I love rare and different muscle car parts, especially intake manifolds. The rare ones are cool because they are the result of a factory effort to make more power and often times they were either offered as specials to race teams or they came into a car’s life at a weird time and were gone about as quickly as they showed up. Such was the case for the L69 option on Oldsmobiles in 1966.

Modeled after the Pontiac GTO’s famed “Tri-Power” setup, the three carbs are on a mechanical linkage that runs off the center first and then when the pedal is romped, all six barrels of goodness come into play. The 360hp rating that the triple carb Olds engines got matched the mighty GTO pound for pound in that department. Mechanically the engines that this induction ended up on were the same from the heads down. The same heads used on the Toronado were used under this intake and the camshaft was the more radical Olds grinds of the day. The optional intake cost about $300 bucks and was slated to be available for 1966 models.

When the option code hit the order sheets, the response was not exactly overwhelming. Only about 2,200 of them were ever sold before the 1967 model year brought an end to this triple carb’d fun. As of 1967, the only GM car that had triple carbs was the Corvette. The unsold intakes and carbs were shipped to dealers where they pedaled them to speed craving customers. We have no idea how may were sent to dealers, so the only real trackable number is the 2,200 that were factory installed.

Whether this is one of the factory installed intakes or the ones that were sent the dealer route, we’re not sure but it is cool, it is rare, and it is pricey.

Click here to see the eBay ad for this 1966 L69 Tri-Carb Olds intake

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