The smoking gun... Not sure why they wanted the guy on the right. What are they saying about the potential buyer for the car? Seems like AMC is making fun of someone who would buy the limited edition Trans Am car. Even the race driver looks a bit disgusted at the guy.
Rusty, I'm not sure the "high price" of the 69 H/O had anything to do with sales falling short of demand. They really weren't very high priced. I believe they fell in line with the way all Oldsmobiles were marketed, that being the upper end of the mid-priced line of GM (behind Buick, in front of Pontiac). I believe the 69 H/O stickered anywhere from $4500-$5000 (please correct me if I'm wrong) depending on whether it had a/c, power windows, etc, and they were all hardtops (ignore the few convertables that were not sold to the public). A 69 Judge RAIV (auto trans, and a couple power options) was around $4700-$5000, right in line with the H/O. And of course, they also built Judge ragtops, pushing the price even higher... H/O production nearly doubled from 68 to 69, but if there was a huge demand, you can bet that Oldsmobile would have been building thousands of them themselves, and cut Hurst out of the deal. I beleive that's exactly what they did in 1970. And look who's talking, I like 69 Trans Am's, which were TRULY a sales flop.
I will run out to the garage tonight and take a look at my stickers on the car (sorry, I don't have it memorized like my birthday or the VIN#). I do remember that the 'Hurst' option sheet was an additional $680 on top of the stickered price. I do know that the dealers still wanted more than was able to be delivered. It was not supposed to be a sales leader, it was supposed to be a car that drew people into the dealerships. It was an image machine!!!! Long live Elephant Engine Ernie!!!!!:TU:
The AMC adand campaign was done by what ended up being a famous shop run by a woman. I've read her book, and it's funny to hear what she says about AMC's big guys. I sent a copy to Rixfix (or whatever name Rick C. goes by here) as I thought he'd get a kick out of it. Certainly AMC's shop was more "boutique-y" than most of the other shops, and it shows with the irreverence (as, later, the tagline became "If you had to compete with GM, Ford, and Chrysler, what would you do?")
Diego, To start, thanks for thinking of me and sending the book. You are indeed right! The book wound up being a great read,one that puts you in the heads of many executives from the 60's ,70's ,80's and does offer unique insight to the inner workings and dealings of the auto industry. I'd recommend it to many here,as it appeals to anyone who was alive during the 60's thru the 80's,and wants to get the inside scoop to many a TV commercial ,print ad. (Plop, Plop Fizz ,Fizz)... Mary Wells ,while a little full of herself, had some interesting observations and was very perseptive . She and her advertising agency (Wells,Rich ,Greene) were definatley cutting edge and mod ,especially at their inception. Rich C. (Rix Fix)
I have to agree that the 69 H/O and 70 GSX are neck and neck for the best looking muscle cars, period. You really have to see a nice 69 H/O in person to get the full effect. Few cars can draw a crowd quicker than these two.:TU:
Price tag for my car was $47?? + $683 for the Hurst option= $5400 for my little 'ol A body. Not cheap in '69! A/C, AM radio, ps/pb, and delux steering wheel.
Anybody that was seriously performance oriented and in the market for a 442 back then that got to drive a 68 or 69 Hurst with the 455, no brainer from then on. They are so sweet. Wonder if any of those pretty Hursts were stuck in the mud at Woodstock or at Kent State in 1969. That was a rough summer. Not quite as bad as 1967 with the inner city riots...but puts you in the head of the times back then. Did that book address the buying moods of the public back then as affected by current events, or just the marketing aspects of it. Didn't Mary Wells also have a popular song back then? Obviously not the same person. She was from Detroit and sang songs such as "My Guy", "Two Lovers" and others. Part of the early Motown crowd.
