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I was at Sebring Raceway this weekend for the Trans Am series races. They allow you to walk pit lane before the main events. I looked up and there it was, a part of Oldsmobile history.
Last edited by cutlassefi; February 27th, 2023 at 08:07 AM.
I've always considered it a lost opportunity that Olds spent heavily in NHRA, IRL, and sports car racing in the 1980s and 90s and didn't publicize it, at least not outside of enthusiast magazines whose readers already knew about it. Talk about a lost opportunity. Then they pulled the funding because they weren't getting sales results. DUH!
The Aurora-powered 1996 overall winner at Sebring.
The 80's was when Roger Smith, a "bean counter" was CEO of GM. He believed "quality" beyond meeting minimum expectations was a waste of money. First Oldsmobile was neutered and killed off, then it was Pontiac, who introduced the Solstice.
GM kept Buford because a deceased Chinese dictator liked them ? The idea that they had a slightly higher profit margin on Buford's sounded good, except the volume was way less than Olds or Pontiac. Buford was well known for what ?
Cool they have that at Sebring. Here's a shot of McKee MK.7 4WD Can Am car powered by an aluminum 455 twin turbo and a modified Jetaway transmission with four speeds and the pitch fixed in either high or low. Granted I don't fully understand the pitch thing. They did power a number of Can Am cars including a McLaren. As previously stated it would have been nice to see them more involved in racing. I'm sure GM had the reins on.
Cool they have that at Sebring. Here's a shot of McKee MK.7 4WD Can Am car powered by an aluminum 455 twin turbo and a modified Jetaway transmission with four speeds and the pitch fixed in either high or low. Granted I don't fully understand the pitch thing. They did power a number of Can Am cars including a McLaren. As previously stated it would have been nice to see them more involved in racing. I'm sure GM had the reins on.
That isn't the turbo car. That's the injected SBO. Here's the twin-turbo CroSal McKee car from 1969.
…GM kept Buford because a deceased Chinese dictator liked them ? The idea that they had a slightly higher profit margin on Buford's sounded good, except the volume was way less than Olds or Pontiac. Buford was well known for what ?
I think we were last in China in 2018. There are many, many cars on the roads with heavy traffic like the biggest cities in the USA. A lot of them were Buicks. While there, we were sometimes driven around in Buicks. It is considered a prestigious vehicle there.
Do not get me wrong, I wish Oldsmobiles (and Pontiacs) were still in production, but Buick sales are successful in China.
Last edited by Tri-Carb; February 27th, 2023 at 01:04 PM.
Wow, yea that is a lot of engine. I guess it would have been hanging out of that MK.7. I used to go to the historic races at Elkhart in the early 90's and saw a couple Olds powered Can Am cars but wasn't sure what they were since my knowledge is limited. Thanks for the pictures.
I like that angle drive distributor on the yellow car.
Regardless of which divisions got the axe, even if the Olds marque was still here, would we recognize it? So many things had gone corporate. GM's cars are now Medium Expensive, Expensive, and Very Expensive for their three car brands (as are everyone else's.) The model seems to be Normal Marque, and Luxury Marque. Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan seem to be following that, with the first three axing a division a decade or so ago. GM always had the most divisions and still does. While Buick isn't strictly necessary, I wonder what the difference is between Buicks and just expensive trim Chevrolets. From my experience, I can tell you what the difference is between a Toyota and a Lexus. One more coat of paint, and nicer interior and radio. Same sheet metal, chassis, and powertrains.
Note that this was not the IRL motor, but a stock-block based race motor.
Pretty impressive, 10,500 max rpm! Considering all the problems this motor had with Grandpa driving them, obviously good enough to win the championship. I have also read the same about the 3.4 V8 in the SHO Taurus. The one we had come for service at the dealership had no issues and racked up quite a few miles.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; February 28th, 2023 at 05:19 AM.
I like that angle drive distributor on the yellow car.
