1988 pace car replica convertable

[Crazy K]

sparked from a post discussing NOS cars (never driven and still 'brand new')

Regarding a rare 1988 CS pace car replica vert. 727 miles

http://www.mypacecar.net/

this is an awesome car, although I'd rather have the actual pace car's interior!

 

a little more info, courtesy of:

Thanks for the interest. I will miss this car as it has certainly been a great project to research. It looks quite likely that it will go to the Barrett Jackson Auction in West Palm Beach.

 

P.Knobloch

 

and something Someone brought up

 

Cool, a rare pic of the HUD-only UB3 cluster (sans the speedo digits)!

You mean that on the regular cutlass UB3's you cant turn off the speedo digits :? You can turn off the digits, or the bar graph on the regal ones :?

so the UB3 with HUD in 88 doesn't have show your speed since it is on the HUD? anyone have more info? and is this 1988 only?

 

also... check out that sweet 727, with no digits on the left. which leads to a dumbass question.... If I drive my vert over 1,000,000 miles, will it register zeros on the left?

[fastbird232]

Maybe it would just get stuck on 9999999? Or WTF?

[Regal_GS_1989]

If I drive my vert over 1,000,000 miles, will it register zeros on the left?

 

I can't really say what the cutlass will do, but on my regal, the odometer rolls over after 199999 miles and kilometers. when it rolls over, it shows just 0, and there is a little block that lights up.

[Crazy K]

If I drive my vert over 1,000,000 miles, will it register zeros on the left?

 

I can't really say what the cutlass will do, but on my regal, the odometer rolls over after 199999 miles and kilometers. when it rolls over, it shows just 0, and there is a little block that lights up.

that sucks!!!! show us a pic???

[Regal_GS_1989]

Sorry bout the dash being dim, but it takes a while to light up fully when its cold

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NDLM/100_2696.jpg

 

You can see the block lit up next to the word MILES. And that is showing 240 xxx miles.

[TeeJay3800]

Cool, a rare pic of the HUD-only UB3 cluster (sans the speedo digits)!

You mean that on the regular cutlass UB3's you cant turn off the speedo digits :? You can turn off the digits, or the bar graph on the regal ones :?

so the UB3 with HUD in 88 doesn't have show your speed since it is on the HUD? anyone have more info? and is this 1988 only?

The only car that HUD was available on in '88 were the pace car replica convertibles. IIRC from '89-'91 (only years HUD and UB3 were available at the same time), the speedo digits were removed so they wouldn't be duplicated on the dash AND on the windshield. However, some cars (like Shaun's '91) had HUD added by the owner, and since it didn't come from the factory with HUD, will have speedo digits in BOTH places.

 

I know Brian P knows all about this, so hopefully he will clarify here.

[Crazy K]

my 91 cs vert has both, because I added the HUD but then again, it is a stationary vehicle needing a transmission, so I've enjoyed alot of twin '0's.

[Dirty Rockstar]

That's Cool.. So, how difficult/rare is a UB3 without the speedo digits? Because the only thing I don't like about my UB3 is the fact it has the digits on it.. I would like to have them removed..

[Brian P]

just like it was said above. Factory HUD equipped cars with that cluster had the readout deleted. Early models pre '90 you could still see where the digits would light up. I saw a '91 cluster with the digit spots completely removed.

[DaveFromColorado]

I remember being at that race in 88 I was 9 years old (almost 10) - I'm gonna have to dig through my pictures tho, I don't believe there was HUD on the pace cars - but I do know all had turbocharged Quad-4 engines. That was when I became a W-body fan.

 

Altho, 91 was the coolest year, with the Viper making is way to the track (Because the stealth was built in Japan - they didn't want a foriegn car on the track) but (can't remmeber his name) was never invited back to drive a pace car on the indy track, after comming off of turn 4 at over 191 MPH in the Viper ...

 

it was awesome to see the pacecar could run that fast tho... that's the only reason I'd ever own a Viper.

 

--Dave.

[Bossman429]

Looking at the pics in my Indy 500 Pace Cars book, some of the pace cars had HUD, others didn't. In one pic of the 88 pace car in front of the 1949 Rocket 88 pace car, you can clearly see that there is no HUD unit on the dash.

However, on another picture of Chuck Yeager (driver that year) standing next to the car, you can clearly see a HUD unit on top of the dash.

The book also has a ditty that says "Inside there were black leather seats with red piping. Oldsmobile also installed a Heads Up Display (HUD)."

