Hey all, recognize lots of names here from the olds E-mail list.
Well several years back I had to take a break from life... Went through Cancer Treatments and recovery and bank account depletion, loss of jobs, loss of most things... including my beloved 442.

I finally got a chance at a replacement I was told of, it was hiding in the woods across town...
I drove out and took a look (coincidentally about 6 minutes from work) I arrived and the owner walked me out to where the car was living...

My mouth fell open and he said "what's wrong?" I kept mum...
I looked the car over... made a cash offer, dragged it out of the woods loaded it on a texas rollback trailer and brought it home. it was a very deteriorated car...
but it was MY CAR... MY EXACT CAR... Still like it was when it left me years back and now it is mine again. More rust... Lots More Rust! it was a DRY California car when it left me and now it has lived several years in more hands
No one did any more to it... Nothing... The Original Engine was still with it...
But is now a rusty boat anchor...
The 455 I put in it years ago is still in it, not a bolt turned...
Hope I can get it inside somewhere soon! But it is in my driveway now.
water drained from the rear floor when we loaded it.
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I bought a new pressure washer and scrubbed the mold, and Lichens and Moss off of it.
Opened the Trunk and my Transmission (original Overhauled) was still in the trunk like it was when it left me.
The Red Air Cleaner Lid and the Chrome Air Cleaner Lid are gone.
the NON Tic Toc Tach is still in the dash, the Kenwood Radio is still in there.
Still rolling on the same tires...

 

Congrats on getting you car back great story, best of luck getting it running again!

 

That is way cool that you happened to come across your car again....and in the same way that you had sold it( except for a few lichens)...
Congrats!......almost like she was waiting for ya
Keep us posted as you progress with it...

Ted

 

Congrats! Good luck with her.
Welcome to CO. Lots of Oldsmolove here.

 

Awesome! Looks like a great project.

 

sounds like you've been through a lot but have turned the corner for better, glad you got YOUR car back, looking forward to reading through what you do to it

 

Congrats on getting your car back! Now you can show her the love she deserved.

 

Wow, that's great!

I can tell you from experience that keeping your own car when you don't have the best storage facilities available would result in the exact same situation, so just count the difference between what you sold it for and what you bought it for as an outdoor storage fee.

Welcome to CO!

- Eric

 

I feel your pain man, two years ago I had a quaduple bypass and while recovering quite nicely from that I found out I had double renal cancer on my 55th birthday. Long story short I now am running on a partial kidney and a beautiful 69 442 I bought from Oldsmobiledave. I've also since had two new grand-daughters I've been able to meet.Rock on and enjoy what you now have, not what you've lost or what you think you should have. Nice wheels and how fortunate are we!

 

Glad to see/hear of this! Get her running and looking right again!

 

This is a lesson to all of us to seize the day while we are still healthy enough to do so. Most of us who remember these cars when they were new are in our 50s-60s now and we need to realize we won't always be healthy. Health is the most important thing in life second only to family. We fight the everyday battles and sometimes refuse to let ourselves be happy. Congrats to the OP for a heartwarming story.

 

Great story! Best of luck getting her going again!

 

awesome, good luck restoring it.