Quote:
Originally Posted by PChem
1971 Olds 4-4-2 W-30 was one of the legendary performance cars of its era. I was 19 in 1971 and remember it well. Take a look at its performance figures in the clip below. Amazing how fast we thought those muscle cars were then and how much faster today's every day driver performance cars are. Note: 455 cubic inches = 7.4 liters of displacement!!!
1971[edit]
1971 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 convertible
Despite storm clouds on the muscle car horizon, the 4-4-2 returned in 1971 with only minor modifications from the previous year. Engine output was down for 1971 due to a lower compression ratio (8.5:1), which affected all of GM's engines as the result of a corporate policy requiring engines to run on lower-octane regular leaded, low lead, or unleaded gasoline, in preparation for the introduction of the catalytic converter on 1975-model cars. The base 455 was rated at 340 hp (254 kW), with the W-30 achieving a rating of 350 hp (261 kW). The W-27 option was downgraded to an aluminum cover for the cast iron differential housing.
The 1971 4-4-2 was available in a hardtop coupe and convertible body type. The sport coupe disappeared for the first time since 1964, only to return in 1972.
Quarter mile performance as reported by Road Test magazine was 15.2 seconds @ 99 mph (159 km/h), and 0–60 in 8.9 seconds, using the TH400 automatic transmission.
1971 Model Year Spotting Tips: Black grille with silver surround, silver headlight bezels, round parking lights in front bumper, horizontal tail lights.
|
Off Topic, but this brings back a funny story. Gratefully accepted my dad's hand-me-down '69 Impala Custom Coupe to take to college in 1971. He had a patient who was an Olds dealer. Dad knew very little about cars and wasn't that interested in the details. Asked me to order for him a replacement from his patient...he knew he wanted a Cutlass. He liked dark green. So, I ordered a '72 dark green with black vinyl top Cutlass Supreme. He was pleased and waited for the arrival. It looked appropriately boring. What he didn't know until he started it up and pulled out of the dealership was that I had checked the box for the 4bbl 455 cu in engine.
It was fun watching him react to something he never experiened before, and he grew to like it. With the price of gas back then, he wasn't too annoyed with 8mpg around NYC, and he finally realized he was having fun driving around in his "sleeper"!