Beautiful '74 Grand Safari I snapped photos of at cruise tonight...

There must have been some overlap between, say, a top-line Caprice and a base Pontiac or Buick but within that, some options that in every case, were reserved for certain divisions to avoid total confusion.
I liked the way GM cars could be had in just about any engine/trim combination you could imagine. With Australian Holdens, you could have a base Holden Belmont (I'm talking about the seventies here) with a 253 or 308 V8 if you wanted a little more grunt but nothing else. Similarly, you could have a top-line Statesman with a humble 202 L6 if you just wanted to look good and not go fast, for instance, if you were retired.
Nowadays, if you want a bigger engine, you have to take lots of things with it you might not need. With my little Renault Clio for instance (a small French car that is very popular in Europe), I'd love the 106 hp diesel, but I don't need the fancy trim and alloy wheels that comes with it.

 

It's true, there is overlap between the different GM lineups (as well as Ford and Chrysler). For instance, the Olds 98 came standard with power windows, but power door locks were optional. It came with a 2-way power seat, but the 6-way power seat was optional. It came with A/C, but the "TempMatic" (auto-temp) was optional. Cornering lights were not standard, but were optional. All of those options were available on the Caprice, as well...so therefore, you could have a 1983 Caprice Classic with all the options (auto-temp, cornering lights (they offered them by that point), power everything) that was much more luxuriously equipped than a 1983 Oldsmobile 98 Regency with no additional options.

What I liked about that, even though I wasn't in the buying market at the time, was that you could pick the car that appealed to you and tailor it to your liking...adding the engine you need, plus the options you want. You really weren't limited to a particular model, just because you want certain options. But nowadays, if you want certain options, you are likely limited to only certain models or certain trim levels of a particular model.

 

The Nissan Maxima had them standard for a while (sometime in the 80's), but then they went optional (my friend's '99 doesn't have them)...then they went off the list altogether, then came back for a short time a few years ago and IIRC, they are off the list again. The Altima had them as an option. The Quest had them standard. I don't know if the new Quest has them as standard or optional. The Stanza had them as standard at one point, as well. The Toyota vans in the 80's had them on certain trim levels. Honda makes an aftermarket plug-n-play kit for their 90's Accords. Some Lexus models have/had them, but I'm not sure which models/years. I can't think of any European models, save SAAB, that had them.

I just realized...I need a hobby!!!

 

Yeah and it seems like the late 60s through mid 70s GM cars, especially the full-size models were all so differently optioned. I have had several and have really loved these cars and I have seen some wildly optioned cars over the years.

I have seen 1972 Cadillac Fleetwoods without tilt wheel option, but some base Calais with it.... I have seen 1972 Buick Electras without power windows or even A/C, but some standard LeSabres with this and even things like auto-climate control A/C. I have seen "loaded" 1971 Impala sedans with options like power windows, locks and even Comfortron A/C, but then even a 1971 Caprice sedan (late 1970 made model) with most all options, but it had a 3-speed manual on the column! That 73 Catalina I spoke of had only A/C and AM radio as the interior options, but outside, it had all options... cornering lights, bumper gaurds, side moldings, deluxe wheelcovers, vinyl top, etc.

Also, speaking of a nice Caprice/plain Catalina or LeSabre, yeah, GM offered certain options on some makes that were not offered on others. I have seen loaded Catalinas and low optioned Grand Villes... loaded Delta 88s and low optioned 98s... loaded LeSabres and low optioned Electras, but typically it was the other way around being the exception rather than the rule.

My old 72 Electra 4dr had most options, but it didnt have rear window defroster (with the actual wires in the window, which was rare on these cars and mostly reserved for northern cars) or power trunk release... however, I knew another guy that had one locally that had both of these options, but it didnt have cornering lights, bumper gaurds, or the rare finger-tip wiper control, all of which mine did have. I have seen higher end 72 Electra Limiteds, without vinyl tops, cornering lights, etc.

Also, my old 69 Caprice sedan had the 396, hideaway headlights, tilt, A/C, power windows, power door locks, vinyl top, power disc brakes, FM radio, light option group, brocade interior option, as well as more... however, I saw another (same color) that did NOT have a vinyl top, had drum front brakes rather than the optional discs, 350 engine, no tilt wheel, no power door locks, no power windows (which mine had), but it DID have cruise control, fender skirts, bumper gaurds and the warning light option, as well as the rare light monitor option, options mine did not have.

Now I have a 72 Caprice Estate with most of the popular options like A/C, tilt, 3rd seat, AM radio, luggage rack, (as well as the 402 and deluxe wheelcovers) etc, but I have seen a couple of these that did not even have A/C... both were Canadian cars though. One VERY RARE option on the 72 Caprice wagons was the upgraded brocade cloth interior option. I have only seen in advertised in the sales brochure, but have never personally seen another with it.

