The Pontiac GTO generally gets bragging rights as the first of its kind: the classic intermediate-sized Detroit muscle car. The GTO first appeared in 1964, and pretty much defined the category. But the Olds 4-4-2 also first saw the light of day in ’64, as a special performance package available on the F-85. The main differences between them: 59 cubic inches, 15 horsepower and healthy dollop of marketing savvy. The last one made all the difference: the Goat outsold the 4-4-2 by over ten to one in ’64. Chalk it up to John Z. DeLorean and the Mad Men.
Here’s the only 1964 4-4-2 ad I could come up with. Pretty odd too, showing a four door, in police trim. The 4-4-2 package was available on all ’64 F85s except wagons. But production figures show that a grand total of seven or eight of the four doors were ever built, out of a total of some 3k 442s that year. And its questionable if any of them were cop cars. Maybe they weren’t too hot on the four-speed stick. Oh well. But if you come across a four door ’64 4-4-2, don’t sell it cheap; who knows what that would be worth today.
That ad does make it clear what 4-4-2 stood for in 1964: 4-barrel carb; 4-on-the-floor; and dual exhausts.
Here’s a couple of ’64 GTO ads. Seeing the difference already?
Makes the 4-4-2 ad look like something from the forties. Never underestimate the power of (good) advertising. Pontiac sold over 32k GTOs in ’64 alone, and that was just the beginning.
Olds eventually changed agencies or demanded a new campaign, but it took a few years.
In the glory years of the 1970 W-30 455 CID 4-4-2, Olds’ advertising featuring the diabolical Dr. Oldsmobile was pretty cutting edge, if not even ahead of its time (here’s a story on Dr. O). But it was too late; the 4-4-2 never sold nearly as well as the GTO or the Chevy SS396 Malibu, although the margin was narrowed considerably. In 1968, Pontiac moved 87k Goats, Chevy sold 67k SS396s, and Olds delivered a respectable 35k 442s. The corporate laggard was the Buick GS (20k), which was late to the performance party.
What made the 4-4-2 stand out from the rest of its GM siblings and other muscle cars of the era was its suspension tuning, most specifically the use of a standard rear anti-sway bar. This turned the 4-4-2 into the best handling American car of its time, reducing understeer and lean and increasing control in cornering. Why did it take so long? Rear anti sway bars had been around for at least a decade, and were not uncommon on police car packages. Oh right! The 4-4-2 was essentially a police car package at the start.
In a track comparison test of six 1966 muscle cars by racing driver Masten Gregory, the 4-4-2 was deemed “the best handling of the bunch, by far”.
The 1968 GM intermediates were all-new, and the coupes rode on a shorter 112″ wheelbase. That gave them a distinctly more close-coupled look, and they were arguably the handsomest of the whole genre, perhaps ever. And the Olds version was the second best looking of the bunch, after the remarkably clean ’68 GTO with its pioneering body-colored nose. Unfortunately, the vinyl roof on this one rather mars the best feature of these cars: the C-pillar which creates a continuous plane and unbroken continuity of the lower and upper body halves. This was pioneered (in the US) by the ’66 Toronado, and the Cutlass/4-4-2 show it off very well indeed, when there’s no vinyl roof to interfere, that is.
Enough styling nitpicking. Performance was the 4-4-2′s calling card, and it delivered that, in varying degrees. The ’64 used a 310 hp high output 330 CID version of Olds’ new “small block” engine, which actually was just a short deck/short stroke version of the excellent big 425 CID engine. That’s because the corporate edict of no “big” motors in the intermediates. DeLorean managed to sneak the GTO by that surreptitiously. Once the GTO’s success was obvious, GM raised the limit to 400 CID.
The ’65 through ’67s 4-4-2s used a smaller bore version of the Olds 425, resulting in 400 CID. This engine had a forged crank, and was an ideal basis for further performance mods. But in 1968, Olds upped the big motor to 455 cubes, via an increase in stroke. For whatever reason, the 400 now shared the 455′s cast crank, but with a substantially reduced bore to keep it at 400 CID. The result is what has to be one of the the most undersquare modern American V8s: 3.87″ bore, 4.25″ stroke. Not ideal for maximum top-end performance, but undersquare engines tend to have a fabulously rich torque curve, starting down low.
