Oldsmobile Musclecars

’66 OLDS 4-4-2: TRI-POWER ROCKET!

Posted on by MartynL
’66 OLDS 4-4-2: TRI-POWER ROCKET!
One of the early adopters of street performance (’49 Rocket V-8 coupe), Oldsmobile kicked butt with the ’66 OLDS 4-4-2: TRI-POWER ROCKET! When carmakers announced their 1966 models in September 1965, it was like the Musclecar/Supercar floodgates had opened. Ford had already proven that its 1964-1965 marketing mantra – “Win On Sunday, Sell On Monday” – worked. For 1966, Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors unleashed their all-time hottest models, and it was nirvana for car enthusiasts and ...
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’72 OLDS W30 4-4-2 & W-45 HURST/OLDS

Posted on by MartynL
’72 OLDS W30 4-4-2 & W-45 HURST/OLDS
The ’72 OLDS W30 4-4-2 & W-45 HURST/OLDS were the last of the great ones from Lansing! Like the GTO and LeMans, Oldsmobile’s venerable 4-4-2 was reduced to an option available on various Cutlass models. To get maximum 4-4-2 power and image, you had to opt for the W29 Sport/Handling 4-4-2 and the W30 Performance Packages. When you selected the W30, it included the L77 Force-Air 455 rated at 300 horsepower at 4,700 rpm and 410 pound-feet of torque at 3,200 rpm. The best part of the W2...
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’70 OLDS W30 4-4-2 ROAD WARRIOR

Posted on by MartynL
’70 OLDS W30 4-4-2 ROAD WARRIOR
Few midsize Musclecars from the 1970s can match the road and track creds of the ’70 OLDS W30 4-4-2 ROAD WARRIOR. In many ways, 1970 was the storm before the calm. The war in Southeast Asia continued casting a pall over a much-divided country and thinning the ranks of young enthusiasts. Carmakers’ racing budgets were being drastically cut and engineering resources reassigned to prepare for restrictive emissions and safety legislation. And, Ponycar sales had been plummeting and would regi...
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‘49 OLDS ROCKET 88: GM’s FIRST MUSCLECAR!

Posted on by MartynL
General Motors started the industry’s OHV revolution in 1949 with Cadillac and Oldsmobile. Racers loved the ‘49 OLDS ROCKET 88: GM’s FIRST MUSCLECAR! Decades before 1964 when Pontiac created the GTO by putting a big motor in a Tempest, and even before 1949 when Cadillac and Oldsmobile introduced powerful overhead valve (OHV) V-8 engines, carmakers had been keenly aware of the public’s need for speed and responded accordingly. Low-volume, high-performance cars debuted shortly after the turn of t...
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