1973 Oldsmobile training on trailering for dealerships.

[Warpath]

Found this video interesting thought I'd share. Oh, and he tows an Airstream.

https://youtu.be/pa6ay3wNp0w

[richard5933]

I learned to drive in the Pontiac version of that wagon - a 1974 Grand Safari with the 455 engine. Wish I had it now.

[Dennis C]

That’s a great old video! My family also had Oldsmobile and Buick wagons in the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s. I learned to drive in a 1979 Buick Electra Park Avenue. That thing was a beast. My father upgraded his cars as his career progressed over the years. He started off with a Chevrolet, then progressed through Oldsmobile and Buick cars and finally got the Cadillac that he always wanted. A Coupe De Ville.

My father also had an interest in Volkswagens, and he owned several of them over the years. He bought a new VW micro bus in 1977. It was the Champagne Edition, meaning that it had carpet and air conditioning. Fancy! I learned to drive a manual transmission in that bus.

[SuperTrouper]

We had a 72 Buick Estate Wagon. Didn't tow anything but that back gate where the window went up in the roof via motor and gate went down into the frame was most excellent when my Dad drove me around my Sunday paper route with me sitting in the "hole" in the back of the wagon feet dangling off the bumper. As I remember, the radiator had some issues keeping up with the 455 power plant when it was hot (I remember sitting for a few hours with my Dad at Wall Drug SD waiting for the the engine to cool enough to add water).

[Saluda372]

Interesting to watch the old stuff.

[DCPAS]

Thanks for sharing this. Brought back memories of my parents towing their Airstream. The bottom line though, is that everything must be "heavy duty." Simple.

[Peter417]

I really like this kind of stuff.

[ITSNO60]

I bought more than one Olds 98 just to get the 455 and the TH-400 for my Cutlasses and my 442. Back then the Olds 455 was different from the Pontiac 455, the Olds engine was a wider "V". Those were the days when the different divisions of GM all made their own engines. Not sure if Ford did that, back then I only cared about GM.

I noticed in the video he only showed trailers with a max of 600 lbs tongue weight.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by ITSNO60

I bought more than one Olds 98 just to get the 455 and the TH-400 for my Cutlasses and my 442. Back then the Olds 455 was different from the Pontiac 455, the Olds engine was a wider "V". Those were the days when the different divisions of GM all made their own engines. Not sure if Ford did that, back then I only cared about GM.

I noticed in the video he only showed trailers with a max of 600 lbs tongue weight.

I had one of the Olds 350 V8 engines in my '68 Cutlass - if my memory is correct they used a double cradle to support the rockers, which provides for much tighter clearances and a higher possible RPM.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by richard5933

I had one of the Olds 350 V8 engines in my '68 Cutlass - if my memory is correct they used a double cradle to support the rockers, which provides for much tighter clearances and a higher possible RPM.

Yes and if I recall the cradle was aluminum. I had several 69 Cutlasses and a 69 442 convertible, and more Ninety-Eights than I can count. I put a 455 in the 442 which I shouldn't have done because the 455 was not available in the 442 till 1970 but back then all I wanted was the power and did not know that in the future the 442 convertibles would bring big money if un-molested.