Regardless of which divisions got the axe, even if the Olds marque was still here, would we recognize it? So many things had gone corporate. GM's cars are now Medium Expensive, Expensive, and Very Expensive for their three car brands (as are everyone else's.) The model seems to be Normal Marque, and Luxury Marque. Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan seem to be following that, with the first three axing a division a decade or so ago. GM always had the most divisions and still does. While Buick isn't strictly necessary, I wonder what the difference is between Buicks and just expensive trim Chevrolets. From my experience, I can tell you what the difference is between a Toyota and a Lexus. One more coat of paint, and nicer interior and radio. Same sheet metal, chassis, and powertrains.
Being a Buick guy for quite a while, the ride quality, cabin dB's (active noise cancelling), interior quality, and options are pretty much it. Having owned an Enclave, vs riding in a Traverse, the Buick rides like a car. Not so much the Chevy. Lacrosse vs Impala is quite a bit different on the interior as far as cluster, center stack, and surfaces. Interior is the big difference GMC vs Silverado, too.
Notice that the engine in that Cro-Sal car is mounted backwards - bellhousing towards the front and water pump towards the back. Apparently this was due to the 4WD system?
I'm curious if any of you with the Hot Rod article know what brand those turbos were? They definitely have a period look to them but it's interesting to note they're both mounted for clockwise rotation. That tells me they're off-the-shelf units and not specially developed parts for that engine. Also given their size, I'd say they came from a commercial vehicle (truck/tractor) application rather than pass-car (keeping in mind the number of pass-car turbo applications in 1969 were very limited and almost exclusive to Europe). This might surprise some of you but I can assure you, it's VERY common. You'd be shocked at how many 'race' turbos are actually units off of your every day John Deere tractor! Pretty cool integration of some old school wastegates, too.
I'm curious if any of you with the Hot Rod article know what brand those turbos were? They definitely have a period look to them but it's interesting to note they're both mounted for clockwise rotation. That tells me they're off-the-shelf units and not specially developed parts for that engine. Also given their size, I'd say they came from a commercial vehicle (truck/tractor) application rather than pass-car (keeping in mind the number of pass-car turbo applications in 1969 were very limited and almost exclusive to Europe). This might surprise some of you but I can assure you, it's VERY common. You'd be shocked at how many 'race' turbos are actually units off of your every day John Deere tractor! Pretty cool integration of some old school wastegates, too.
“1958: TRW (Thompson-Ramo-Woolridge of Cleveland, OH) develops the 300 Series Turbocharger 1969: RAJAY Industries (Long Beach, CA), a unit of the Texstar Corp in Grand Prairie, TX, acquires the entire TRW turbocharger line. Texstar later became a unit of the Hillman Co. of Pittsburgh, PA.”
In case anyone in interested, here is an article on a 300 series Rajay turbo from 1997 which looks to be very close to the TRW units used on that aluminum 455. As noted above, TRW sold their catalog to Rajay in 1969 and, more interestingly, the design was ultimately bought out by Garrett in the mid '80's. Garrett has been a key OE turbo manufacturer since the '50's. They supplied GM with the turbos on the early '60's Jetfire and in the '80's for all of the various turbo Buick's - T-Type, GN, GNX.. Yes, they are still an OE supplier today.
It looks like the '300' nomenclature stems from a 3 inch "rotating group" which is a bit unique. It's not unheard of to have a 1:! ratio turbine/compressor but it certainly isn't common (compressors are typically larger than the driving turbine by as much as 1.5x or more). That size range puts in the neighborhood of what might typically be used on a 6-ish liter inline 6 diesel engine today. RAJAY/AMT/Reprint (dotheton.com)
Just came back from another day at Sebring.
They have a building there for driver meetings etc, and this year they had a display of about 20 cars. Low and behold look what showed up.
I used to live not far from Wayne Taylor when I lived in North Orlando. Ran into him a couple of times here and there. Nice guy.
Last edited by cutlassefi; March 14th, 2024 at 11:46 AM.
I worked for the Menard IRL team in the mid-late 90's for the Indy 500. Ran the Aurora engine in those cars. Much more reliable than the Menard V6 turbo from a few years prior (based on the old Buick V6.
February 27th, 2023, 07:43 AM
