'Oldsmobile 455' vs. 'Olds 455' Aluminum Intake Casting Myth??
Throughout the years many Oldsmobile collectors have wondered about the castings on the aluminum intake manifolds used on the W-30s. Early production cars received an intake casted with 'Oldsmobile 455' while others simply received 'Olds 455' - but why the discrepancy?
Some believe that after the initial 11/69 production run of manifolds Oldsmobile felt the need to switch the lettering. Since the manifolds were ran in batches, it is fairly easy to track when the manifold were put into production. Thanks to Oldsmobile guru Patton Glade of Austin, Texas, we now have a better understanding on what exactly happened in the casting process that lead to the 'Olds 455' stamping.
The "real" reason for the 'Olds 455' stamping can be traced to the GM strike back in the early '70s. Prior to the 1971 production run, Oldsmobile had to hire a bunch of 'replacements' for their union workers that were on strike. GM reached out to states in the South, since they didn't have union workers, and recruited them to help with production while the strike continued.
Oldsmobile brought on a crew from Alabama and one of them was from...you guessed it...MOBILE, Alabama! This individual manned the casting area and decided he wanted a nice souvenir to remind him of his 'strike breaking' days and chopped the M O B I L E part of the mold out of the mold box. Now how much truth there is to this story can't be officially confirmed, however this makes for a great piece of Oldsmobile lore!