Since this is an automatic, it probably has the mild-cam 325 hp version anyway, anything but a wild and snorting performance motor. The manual transmission engine was rated at 350 hp, and 360 hp hi-po version was optional. The combination in this car is actually ideal for how this car is used: a daily driver by a young law student.
If that 400 engine looks small, it’s because it is, sort of. The big Olds was a remarkably compact engine, and not really a “big block”, despite the displacement of up to 455 cubic inches (7.4 L). Except for having a taller deck to make room for the longer stroke, it was otherwise essentially identical to the smaller 330/350 CID motors. Olds engines always enjoyed a good rep, especially for the quality of their blocks, which had a higher nickel content than the Chevy engines. Well, at least through 1970; after that nickel for the castings became a victim of GM’s nickel and diming.
The 4-4-2 had its day in the sun in 1970, when the 455 finally found its way into the engine compartment, and Dr. Oldsmobile was pushing the W30 hi-po version, (under)rated at 370 hp to stay within GM’s 10 lbs. per hp edict. Additional performance packages were available above that even. By 1971, lowered compression for unleaded started the long decline. The 4-4-2 name was (ab)used by Olds for decades, even some four cylinder version of the Quad Four. Lets not even go there, at least not today.
It’s refreshing to run across cars like this being used as daily drivers. I’ve seen what seems to be an increase in vintage sixties performance iron around town near campus, in varying states of condition from decent to rough.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1977 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 – Strength in Numbers; Some of the Time
Cohort Classic: 1987 Cutlass 4-4-2 – Bittersweet ’80s
Through the mid 1970’s, Hot Wheels reissued their original 1969 Redline Olds 442 release. The 1970’s reissues came in oddball fire chief and police car versions, which I both collected at the time. Well-styled cars, and good quality die casts. As a kid I would wonder then, why they would bizarrely sell police and fire versions of a 442.
There were actually 11 four door 442s made for 1964, four base F84 sedans and seven F85 Deluxe sedans. The police car 1964 ad was to show that the RPO B09 442 package was based on the B07 Highway Apprehender package, which included the HD suspension and front/rear sway bars. The big difference between the 442 and the police package was the engine. The top police car engine for 1964 was the 290 HP 330 4bbl motor. The 442s got a different cam that bumped output to 310 HP.
I wasn’t around, but it feels like the brass at Oldsmobile didn’t have much idea of what their mission statement was supposed to be, or else they changed their minds often.
The 1949 “Rocket 88” is said by some to be the first muscle car, the big-car engine in the small-car body. At the same time, they were building cars with “almost a Buick” levels of luxury. Still, Oldsmobile was the performance brand at GM until JZD got put in charge of Pontiac and decided that marque was the new performance brand from GM.
Once that title was taken away from Olds, what were they? What were they supposed to be? A slightly cheaper luxury than Buick? Still grasping on to whatever performance was left after Pontiac got all the excitement? It’s very confusing to me.
The V8 88 wasn’t a conscious effort to create a muscle car. The V8 was simply the new Olds engine to replace their old flathead eight and sixes. Yes, the six was offered for another year (through 1950), but its demise was utterly inevitable. And when the 88 moved to the larger and heavier B body in 1952, its performance was blunted considerably.
I loved this Cutlass style at the time. I built a 1/25 scale model, I think by Johan, and iterated it a few times, first in a metallic green and finally a bright non-metallic orange with some black trim. Not unlike the 1970 ad pictured above. The blended C pillar looked so good, even better than the GTO to my eyes with the smooth flares concentric with the wheel openings.
> the best feature of these cars: the C-pillar which creates a continuous plane and unbroken continuity of the lower and upper body halves. This was pioneered (in the US) by the ’66 Toronado
The early Valiant had this styling feature several years earlier, most visible on the ’61-62 coupes and hardtops, though the huge rear fender blisters made it less noticeable than on the Toro or Cutlass/442.
The Valiant did have an unbroken C-pillar, and I’ve written extensively about Exner’s original fuselage styling, but clearly it did not have “unbroken continuity of the lower and upper body halves”, at least not below the C-pillar, since the Valiant has that huge “side fin” that breaks up the continuity seen just ahead of it.
It’s that unbroken continuity of the rear quarter through the C-pillar into the roof that I was referring to.