Olds Demont 88 B09 "Police Apprehender" road test article

I see they pulled over a Riviera. :laugh:

 

Yeah, yeah......

Thanks! Just found the other 68 Cop car article I have that is a little more flaky than this one. This is great!:beers2: :beers2: :beers2:



BTW, we have special permission to highjack any and all posts with Oldsmobile stuff.

 

The local Police Dept (Minerva, Ohio) ordered one of these in '68 or 69. But they specified a 2 bbl (!)ou: 455. One of my buddies was a volunteer cop. We arranged an impromtu "Acceleration Contest" with my '67 390 Mustang GT. The Mustang had been "Tuned" (428 crank in a side oiler block, Medium Riser heads, etc).
Wasn't much of a race, but I was given instructions by the Chief of Police not to mention the event to anybody, he didn't want the Cruisers image hurt. All anybody ever knew was that is had a 442 type 455 in it. Evidently the low compression 2 bbl setup could be ordered on a 442 as well.
I agreed to keep my mouth shut, or risk a ticket every time I hit the town limits.

Olds did have the ability to produce very good handling cars, I almost bought a new '72 Supreme Convert with the "Smogged" 455, I absolutely loved the handling with the optional handling package. Wasn't a "Rocket" (pun intended) but it wasn't slow either, fantastic low end torque and mid range for a low compression smogger.

 

The village of Niles, IL had some Olds cop cars - but they were 86-87 Delta 88s - but should have been called 86s as they had the Buick 231 V6 and FWD. Needless to say, they were lame.

I've had a few people that now drive foreign cars state that,
"Oh, I had a 70-something Cutlass (or something else), but it handled mushy, tended to get hot in hot weather, etc." As such I am continually amazed at how few cars were ordered with heavy duty cooling and suspension options! :spank:
The way we live and drive, and where we live, REQUIRES these options!
(Gee - it has hit over 100 degrees here in the Chicago area a few times, so shouldn't your vehicle have heavy duty cooling? How about a heavy duty suspension to deal with the pot-holes!)
These are among some of the reasons I always wanted a heavy duty car (note - not a truck) for a daily driver.
This line from the article says it all,
"The Madison Avenue boys have brainwashed the American car buyers so well that nearly every car on the road today (1968) is at least twice as dangerous and tiriing as it should be." Yes - mAdmen, combined with dealers and factory sales force that didn't push the benefits of such options.
There have even been engineering decisions that I haven't understood.
See this link about body mounts for the 94-96 Impala Super Sports:
http://www.theherd.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=125

(Even if there are objections, the firmer body mounts should have been offered as an OPTION.)

How many folks really ordered a car back then? My dad did, Dave H did - but very few folks did. Those that didn't might then have complained about how the car "feels" down the road!

I guess that is why (much to my Wife's chagrin) I love my "COPO" Caprice - 9C1 (94') - but since it has sat outside it's whole life I have body rust at the front bottom of the shell - where 2 of the body mounts are supposed to bolt. My Caprice has just a little better performance than that 88 - I don't know if that is good to say or not!

If more Oldsmobiles had a "firm" suspension - or at least if it was more heavily marketed or if the dealers knew how to sell them and had such cars for demos, well, Olds might still have died but their cars would have been better!

 

The village of Niles, IL had some Olds cop cars - but they were 86-87 Delta 88s - but should have been called 86s as they had the Buick 231 V6 and FWD. Needless to say, they were lame.

I've had a few people that now drive foreign cars state that,
"Oh, I had a 70-something Cutlass (or something else), but it handled mushy, tended to get hot in hot weather, etc." As such I am continually amazed at how few cars were ordered with heavy duty cooling and suspension options! :spank:
The way we live and drive, and where we live, REQUIRES these options!
(Gee - it has hit over 100 degrees here in the Chicago area a few times, so shouldn't your vehicle have heavy duty cooling? How about a heavy duty suspension to deal with the pot-holes!)
These are among some of the reasons I always wanted a heavy duty car (note - not a truck) for a daily driver.
This line from the article says it all,
"The Madison Avenue boys have brainwashed the American car buyers so well that nearly every car on the road today (1968) is at least twice as dangerous and tiriing as it should be." Yes - mAdmen, combined with dealers and factory sales force that didn't push the benefits of such options.
There have even been engineering decisions that I haven't understood.
See this link about body mounts for the 94-96 Impala Super Sports:
http://www.theherd.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=125

(Even if there are objections, the firmer body mounts should have been offered as an OPTION.)

How many folks really ordered a car back then? My dad did, Dave H did - but very few folks did. Those that didn't might then have complained about how the car "feels" down the road!

