Have you ever been cruising down the highway in your ’66 GOAT and wished you had cruise control to help rest your tired right leg and foot? According to the seller who has a GM kit to do the job, this is a rarely seen option and has priced his wares accordingly. Located in Le Mars, Iowa, this not-quite-complete package is available here on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $2,000. Isn’t your right foot worth that much?
It’s not easy to dig up details on Pontiac’s cruise control from that era. There is at least one online reference that backs up the seller’s claim this early form of cruise control was operated by a knob on the left side of the dashboard rather than a stalk like on today’s cars. And it would fit all sorts of Pontiacs in 1966 and maybe other years depending how which bracket you used to hook it up to the carburetor.
This seller found this at an estate sale but really needs one for a 1967-72 set-up. We’re told some pieces are missing but the “rarest stuff is there.” The bracket for the 4-barrel carburetor is gone but the one for the 2-barrel and Tri-Power (which are the same) is still there. The all-important switch is included along with the chrome washer, bezel, and harness. Those parts that are not there “can easily be made or found.” The seller is willing to part out the kit if you ask.
1st, “cruise control” kind of dates the author, it’s “Speed Control” now, and sorry, but the hobby has sunk to a new low, when mere accessories, NOS or not, bring this kind of money.( with pieces missing?) More classic car foolishness.
Since when has cruise control been called “speed control”? I don’t know what you drive, but GM still calls it “Cruise Control”. Optionally GM offers “Adaptive Cruise Control” and a self driving system called “Super Cruise”. Ford also calls theirs “Cruise Control”, along with “Adaptive Cruise Control” and “Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control” being available as options.
$2000 may be a lot for that system, but if it is overpriced, no one will buy it. How many are left, NOS or otherwise, and what’s that exclusivity worth? Maybe it’s not worth $2000 to you, but it might be to the next guy. If someone wants it, and can afford it, what should it matter to anyone else?
Apparently, it originally was called “speed control device” when invented in early 1900s as more of a “throttle lock” than anything. I’ve been in trucks that called it “speed control”, also known as cruise command, autocruise and tempomat( Wiki) Whatever you call it, it can be a very dangerous device. It’s like a house thermostat, once set, it tries to maintain that speed. If you fall asleep, you go off the road at full throttle.
I apologize for my remarks that may have offended anyone that makes their living bilking people like this. It’s pure greed, and ruins it for the rest of us. Clearly, it bothers me and I hope others too.
On the overpriced side there’s someone here selling a NOS steering wheel for a GTHO for 25000 Aussie. Nuts.
It’s worth what someone is willing to pay. I bought numerous OEM parts for 94 to 96 Impala SS knowing some day they will be valuable. Still.have them.
If I had a GTO, I would buy this option in a sec. I’ve never seen a cruise control on a GTO.
According to the seller it’s also compatible with fullsize Ponchos, but it’d be interesting to learn whether that intel is actually correct.
Now CC is one of those few options I really enjoy in modern vehicles and it’d probably also be a ‘nice-to-have’ item in my Safari. With that said it’s solely a bonus item in any 60s car and yet another thing that can break. At 2k(!) I think I should be able to use my right foot as I always have…
I would pay handsomely for a 1965 Pontiac full size cruise contrail if anyone has one!
I’d like to see a full size cruise contrail! Can you banish them with vinegar?
If you think this is pricey, click on the sellers other items, and get ready to fall out of your chair!!
I checked and am I glad I dont need this intake for a restoration,https://www.ebay.com/itm/114691723518?hash=item1ab428d0fe:g:u0cAAOSwTd9fd3Q9
Moosie,
Yikes! I guess I should have bought GTO Ram Air parts in the late 1970s and 1980s instead of investing in Rolls-Royce and pre-war Packard parts!
I would imagine Nunzi is familiar with that intake …
http://nunzipontiac.com/index.html
Contrary to the seller’s statement it’s missing some pretty key parts. Weren’t the control modules cable-driven with two shortened speedometer cables? One between transmission and module and another between the module and the speedometer. No cables, no control module, no stalk for the steering column. The vacuum throttle actuator and the fresh brackets and harness are nice if you already have a system on your car and want to replace them.
Great find and super rare. Didn’t know about the dash switch to engage cruise control. I spent years searching for a complete one for my 1968 Pontiac Le Mans. “I found it at Carlisle”for $350. It was used but nice and works. GM made it easy to locate the mounting bracket on the left inner fender well for the servo unit. Dimples are located exactly where the screws attach. Been to many Pontiac shows on the East Coast and Midwest and have have only seen about six 1967 -72 GTO’s with cruise. I have eleven extra servos. I also installed Pontiacs exclusive Instant-aire tire pump. It’s a weird vacuum operated pump that one attaches to a bracket mounted to the right cylinder head. Start the engine and the hose is long enough to inflate any tire including the spare. It’s a real head scratcher for first time viewers. It was a factory or dealer installed option from 1969 up to around 1973. Only seen three on cars.
Lemansguy1968,
Never seen the Pontiac Instant-aire pump. Is it a black cigar shaped unit with a cast pot-metal housing at one end where the pump was? I ask because I had a baby blue 1969 Eldorado with a tire inflating pump attached to the support rod from the center of the radiator support to the left side of the firewall. A vacuum line ran to the intake manifold. In the trunk was a vinyl bag with a 25′ black rubber air line, a tire fill valve at one end, and a quick disconnect fitting at the other end. Inside the bag was a tire gauge as well.
The Eldo had been bought brand new by a family member at Capitol Cadillac in Washington DC, and it was loaded with all the options. I’ve never seen another one with the tire pump.
