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Stan I agree with the sentiment completely. However I am thankful that a do-over is possible when necessary. Today is mine and Emily's 23rd anniversary. She's the perfect "mulligan" wife.

I spent all weekend deer hunting and she had a steak ready when I got in tonight. I warned her 23 years ago that it would always be our anniversary but it would also always be opening weekend of deer season as well. Sometimes I tease her that she's ruined my outdoor life because it doesn't make her jealous.

She encourages my time in the woods or on the water. I don't deserve her but I'll take good luck every time!...Geo

Happy anniversary Geo, many more.

For me, thank goodness for diesel pickups. I like when other folks own and drive smaller sporty cars, they're just not for me day in and day out. But, some of these pickups can scoot better than 90% of the good ole days V8's. I have a real soft spot for 442's. I was dusting a pretty stout one off when I wrecked a decent Chevy of mine.

Seen here, before, but, for clarity, the car is a 1967 (I have owned it for 23 hunting seasons, since a guy offered me way too much money for the 1971 W30 442 I restored before I did this one):



Stan, your claim of what cars would run faster than the 442 is easily proven wrong with a little study of history. In 1967, four engineers from Lansing loaded up a 1967 442 W30 production mule on a trailer behind a 1 ton GMC van, with a few spare parts, and a set of used slicks, drove to Pomona California and swept C stock at the Winter Nationals with the car. Swept it.

There was no factory support or money used. The car was a radio delete, heater delete, 4:33 geared four speed car with a bench seat. The motor used the factory W30 308 cam. Oldmobile sold about 500 of the single 4 barrel W30 models in 1967, and 54 W30s the previous year, which used a mechanical linkage 6 barrel arrangement, which, actually worked all the time, versus the vacuum arrangement used by, well, everybody else. In 69 and 70 the factory produced F85 and Cutlass W31 models, with factory blueprinted 350 motors that would happily run down the strip in front of most of the big blocks cars of the era, when a set of headers and slicks were bolted on.

People seldom went to Olds for a drag car, but, they had one for you if you really wanted it. Nobody is afraid of mine, stop light to stop light, but, I've gotten used to the PS, PDiscB, first generation electronic ignition, AC, tilt, cruise, PW, P Bucket Seat, PTrunk, exterior thermometer, and all the other extra cost options some soul in Mountain View, California, decided it needed when it was ordered in late 1966. I love to set the cruise to about 70, turn the AC on and head to the little, informal car show in Anoka, MN on hot Saturday afternoons in the summer. The look on the ticket guys face is priceless when I buzz the drivers window down and he sticks his arm in to collect my $3, and feels what 4.25 lbs of R12 in a suction throttling valve 6 cylinder AC system is capable of. Or, show up at my local gun club with the car on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with a few doubles in the trunk.

You want to see the typical muscle car of the era fall apart, run it at 70 for ten miles. Or, try to stop, fast, twice, with one that has drum brakes.

Go fast is cool, but, the Olds is a so much more well rounded car, when it has a few options.

Best,
Ted

PS Geo, congrats. 12 years past I somehow convinced Alexandra of the notion that her life would be better with me here in the states, and she has assured me she would do it all again in a heartbeat. First for both of us, but, we got to the ballgame very late in life, aged 39 and 43.

Better late than never. Thing is, she still looks 39 and I, uh, don't.

Not sure I'd have picked being married to me. But, she did, and says she is happy. I am, too.

I tried to recall that pic of yours Ted and I knew it had the split front headlamps but so does the 68. I just couldn't remember the grill as they are different from 67 to 68.

However, at our age we need those more well rounded muscle cars!!!!

The six cylinder EcoBoost in my 2015 Ford 1/2 ton is an absolute screamer. That, and it has yet to get less than 21mpg, and usually runs closer to 24mpg.

I don't want to drive the Olds everyday, that is for sure.

Best,
Ted

What have you decided to do with these loads, Tom?

A '70 Cutlass W31 was the the model the fellow had. It was something else looking under the hood and seeing a factory aluminum intake manifold with W31 on it. And, the cast exhaust manifolds had long runners on it, semi headers style. It seemed much more free revving than a good friend who had a '70 W30, a torquey motor but it wouldn't get going like the big block Chevy's could.

You're right about that last sentence. They seldom went to an Olds for a drag car because they wanted to win, not see tail lights. As for your claim about the C stock class at Pomona .... we could throw up examples of one car or the other winning here or there forever, and not prove anything. You know people lose races for lots of reasons, not always because they weren't the quickest through the 1320. Redlighting is good example. Cheating is another. But, back to your advice about studying a little history. Maybe you should make the effort to look into history. I was not talking about what one particular car can do when "a set of headers and slicks were bolted on". My gosh, I could make a golf cart outrun your F150 in the 1/4, with enough effort. Tell you what .... I'll save you the research. Here ya' go ........... 1/4 mile E.T.s and speeds for 1970 muscle cars. ALL stock cars, which is the only way to do a fair comparison.

