rocketraider

The only thing I can find in my 1960 sales folder and chassis manual is they used a heat resistant backlight on all series SceniCoupe hardtops. It had a reflective tinted band at top of the glass since rear seat passengers' necks were right under it. This reflective tint was later used on 1966-70 Toronados.<P>But I swear I've seen it somewhere that these rear sunvisors were available on the Sixty Holiday coupes as well as the 59s.<P>With that huge wraparound back glass and roof overhang, rear visors would have made little sense for the 4d HT.<P>Here's a tidbit: opening page of the 60 sales folder blares "Radiantly styled... for the Rocketing Sixties!" Further in at the Dynamic 88 Fiesta wagon page: "Designed for the Dynamic Decade!"<P>Gawd- what happened to advertising like that?<BR>Made you want to BUY cars!

A-O-C: does this yard have much in the way of 60s-70s Olds? Up here in the hinterlands of the Piedmont, we still have to jack 'em up and put a stack of tires under 'em, and hope the snakes are hibernating.

Limited, your vinyl is the Doeskin grain I referred to earlier. Very smooth grain in a satin finish and one of the best vinyls Olds ever used IMHO. It's tough, soft and looks good for years.<P>This is a drastic step, but have you tried lacquer thinner to clean off the stains? My CC wagon has light gray vinyl seats which also stain very easily and every so often I have to swipe them with the stuff.<P>Delta 88, be aware that there was a running change in the 1973 convertible seat pattern early in the model year. They changed from using 14 trim buttons in the backrests to 10 with corresponding change in pleats.

I've never seen a 1970 S car with colored b/s molding inserts. All I've ever seen were stamped metal that fit behind the S insignia. Supreme and SX used heavy diecast chrome, lower on the fender than the S. <P>Does your car perhaps have aftermarket b/s moldings?

Henry, wasn't this about the time Buick came out with their Accu-Drive front suspension geometry? Could that be the difference in the Olds and Buick rotors? Sure thought they'd have been the same.

If it has a vacuum advance it will work. The computer distributor has 3 wires coming out the distributor baseplate and no vacuum advance; the old HEI has a plug that goes to the distributor cap and coil.<P>Yes- points distributor has a resistor wire that drops voltage at the points from 12vdc to around 7-9vdc to reduce point burning and pitting.<P>The simplest way I know to do HEI on a 72 car is to run a 12 gage wire from the fuse block to the distributor power terminal. Connect it to a circuit controlled by ignition switch, there should be blade terminals labeled "IGN" and "ACCY" on the fuse block. Either of these will be suitable to power your HEI. You may have to play around with base timing once you get the HEI in and the car running. Some of them have some pretty radical advance curves, notably the 260.

You need to find a 1974-80 distributor. The 1985 distributor is computer controlled and not compatible with wiring on a non-computer car. All spark advance, dwell and spark firing functions won't work.

Olds book shows p/n 399458 fits 69-70 all disc brake except F85 and Toronado, which translates to it fits 88-98 either side. I was thinking front power discs were standard on the B,C & E cars 1970?

Well- I think all either of you might get would be a speeding ticket 'cause neither of these cars is going to be quick. You can expect 17-18 second 1/4 mile times from them. I'm a diehard Olds believer who has little time or use for small-block Chevys, but in this case I think the 305 might have a fender edge on the 307.<P>To wax his ass? 455, my friend. They can easily be stuffed into a G-body Olds. You can build a mild 350 or 403 Olds which is even easier to put into an 80s Cutlass and still stomp his puny 305, but if he gets one of them GM crate 350 Chevys he'll still be a handful.<P>Be warned that a 455 will murder a stock 200-4R overdrive transmission.

A couple years back that vinyl (which I think was called Oxen grain) was still easy to find at trim shops. Even the Cranberry Red which I had was available. If you can't find the Oxen, GM's Madrid or Doeskin grain vinyl looks nice in these cars too and both those are common as dirt.<P>I think you'd be better satisfied getting a good trim shop to stitch your seats if you're trying to duplicate the factory pattern at all. You'll be able to get heavier weight vinyl too which will last longer- important in a ragtop.

