and found out real quick that he was no match for BB Olds.After a couple of more vitories the W30 guy started to get a fat head and a little mouthy.My BB Nova was down with a busted axle that night but a friend of mine had a LS6 Chevelle and gladly volunteered to show this guy how it's done.The Olds wacked the Chevelle by about 2 lengths out of the hole as the Chevelle was a 4 speed with 4.5 gears and had a serious traction problem.I still remember the girl friend of the Olds guy jumping up and down in her high heals on the side of the road as the W30 looked like it was going to win.I leaned over to my friend chuckling just as the Chevelle was pulling second gear."Hold on man.Watch this"Well.By third gear it was all over and the Chevelle gave it to the W30 by about 10 cars.The next Monday morning I dropped by the dealer to pick up my axle and here is the Olds on the hoist.I guess he was getting more parts for the come back but it never happened.
Anyway.About 20 years later I drifted away from the older musclecars and started playing with GNs.I opened my own shop and had a lot of fun building and racing those cars.About 3 years ago I started to get back into the older stuff and started to buy some cars to fix up.I was shocked to see that W30s and Stage 1 GS cars were almost at the bottom of the heap as far as value.Back then you could get a killer deal on one of these cars and even today they are priced way to low.The W30s are starting to come around now but he GS cars are still under valued.A GS stage 1 dead stock was faster then a LS6 Chevelle and a nicer ride.People just didn't know about those cars and only now are they starting to recieve the recognition they deserve.
Anyway.

[Canuck]

I have been collecting and Restoring Oldsmobiles since 1973. The 442 was considered a "gentleman's hotrod" just as the Chrysler 300's of the 50's and 60's were considered an "executive" or " bankers hotrod". The typical Olds 442 buyer was a guy in his late to mid 30's who wanted performance and the comfort creatures. My Green 71 w-30 was ordered new by the original owner when he was 53 in 1971. He wanted the creature comforts along with the power and folding top.
I have documented over 100 1971 w-30 Olds and have corresponded with many original owners,the story is pretty consistant. Established people with careers and some spare cash to acquire a muscle car. The Camaro's and Chevelles filled the needs of buyers who were going for sheer performance. Oldmobile was targeted at a different audience. At the curling club in the city where I grew up there were three 442's there on Sunday evenings,owners were a doctor,a financial advisor and a business owner.
I have a deep respect for all the Muscle cars (have owned most of the makes,in 34 years),but The Olds will always be my favourite.

Colin

I have the info on the White car you bought,PM me the info on your other W-30 convert for my records.

[TimG]

Colin, I used to drive our 442 to curling practice every afternoon when I was in high school. I bet that car is rusted out in some junk yard in Wisconsin.

[nuch_ss396]

[ QUOTE ]
... The 442 was considered a "gentleman's hotrod" just as the Chrysler 300's of the 50's and 60's were considered an "executive" or " bankers hotrod". The typical Olds 442 buyer was a guy in his late to mid 30's who wanted performance and the comfort creatures.

[/ QUOTE ]

You may be absolutely correct in this. The one I remember most
( of the three I wrote about earlier ) was white and
it belonged to one of the DuPont's ( yes - those DuPonts ).
This particular car had a telephone custom installed in the
back console area. This was back in the mid-1970's, so car
phones were Star Trek stuff.

Steve

[nuch_ss396]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I will add one thing though. Probably the most remembered
advertisement from "back in the day" for me was one is which
a bikini clad woman was laying on a 442 hood ( on her belly )
nestled between the two scoops. You do the mental picture
from there...... Sure like to see that ad again!

Steve

[/ QUOTE ]

I rememeber the ad, it was for Liquid Glass! Always liked the girl..er I mean car!

[/ QUOTE ]

OK Russell,

You got my vote. HTH did you remember Liquid Glass as the
ad? SO, it made an impression on you too!?

[HO455]

Hi Guys:

………Very intriguing Oldsmobile discussion – The W-30s were definitely aimed at the more affluent buyers. They were built with a little more luxury and quality than some of the others in the GM stable. But in regard to performance, right out of the box Olds W-30s were clearly in the game. They offered engines that were built with a great deal of expertise. Each engine was balanced & blueprinted. The cams were indexed for maximum performance. The bottom ends were treated to several procedures to increase strength and durability. Just take a viewing of the Muscle Car shootout from “Dream Car Garage” to see where Olds stacked up in pure stock form. I also have an original Roadtest program on video of the 1968 HO from the television broadcast "Roadtest Magazine" in which the 1968 HO driven by Jack "Doc" Watson turned 13.28s at 107 mph right out of the box. This would clearly put the 1968 Hurst Olds in range of the LS-6 Chevelle or Hemi cars. Plus we will not even get into the engines being developed by Oldsmobile from 1967 through the early 1970s. Oldsmobile was developing an elaborate automobile racing engine program starting in 1967. They were given the edit by General Motors to develop a world class motor sport program under the direction of Olds G.M John Beltz. General Motors chose Oldsmobile to head up the program because of their engineering position at General Motors historically. This program was in full development by 1970 but was abruptly killed because of the new emission guidelines now being enforced by the Federal government. The Oldsmobile 4 valve per cylinder 455 hemi engine(W-43)and the all aluminum DOHC 4 valve per cylinder 455 hemi engine(OW-43)that were slated for production in the 1970 W-Machines would have put the Chrysler hemi, the Ford cammer,the Cheverolet L-88 and LS-7 and Pontiac RAV engines far into the shade.

[nuch_ss396]

MAN! If this is accurate ( I'm not in a position to dispute your 442 knowledge ), I've been basking in the
BBC lime light too long. Funny I never heard about any of this before.

[HO455]

Dear Steve:

I tried to upload a couple of photos in the image section. Not sure if I loaded them correctly. This article provides a couple of nice photographs of the Olds W-43 and OW-43 engines. This “ Hot Rod Magazine Engine Annual” article from 1971 is about ten pages in length. It was a special feature on some of the Oldsmobile divisions high performance engine development of late 1969-1970. There were several other publications that did features on these and various other Oldsmobile DOHC 4-valve 455 cubic inch engines as well. "Hot Rod" Magazine in 1969 also did a nice profile of the twin turbocharged all aluminum Oldsmobile 455 engines designed for Oldsmobile’s foray into Can Am racing.