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Jon69 · 03-19-2008, 02:26 PM

When I was 16 the brother of a friend of mine was a small time car dealer in my home town. I drove my supped up 71 Chevelle over to my friends one day when the brother was home visiting. He had driven a cherry red 69 442 convertible that day. As much as I loved my Chevy, I immediately fell more in love with the lines on that 442. I studied them in my high schools library, looked at all the wheel deal mags, searching for the 442 that should be mine. But as a 16 year old high school student my resources were limited, and in those days.... well let’s just say the internet wasn't an option. I never really found anything that was just right, well I did, but they were all gems well beyond my meager after school grocery carrying paycheck.

Life went on, I went to college, accumulated debt with student loans, but I always had my eye out for the diamond in the rough 442. Years later I’d more or less given up on ever being able to own one. I was in at a friend’s house in Omaha NE (I live in Lincoln) and was looking at the classified ads over breakfast on a Sunday morning when I saw a listing for a 69 Cutlass Convertible for sale!

I called the guy, drove over and checked it out. The car was nice, gold with a new black top, bucket seats, clean two barrel 350 under the hood. But it wasn’t a 442! It wasn’t “perfect”! So I told him that I’d think about it, and went back to Lincoln.
I was older, more laid back. Did I need a 4 barrel carb? Did the 442 emblems on the side make that much difference? Sure there were other things that a 442 would have that this car didn’t. Certainly it was not as rare as a 442 would be.

But in the end I decided those things didn’t matter. I called him up and made him an offer, he took it. I picked up the car a few days later
I had a junker 78 Cutlass Supreme that I used for my daily driver and kept the Convertible in the garage. I drove it for years, fixing bits and pieces here and there, including rebuilding the Rocket 350 (still only 30K on that rebuild).

I’ve had the car for almost 20 years. It’s a little rough around the edges now. It went into storage for several years during my disastrous marriage. The marriage is gone, so the car is back out of storage and I’m anxious to get things fixed up and put it back on the road.

Jon
1969 Cutlass S Convertible
(sorry, no pics. Maybe after the new paint job I'll edit my post.)

03-19-2008, 02:26 PM	#15 (permalink)
Jon69 Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 4	When I was 16 the brother of a friend of mine was a small time car dealer in my home town. I drove my supped up 71 Chevelle over to my friends one day when the brother was home visiting. He had driven a cherry red 69 442 convertible that day. As much as I loved my Chevy, I immediately fell more in love with the lines on that 442. I studied them in my high schools library, looked at all the wheel deal mags, searching for the 442 that should be mine. But as a 16 year old high school student my resources were limited, and in those days.... well let’s just say the internet wasn't an option. I never really found anything that was just right, well I did, but they were all gems well beyond my meager after school grocery carrying paycheck. Life went on, I went to college, accumulated debt with student loans, but I always had my eye out for the diamond in the rough 442. Years later I’d more or less given up on ever being able to own one. I was in at a friend’s house in Omaha NE (I live in Lincoln) and was looking at the classified ads over breakfast on a Sunday morning when I saw a listing for a 69 Cutlass Convertible for sale! I called the guy, drove over and checked it out. The car was nice, gold with a new black top, bucket seats, clean two barrel 350 under the hood. But it wasn’t a 442! It wasn’t “perfect”! So I told him that I’d think about it, and went back to Lincoln. I was older, more laid back. Did I need a 4 barrel carb? Did the 442 emblems on the side make that much difference? Sure there were other things that a 442 would have that this car didn’t. Certainly it was not as rare as a 442 would be. But in the end I decided those things didn’t matter. I called him up and made him an offer, he took it. I picked up the car a few days later I had a junker 78 Cutlass Supreme that I used for my daily driver and kept the Convertible in the garage. I drove it for years, fixing bits and pieces here and there, including rebuilding the Rocket 350 (still only 30K on that rebuild). I’ve had the car for almost 20 years. It’s a little rough around the edges now. It went into storage for several years during my disastrous marriage. The marriage is gone, so the car is back out of storage and I’m anxious to get things fixed up and put it back on the road. Jon 1969 Cutlass S Convertible (sorry, no pics. Maybe after the new paint job I'll edit my post.)