It was optional 1977-early 80s on Delta 88 and Cutlass. I still see them at swap meets, sometimes in salvage yards. They came in black, saddle, red and blue to my best knowledge. This is the one with brushed aluminum spokes and soft colored vinyl rim, right?

Double check the 2nd character in the VIN. It should be a letter instead of a number.<P>3= Oldsmobile Division<BR>(letter)= series (D,F,G or J)<BR>67= convertible<BR>K= L34 350-4 bbl single exhaust engine<BR>2= 1972<BR>M= Lansing MI assembly plant<BR>223555= sequential car serial number<P>ST72= 1972<BR>3= Oldsmobile Division<BR>42= Cutlass Supreme<BR>67= convertible <BR>LAN= Lansing body assembly<BR>474058= Fisher Body Plant sequential #<BR>TR977= White vinyl interior trim<BR>11= Cameo White paint<BR>A= white fabric top<BR>5A= build date 5=May, A= 1st week of month<BR>A65= notchback bench front seat w/ armrest<P>So- you have a triple white 1972 Supreme ragtop, possibly with option W29, 442 appearance and handling package. 442 or no, still a very desirable car. Enjoy it!<P>[ 05-22-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]<P>Forgot to add- look under the car for 442 clues. A 442 will have boxed rear control arms, a rear sway bar, and a thick front sway bar. All that could have been ordered as FE2 or F41 handling suspension, but if it's there with the exterior stuff, I'd say the car's real.<p>[ 05-22-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Dynaflash- the City of Danville did just that with the NADA old car pricebook. I had a 1973 Olds convertible that had been valued at $100 for tax purposes for years, and then in 1992 I get a personal property tax bill for nearly $400 on that car- up from $3. A friend had a 1969 Camaro that was little more than a parts car and got socked with a $200 tax bill. When I protested it, the lemmings downtown couldn't explain to me why the tax value of said Olds had increased by 1300% from one year to the next- the actual value sure as hell hadn't! They had valued it at $13000 when the best ones in the country were going for $9-10k. All they could tell me was "VADA set the values for us". That was the year I went on the warpath here, to the point of telling the city treasurer and chief of police that if I got pulled over one more time for antique plates with no city decal, I would turn the state tax department loose on them. Even got Sen. Charles Hawkins involved, and he backed me.<P>Halifax County is trying to avert the local license exemption and charge $10 annually on an antique plate car- they interpret the law as they can't charge more for the decal per year than the Commonwealth charges for the permanent registration. As I am planning to eventually retire to my boyhood home there, I have put the Halifax County treasurer on notice that I consider them to be in blatant violation of the Code of Virginia. I'm waiting on their reply now.<P>By the way- appreciate the efforts you made on the antique plates. Now, if you could just get them to allow a 1976 car to wear Bicentennials as a year of manufacture plate, I'd be eternally grateful. I paid a LOT for an uncirculated set of BC's for my 1976 Olds Regency, and that same year they changed the code to where a YOM plate HAD to have the year permanently stamped into the plate. Seems like a silk-screening should count as permanent.

You need a build sheet or invoice to verify a 72. There's nothing in the VIN that identifies it as such unless the car was originally a W30 in which case the engine code (5th character in VIN) is X. 442 reverted to option status that year and was available with the 350, as well as bench seat, non-posi, even single exhaust.<P>From what you've mentioned, I'd say the car is gennie. Most people don't go to the trouble and expense to clone a non-W30 1972 442. You can run the numbers thru the Oldsmobile History Center and they can usually supply the original paperwork and dealer order for the car. That would show the W29 442 option if it was ordered.<P>I can decode the cowl tag and VIN if you need it. Post it here as I no longer take any unknown source e-mails.

Ask for mounts for an 80 Cutlass with Chevy 305. You really need to get the motor mount perches from a Chevy-V8 equipped car too to make this swap work with least hassle. You can get 'em from a 78-87 Cutlass, GP or Monte Carlo that originally had a Chevy V8 engine.

