1966 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser

Saw this for sale at the OCA Nationals in Albuquerque this past weekend.

 

Screech! More pictures please!

The Turbo 350 must be an "upgrade"?

 

I'm not the seller. Those are the only photos I took while I was there wandering around.

 

He should have wrote THD 350, instead of T 350.

 

Or THX1138....

 

I called the owner on the car; not only very nice but super honest about all items on car; he has some info dating back about 10 years on the car;car was resprayed done very nicely;he apparently also has an Olds guru as friend who advised him on many items; supposedly super solid underneath; items to know: some bubbling on rear wheel well and a little on one front wheel well; comes with many extras and parts if needed; I'd say from my conversation exactly the type of owner and guy you want to buy a car from as he detailed all there is and what is possibly needing to be addressed. i am thinking about it. he will send pics.

 

Some info, looks like the '66 A body Olds had the 2 speed Jetaway which replaced the trouble prone Roto Hydramatics in '64. The THM 350's came along in 1970, and is probably a nice upgrade for this car.

 

The THM showed up in '67:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Cutlass

 

Any indication it spent some time in southern California? I swear I saw a VC identical to that at a Good Guys event in Orange County back around 2006 or so.......

 

I can only speak for Pontiac A-body's in 67, but the only Pontiac Intermediate to get the TH-400 was the GTO Model, All others, Lemans & Tempest got the Pontiac version of the BOP 2-speed automatic the Super Tubine 300 or ST-300. Basicly the same trans as the Buick and Olds. No TH-350's until the 69 Model year.
As far as I know they did not start making TH-350's until the 1969 Model year. So the TH option on the Olds Line was probably the same, 2-speed auto's for F-85's and Cutlass's, TH-400 for 442's.

But always happy to be proved wrong.

 

Here, then. Knock yourself out:

 

seller says car was in Colorado, Arizona, Michigan (indoors) and now back to Colorado

 

And the transmission plot thickens........

I think this wagon still has the ST-300 OE indicator as Wiki says the quadrant was P-R-N-D-L2-L1 for the St-300. The "S" was an Olds thing, our 63 F-85 with the Roto hydramatic had it also. The Roto was a P-N-D-S-L-R quadrant though.

From Wiki:

"GM used a Switch Pitch torque converter in the Buick twin turbine Dynaflow transmission between 1955–1963 and the Super Turbine 300 two speed transmissions used by Oldsmobile Pontiac, and Buick divisions between 1964-1967. This transmission (among other THMs) is identified by the "Park R N D L2 L1" selector quadrant."

 

This is a confusing sentence. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Buick used the SuperTubine 300 two-speed transmission from 1964-1967. Buick called it the Super Turbine 300, Oldsmobile called it the Jetaway, and Pontiac called it simply a two-speed transmission. If it's a two-speed transmission, how can the shift quadrant have THREE forward gears (D, L2, L1)???

I had a '64 Jetstar 88, a car introduced that year as a low-priced 88 that was distinguished by its use of the A-body (Cutlass) engine, drivetrain, and brakes. That car had a Jetaway transmission, and the shift quadrant had P R N D L.

Oldsmobile did replace the "2" with an S in its three-speed transmissions and called it "Super" as it was supposed to give you "super" performance in such things as climbing hills. Big deal, I know, but that's what the S is all about.

Here's a shot of the shift quadrant on my '78 Toronado, and there's the S.




It also appears on my '67 Delta 88. Olds used it for many years.

 

Yeah, Mom's '66 Delta 88 4-door had the same shift quadrant. I remember, after Grandpa Fred died and Mom brought Grandma Ada to live with us, I pulled the owner's manual out, just to read. On the section of transmissions, it explained the 'Super' gear, which of course was just second gear.