I need your help Olds experts. I am looking at possibly purchasing this 1971 442 that is for sale at Corvette Mike's in Carver, MA. I've always wanted a 442, it will be my first classic car, and I can't afford to screw up. Mike says he took it on trade. Anyone see any glaring problems? I know it has an OAI hood, but not the correct OAI air cleaner stuff. I verified that it does not have the original engine, but has a 1972 455 for reason's unknown to Mike. Still has "G" heads, supposedly. I'm not real pleased with the gap between the left front fender and the door towards the top. It looks a little too big. If you look at the picture of the underside of the left front frame horn in front of the attachment bracket for the sway bar, it looks a little wavy or ripply to me and the weld joint looks a bit different, rough, than the right front frame horn in that it doesn't look as smooth. Could that be evidence of the frame horn being damaged and repaired from an accident? Mike, the dealership owner, doesn't know whether the car was damaged in an accident or not, of course. I'm not real keen on buying from a dealer, but I haven't been able to find a car that fits the bill that is "for sale by owner" who has had the car for any length of time and knows their car well. By the way, I'm looking for a 1971 442 "S" hardtop with A/C specifically so that the lowered compression ratio that year of 8.5:1 will run decently well on the 91 octane (max) that we have here. I'm having the car inspected by an independent inspector/appraiser today because I'm too far away from the car to look at it easily, but I'm not sure whether I can even trust him or not. Yes, I'm skeptical a bit. I included the Corvette Mike website link but not pictures because I suck at uploading pictures, and there are too many. Thanks.

https://www.corvettemikenewengland.c...c40d4964703c4f

 

After a quick view (I will dig deeper later).

Drivers door has likely been moved and the rear is incorrect. Should be a 10 bolt not a 12.

Replaced engine is a bummer. As the engine is the key to real 442s... but I get it . 50 plus years etc ...

 

I don’t see anything on the frame that raises any flags, however, the W30 stripes aren’t correct, painted brake booster, POA valve, the exhaust hangers are gone, I hate the way it was hung, aftermarket gas tank, rusty bolts, etc. Paint looks good, would bring a magnet to check for bondo..
But, for 49 grand…no way.
my .02
Good luck!

 

Thanks. I'm now wondering what the rear end gear ratio is considering it's not the correct rear end. Also, I noticed that the rear lower control arms are not boxed. Did they quit boxing them for 1971? I believe the 1971 W30 models had boxed rear LCAs, but it seems like I read somewhere that the rear LCAs on the "71 442 were not boxed which seems weird since 442s always had them boxed in prior years, I believe.

 

Car looks nice. The rear control arms aren't boxed, should they be or not necessarily?

 

All ‘71 442’s had boxed lower control arms.

 

Here is a Chevelle whose owner is having a hard time getting it's door to realign.


I'm sure you can see the similarities.

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/do...t-gap.1166150/

And here starting with post #2 from our very own olds 307 and 403. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...estion-122079/

 

I don't see them in the pics. Am I missing them?

 

All 442s had the rear sway bar which necessitated the boxed rear lower control arms to prevent the arm from collapsing when you tightened the sway bar mounting bolts. As others noted, a superficially nice looking car but lots of incorrect stuff and a high price.

 

Yes, that is what I'm starting to think. I think I'm going to hold off on the purchase due to too many things being incorrect.

 

It'll sell, and probably fairly close to Mike's price. Just not to an Olds guy.

 

He is asking strong money for that car.

 

Corvette Mike knows what he's doing. He's aware of the demographic shift in the market that has people who know little about these cars and care even less about "correctness" coming up with the money to pay for them just because the cars are pretty and shiny.

I bet if you strolled into Mike's showroom right now and bid him $47K for that car, you'd walk away empty-handed.

 

I see the air cleaner is not correct.