In Virginia- a car 25 years old can be registered as an antique car provided it is not used as daily transportation (work, school, errands etc). You may drive the car in car club functions, parades, for testing etc and you may drive it up to 250 miles from your home anytime for pleasure use (say a trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway or something). There are three antique licensing options. The Commonwealth issues two types of antique plates, or you can register a year of manufacture plate to the car- in your case, a 1975 commercial plate since the year must be stamped in the plate to use it. Regular issue plates 1973-later use year validation decals and cannot be used for year of manufacture registration.<P>Antique registration in VA exempts the car from state safety inspection and emissions inspection/testing. If the locality follows the state law as they should, it also exempts the car from personal property and local licensing taxes, though you may have to argue with them. Show 'em the law. They'll back down.<P>Make sure you get a DMV agent who is thoroughly familiar with the antique registration process.

Second on SMS. It may be expensive, but they have quite an inventory. They had 1974 Oldsmobile wet-look and woven Nero vinyl yardage in stock and gladly traded it to me for a big wad of cash.

Alfa, you're welcome. Either the customizers or original 53-55 Olds owners would be interested in your wheelcovers. A really nice set should go for a couple hundred minimum; NOS ones more.<P>Just please don't say you're gonna put 'em on an Alfa Romeo I think that would be a bit jarring!

There are two separate flashers. One on the fuse block is for the 4-way hazard flasher. The one for the turn signals is in a clip behind the lower left side of the dash and if original to the car is usually yellow plastic.<P>Since neither set of lights works, check the brake lights to see if they work. You may have a bad or disconnected stoplight switch instead of a bad flasher. Stoplight switch is in a clip on the brake pedal arm, behind the dash.<P>You may also have several burned out bulbs or bad grounds. Does the dashboard indicator come on at all when you operate them? Hazard flasher can flash if only one bulb is burned out. Turn signal won't.

Chip, if the Riv is like the other early 60s GM bucket seats this may require some fabrication. All these seats I've seen have flat mounting brackets on the outboard track and the rear inboard one is vertical. The seat motor/transmission drives the seat on the outboard track. You might be able to reverse a LH outboard track to work the passenger seat, depending on the front-to-back angle of the track.<P>This is an interesting concept. While we're on it, why is it that most of these 4-way seats tend to lose the fore-and-aft adjustment while the vertical still works? My 64 Starfire and buddy's 64 GP both have that problem. Motor runs, seat don't move. Try to find solenoids or dog gears for those things. (I can vouch that later 6-way stuff didn't fit! ). But then, two weeks ago I ran into a guy with a 66 Starfire whose seat worked fine fore-and-aft, but not up-and-down. I'm tall, so my Starfire being stuck all the way back doesn't bother me, but this guy had a hell of a time being able to see over the steering wheel with the seat stuck in full down!

The factory paint code for Flame Orange is 65. I think a few cars got out special ordered in Rallye Red (also known as Matador Red or later as Omega Red) code 75 which was a red-orange.<P>The difference is Flame Orange has a very fine metallic in it. Rallye Red is a solid color.<P>Flame Orange was one of the five special order colors in 72. Others were: Viking Blue (26), Radiant Green (36), Saturn Gold (53), and Sunfire Yellow (56).

1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. Dist rotation is counterclockwise. #1 plug wire should be the tower at the left side of the dwell adjustment window. Or if this is easier- 2nd tower from front side distributor cap hold-down screw.<P>One of these days I'm gonna buy a scanner...

Think the mandate was 1/1/68, Dave- my old mans' 68 elCamino had them and it was built in January, just before the strike. I know they were available in 1967 and possibly 1966.<P>They weren't standard on convertibles- optional at least thru 1975.<P>Any 68-later car will have the anchor points along the roofrail. <P>Entirely possible the cars you saw had had headliners replaced and they couldn't remember where the holes were! I had to look and feel for a while when I redid my 69 Toronado's headliner. And then the owners could have just not wanted them in there, as they were awkward to use and store until the combination lap and shoulder belt appeared.

Even though I've been in AACA close to six years now I've never been to a large meet. It's close by- I'd like to come as a spectator to see what things are about and meet some of you. Is that possible?<P>Thought about trying my 76 Olds' luck but don't know yet if I can get the time off, so decided to not waste the show staff's time and space with a maybe. Probably better to dip toes in the water first?

You're welcome. If you decide to get a later axle and hub- 66-68 spindles are the same, 69-72 same, and 73-78 same. You can use 73-78 knucks (and disc brakes!) on an earlier car but the ball joints and tierod ends are different.