| Oldsmobile 442 |  |
| Oldsmobile 442 | |
| 1964
Long known as a fairly luxurious car line with a flair for performance, Oldsmobile bridged the gap between Pontiac and Buick. Since Pontiac also had a performance reputation, the competition was more active between these two divisions. Buick, on the other hand, produced sedate, sluggish luxury cars which had virtually no performance reputation. The 442 was born out of this competition. It began as a hasty response to the Pontiac Tempest GTO option, which had proved to be an unexpected success midway through the 1964 model year. Because of its late introduction and the ambiguous nature of the GTO option, which was technically a violation of GM policy limiting intermediate models to 330 cubic inches, the Olds offering was a conservative package. I suppose Oldsmobile execs were a bit more timid than Pontiac's, or they would have used the 394 Starfire engine. Technically the "B09 Police Apprehender" option, the 442 package used the four
barrel carbureted metallic gold 330 V8 with heavy duty valve gear,
10.25 compression, dual exhaust and a hotter camshaft, raising rated
output to 310 hp @ 5200 rpm. Torque remained 355 ft·lbs, although the torque peak rose from 2800 rpm to 3600 rpm. The package also included a stiffened frame,
dual snorkel air cleaner, boxed rear suspension control arms, a heavy duty clutch and
four speed manual transmission, a heavy duty drive shaft, oversized brakes,
heavy duty police suspension, heavy duty wheels, higher rate coil springs front and rear,
heavy duty shock absorbers, a larger front anti roll bar, and an additional rear
anti roll bar; the first ever on an American production car.
Oldsmobile's two speed Jetaway automatic transmission was added as an alternative. Not a very good one, but that was all they could seemingly come up with for guys who never learned how to drive a stick. Like the Chevy Powerglide (we called it slip and slide) and the Pontiac version, the Olds tranny would do about 90 in 1st, although it took about an hour to get there. See the surprised look on the guy's face below? Probably because the tranny fell out.
I guess the bigger 3 speed Hydramatic wouldn't fit in the mid size
cars, so they used this piece of crap gearbox. I guess they liked
warranty claims too, because a 400 cube motor would blow one of these
junk boxes apart in about 3,000 miles. I know from personal experience.
Even the later TH350 would self destruct quickly in these applications.
The factory accidentally put one in my 454 Chevelle, and the geniuses at
the dealership kept replacing it via the part number when it toasted
itself every 2,000 miles. Once the factory rep pointed out the mistake,
they installed the proper TH400 and the problem vanished.
For 1967 the 442's styling and base engine remained the same, but the optional automatic
finally became the three speed Turbo Hydramatic, replacing the two speed Jetaway. Disc brakes were
now optional for the front wheels. A word about tires, since that's what I do for a living. Back in the good old days when idiot teenagers (like myself) tried to hold a 400 horsepower car in a straight line under full acceleration, you had very few options where rubber was concerned. There were no radials yet in America, and conventional two or four ply bias ply tires just wouldn't cut it when asked to handle 490 pounds of torque. Goodyear made the Blue Streak, which was nothing more than a heavier ply nylon tire which would withstand higher speed. The blue stripe sidewall (60's version) looked cute, but did nothing for traction. Faced with this problem, the tire makers started the "wide oval" craze. Technically Firestone's model name, the wide oval was a 70 series profile tire designed to put a bigger footprint on the street. About an inch, to be exact. They came with raised white letters, red stripes, gold stripes, blue stripes, or blackwall. Nice looking, but not much better than the regular tires they replaced. Eventually the 70 series became a 60 series, which really didn't help all that much.
Uniroyal won the prize for idiocy with their "Tiger Paw" red line series tire. This one was standard on the GTO and provided about as much traction as doing a burnout in chicken fat. They lasted 5,000 miles if you were lucky, and handled poorly. The Firestone Wide Oval was marginally better. The best of the bunch was the Goodyear Polyglas, a fiberglass belted tire that wore like iron as long as you kept your foot out of it. Traction was marginal under power.
Very often the only way you could get traction with these cars was with racing slicks, which were illegal for street use because they had no grooves. Enter the "cheater" slick. This baby was a regular slick with two grooves cut into the circumference of the tread, just to cover the law. Great traction, but don't get caught in the rain. Other companies like Mickey Thompson and M&H soon marketed tires that had conventional tread patterns but very soft racing compounds. Recappers also made slicks in their regular design molds.