I guess that is why (much to my Wife's chagrin) I love my "COPO" Caprice - 9C1 (94') - but since it has sat outside it's whole life I have body rust at the front bottom of the shell - where 2 of the body mounts are supposed to bolt. My Caprice has just a little better performance than that 88 - I don't know if that is good to say or not!

If more Oldsmobiles had a "firm" suspension - or at least if it was more heavily marketed or if the dealers knew how to sell them and had such cars for demos, well, Olds might still have died but their cars would have been better!

 

In late 1983,the central Florida, Polk County Sheriff's Office replaced their fleet of 9C1 Nova police cruisers and V8 Dodge Diplomats with a fleet of Hemi powered Chrysler K cars! Yep ,2.4 liter Mitsubishi 4 cylinder powered cop cars. They got outran all the time. Including by me a couple of times! After 4 years of that,they wised up and started purchasing REAL cruisers-Impala's and Crown Vics.

 

Thinking more about that car in the McCahill article, I'd bet good money that car had the 1969 police package in it. The M plate gives it away as an Olds test car; they would have given him the best they could come up with and a lot more development work went into the 69's than the 68. The engineering test "mules" usually had something from the future inside. They even converted all thier GMC pickups and flat bed delivery vehicles to Olds 455's with T400's.

The post by Unclehulka asking for a 69 got me to thinking more about what the car in the article could have been and probably was.

One (Ingham County Sheriff) got me in my 61 Valiant years ago when I was out "exercising" it on what I thought was a deserted stretch of road South of Michigan State's campus. No idea where he came from. I was flying and he ran me down. uzzled:

 

If only Olds had built a fleet of these!!

 

....With the small difference that in '68/69, the 442's big block was only 400 ci compared to the cop car's 455 ci.

That 2-barrel option for the 442 was called the Turnpike Cruiser. It included highway gears, which is also probably what that cop car had. Police are often more interested in outrunning you (and not overheating or throwing a rod) than out-accelerating you. I bet that cop car would've won the race if you kept going over 100 mph. I know that my '72 2-bbl 350 Cutlass was still accelerating at 124 mph when I lilfted. My hot-rod W-30 is red-lined long before that.

Regarding the magazine article, it's my understanding that the cop cars in those years used the W-33 engine, which I believe could be ordered apart from the cop package. The W-33 455 in '68 - 70 used the same cam as any '70 442 automatic (including the automatic W-30). The same cam was also used in automatic 442s in '68-69, but it was wrapped inside a long-stroke 400. Anyway, other than a few minor casting changes to heads and intake, the '70 442 drivetrain was the same as what that guy tested in the magazine (unless, as Dave suggested, Engineering set him up with a ringer).

 

My small town police dept. was using a diesel Cutlass for a few years as a patrol car, rumor had it that it was outrun by a Pinto. We believed it.

Dave H. probably also remembers that the Ingham county sheriff used to run 3/4 ton big block Suburbans as paramedic/patrol units back when gas was cheap. Those things must have burned through fifty gallons a day.

 

I know that my '72 2-bbl 350 Cutlass was still accelerating at 124 mph when I lilfted.


Brian, while I'm sure your 350 was an absolute rocket, 450 inches of Big block Ford, which would turn 6500 rpm, will pull a Mustang along at a fair clip
We did go over 100 and I couldn't tell you if the Delta was gaining on me, couldn't see that far back. The Mustang would have been good for roughly 140 with the 3.50 gears and 25 inch tires.

 

Thanks Jason. :beer :beer

I enjoyed Tom McCahill's writing style when I was a teenager, and I still enjoy his unique sense of humour today.:TU:

 

Funny you should mention that. Looked in the mirror yesterday on I-96 just West of Lansing and an Ingham County Sheriff was slowly gaining on me. Had a borrowed small trailer with a taillamp broken, glad he was in a good mood.

Then saw some sort of GM SUV (Tahoe?) with Eaton County Sheriff on it. Scary...Glad i was behaving.

 

if anyone wants to buy a 68 Delmont 88 4 door, I have once for sale. less motor and trans for $450.00. Body is decent interior is very nice and only needs a cleaning. Located in Central CT.

PM me if interested.

 

My father had one of those 68 Oldsmobiles. He ordered a 455 with 2bbl and 256 gears for trailer towing, but that is not what he got. He got high compression, a monster 4bbl and 308 gears.

I vividly recall the local hotshot had a new 383 RoadRunner which was believed to be the quickest car in the area. There were one lane bridges in the area and hotshot cut my dad off heading onto one of those bridges.

There was a big long hill on the other side; " I'll get that SOB"

The 383 was booting it, puffs of blue as it shifted. I could see the guys eyes in his rear view mirror, they got big as we cruised past on the hill without even needing the secondaries on the Quadra-jet.

