1970 Olds 442 Pace Car - COPO?

[PeteLeathersac]

Any '70 SX Pace Cars built?.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]
~ Pete

[StealthBird]

I think the &quot;confusion&quot; is that the other Pace Cars you listed were built on performance models. The Cutlass was not a performance model.

The 1967 and 1969 Camaro Pace Cars were all RS/SS. They were performance cars.

The 1968 Pace Cars were all Torino GT's, the performance option.

The 1966 Pace Cars were all Cyclone GT's, the performance option.

The 1971 Pace Cars were all Challenger 383's, no 318's built.

Pace Car replicas were typically offered to the public using the performance package. There were of course Pace cars that were not performance cars at all (1973 Eldorado), so there's nothing wrong with that.

But seriously, in 1970, you had the &quot;wicked&quot; W-30, the Rallye 350, the W-31, and the whole Dr. Olds campaign in full swing, they were chosen as the Indy Pace Car, and they make a Pace Car in both 442 <span style="font-style: italic">and</span> Cutlass forms? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

[Canuck]

&quot;The 1971 Pace Cars were all Challenger 383's, no 318's built.&quot;

Some were in fact 318 and some had 340's. The 1971 Pace car was provided through the Indianappolis Area Dodge Dealers and they ordered their own cars, They all had to be orange.

http://www.indypacecars.com/1971vins.html

You will see from the list, engines used were the G (318) H (340

l and N were 383's

Paul

[442w30]

Mike, Paul answered what I couldn't (I'm at Carlisle), but the Sport Fury was not a performance model. Neither was the Torino GT.

[StealthBird]

Ok, thanks for the info, I didn't know that about the 71 Challengers. They were not R/T's, correct? Just regular Challengers?

I was really focusing on the 66-70 era of Pace Cars that Diego was talking about when he brought up his opinion that in those years, the Pace Cars were not necessarily performance equipped. I threw in the 71 Challenger as an afterthought as I went through the list.

My point was that the 66-69 Pace Cars were built on PERFORMANCE models. The Pace Cars from 66-69 (the cars Diego mentioned) were performance based (yes, the Torino GT too). Forget about engine size for a moment, the Torino GT, Comet GT, and Camaro RS/SS, were all special models off the base models; Torino, Comet, and Camaro. They did not produce standard Torino Pace Cars, base Comet Pace Cars, or base Camaro Pace Cars, correct? But Oldsmobile did in 1970. That was my whole point. Now, if the Indy 500 committee awarded the 1970 Cutlass as their choice for Pace Car, then it's understandable why they made Cutlass Pace Cars. But they chose the 442, not the Cutlass.

In general, it seems like manufacturers slathered up the Indy Pace Cars with stripes and stickers, perhaps some special paint schemes (77 Olds, 78 Corvette, etc), and occasionally, they were not performance cars at all. But when a manufacturer was awarded Pace Car status, such as in the case of the Indy Pace Car committee choosing the Olds 442 as the 1970 Pace Car, why build some off the base Cutlass model, and with a 350?

Other than the 73 Eldorado, Pace Cars appeared to be the &quot;performance&quot; version of a base model.

1972 Hurst/Olds
1973 Eldorado (not a performance car)
1974 Hurst/Olds
1975 Buick Century (not a performance car)
1976 Buick Century (Turbo)
1977 Olds Delta 88 (2-door model, with a 403 engine)
1978 Corvette
1979 Mustang II (V8)
1980 Trans Am (Turbo)
1981 Buick Regal (Turbo)
1982 Chevy Z-28
1983 Riviera (Turbo)
1984 Fiero (GT version)
1985 Cutlass Calais (not a performance car)
1986 Corvette
1987 LeBaron (Turbo)
1988 Olds Cutlass (not a performance car, but the best Olds had)
1989 Trans Am Turbo
1990 Berreta (Quad 4)
1991 Viper
1992 Cadillac Allante (Northstar)
1993 Z-28
1994 Mustang Cobra
1995 Corvette
1996 Viper
1997 Olds Aurora
1998 Corvette
etc

When Pontiac was awarded the Pace Car honors in 1989 for their 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am, they did not offer a Pace Car replica on a base Firebird, slathered up in stripes and decals.

Now, back to the ORIGINAL point of this whole thread...the 1970 Olds 442 Pace Car that was seen at a local cruise night was a COPO, and we will see if Rockdaddy has any further information on this car. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]

All the other info shared in this thread was fantastic. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[Canuck]

Good points on all counts. It would appear that the two cars chosen to pace the INdy 500 are performance models,to the extent that the actual pace cars got tweaked to do the job&gt; this became more a necessity in the 70,s as the off the shelf performance packages were not up to the standards to get the job done.
Case in point was the 72 Hurst Olds. The actual pace cars got modified 455's, special gearing and bigger brakes. They did not use the &quot;X&quot; code 455, but rather built a special engine with mostly 1970 components.
In 1964 the Mustang,as a pace car was a convert,but Hardtop models with the less potent 260 were used for parade duties.
In 1973 the Cadillac had to be modified by stripping out 500 lbs of weight and seriously tweaking the 500 cu in engine to meet the requirements.
I see the selection of the 1970 442 as a choice of a performance convertible, interesting that no 442 hardtops were offered as pace cars, yet the Cutlass Supreme converible was.
Looks like each manufacture opted to celebrate their involvement in different ways.

Paul

[StealthBird]

Some great info, I did not know that about the 72 H/O cars.

From what I recall, all the Pace Cars (the ones actually used on the track) had engine modifications (and usually suspension mods) in order to allow them to hold the high Indy pace lap speeds. Pace Cars not only had to hold a high speed for several laps, but accelerate at full throttle as they came came down the front stretch, sweep off into pit lane, then it was full-on braking.

I believe the first Pace Car (modern era, when pace lap speeds were high) that did not have to have any engine modifications was the 1980 Trans Am Turbo Pace Car. From what I recall, they only removed the a/c unit, then added the necessary safety equipment. The car could already stop on a dime, and handling/high speed aerodynamics was not a concern.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[67 GTO]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: StealthBird</div><div class="ubbcode-body">From what I recall, all the Pace Cars (the ones actually used on the track) had engine modifications (and usually suspension mods) in order to allow them to hold the high Indy pace lap speeds.</div></div>With the exception of the strobes and safety equipment, the 89 TTAs didn't receive ANY mods. HTH.