What "G" body!???

[Gonzo1970]

Quite a long time ago a customer of mine came into the John Deere heavy equipment dealer I was working at and parked his 78' or 79' (?) Olds Cutlass 2dr. We spoke about it at length and he told me he special ordered it from the dealer with a 455 Olds and Muncie 4 speed and had the order documents to prove it. I'd choose that one if in fact it was available to purchase.

The 455 wasn't produced in vehicles after 1976.

Thank you for playing.

-Gonz

 

[69hurstolds]

The 455 wasn't produced in vehicles after 1976.

Thank you for playing.

-Gonz

They did make them for motorhomes and field pumps and junk for a couple more years after that. But cars...you're right. 1976 was the last hurrah in production cars. 43 years ago. Can you believe it?

 

[565bbchevy]

Great, now you guys have me worried that my 83' Monte with a factory installed 565 big block chevy isn't really legit.

 

[jakes87SS]

87 grand prix 2+2 black with tan interior and gold stripes. pull it out of the sales area into the service area and have them slap in a gn 3.8 an a 5 speed, then order 5 complete sets of every single piece of weatherstripping and seals on the car 3 extra aerocoupe rear glass with the heater grid, once that's done off it goes to cars and concepts for a t-top conversion where i order a few extra sets of t-tops and all the seals to go with it. then lastly to the paint shop where after the red stripe the car has the car gets resprayed silver kinda like the cutlasses got.

 

[fleming442]

While it's true the dealership MIGHT have done it, or some other shop did, GM didn't do it. Not that and give it a streetable VIN that's for sure. Closest I've personally ever seen of something like this was this guy in Charleston I worked with bought a brandy new 1986 Monte Carlo and the dealership put wider tires on the back, and a slight cam and a set of headers on the car somehow worked into his existing exhaust. He paid to have this done before he even picked up the car at delivery. They voided the warranty on it. I thought he was crazy. But it was his car, and his money. AFAIK he never had an issue with it. I was always a little jelly of him because anything to make your 3-oh-nothing go, every little advantage meant something. Back then the best N/A cars I knew of that was just kick *ss as a grab the keys and go car was those Mustang LX 5.0s. Quick little mosquitos they were. And they were like Charleston mosquitos back then. They were EVERYWHERE.

Not to mention that Muncies weren't even available after 74.....
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2009/01/Muncie-4-speed-Transmissions/1751403.html

 

[84 W40]

Quite a long time ago a customer of mine came into the John Deere heavy equipment dealer I was working at and parked his 78' or 79' (?) Olds Cutlass 2dr. We spoke about it at length and he told me he special ordered it from the dealer with a 455 Olds and Muncie 4 speed and had the order documents to prove it. I'd choose that one if in fact it was available to purchase.

Very sure in 1975 was the last year GM used a Muncie transmission in production it was replaced with a T-10 the following years.

 

[dickeymoore]

Grand National with a SBC 406 or 88 Monte Carlo Ss the black and tan one or the 78 Cutlass with the factory 4 speed and sbc 305 engine, that i sold wish i would have kept that one

 

[69hurstolds]

Very sure in 1975 was the last year GM used a Muncie transmission in production it was replaced with a T-10 the following years.

You're right. There's ALWAYS someone running around with "I got a special order car from the factory and I have the papers." Yet somehow, nobody ever gets to actually SEE the papers. It's also weird that the claim is made about equipment that was no longer in production. It would be more believable if it was a 4 speed manual behind an Olds 350 or 403 of the same year. Not that anyone who knew the cars would believe it, but still. You could fake out an unknowing person.

I've "specially" ordered several cars over the years and the only special thing I got was when they left OFF little parts here and there on my black 85 442. Hard to get paperwork to document stuff that isn't there. 🙂 Otherwise, I got to pick the options off a menu, and that was that.

The craziest special car I'm aware of off the top of my head is Pete Estes' (Chevy General Manager at the time, and it was not really his, but built for him) 1968 Convertible Z/28. The only real Z/28 convertible ever to exist. One of one. The idea was for Estes' to like the car enough to authorize special performance parts on the car enough to give the green light to put them into production, thus making them legal for Trans Am racing. Pete preferred convertibles, so they knew he'd eventually drive that car. The car changed hands a few times, and now Dana Mecum (yeah, THAT Mecum) owns the car for the second time. And yes, there's a pedigree trail to prove this one exists, for sure.

 

[1981 Cutlass]

86 olds Cutlass Salon not quite a 442 but had most of the same options and just a little different ttops buckets h.o.307 3.73 posi

 

[84 W40]

You're right. There's ALWAYS someone running around with "I got a special order car from the factory and I have the papers." Yet somehow, nobody ever gets to actually SEE the papers. It's also weird that the claim is made about equipment that was no longer in production. It would be more believable if it was a 4 speed manual behind an Olds 350 or 403 of the same year. Not that anyone who knew the cars would believe it, but still. You could fake out an unknowing person.

I've "specially" ordered several cars over the years and the only special thing I got was when they left OFF little parts here and there on my black 85 442. Hard to get paperwork to document stuff that isn't there. 🙂 Otherwise, I got to pick the options off a menu, and that was that.

The craziest special car I'm aware of off the top of my head is Pete Estes' (Chevy General Manager at the time, and it was not really his, but built for him) 1968 Convertible Z/28. The only real Z/28 convertible ever to exist. One of one. The idea was for Estes' to like the car enough to authorize special performance parts on the car enough to give the green light to put them into production, thus making them legal for Trans Am racing. Pete preferred convertibles, so they knew he'd eventually drive that car. The car changed hands a few times, and now Dana Mecum (yeah, THAT Mecum) owns the car for the second time. And yes, there's a pedigree trail to prove this one exists, for sure.

Paperwork is key when it comes to limited run cars or opinions and this pertains more towards the Muscle cars. Last 20 years I have seen more bogus cars that the owner claims its the real deal but for sum reason no paperwork to back it up, thats a red flag for me.

That Z28 brings back memories, I have two cousins that are older than me and I can remember them having arguments about a Z28 that was a convertible. This was in the early 80's and they both have 69 Z28 they purchased new and still have. Wow I'm getting old.

Wasn't some motor homes equipped with an olds 455. I just cant remember if was after 1976.