In his work my dad was friendly with the local cops. Talk got to cars and he was telling them about this car. They had all heard of it but nobody had ever seen one. They had to know how fast it would really go.

There was a five mile straight stretch that the cops blocked off and set up the radar. 147 mph. It broke the speedo cable.

Some years later my brother was doing construction and got to talking with a guy who had a white post 4 door Olds that the guy used for driving to work. At the time my brother had a good running 70 Custom Wildcat 455 with low restriction intake and exhaust.

The Olds all carboned up, was puking out black smoke and crap and still left the Buick for dead. The guy was in shock, he had hardly ever had the car over 30 mph.

That was one fast car.

dave

 

My father had one of those 68 Oldsmobiles. He ordered a 455 with 2bbl and 256 gears for trailer towing, but that is not what he got. He got high compression, a monster 4bbl and 308 gears.

I vividly recall the local hotshot had a new 383 RoadRunner which was believed to be the quickest car in the area. There were one lane bridges in the area and hotshot cut my dad off heading onto one of those bridges.

There was a big long hill on the other side; " I'll get that SOB"

The 383 was booting it, puffs of blue as it shifted. I could see the guys eyes in his rear view mirror, they got big as we cruised past on the hill without even needing the secondaries on the Quadra-jet.

In his work my dad was friendly with the local cops. Talk got to cars and he was telling them about this car. They had all heard of it but nobody had ever seen one. They had to know how fast it would really go.

There was a five mile straight stretch that the cops blocked off and set up the radar. 147 mph. It broke the speedo cable.

Some years later my brother was doing construction and got to talking with a guy who had a white post 4 door Olds that the guy used for driving to work. At the time my brother had a good running 70 Custom Wildcat 455 with low restriction intake and exhaust.

The Olds all carboned up, was puking out black smoke and crap and still left the Buick for dead. The guy was in shock, he had hardly ever had the car over 30 mph.

That was one fast car.

dave

 

Oldsmobile Engineering used the Lansing Police and Ingham County Sheriff for testing/developing their B01/B07 Police Apprehender packages. The original 64 442 was nothing more than that package the first year with a few 442 badges and certain mandatory options (buckets, 4 speed, dual exhaust)...there seemed to always be one or more engineering "test cars" that were on loan to one of those departments. Not only were they developing that option, they did a bunch of other testing on them also. Quick way to get some severe testing done nearby...engineers used to take them out on "test runs" on I-96 as well as the Olds Avenue blasts that we all did after work. :laugh: :laugh:

In 1966 when I started there, they seemed to be using predominantly F85 and Cutlass Supreme 4 doors for this and all were being used by the Lansing police force and loved them...(everybody in Lansing loved Oldsmobile, many still do)..you didn't even think about trying to get away from one of them. Pretty much all were big block, many with the L69 tripower setup, even saw a couple with the Weber carb setups that they played with and later used on the aluminum engines in the Armco Steel and jet boat programs.

I'm sure there were some big 67 Delmont 4 doors (Sheriff's dept.) then, I just didn't see any that year. Big change the following year (1967). They were everywhere.....and they were very, very fast. Two versions, short pursuits or top speeds for highway chases. Awesome looking cars and ones you didn't mess with.

I never saw a 68 or newer A body cop car, but I did pick up a copy of a magazine article on ebay about that combo being available using the Olds 400 442 engine in 68/69. Think that was some marketing hype to sell magazines as I sure don't remember that. Why buy a smaller Cutlass when these big 88's are faster with the 455's?

We also put Olds 455's, T400's, and Olds 12 bolt rears in pretty much all of the Engineering fleets' GMC pickups and flatbed stake trucks. Great test mules.

 

I had a 67 Delmont 88 with the 425 Olds engine...what a sleeper that was. My supervisor got pissed when I left his Mustang GT in the dust!

 

I had a 66 Delmont 88 with a 425 2bl the Ultra High Comression Motor.Bought it as a AAA total loss off my neighbor got hit in front of my the house while parked in the street. lt rear tailight and 1/4 was plowed but it ran and drove straight so I rivited a tailamp to the 1/4 and cruised . I drove it as a winter beater in 1986/1987 . Auto, Single track high way gear. Ran like a top and was fast for a big car.. My buddy used to date this girl and every Friday night we would go by her old boy friends house and brake torque the rt rear tire off the thing it would leave a pile of molten rubber on the street lol you could not see the house across the street .My buddy would stock pile used tires just for me to keep rolling lol I can rememebr hearing the threads slappling the wheelhouse . I sold it for 500 bucks and the guy who bought it took the motor out claiming it had a steel crank and such. I loved that car .. but the old BF hated it lolol..