gaerte04

What is the earliest built 1970 442 and the earliest built 1970 W30 from the Lansing Michigan plant? What is the earliest known vin # and build date for 1970? Just wondering I guess.

wmachine

I can narrow it down for you a bit. The first '70 442 was made in August '69. The first '70 W30 was made in October '69, and they made 367 of them that month.

coltsneckbob

When was the first w-30 convertible made????

wmachine

The figures I have are by series, not model so I can't help you there.
Not before October, obviously!

m455sx

Kurt do you have a list of 442 vin#. I was wondering how someone can keep track of them. I was curious on my 442 convert. Delivery was 10/9/69 so i guess my car would be built a week before or 2 weeks i do not know the time frame of that. Also how long did the cars sit before being transported by rail.

Rocketbrian

Does anyone know what the typical production per day would be at Lansing? My 71 442 was built on August 31/70 and is the 3948 off the line, making it an early 71 442. Do you think that would have been during the first week of production? Being an early 71 it doesn't have any bumps on the fenders under the hood and has a glue on plastic moulding on the dash pad. Anybody have info on this? Thanks.

m455sx

It seems early to me, very unusual to find a 71 with out the bumps.

Rocketbrian

My 71 SX built in Arlington the first week of Dec 1970 also doesn't have the bumps. Probably using up older supply just after the strike was over.

gaerte04

Any guess what the first 70 442 vin would be for the august build date. Are there some In the first 10000 cars built from the Lansing plant? How may 442 where built that month and wonder how many are still around?

wmachine

for sure!
Including all plants, 816 442s were made in Aug and 2404 in Sept. I'm reasonably certain that the 816 were pretty close to all made in the last 2 weeks in the month, and more were Lansing cars than any other plant, because Lansing usually started first to "work out the bugs".

I was wondering how someone can keep track of them, too.
You don't have to guess. Your cowl tag has the week the body was made, and the final assembly was usually only a matter of days later.

Without knowing for sure, I'd say yes, that is possible. The figures I have say that through October, only 1166 442 were made (all plants). I'll know better once I get the earlier months from the GM Heritage Center.

Rocketbrian

Thanks, I'll look forward to the info after you receive it.

m455sx

my 442 cowl plate is 09E i guess 5th week in sept of 69?

m455sx

my paper says it was taken delivery 10/9/69

m455sx

bump

507OLDS

The ealiest-built 70 that I ever owned,was a 70 Cutlass 4-spd,built in Frammington,Mass.It was built in September/69.The block was cast in May.The latest car I ever had,was a Lansing-built 70 cutlass,that was built July/70.
The coolest VIN I ever had was my 71 convertible.The last 3 digits were 442.That car was built in June/71.

Mr Shifty Sidney

Rocketbrian
I sold a 71 442 to my friend. It is was built 5th week of Aug. It was built in Arlington, TX. Weird car. Bucket seats, column shift, manual drum brakes all around. It does have the flat fenders. I do not recall about the dash bead.

Don W

507OLDS

From what I have found,if the car came with the optional woodgrain around the radio section,and glovebox,then it did come with the chrome bead on the dashpad.

Rocketbrian

Interesting about the 08E. My 442's firewall tag indicates 08D, however, the small broadcast card says Aug 31/70, and the blue sticker on the door indicates Sept/70. As Monday the 31st, would be 08E, my 442s body must have been made near the end of the week of the 24th, probably the 28th or 29th, assembled on the 31st., and out the door on the 1st of Sept. How's that for over the top detail!
Good to hear confirmation about the flat fenders on another 71. Both my 71's don't have the bumps. Drum brakes, wow I thought my 442 was plain; I got a bench seat and wheel covers.

Agree, 507Olds. Something I never knew about 442's until I got mine, is that while a 442 is mostly based on a 442, the dash is trimmed like a Supreme, with the lower woodgrain and the dash bead molding. Also, 442's are suppose to come with the chrome backing plates behind the door armrests, again like a Supreme. Although, the guy on the line on Monday morning missed them on my car.
Do you still have a 70 -72 "S"/442 roof? Thanks.

507OLDS

I still have the roof.

stevengerard

according to this new shipping order i have for the W30 it says these are some of the options that were standard on a 442

D15 Delux interior decor
B01 Wood Grain Vinyl Inst. Panel Trim
B30 Wall to Wall Floor carpeting
B50 Foam Padded Front seat cushion (I never heard of that)
B80 Chrome roof drip Moldings

Rocketbrian

Thanks for the breakdown of codes for the 442. D15 must include the dash bead molding and chrome armrest backing plates.
In my last post I made the mistake of saying the 442 is mostly based on the 442, duh, should have been Cutlass "S". The roof drip rail chrome molding you list is one of the differences I found out as well; Cutlass "S" does not have a chrome roof drip rail molding, while a 442 does. Both get the molding if you have a vinyl top.

wmachine

"The devil is in the details". The Cutlass S does not have the B80 chrome roof drip rail standard. But in addition to having it come with the vinyl top, it is also available as option B80, and must be ordered with the chrome side window sill moldings (B85 on the Holiday Coupes and B90 on the Sports Coupes).

Paladin31

My 70 442 Serial# 4874 was Aug 13th (I think).

wmachine

By "Serial#" do you mean VIN? And where do you get Aug 13th from and can you confirm that?

