1984 Olds Cutlas Factory Drag Car?

[Gary Anderson]

FWIW

https://www.racingjunk.com/stock-sup...1&np_offset=16

[markinnaples]

Super interesting topic. And to me, kind of crazy that they would offer a body in white (or close to it if not that specifically) with T-tops.

[drce500]

Those cars weren't body in white cars. They were all test vehicles from GM. A large number of the Cutlass bodies had been diesel test cars, some with tons of miles on them. They did the same with the Olds Ciera race cars. Arlen Fadely was in charge of the program, same guy who did the same at Ford before that. SS&DI magazine had a series on him years before buiding the orange Maverick out of a body in white. Pontiac did the same, The Rod Shop Transam that Larry Morgan raced in Super Stock was a running driving car, Larry and i drive it around before he took it apart, it also was a T Top car which wasnt ideal but were left in it and wasnt a problem with the roll cage added.

[R68GTO]

Were the aluminum body panels used in production cutlasses in the mid-80's or were they added once the test car was designated for the race program? I wonder why the 1985 body test cars ended up with 1987 front ends?

[Vern B]

Originally Posted by drce500

Those cars weren't body in white cars. They were all test vehicles from GM. A large number of the Cutlass bodies had been diesel test cars, some with tons of miles on them. They did the same with the Olds Ciera race cars. Arlen Fadely was in charge of the program, same guy who did the same at Ford before that. SS&DI magazine had a series on him years before buiding the orange Maverick out of a body in white. Pontiac did the same, The Rod Shop Transam that Larry Morgan raced in Super Stock was a running driving car, Larry and i drive it around before he took it apart, it also was a T Top car which wasnt ideal but were left in it and wasnt a problem with the roll cage added.

To go along with this, from the early 80’s thru the late 80’s I used to see lots of mostly Buick’s and Old’s cars on the roads of Northern Michigan. They usually travelled in groups of 5-10 cars and as many as 3 groups a day putting miles on test cars. They would leave Detroit in early am, head north on east side of lower peninsula to Mackinac, then down the west side of the Lower Peninsula, then back to Detroit, 300-350 miles a day. Next day it was a different group of drivers and cars, or perhaps some of the same. I talked to drivers several times at lunch, or rest breaks and their accounts were they were mileage and other engineering testing.

There was a lot of new engineering going into cars back then, engines, fuel injection, transmissions, anti lock brakes, front wheel drive and more.

I’d bet anything all those cars weren’t scrapped and some of them made it out the back door, whether they were sold as pseudo race cars with no vin, who knows. If some of them were high miles, this could have been the source.

[drce500]

I don't remember anymore why or when but the aluminum stuff was assembly line, i wanta say it was on the diesel cars but don't remember for sure. Yes, some of the cars given to drag racers were totally whipped mechanically, the Cutlass given to Ron Garey still had some test instrumentation mounted. All of these cars had the vin tags removed mostly because of a case of FORD cars given away and resold which created a big stink

[drce500]

Those cars would have been crushed anyway so meant nothing to GM money wise. Some of the stuff they junked that i would see at the Tech Center and wind tunnel in Warren was heartbreaking

[83hurstguy]

Originally Posted by R68GTO

Were the aluminum body panels used in production cutlasses in the mid-80's or were they added once the test car was designated for the race program? I wonder why the 1985 body test cars ended up with 1987 front ends?

Aluminum core supports were an assembly line '78-80 item. The '81-up didn't get them. If I remember right they require some trimming in the headlight area for the '81-up Cutlass. It's long been a popular retrofit for front end weight reduction for all G-bodies.

Aluminum hoods were production parts and were originally thought to be a diesel car item for front end weight reduction, but people reported having them on original 307 powered cars too. I had one for my old '83 H/O and it was crazy how light it was compared to the steel hood.

The aluminum deck lid could be the rarest part if that's truly aluminum... the '78-80 cars had some aluminum deck lids, but I don't know that I'm aware of an '81-up aluminum trunk.

Updating the front end of a racecar to be the current model year was popular back then, especially if you had factory backing or a potential different class you could run in. The 70 cutlass factory-backed race cars were updated to '71 and '72 front ends. Wouldn't surprise me if it was the same in the 80's.

[69hurstSC]

Visions of Warren Johnson come to mind.

[Pro Stock John]

So has anyone posted anything to show it was a race car BIW / giveaway, I don't see a pic of the invoice. Seems like it was just a fleet / test car that was given away like they would to schools.