1970 Chevelle SS454 (SSC)
450ci/450hp, 3spd auto, 3.31, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 13.55 @ 104mph
1970 Chevelle SS454 (CC)
454ci/450hp, 4spd, 3.55, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile 13.12 @ 107.01mph
1970 Chevelle SS454 (CD)
454ci/450hp, 3spd auto, 3.70, 0-60 - 5.4, 1/4 mile 13.81 @ 103.80mph
1970 Chevelle SS454 (HR)
454ci/450hp, 4spd, 4.11, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 13.44 @ 108.17mph
1970 Camaro Z/28 (MT)
350ci/370hp, 4spd, 4.10, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 14.11 @ 102.73mph
1970 Camaro Z/28 (HC)
350ci/360hp, 3spd auto, 4.10, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 13.88 @ 101mph

1970 Plymouth Road Runner (MT)
440ci/390hp, 4spd, 4.10, 0-60 - 6.6, 1/4 mile - 14.06 @ 101.69mph
1970 Plymouth Road Runner (SS)
426ci/425hp, 3spd auto, 4.10, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 13.34 @ 107.50mph

1970 Pontiac Trans Am (HR)
400ci/345hp, 4spd, 3.91, 1/4 mile - 13.90 @ 102mph

1970 Dodge Dart (CC)
340ci/275hp, 3spd std, 3.91, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 14.70 @ 96.84mph

1970 Cutlass W31 (PHR)
350ci/325hp, 3spd auto, 3.91, 0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 14.62 @ 96.05mph

So, what do we see here that the W31 could beat? Well, maybe the lowly Dart, with only 275 hp. Why did the Dart come so close to beating the W31? Because horsepower to weight is more important than raw horsepower.

If you'd like to see how the Olds stacked up against other muscle cars of 1970, that I didn't mention ..... here 'tis.

https://www.facebook.com/HotRodHarrysGarage/posts/10151254903213160

Have a good 'un, Ted

P.S. To put this in street terms, the 454 Chevelle with the 4-speed and 3.55 gears (notice the W31 had lower gears at 3.91) would beat the W31 by roughly 15 car lengths (at these e.t.s, .1 second is about one car length). Kinda puts things in perspective, eh? Nobody in their right mind would claim that a W31 with a small block could "happily run down the strip in front of most of the big block cars of the era".

SRH

My first car was a 69 chevelle ss. It was insanely fast as a teenager. Now I am looking for the opposite in a Willys wagon

Stan,
There are several problems with quoting the times from the popular magazines of the era. The biggest was the simple fact that has been proven many times over the years.

The car company with the biggest advertising budget with said magazine always would run the fastest times. Sad, but, true. They didn't have to work hard to do it, at the magazines, either. Just run the car from the guys with the small ads in the magazine on friday afternoon, when it was suppose to be 95 degrees.The Chevys and Fords were run at the lower elevation track, on a cool morning.
Sometimes that had a secretary or delivery boy make a pass or two, and averaged the times.
It was crooked, Stan. And, you should have known about it by now.

Most guys who bought a car to race, did it on the weekends, and ran until they were bumped into the next class, at which point, they had to cage and tub the car to continue being competitive. Most, didn't do that-they also drove the car to work. Sooner ot later they figured out the money always won, regardless of brand, and that was that. But, a few modifications went without saying, and times would be faster than the magazines best times, without question. Typically, headers and slicks.

The pure stock drags that were put on by the former Muscle Car Review magazine came a lot closer to the truth, because the owners raced their cars, and the magazine had no vested interest in the outcome. This is why you see the capabilities of the higher engine option of the Buick GS models, today, when there was almost no mention of them, back in the day-think small advertising budget. But, then and now, you are counting on which cars show up and hang around, and for every 250 Chevelles there might be a 442, and it wouldn't likely be a W30, much less one that was ordered specifically for the strip. You could get an air conditioner on a W30 in 1970, and the cam and carb specs were FAR different between the motor in the AC model and the 4 speed car.
W31s were even less common, and, again, you were likely to see the one that got built on the Cutlass, instead of the F85, which was 250 or so pounds lighter, and showed up on the dealers lot with an automatic and 3:90 open rear end, when the 4 speed and 4:33 limited slip was the hotter setup. Few were ordered by owners, and the dealer had to sell the things they ordered.

It is rather pointless to debate about hot they ran/run from this juncture, especially using the corrupted data from period magazines, when so few of the cars even exist, and we are left with so few examples to compare. I will assure you of one point, Stan-the PHR test you quote, above, for a 1970 Cutlass W31 is, by far, not the best example of that models capability.
When I say "most" of the big blocks, you are forgetting, or, don't understand, that the great, GREAT majority of big block Chevelles were NOT 454s-they were 396s. Most of the GTOs did NOT have Ram Air IV 455s-they were 400s with an automatic. Most of the Gran Sports were NOT Stage 3 cars-they were the standard head and cam version of the Buick 455. Most of the Road Runners were not Hemis, they were 383 cars. And, so on. MOST of the big block cars we saw, back in the day, were just the step up from the small block, or, came with whatever the standard big block was. Which, was a motor a guy could drive back and forth to work everyday, and race a bit on the weekends.
And a W31, or, for that matter, a Pontiac T37, with the right equipment, in the right hands, was more than a match for them. In the real world, outside of the ad directors office at a car magazine, anyway.
I bracket raced for enough years in the early 1980s at Brainerd and Rock Falls to realize just how rare an LS5 Chevelle or a Hemi anything was. I've never seen a legit LS6 Chevelle.
Those are not "most" big block cars, Stan. Sorry.

Best,
Ted