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OPGI Customer JR Wildermuth of Atwood, California is the fourth generation of five generations of Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Buick owners. His family has shared a fondness for classic GM vehicles over the years and JR keeps “70 years of pictures and info of my relatives proudly displaying their vehicles at different times in their lives and glimpses of experiences they had and how it related to the passion of these vehicles from our personal family history.”
The GM roots run deep in JR’s family history with a direct connection to the big GM cars as his great grandfather, Earl A. Thompson, was the inventor of the Synchromesh transmission which he designed and built and then sold to Cadillac who began putting it into production cars as early as 1928. In 1963, great grandfather Thompson received the Elmer A Sperry award for the design and advancement of the Synchromesh transmission and for his work on the Hydra-matic transmission as well. At present, JR owns at least one of each of the original GM line of automobiles (Pontiac, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Buick). However, it is the orange 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30-spec convertible seen here that JR considers to be the crown jewel of his collection.
1970 was a good year for performance from Oldsmobile. That was the year General Motors dropped the limits on engine size and Oldsmobile made the 455 V8 the standard engine in the 4-4-2 cars. The original 1964 4-4-2-designated package was based on a combination of four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual transmission, and two exhausts. Automatic transmissions became a 4-4-2 option in 1965. By 1970, performance was increased and the W-30 performance package variant came with a fiberglass hood with functional air scoops and a low-restriction air cleaner. The 1970 W-30 package also contained an aluminum intake manifold along with a special camshaft, cylinder heads, distributor, and carburetor. The combination was good for 370 horsepower as delivered.
The Oldsmobile W-30 package is a rare sight today, especially as a convertible, and JR’s numbers matching 4-4-2 is one of just 264 1970 W-30 convertibles with dealer installed air conditioning ever produced. Mr. Wildermuth’s W-30 convertible was restored in 1999 with all original factory parts to keep the car as factory correct as possible with only a color change to bright orange with white interior from the original dark blue with dark blue interior. The final result is the stunning orange 4-4-2 convertible pictured here, and when JR says he intends to “keep this car for quite a long time,” we believe him.
1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 convertible with W-30 Package
JR Wildermuth, Atwood, California
Oldsmobile big-block 455 V-8
Turbo Hydra-matic 400 transmission
Oldsmobile factory wheels
BFGoodrich tires