My 73 Grand Ville has power windows, power locks, tilt, AM radio, courtesy lights on doors, map lights, A/C, vinyl top, bumper gaurds/strips and custom interior option, but I have seen some Grand Villes with manual windows/locks, etc then some with FM radio, 8-track, cornering lights, cruise, power seat, power trunk, etc. While my car is nicely optioned, there are ALOT of options it lacks that were available on the 73 Grand Villes. One interesting GV I saw was one with power locks, but crank windows and it had the auto-climate control A/C.

Neat thing back then is you basically ordered what options you wanted.

 

Thanks for that... I didnt realize Nissan had bounced around like that with those options on the cornering lights.

 

The late 60's and all of the 70's was an option explosion for the car manufacturers - lots more stuff. You could also usually order a car almost any way you wanted it, and by 72KE's observations, there were quite a few who had some peculiar ideas.

I've got a feeling that this may have been a mid-western phenomenon. Living in California, I don't recall seeing many of those wierd-optioned vehicles, and I was attuned to checking those things out. Did a lot of middle America order their cars from the factory? Did dealers stock those loaded Caprices with 3-on-the-tree? Out here on the left coast, most everyone bought cars from dealer stock. There were plenty of dealers, and plenty of stock to pick from. If your local dealer didn't have what you wanted, he'd get it from the dealer in the next town.

Nowadays, manufacturers don't offer that kind of flexibility. Options for the most part are either part of a trim-line group ("SE" or "SEL", etc.) or part of an option package. You get it all - or none of it.

I seem to recall some statistic that you could order a '70 Chevy Impala in about a million different combinations - color, options, etc. Variability causes complexity. Complexity causes errors. The Japanese simplified things.

 

In the early 80's, my dad retired from the USAF and before he got a job with US Civil Service, he went to work for the local Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership for a few months. It seemed that they did not do a whole lot of special ordering at that time or perhaps it was just at that dealership (in SE New Mexico). Most people just selected from what the dealer had in stock. I don't remember seeing many cars that were "oddly" optioned.

I have brochures from 1994 Oldsmobiles that point out the fact that they have made the optioning process simpler by having 2 or 3 option packages that include certain popular options. It seems they took what the majority of people would want and made a series of option levels, each one including the lower level, plus a few options more. I can see how it can really simplify the manufacturing process, leaving little room for mistakes.

I just think about my Grandfather in all of this. He was used to driving Chrysler Town & Country wagons (my mom said they had several as she was growing up)...but later, he stopped because he wanted a manual transmission. He liked the luxury of the car, but he wanted to shift gears when he wanted to..."not when some a$$hole in Detroit wants me to". But he couldn't order the car he wanted with a manual transmission. After that, he was stuck with a Dodge Aries K, followed by a Dodge Daytona (or something like it), a Toyota Tercel, then a Ford Escort...all so he could have his manual transmission. He had to give up the luxury for the manual transmission. Oh, how he complained about that!

 

Yeah, it seemed like alot more options came around in the late 60s and were being offered on more cars, but I have seen some late 50s and early 60s cars optioned a little differently as well, but most were pretty consistant way back then. My grandpa has a '55 Cadillac with power windows and NO A/C, but he has a friend with a '55 Caddy with factory A/C, but manual crank windows! lol.

As you mention, those oddly optioned cars in the 60s/70s may have been regional thing... out west where you are, it may have been more consistant. I was not born until 1976, so I was not really around or old enough, but from what it appears to me is that there were cars already on the lots with random options, but I guess one could special order with what options they wanted... and with long option lists and with most everything being an option back then, it made for alot of differently configured (optioned) cars.

Seems like alot of these I have seen without A/C (early 70s large cars) were northern USA cars, OR Canadian cars. Most southern cars had A/C in the late 60s/early 70s... now its standard on most all cars and all sizes.

As Krash mentioned, I think it was the exception that a car like a 71 Caprice to have a manual transmission. I am sure that was a special ordered car. On the early 71 GM cars (made in late 70), 3-speed manual was standard even on cars like the Olds Delta 88 / Delta 88 Royale, Buick LeSabre / Centurion and Pontiac Catalina / Bonneville / Grand Ville, as well as the Chevrolet Biscayne / Bel-Air / Impala / Caprice, but it was rare - very rare on some, maybe not as rare as the Biscayne, but starting in mid 71, automatic became standard on the big GM cars with V8 engines, which covered most of them. I think even 6-cylinders were in some of the early 71 LeSabres. I once saw these cars... a 71 LeSabre sedan with a 250 I6 and 3-speed manual! Remember that 1972 Buick Estate Wagon on ebay awhile back that had NO options? Not even A/C or a radio.