 

Carroll Shelby drove the Viper in 1991.

[Bossman429]

Searched Google and found this:

http://www.w-body.com/pace-car/

In those 2 pics you can see that the HUD isn't there.

Now I'll have to find the pic of Yeager standing next to the pace car.

[ToroToro]

In my special advertising section "Fast Company", the car doesn't have HUD either. Although it states on the same page: "The five official pace cars, and 50 replica convertibles are the first production cars to have a HUD developed by Hughes and Delco.."

 

And if you follow the link on that w-body page, the pictures of the pace car in the museum has a HUD.

[DaveFromColorado]

Carroll Shelby drove the Viper in 1991.

 

Thankyou, I felt so stupid for not bein' able to remember his name, and I didn't just wanna google it. LOL

 

--Dave.

[RareGMFan]

this is an awesome car, although I'd rather have the actual pace car's interior!

 

The pace car interior looked wicked. GM falls short again on the.."production" model, if you can call 50 made regular production.

[mfewtrail]

I just snagged one of these http://www.w-body.com/gallery/pics/1988indypacecar.jpg off of ebay since it was only a few $'s..if anything new is in it, I'll scan it and throw it in the official magazine article post here.

[Crazy K]

I'd move to georgia to see that first hand! post them pics!!!

[DaveFromColorado]

that's right outta the Indy 500 program... I've got one of those.. (for every year since '79 ... even tho I only started goin' to the race in '88.)

 

--Dave.

[ToroToro]

I have that too. I pulled it out of a Motor Trend in the library.

 

I'll scan mine if he doesn't do his first.

[ToroToro]

Done.

 

http://www.w-body.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=495260

[Crazy K]

sent the owner a message, this is what i got back.

I am trying to find some of the same info on options used in the real pace car, and replica.

K,

 

Thanks for the compliments on the car! It has really been a great experience researching this vehicle and all the folklore / history that goes along with it.

 

The car will be coming out of storage in March-April (weather permitting in Erie, Penn). When it does I will take some closeups of the fog lamp switch, convertible top switch, HUD controls, and SPID tag.

 

The stability of the frame has always been an issue with the vehicle. In fact, Olds suggested this in the distribution paperwork to the original dealers when describing its 'Euro-Top' insisting that it not to be confused with a rollbar. It is my personal contention that this instability contributed to the recall as much or more than the water leaks.Eighteen years later it is also what makes the car that much more unique.

 

If you would let the chat board know that the vehicle will be prepped for sale this Spring or Summer. I will handle the sale personally. I was going to run it to Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale or Palm Beach but changed my mind. I think that it's important that the car go to a truly enthusiastic Olds owner rather than just a collector. If I can't find a good owner by the end of the summer I will do the B-J auction next January. I can be reached thru the Web page or direct to this e-mail.

 

Thanks again for your interest.

 

Paul Knobloch

And since I'm only an hour or two away, I replyed, that if he would even let anyone tour the car, even though I am not in the market, I would love to see it in person.

[GnatGoSplat]

just like it was said above. Factory HUD equipped cars with that cluster had the readout deleted. Early models pre '90 you could still see where the digits would light up. I saw a '91 cluster with the digit spots completely removed.

 

I have a 91 HUD cluster and the digits exist in the VFD glass, but they didn't light up.

Out of boredom, curiosity, or just plain nerdiness, I took the display board apart on an 89 cluster and the 91 HUD cluster. Everything looked identical at first glance, but then I noticed on the 91 HUD cluster, there were no traces from one of the driver chips to the pins on the glass panel. Using the 89 cluster as a guide, I soldered tiny wires from the driver chip to the glass panel. Turned it on, and voila! A functioning digital speedo! So electrically, everything is there. Just some copper traces omitted. Pretty stupid, IMO. I have no idea what the point was to blank out the digital part.

 

Something else interesting about the 91 HUD cluster is it has a special little daughterboard whose only purpose is to drive the low fuel indicator on the HUD.

[Crazy K]

You're such a nerd! j/k thats exactly my suspicion.

 

any chance you have pics of your said operation? including the daughter board for the fuel?

 

Here's my suspicion... they did not want dual digits... Because the HUD and cluster do not always sgree. some times they lag compared to each other.

[GnatGoSplat]

any chance you have pics of your said operation? including the daughter board for the fuel?

 

Took me a bit to remember them, but here are the pics:

 

The modification

 

The extra daughterboard