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Oldsmobile Muscle Portfolio 1964-1971 | £13.95 | |||
Oldsmobile's success with its high-performance overhead-valve V8 in the late 1940s was never really followed up in the 1950s and, when the muscle-car craze swept America at the beginning of the 1960s, the division was ill prepared. High-performance big cars in the shape of the Jetstar and Starfire were a nicety, but somehow they didn't really catch the public's imagination. Stung into action by the success of the Pontiac division's GTO in 1964, Olds moved swiftly to create an affordable mid-price intermediate muscle machine. Option BO-9 the Police Apprehender Pursuit package, was made available on the F-85 line under the name of 4-4-2, four-barrel carburettor, four-speed manual shift and two exhausts. It didn’t make a big impression that year, but the 1965 revision did, not least because that second 4 now stood for 400 cubic inches of V8 engine. From then on the 4-4-2 was Oldsmobile’s leading muscle machine, a regular option package on the F-85 line which could in later years be supplemented by the W-30 racing package. Capitalising on its new performance image, Olds hoped it would rub off on the big front-wheel drive Toronado as well, but this car was more about style than real performance, despite some impressive acceleration figures on some models. Performance became a dirty word in the US car industry for 1971, though, as cleaner exhausts and safety became the fashion of the day. So it was farewell to the high-performance Oldsmobiles, whose heyday this book celebrates so well. This is a book of contemporary road tests, driver's impressions & track tests. Models covered: Jetstar 88, Cutlass Holiday, Starfire, 4-4-2, Delta 88, Toronado, Supreme, Hurst/Olds, Delmont, W-31, W-30, Delta Royale & Rallye 350. 140 pages, 375 illus. SB. SKU: OLDMMP ISBN: 9781855204461 |
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