Bill, interesting your Cadillac had one. That’s the first I’ve heard on any other GM car. My pump is black and all plastic. The hose is permanently attached. The pump came with a special bracket that allowed it to be stored on top of the spare tire. The wingnut held the clamp and pump in place. The hardest part in installing these pumps is having to remove the intake manifold to enlarge the hole for the larger vacuum hose fitting. Thanks for the information on the Caddy pump.
Lemansguy1968,
That side of my family was well-off financially thanks to a chain of newspapers, and always bought the most expensive 2-door Cadillacs at Capitol Cadillac. Your description of the Pontiac accessory suggests the Cadillac version is not the same. As I’ve never seen another one, I wouldn’t put it past Capitol Cadillac to have added non-GM accessories to boost their profit!
Their son-in-law [Howard] always owned Pontiacs, and had a close college buddy [W. L. King], owner of King Pontiac in Gaithersburg, MD. Mr. King always ordered 2 fully [and I mean FULLY] optioned Pontiacs every year for him and his wife. He drove 2-door cars, and the wife had station wagons. After the replacement new models came in for the Kings, Howard would usually buy one of the cars, usually the 2 door one year, and the wagon the next.
Howard bought Mr. Kings 1967 GTO [2-door post body], silver with black interior, and damn near every option possible. Then in 1968 he bought their Bonneville wagon, that car had 3 window stickers on the rear wagon side window due to the option list!
I ended up buying both of those cars in the 1980s, as his special deals with King stopped in 1968. I kept a lot of the wagon’s accessories when I stripped it due to severe rust problems, but the only items I still have are the twin GM blue blow-up air mattresses for the cargo area, never used. Sold the GTO about 1985, for a whopping $800, and even then it was a hard sell!
Since we ARE talking about cruise control for a GTO, it’s important to remember GM never sold a factory installed cruise control on a stick shift car, they were only available on vehicles with automatic transmissions.
I am assuming that somewhere on the paperwork are the words “Not for installation on a manual transmission vehicle”. The reason? If the car is running on cruise control and the clutch pedal is depressed, the cruise control only knows the car is slowing down, so it immediately increases the throttle to compensate, and within seconds the engine is exceeding the redline!
There is a work-around. All you need to do is add a brake light switch to the clutch pedal bracket, so before the clutch is depressed past the point where the clutch begins to uncouple [open], the cruise control will stop.
My best friend in high school had a beautiful maroon 1966 GTO coupe, tri-power/4 speed/posi rear, and the car had damn near every possible option. But of course it had stickshift, so no cruise control. He wanted cruise, so when we found a Catalina wagon in a junkyard with cruise, I pulled it out, every piece, even the hardware. As the wagon had a 2 barrel motor, the brackets fit on the GTO’s center carb. If I remember correctly, I did have to drill a hole in the bracket/support for the clutch pedal and install the brake switch from the Catalina, and run a jumper wire from the brake light switch to the new clutch pedal switch. But make sure the switches are in series, not parallel.
I had CC on my first new car. An Olds Calais with the Quad4 and 5 speed. Yes, I would occasionally hit the clutch without first disengaging the CC. It would definitely rev up but not uncontrollably so. The throttle actuator depends on engine vacuum, which drops a lot when you open the throttle, so it’s kind of self-compensating.
Since we ARE talking about cruise control for a GTO, it’s important to remember GM never sold a factory installed cruise control on a stick shift car, they were only available on vehicles with automatic transmissions.
I am assuming that somewhere on the paperwork are the words “Not for installation on a manual transmission vehicle”. The reason? If the car is running on cruise control and the clutch pedal is depressed, the cruise control only knows the car is slowing down, so it immediately increases the throttle to compensate, and within seconds the engine is exceeding the redline!
There is a work-around. All you need to do is add a brake light switch to the clutch pedal bracket, so before the clutch is depressed past the point where the clutch begins to uncouple [open], the cruise control will stop.
My best friend in high school had a beautiful maroon 1966 GTO coupe, tri-power/4 speed/posi rear, and the car had damn near every possible option. But of course it had stickshift, so no cruise control. He wanted cruise, so when we found a Catalina wagon in a junkyard with cruise, I pulled it out, every piece, even the hardware. As the wagon had a 2 barrel motor, the brackets fit on the GTO’s center carb. If I remember correctly, I did have to drill a hole in the bracket/support for the clutch pedal and install the brake switch from the Catalina, and run a jumper wire from the brake light switch to the new clutch pedal switch. But make sure the switches are in series, not parallel.
If you know how to drive you don’t need cruise control. I always thought it was kind of dangerous anyway since it lets you take some attention away from what you’re doing.
I think Cruise Control is a great safety device that gives me much more precise control over my car, and the best defense against speeding tickets. One just needs to know how to use it – I’m thinking of how to add one to my Cobra.
I found that many times when an NOS accessory kit survives this long is because parts were robbed decades ago to repair a car in the dealership. Sometimes a part was not available separately , and if it failed, you had to buy a kit . The tech would rob the parts he needed from the kit , and usually give the rest to the parts dept to hold on to , ” just in case” another part was needed for another car . Years later , during a clean out, or a dealership closes, and things like this pop up in a basement or back shelf. . Its possible that’s why this survived and is missing parts.
That’s the best explanation I’ve heard yet. Thanks for your insight.
I have always seen CC on automatic vehicles until I came across a recent find – that is a 1991 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, 5spd, with CC that works, and the switch is located on the steering column. There is a 1994 Mighty Max, 5spd, at the local UPull&Pay that has CC on it as well, but its switch is located on the left side on the dash. Both CCs on these pickups look to be optional or add ons; although, the one on this 91 looks factory as far as the column where you normally see them.
I had a five-speed manual Mitsubishi Spider with cruise control – there was a switch activated by the clutch pedal that disconnected it when changing gears but it automatically resumed when the shift was done. Worked quite well.