OK, I'll bite. I heard there was an Oldsmobile (car) burried at the base of the hill...

From what I hear.........the first vehicle that made it to the top had a Oldsmobile motor in it.

Along time ago there was an old Olds' at the bottom that someone abandoned after getting it in there.

Thats the speil I always favored.

I think it had somthing to do with needing a V8 to climb it years ago or that Cadilac was alreadt taken.

Guess I didn't make the grade

I heard that it is because the first buggy to make it up the hill had an Oldsmobile engine.

^^^^^^^Ditto. Olds 455, if what my dad told me is true.

That's the most often-repeated answer. Word is, 'back in the day' that was all that would make it up that hill so the name stuck.

Vicki

Hmmmm.... well, in that case I am proud to have an Oldsmobile (shortstar) engine in my car. And yes, for those of you who didn't know, a shortstar is an Olds motor not a Cadillac!

damn the old faithful VW motor wasnt the first to crest the virgin peak of the hill?

Where is JD, he was probably there when it was named.

So along the same lines how did China Wall get it's name?
Was there ever a Cadillac Hill?

I don't know why its called Oldsmobile but when I first started going there back in early 70's my uncle and his group of duners called it Empire Hill.

From an old timer that has since passed on, A bunch of people were out there trying to climb it in the old VW(before there was a lot of hi-po parts) rails, and Waterpumper with a flathead ford, and no one made it more than 3/4 the way up, then along came a guy and cruised up it like it was nothing, he was running an Oldsmobile
Straight 8, and 4 rear tires, which were grooved airplane tires.

The only other version I have heard that I would believe is that the motor was an aluminum 215 olds/buick, the reason I don't believe the 455 story is that motor wasn't around till like 68 0r 69 and olds was already named by then. I asked my source once about the 215 story, as they were around in 61 and he said it was possible, but was almost sure the original hill champ was a straight 8.

Off on a tangent, this guy had some stories to tell, like how the (now abandoned, not the one still in use) Holtville military airstrip had a huge pile of aircraft tires that would be discarded, and they would drive out and steal them, then use a torch and piece of channel iron to groove out notches for traction. Apparently they used a wierd bead angle, so they would have to weld a plate with their cars bolt pattern into tractor rims to keep the aircraft tires seated. They used offset rims to "duelly" the rears.

A real good friend of my dads is and old-time duner, he told me the story goes; The was a bunch of cars trying to climb this hill, vw pan-rails, corvair buggies, and a few water pumpers, and no one could make it past 3/4 of the way up, then along comes a car with a Oldsmobile straight 8 and 4 rear tires and climbed the hill like nothing.

The only other version that I kinda believe is that the car had a 215 aluminum olds/buick motor. I don't believe the 455 stroy as those motors weren't arount till like 68 or 69, and the hill was named by then, I asked my dad's friend and he said he thought the hill was named before the 215 was around even, 1961 or so, and was almost positive the car that climbed the hill that day was running a straight 8.

Old's engines for years were the ones of choice, that has to be it.....

I've certainly heard the "An Olds car or an Olds motor was the first one up the hill." stories and have even had a guy in a water pumper tell me that his "Olds" was the one the hill was named for...



But, I've also heard tell that there used to be an old, burnt out Oldsmobile of some sort sitting at the bottom of the hill and that is how it got its name.



Naming of features is an interesting thing to me. I've actually tried to name a few myself. We'll see in ten years if they stick.



Speedy Corner - The area at the end of "Glamis Flats Road" right next to the dunes... a good camping spot.

Troll Hut - If I told ya, I'd have to kill ya... But if you ever find it, you'll know...

There is a Cadillac Hill on the Rubicon.

Great post but...

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I have heard it called Brawley slide. By folks local to Brawley of course.

who knows?

Brawley Slide is a different hill, hill 3 by BLM designation, I believe.

That's what I was thinking.

Yup, that's Hill three

I agree, I've always known it as the first vehicle to make it up was powered by an Oldsmobile engine. According to my father, he said it was ALSO known as "10 Grand Hill" cause you had to rev your engine to 10,000 RPM's to get up it...

When I was a kid, a few boy scout troops would convert Oldsmobiles to Dune Buggies, and they had help from some of the local Sand Clubs who did the same.

Oldsmobiles were powerful, and were cheaper, very common, and the BFD was something about the rear end.
Don't recall what the BFD was about the rear end,, perhaps lower screw numbers, and posi was more common, but don't hold me to that,, or anything,, But the Olds had advantages, and was cheap.

Two rims on each side of the rear would be welded together with a tire stretched over them making for a wider tire, or just two tires on each side.
2 radiators too.

Dick Cepec' was the first to introduce a true sand tire that I ever saw.
He contracted with Armstrong tires to produce them, and sold them right at the dunes.
His wife had the idea to hand out free catalogs and with the acceptance of Credit Cards, his legendary mail order biz took-off.
The Cepecs migrated to a tire store, and the rest was history.

Anyway, that's what I saw at the dunes.
Seemed to be everyone ran Oldsmobiles.

My friends and I bought cheap 1 millon candlepower aircraft landing lites from a Cessna supply store at Van Nuys Airport, and JC whitney made a $5 fixture for jeeps that held the lites perfectly and that's the first I saw of good lite-ing.