Lots of people think that there was some grand plan that resulted in what we now call the muscle car, but the fact is, it can best be called a happy accident. After all, all of GM had put their bets on the B-Body (Pontiac Catalina, Olds Jetstar, Buick Wildcat, and Chevy Impala) as the foundation of performance. The midsize car was seen as a good way to get young people into GM products. And, of course, they would have some V-8 zip, but past that...
Now, over in Pontiac, Jim Wangers and John DeLorean had just had their performance hands slapped by the corporate headquarters in what was called the "racing ban.” They were rather ticked, because they had invested so heavily in 421-powered big cars and had no place for them to run. The idea of putting the 389 in the Tempest wasn’t as big of a deal as the marketing and naming that they decided-on. Let’s face it: A 421 SD big car would kill a 389-engined Tempest, but your 20-something couldn’t afford it.
We all know the GTO story and how it stormed into the performance scene, but the big story was how it took all of GM, Ford, and Chrysler by surprise. Sure, there were Mopars that could run with the GTO, but they just weren't perceived as such. And Ford? Well, in 1964 it was playing the big-car game too.
So, what's left? Buick and Chevrolet just shook their heads and said, “No way will lots of people buy that specialty car, and anyway, we've got hot Impalas and Wildcats we can sell them.” Dodge and Plymouth just kept push ing their 383 Polaras and Satellites, only keeping the 426-S model as a "you gotta know” option. Ford was wrapped up in the Mustang and ignored the hole thing.
But at the most unlikely place, Oldsmobile, whose reputation for performance cars seemed to have died with the '58 J-2 Super 88, a funny thing was happening. A bunch of engineers who had pushed for the new lightweight V-8 they had just debuted at 330 cubes (the 425 was slated for a big car in 1965) were instructed to put together a police package for the Cutlass. They came up with a tough "city” package that would handle the rigors of 24-hour operation and included the juiced-up four-barrel 330 as an engine option.
It would have ended right there, but the California Highway Patrol had a super-tough competition for its cars. Surprisingly, the big Olds had done very well there. Someone, whose name is lost in the annals of Oldsmobilia, suggested putting the Cutlass to the test. The go-fast guys at Olds put on their thinking caps and stuffed a four-door Cutlass with a heavy-duty frame, front and rear stabilizer bars, heavy-duty springs and shocks, heavy-duty three-speed trans and clutch, a “G-series” heavy-duty axle, and even dual exhausts. Called the "Police Apprehender-Highway Patrol” Option B07, the car was capable of eating a B07-equipped Delta 88 and a lot of the other brands for lunch.
As such, the Cutlass did well in police competition and was purchased by many law enforcement agencies during the year. After that, though, it was mostly just another check box on the order form. Had the GTO never arrived, it would have just been a tough, hard-working car that one might have seen with a red bubble light on the roof in many cities and towns.
When Pontiac’s bad boy midsize arrived, rather than yawn and pass as everyone else did, Olds saw the press the big-engined Tempest was getting and thought that it should try to shove some energy into its sales by competing in this market. Believe it or not, the big old 394-inch engine was considered, but it was just too heavy, and the car was considered dangerous to many in management “with all that power.”
Dale Smith of Olds engineering said that in preparation for a product planning meeting, engineering was about to do the “wait ’til next year” move and pass on any competitor for the GTO. But someone suggested that they could offer the B07 option and give it some snazzy name and that same hot four-speed transmission that all those GTOs were coming down the line with. Rather than appear empty-handed at the meeting, they threw the idea on the table. At first the car was going to be called the B07 Cutlass, but someone suggested that “Body Odor Seven” might not catch on with kids. How it came to be named 4-4-2 is a complete story in itself, but at least we should all remember that in 1964 it stood for three of what the marketing team thought were the hottest pieces on the car: its four-barrel carb, four-speed trans, and dual exhausts. OK, even a year or two later those items were ho-hum, but back in 1964 they were performance clues. A neat 4-4-2 emblem was designed and was to be attached to the front fenders and trunk-and that was as far as they went with any external cues.
Unlike Pontiac, which only delivered the GTO in coupe, hardtop, and convertible versions, Olds made the ’64 4-4-2 available in everything except the station wagon, which could not be fitted with some of the handling pieces. The original ad, "Put this one on your wanted list-Oldsmobile 4-4-2” even features a four-door police car!
No brochure was ever made for the ’64 4-4-2. The only thing the salespeople had to work with was a product selling bulletin labeled "A hot new number-Olds 4-4-2.” The tagline was, “Police needed it... Olds built it... pursuit proved it.”
By the time the cars were in the pipeline, the model run was half-over, and frankly the car might have faded into oblivion. But Motor Trend got its hands on one. The test didn’t run in the magazine until September, when the editors absolutely raved about it. “The F-85 Cutlass 4-4-2 is quite an automobile,” they wrote. “So, we’ll have to give the 4-4-2 a pretty enthusiastic send-off.” The result was that all 2,999 4-4-2s built were sold. Olds was committed.
And when buyers carrying the Motor Trend article appeared in showrooms that fall, guess what? A new 4-4-2 awaited. This one, labeled 400 ci, four-barrel carb, and dual exhausts, was a true muscle machine. Almost 10 times as many 4-4-2s left the showroom in 1965 as in 1964, and 4-4-2s would be available all the way until 1978-returning once again in 1985-1988-making it the longest-running muscle car nameplate in the entire industry. Many, many people ended up putting this one on their wanted list.
Thanks Muscle Car Review for this article.
