levig14

I have always been a die hard gm muscle guy, up until now i have only owned Chevelles and Camaros. However as luck would have it, i just happened on a chance to buy a 68 442. I only got a brief chance to look at it so far, so I will try to paint as good of picture of it as i can, until i can get some actual pictures. The car is a hard top, gold exterior, gold bucket seat interior. Console, with 4 speed. The car appears to be all original, complete, and un-molested. Owner says it has around 100,000 original miles, and has never been apart. It does have rust, bottom of fenders, lower quarters etc, however it isnt nearly as bad as several of the chevelles i have saved. The says he is 100% sure the engine, trans rearend etc are original. I was not able to open the trunk, but the original carpet is still inside the car and appears to be in decent shape, so i have high hopes the floors are in decent shape.

So here is where my questions start... where do i need to look for engine numbers, vin stamps, etc to make sure it truly is the correct engine, trans etc for the car.

Anybody have a ballpark idea what i should be able to buy this car for? The old man seemed pretty willing to sell, but did not really indicate what kind of money it would take. Thanks in advance, Levi

Octania

Start with the VIN visible in the dash, LH side, must start with "344..." or it's not a 442.

The Body Tag or cowl tag will be under the hood, and Lansing cars can be expected to have a "Cutlass" body tag even on a real 442, so if the car VIN was for example

344678M100123 = 68 442 Convertible

3 = Olds
_44 = 442 Series, first year separately noted in the VIN. 36= Cutlass, others also possible.
___67 = Convertible; other possibilities are 77 and 87
_____8 = 1968 Model year
______M = Build Plant, M= Lansing MI; , others also possible
_______100123 = an example of a sequential final six digits. Contrived for an example.

Then the body tag might say
33667 LAN 024
or similar

But if Canadian built the body tag probably has a huge
MADE IN CANADA
lettering and the body tag for plants other than "M" for Lansing might well be

34467 LAN 024

or similar.

Then look at the engine, front left corner. Find the huge "C" on the head. Just below that, on the block, below the head gasket, is a vertical wall into which the VIN derivative is stamped. The 4 digits of series and body style are omitted, so for this example,
38M100123
would be stamped there. Usually at an angle; they didn't care.

The same stamp "38M100123" will also be on the LH side of the trans, midway fore-aft in the pan gasket section, in the as-cast flat area just above the gasket.

That's good start. There's 100 more numbers you can look for of course.

oldcutlass

welcome to the site. I'll ad, pictures would be nice also.

levig14

Thanks for the replies. I hope the weather is acceptable this weekend and i can make it out to check the car out again.

levig14

So the plot thickens on this car... I tried several times over the last week to get in contact with the fellow that owns this car with no luck. Happened to bump in to his daughter yesterday, I guess he is back in jail for yet another DUI, and will likely be there for a year or more. However she did say she would ask him about the car when he called next time, which she thought would be this week. I guess i will have to be patient, which i am horrible at and see what happens.

rcorrigan5

If you get the opportunity, take a picture of the cowl tag and personally view and write down the VIN. Pictures of the car would also help people at this site in their assessments.


One of the books I use in going about looking at "numbers" for originality is Supercars Unlimited's pamphlet "4-4-2 By The Numbers". It's available at the Supercars web site (www.supercarsunlimited.com) and has most of the numbers you need in determining originality.


Hope the deal works well for you!

Randy C.