Paladin31

344870M104874 Built 08B, 2nd Week of August, Don't recall why I came up with Aug 13th because it should be the 9th-14th. From Body tag 34487LAN208087

Paladin31

I say 9-14th, becasue Sat was the 1st that year, and I doubt they would consider that 08A (Aug1) and 08B (Aug2-8) 08C (Aug9-15).

cdoering

My 70 442 vin is 344670M142695 and the cowl tag shows LAN. The car was made on 09D.

How can I tell if this could have been a W30 or not?

thanks
Chris

m455sx

You pretty much have to have the window sticker to prove an W-30 and i believe they did not start building them until October. Can you please post pictures of your car.

wmachine

I would say *probably* not, but can't be absolutely positive. The first W30s were produced in October, but not (yet) known what day of the month they started. Your 09D cowl code was technically for the Fisher Body *body* build date, not the assembly line scheduled build date, which may or may not be close to the same. Lack of Lansing build sheets hamper research on the Lansing cars, but my JS1 (Kansas City) has an 11B body (In '64 that was the 9th-14th), and a 11/2/64 scheduled assembly build. So what does that tell us?
In Sept '69 There were also 2 days that could make a cowl date 09E. So the last cowl date for 09D is Sept 27, 3 days before the first production date in October.
So as has been often been said, this is not an exact science. And I'd say it is improbable that an 09D is a W30, I can't statistically eliminate it for sure.

cdoering

I will as soon as it gets done being restored

hurst68olds

Good deal! By then all the original details evidence will be lost!

BlackGold

The oldest 1970 W-30 I've seen (but only in pictures) had a Fisher Body build date of 10C and a VIN sequence number of 163xxx. It's a survivor and certainly looks legit, but I haven't seen official factory paperwork to prove it's a W-30.

In second place is my own W-30, with factory documentation, with a Fisher Body builld date of 10/21 and a VIN sequence number of 169xxx.

I also know of another W-30 built (Fisher) on 10/21 and one built on 10/22.

I'm not saying these were the first, because, like Kurt said, there were 367 W-30s built in October.

442mark

This is a very interesting thread. I've been wondering the same thing about my Fremont built 70 442 - how close is it to the 1st 70 442 built??? VIN is 3 4487 0Z 100850, Fisher tag is 00087 with tag date of 08E, so 5th week of Aug '69. The blue GM door jam decal is also still in place and says manufactured 9/69 and corresponding VIN. It's a (- -) paint code Rally Red car (now black), pearl bench seat, turbo 400, 3.23 posi and no A/C. Previous owner added a factory OAI hood.

Since it's a Fremont car, chances may be good I will find a build sheet. I've looked a bit in the interior, but only the easy to access areas thus far. If it's like my previous Fremont 70 442, the build sheet may very well be on top of the gas tank, fingers crossed. I didn't give the low vin # much thought when I bought the car several years ago, but now feel very fortunate to have one of what had to be in the first handful of 70 442's built, with the bonus that it still has it's matching number, born with drivetrain. The body is overall great with very minimal rust, even for a western car. I think it spent much of it's life in Calif. So to any of you wondering if there are any early built 70 442's still out there, here's one!

Thanks to all of you that chimed in to build this thread, it is very informative! I hope any info I've added can help as well.

Mark

BlackGold

Thanks for posting, Mark. That certainly is an early VIN. If it were a Lansing car, that sequence number is low enough that it might have been built on the very first day of production. I don't know if Fremont used the sequence numbers the same way.

sammy

My70 Cutlass Supreme is a Fremont built car, Vin 3 4257 OZ 100891, with tag date of 08E also. The GM door jam also says manufactured 9/69 and the build sheet that i found on top of gas tank that the scheduled date was august 29 1969.The Fisher Body number is 00449...Our cars were built pretty close(same week)
Thought this was interesting...not too sure if it has anything to do with initial poster"s question....

Also, it was delivered Sept. 5, 1969 to Calgary, Alberta CANADA
Ted

classicmuscle442

Have a 12C build date on a 344870M vin that has OW trans with matches vin and has W30 carb, dist, f heads. Engine cast is 396021F, but on the oil filter mount and the back of F head is 009-7-87. Anybody ever scene block stamping that match heads? The pad by #1 has L3E and underneath it 8401Y.

rand5204

This thread caused me to go back and look up some information on a couple of my cars. I recently sold a 70 442 Sport Coupe (Post) built in Fremont with a Fisher Body # of 00032 and a build date of 7D. This thread kind of confirms my suspicion at the time that it may have been one of the first, if not the first, 442 built there that year. It was Azure Blue with a white interior and a turbo 400. It showe evidence of having been raced at some point so any paperwork that may have been ibn the car was long gone from that period.
I also bought a '70 442 W30 in '72. It was an all Platinum car with a bench 4 speed and AM radio. It had a build date of 10/21 (from the broadcast card which I found inside the rear bench seat springs after 40 years of ownership. It was Fisher Body #269808

I regret selling both of them.

70-442-W30

Wanted to share what I found: The VIN I have is 166xxx. With the 10C.

lemoldsnut

My 70 442 4 speed car is vin ending 101149 with a build date of 09A Fremont car. Obviously not a W-30

70-442-W30

Also another tidbit of information on the car I wanted to share...the Original Titled date on it was 11-21-1969. So this may or may not be an October build. If it is a November build, that's still not bad, just not one of the first few hundred.