[north]

Just hit 500 complete PHS's in my collection (I have another 50 or so that are not legible or incomplete) and took the chance to review option take rates, so far here are the rare ones;

none out of 500 cars;
two tone with special paint color
economy and performance axles (only offered with 2 bbl cars, do not confuse with special order axle)
Instant aire pump

1% or less;
Custom hubcap-0.2% (surprising since it was a nice looking cap and the deluxe cap is about 16% of non judges)
self regulating alternator-0.2%
rear shoulder belt -0.4%
shoulder belt front without deluxe belts-0.4% (this was a convertible only option)
power bench seat-0.4% (benches are about 6% of all my PHS's)
Space saver spare-0.4%
Power flow vents-0.6%
Heavy duty flex fan-0.6% (this was a heavier duty version of the regular flex fan seen on non AC cars)
Safegaurd speedo-0.8% (includes low fuel light)
Arctic wipers-0.8%
HD fan clutch-1.0% (seems to be the option of adding the clutching fan seen on AC cars onto a non AC car, the one I saw in person had the AC pulley sizes as well to speed up the water pump)
Spare tire cover-1.0%

BTW, the most common option is the AM radio (86.4% and 2.6% with no radio option) with power steering a close second (82.2%) and third being a console (77.0%) and forth power disc brakes (69.2%). no other options cracked 50%.

[Andretti]

So did you input to a spreadsheet and calculate or do this manually? That's some pretty neat stat's.

[north]

I have them all in a giant excel spreadsheet, really should be in a database but that's beyond my programming skills

[north]

My mind has been in a mathematical mood of late, I was trying to figure out what I needed to redo a steering column in my parts book and calculated that just in 1969 Tempests you had 225 different assembled steering columns ( including colors and steering wheels). That and the above low option rates makes you appreciate why cars today come with so much less choices

[BUQUICK]

Hey John,
Cool info. Thanks for sharing it.

Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a scan of the PHS for my '69 GTO so you can have 501. I think I might have the most common '69 GTO ever built (350hp, auto, AM radio, PS, console, disc brakes, hubcaps, etc.)

[andyg]

A question, what the heck are "arctic wipers"?

[north]

Winter wipers, problem was that the option cost more than buying them at the dealer, but if you bought them at the dealer you'd still have the summer wipers also, unlike with the factory option

[Jack Peters]

Usually, arctic wiper blades, are fully enclosed in a rubber boot so they don't freeze at an angle and stay flat (flatter than non arctic) and are able to wipe the entire window instead of only wiping on the ends. Don't really work in severe cold. Also if there is a slight hole then they freeze anyhow.

Used them all the time when I lived in AK (27 1/2 years). Even bought some for a couple of winters here in WA.

[north]

Thought I'd revive this old thread, I'm now well over 750 69 GTO PHS's.

Here are the only 4 options I don't have an example of yet:

STT-two tone special: While I have several cars that had two tone and several with extra cost paint none have this option which is both on one car, at $155.87 it's not likely many were ever ordered.

364 & 368-economy and performance axle ratios: while I have 60 examples with special order axles (mostly 3.90 and 4.33 but also some 3.08's) I have never seen a 69 PHS with either 364 or 368. Most likely this is because only the 2bbl 400 engine could be had with these axle options

694-Instant-Aire pump: This option is quite rare in general but especially so on the GTO, Instant-Aire wasn't offered with Ram Air systems but also wasn't available on base engine GTO's due to interference from the dual snorkel air cleaner so like the above axles it was only offered on GTO's that were also ordered with the 400-2bbl ecomomy engine.

There is one option I only have one example of:

634-Superlift shocks: This one surprises me, you'd think there would be more of this option, perhaps there was a production problem?

then there are a few more very low volume options:

438-shoulder straps Standard: I have 2 examples of this odd option, it was a convertible only option that supplied shoulder belts without being deluxe belts. It was $23.17 versus deluxe belts with shoulder at $36.86.

561-power notch back seat: I have 2 examples of this option, power seat was rare to begin with but the bench seat is under 5% of my PHS's so not surprising that the power version is rare

622-HD springs & shocks: don't confuse this option with the much more common 621 Ride & Handling option. Both of these cars also had 642-trailer provisions (which was basically wiring provisions and a HD flasher solenoid). I suspect they could only be ordered together.

704-Space Saver Spare: Only 2 of these guys, again a bit surprising given that they were standard on 69 Firebird for 3 years and heavily promoted.

452-Custom Wheel cover: Another surprisingly rare option (3 examples), not to be confused with the very popular 451-Deluxe cap. This cap was more expensive than the deluxe but much larger and nicer, like a poor mans RII at under half the cost.

442-Safegard Speedo: 4 of these round out the under 5 examples list. This option was basically a speed warning buzzer, it couldn't be ordered with rally gauges, very rare on GTO's but somewhat common on big cars

[1969 Ram Air]

My Expresso Brown 69 hardtop had a two barrel engine, power bench seat, PS, PDB and power windows. I wish I had kept that one.

[ged2227]

It's interesting when you compare the 69 GTO to the 69 Buick GS. I have seen a BUNCH of power benches, speed alerts (safeguard speedo), and wheel covers in the Buicks.. Far fewer power disc brakes and consoles.. although the AM radio is probably similar...

[GOAT WHORE]

Thanks for the update North, love this stuff!

[Brewster]

Very cool information, thanks for sharing!

[4zpeed]

A genealogy tree for the 69 Goats, awesome job North!

I have a 68 but very much appreciate the time invested along with your efforts to share it with others as it is highly useful, valued and intriguing information.

My 68 has a bench seat with standard shift, I often wondered how many of these were produced.

You stated bench seats made up less than 5% of your PHS's, I was wondering if you could tell me how much of that 5% where standard shift cars.

Be nice if there was a (Sticky for Relative Information) on this as well as other pages, with a link to threads such as this by Rocky http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...94608#poststop and yours.

People could benefit as well as possibly contribute to the tree, in your case via a PHS.

Fantastic thread North.



Thanks,
Frank

[300deluxe]

My friend has a 69 Judge with a column shift auto...with bucket seats...that must be rare.

[muscle_collector]

I sold a 69 judge convertible a few years ago that was a bench seat column shift auto car

[Brewster]

What was the color combo and how did the phs state seat pkg?

[red1975pacer]

Just curious, what was the rarest color? If I was to guess, I would say champagne.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Here's an idea of whay my rare 69 bird had From FACTORY options (yes i soldit):

Protecto-Plate
Deluxe interior, with delux seatbelts
Leather interior
Koni adj shocks (4)
PS cooler.
Walnut 4-speed knob, with Sprint 4-speed combo.
foot pedal delete stainless trim.
AM/FM with rear speaker fade/balance knob.
Sawtooth gauges,....and in-dash tach
Woodgrain dash.

Compact Spare tire on a Rally II, with the GM inflator, soft case to contain the jack and dispenser.
Soft-Ray Tinted windows (non-AC car)
Left the non-rare options off: PS,PDB, Posi, Custom limelight green paint(rare?), Woodwheel, Rally IIs, HD ride pkg, HD radiator. X-Cross Vent balls in dash(rare?)

Dealer-installed Color-coordinated underdash-AC at time of being a new car.

Know itsa not a 69 GTO...but a Unicorn?

---------------------------------------------------
Rare options to think upon (are they 1969?); his/her map light, low fuel warning with Speedo-Alert.

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by Brewster

What was the color combo and how did the phs state seat pkg?

carousel red black black phs showed turbo hydro with no console which gives column shift and then the interior code designated bench seat in black