All cars were painted Peruvian Silver (a Toronado color) with liberal black striping and white pinstripes, exterior and interior H/O emblems (unique to '68), and a real walnut wood dash insert. Mechanically, the cars left the factory with 2 drive train combinations. Red 455 engines were backed by modified W-30 Turbo 400 automatic transmissions. A/C cars got a W-46 engine with a 3.08:1 rear while non-A/C cars got a W-45 engine with a 3.91:1 rear. While both engines were rated at 390 hp, the W-45 engine received the cylinder heads from the W-30 and the camshaft from the W-31 making it more suitable for higher rpm. All cars came with bucket seats and a Hurst Dual Gate shifter in a mini console. Also standard were numerous regular 442 options like disc brakes, heavy duty cooling, and FE2 suspension. They shared the red fender wells and ram air setup with the W-30. Popular, but not standard, additional options included the tic-toc-tach and wood grained steering wheel. Production:
1969 442s were very similar to the 1968. Changes to the engine and drive train were minimal, but the Turnpike Cruiser option was deleted. However, another high performance engine was offered. Called the W-32, it came with the Forced Air Induction plumbing found on the W-30s, but it had a milder cam like the base engine. It was only available with an automatic, and 297 were built, including 25 sport coupes and convertibles each. Production:
1970 saw the lifting of GM's ban on engines greater than 400 cid installed in midsize cars. Although Oldsmobile had gotten around that rule in 1968 and 1969 through the Hurst/Olds, this now enabled Oldsmobile to offer its 455 cid V8 in all 4-4-2s. The Hurst/Olds was dropped from the lineup and wouldn't reappear until 1972. The W-30 hit its performance peak and included a balanced and blueprinted 455 V8 with a hotter cam, performance carburetor, low restriction exhaust, and the Forced Air induction system which utilized two prominent scoops on the hood. W-30's received a W-25 fiberglass OAI (Outside Air Induction) hood to replace the bumper scoops that were on the 68 and 69 W-30's. The W-30 package also included plastic inner fenders, aluminum differential carrier and cover, and less sound insulation in an attempt to cut weight and improve performance. The W-30 option was offered only on Cutlass models, but a new option, the Rallye 350, was offered. Powered by a 350 cid engine, the smallest displacement Oldsmobile muscle car sported the most outrageous exterior, which was only painted in a very bright yellow. Even the bumpers and wheels were painted yellow. This would be only a one year option as the performance market would begin to collapse after 1970. Production:
1971 saw the beginning of the end for all muscle cars, and the 4-4-2 was no exception. To comply with a GM decree that all engines must be able to run on unleaded fuel, all engines saw a drop in compression and a corresponding drop in power. This was further compounded by the move to rate engines with all accessories attached (the "net rating") which lead to some drastic changes over the previous "gross" ratings. The standard 455 dropped to 270bhp net (340 bhp gross) while the W-30 dropped to 300 bhp net (350 bhp gross). The W-31 and Rallye 350 were dropped, and the Hurst/Olds was still unavailable, but the W-30 was still available for the enthusiasts, and sported the familiar Forced Air induction system and the 1970 hotter cam. Production:
The introduction was delayed by a strike in 1972. The 4-4-2 option was reduced to a handling and appearance package code W-29 available on Cutlass and Cutlass "S". It consisted of a louvered hood, FE2 suspension, specific grilles, emblems and stripes. Items like dual exhaust, Super Stock wheels etc. all had to be dealer ordered. 1970 was the pinnacle year for the 4-4-2. 1971 through 1977 saw a gradual reduction of options and emphasis on performance. In 1973 you could build a "real" 4-4-2 from Olds, but you had to really study the literature and have a dealer who knew what they were doing, which was quite rare. The W-30 was officially not available, but the 1972 "V" code 455 was there, but only with the 4 speed wide ratio M-20 transmission. 1973 was also the last year of the manual transmission in the Olds "A" body. The "V" code produced 270 net HP, the "U" code 455 AT produced 250 HP, while the "K" code 350 single exhaust produced 180 HP and the "M" code 350 with duals produced 200 HP. Positraction rear ends, axle ratios, gauges, Super Stock wheels, HD cooling and many sport type options were available, but these had to be ordered. The "V" code engine was also available in the Hurst/Olds without A/C, code W-46,the W-45 "U" code was standard with A/C. Both versions used the Turbo Hydramatic 400 transmission.
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