Rocket's Revenge

Lifelong Oldsmobile Enthusiast John Trial Builds His Dream Car

- Richard Prince

John Trial’s passion for Oldsmobile traces back to earliest childhood. “My father was an Olds man,” he explains. “His first new car was a 1961 Dynamic 88. I was hooked on Oldsmobiles early on, and there was no turning back.” Though Trial had owned several Olds 88s and 98s over the years, he never had what he really wanted: a 442. One day a friend who knew close to nothing about cars called to tell him about a really clean blue car for sale in the neighborhood that he would love. Trial wasn’t looking for another car and didn’t put much faith in his pal’s judgment, so he disregarded the advice. Two weeks later he was running errands with his wife when they drove past a super-clean blue Cutlass convertible. Both were impressed, and Trial realized this was probably the same car his friend told him about. It was, and it belonged to him the next day.

The Cutlass was as honest as they come, with nice paint over all original sheet metal, no rust anywhere, and a smooth-running, L73, 330ci, 310hp Jetfire Rocket V8. Factory options included Strato Bucket seats, power steering, Super Stock wheels, seatbelts, and tinted glass. “As clean and fun to drive as it was,” Trial says, “I knew that bigger plans lay ahead.” As often happens, those bigger plans evolved over time and had more than a few twists.

The first order of business was upping the car’s performance. Trial had JA Performance rebuild a Rocket 455 he happened to have sitting around. They stuffed the big-block full of good parts from Speed-Pro, Mondello, Edelbrock, Com Cams, and Crower. Moonlight Garage took care of the drivetrain, rebuilding the car’s Muncie four-speed and building a super-strong rear end using a Moser 12-bolt and Eaton Top Spec Posi carrier featuring 3.55:1 gears.