I once had a list of some Buicks and Pontiacs. Something like 30 Catalina wagons in 1971 had a 3-speed manual, 70 Catalina sedans/coupes were, 13 Bonnevilles had manual shift and three 1971 luxurious Pontiac Grand Villes were three speed manual shift. That would be a sight to see!

Like Krash said... its all about option packages now.

 

My Dad was a Cadillac dealer in the 70s and 80s and I did a lot of the ordering, and at the beginning, everything was a la carte.

Late 70s, packages started, but we had some strange cars...very few, but some.

Fortunately, I could not make a mistake with trans (auto was standard) or A/C or p/w and p/locks, but you had to be careful with colors (trust me, I remember an aqua Seville with red leather oops ... but it sold!)

Tilt was an option, as was cruise.

I would say 20% of our customers special ordered. Dealer trades were rare back then.

Later, in the 80s, I worked for Ford's PR firm and ordered about 500 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys a year for studio work cars and product placement for TV and movies (actual picture cars - Dallas, Dynasty, Knot's Landing)

I loaded those Country Squires and Colony Parks up.

Wonder how many of those wound up within this membership.

Would have been 81 82 83s

 

Ah, no wonder; of all the GM "branches", Chevrolet is the one with which I am most familiar, hence my ignorance on the cornering lamps pre-1977. I remember my dad's '83 had them.

 

I think I saw that one for sale on eBay!

Just kidding...but I have seen some pretty strange combinations (not including the "compati-color" option that Olds had about 1977). But it's kinda cool that if you wanted to have an aqua Seville with red leather seating, you could have it.

Now I'm intrigued, did you have to discount the Seville to sell it or did it sell rather easily?

 

Yeah, like you said- by the late 70s, there were more option packages, rather than individual options.

You may know... the "non-special" ordered cars - who picked which new cars on the lot had what options? Did they seem to mix up certain options on different cars? I have seen so many different optioned cars of the early 70s... especially the big GM cars.

I had a 72 Cadillac Sedan DeVille and I am a huge fan of the 1971-73 Cadillacs. Seems like from what I can see, things like tilt and cruise were optional on all, even the big Fleetwood sedan, which was one of the most expensive production cars back then. Vinyl top was optional on DeVille, but most were so equipped. How I would love to have another 1972 Cadillac DeVille or even a Fleetwood. My first car was a blue 72 Sedan DeVille. Did you work there in 1972? Mine was a dark blue car (and I have only seen one other that color), with black vinyl top. There is one for sale now in Atlanta (on Craigslist) for $5500, but I cant afford it. I would probably even trade my 72' Caprice wagon for it! and I would hate to give that up.

*Thats interesting to about ordering cars for shows like Dallas. My mom was a huge Dallas fan when the shows were new... when I got older, I remembered some of them and started watching the reruns and got hooked, so I watch them now. I remember those FMC cars you mentioned. I remember in the early years that "Sue Ellen" had the fancy Colony Park wagon and "Jock" had the big Lincoln Mark V... then there were all of the other cars on the show like Cadillacs and Mercedes. I think Sue Ellen got a Mercedes wagon in 1982, but all through the shows run, someone always had a new Lincoln, Mercedes, BMW or Cadillac. I remember in the 1987 season, "Lisa Alden" had a brand new Mercury Sable sedan. Neat that you ordered those Fords/Lincolns for the show.

I remember that Knots Landing had some Country Squires too didnt they, as well as some Fairmont wagons?

 

I know this should probably go under the TV section, but when I saw something about Knots Landing, I couldn't resist...I was just thinking about this show the other day.

The first few seasons of Knots Landing featured a Ford dealership that was owned by the Fairgate family. Karen Fairgate drove a Colony Park, Abby Fairgate, the owner's sister, drove a Fairmont wagon, and later on, around 87, Valene Ewing drove a loaded Sable wagon.

As the show went on...it was on for 14 years!...the characters all became much more affuent, and the cars chosen for them reflected that.

Damn, I miss that show!

 

Yeah, as mentioned above, I remember those Ford wagons on the show... especially the mid 80s episodes. One of my dads friend had a then nearly new 1983 Ford Fairmont wagon. I remember dad had to borrow it one time and I remember getting in it, acting like I was driving and acting like I was on Knots Landing! lol. I was only about 9 years old, but my mom watched the show and I still remembered the cars.

 

There were something like 625,000 Fairmonts built during the whole run. I wonder how many people never got into one. Even beat the Mustang production volumes until the Fairmonts faded into history (Aussie Fairmonts not included.)