What is missing in this discussion is the fact that the majority of people who bought new cars in the 1960's did so for one reason: basic daily transportation. The added cost of high performance was a small segment of the market. In 1965, my mother was in the market for a new Pontiac. We went to a local dealer (Tom Connelly in Norwood, Ma.) to check out their inventory. In the showroom was a 1965 GTO convertible with all the toys - Tri Power, 4 speed, buckets, console, etc....and Red with a white top and interior. I begged my mother to buy it, but the sticker was almost $5K....ou: We settled on a 4 door Tempest with a 326/2 speed automatic instead. It was purchased for a little over $2,500. My mother drove that car until 1986, and it ran up over 200,000 miles with the original drivetrain.:TU: And, the fact that some of these survived today is still amazing to me.
You might be on to something with the Kent State thing Dave, my 68 was originally owned by a Clemson University professor.....:Smarty:
Rusty, no doubt the 69 H/O was big chunk of change back then. It was also THE executive hot rod for the Olds Division, as they didn't have a compact or sports car to market like Chevrolet and Pontiac did. I think the regular Olds performance fans went for the 442, W-30, and W-31, while the older folks, with a little hot rod in their heart, and a desire to be noticed, went for the H/O. I guess my point was that while the 69 H/O was expensive, I don't believe that held back sales that much. I think interest waned towards the end of 1969, and with news of the all-new 70's coming with 455's (in W-30 trim no less), I think sales fell short of what Hurst planned. Strange, but I've seen some 69 Camaro window stickers that were outrageous! Seems like you could get a laundry list of options on one of those cars. Strange to think that the F-bodies could be very easily equipped to outprice their A-body counterparts. We just priced out (on a bet) a 69 Firebird RAIV convertible to over $6000 if you ordered all the power options (except a/c, not available w/RAIV), but the Firebird had some very sophisticated options that were not available on the A-bodies, so maybe not a fair comparison. The 70 442 W-30, 69 H/O, and 68 H/O are my 3 favorite Oldsmobiles, so I'm definately not criticizing them! I was just stating that sales fell a bit short for the 69 H/O. Not a bad thing, but just signifies that people weren't knocking down the doors at Olds dealerships wanting more. :beer
Keith, they came off a show called "Car And Track" that I think ran from 1968 to 1974. It was a weekly show that showcased racing footage from around the country, then if time permitted, they had a road test at the end of the show. Back in the days before ESPN, the only place to get highlights of NASCAR, NHRA, etc. was on this show. Sometimes ABC's Wide World Of Sports ran some clips if the Arm Wrestling Championship fell short on time, but "Car And Track" was about it back then. SpeedChannel has now taken the racing footage from that old show, and made a show called "Back In The Day" with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Unfortunately, while they are showing you the footage of David Pearson battling with Richard Petty, they have little pop-ups and such stating what was happening the year that the race occurred. Very distracting. :rant: SpeedChannel (when it was called SpeedVision) used to show the old "Car & And Track" show about 15 years ago, and I taped them. All I did was separate the road tests from the racing highlights, and I then added some titles and made them look nice. I still have many road tests to go. I'll try to do some more tonight. :TU:
For Dave H....:3gears: Here's a test for the 1973 Olds Cutlass 455-4bbl. They state this car had the 442 suspension, so I take it this was essentially a 1973 442. As much as I like the 68-72 A-bodies, I do like these 73-77 models too. Very cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCDgXr4IxOM Mike
The "Rockford" spin was cool !! :TU: My first '74 Cutlass S was that same exact color. I'd buy a '74 4-4-2 in a heartbeat. They really are nice cars.
We bought a new 73 Cutlass S like the one shown except in Cranberry with same color "wet look" vinyl interior. Decided to go with the 350 with dual exhaust, gauge set, and FE2 (442) suspension. With a few carefully placed ball bearings, a half a turn on the distributor, and a few other tricks from my friends in Product Engineering, we were getting 18-20 MPG, was very responsive,and rode like a dream. First thing to go when I went on educational leave in June 1973. Sold it for more than we paid for it on A plan. Used to be a really good deal and kept us in new cars for many years. Drove an engineering test car 73 442 with the 455 and a 4 speed. It wasn't the brute power of previous year W30's, but a ball to drive.
