On BAT there is a beautiful 1968 442 4 speed convertible being auctioned..says w30 but so far no docs proving that. Turquoise car, truly gorgeous car..

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...mobile-442-38/

A link for convenience.

 

It will be interesting to see just how much difference paperwork can make.

 

Thanks!

 

Great-looking car.

I love some of the comments. Ignorance and strong opinion seem to go together these days.

 

And, thankfully Joe P has authorized the stripe location!

 

Stripe was the first thing I looked at.

 

Owner in FLA, with Montana title = tax avoidance, typical ploy performed by Enzo and McLaren P1 owners.

Beautiful 4-4-2!

 

W-30 or not, a beautiful car!

 

With a reclining passenger seat to boot.

 

Mmmm, cold start? That engine does not idle like a cold engine to me.
Dollars to doughnuts the stripe, if it had one from the factory, came painted black; difficult to know without pw.
A pleasing car to the eyes though.

 

Yes it is!

 

I have a bigger cam in my 72, I think, and it starts, cold, after about 7 seconds of filling the carb, with a roar that is the audio equivalent of the guy blasting out of the grave on his Harley on the Bat out of Hell album artwork. Then it sounds like a bunch of old men muttering till it warms up a little.

 

True, the roar was not there, in fact, it appeared the engine almost stalled out rather than ran initially.

In making my comment, I referred to the high RPM condition of a choke set, carbureted automobile engine when cold; however, the description of a roar at start also is a good description.

 

Indeed. Anyone who hates a quadrajet should drive my manual choked autolite two barrel Econoline. 2 of my 3 cars with quadrajets start and run wonderfully. The other just needs love.

 

Lot of good and some bad. I do like the Ocean Turquoise. Certainly pretty and looks like a good driver. Its no Barret/Jackson white glove car.

Whats presented is a Lansing build, stick G block, D heads, UHV, 344678 vin with FE2 and an OAI system...good. No W paperwork no mention of matching numbers, not so good.
I could nit pick the hell out of it. But hey if it goes for 35 its a fair deal.
The doors and a trunk lid seams aren't great. Could have at least hit the bondo on the trunk lip with 36 grit before spraying.

 

I like it

 

I missed that. The car has been restored and repainted, so naturally it now has every option in the book. How many of those it was born with is a different question.

 

It won't. BAT auctions are all reserve auctions unless the ad specifically says "no reserve". Assume the reserve on this one is in the Barrett-Jackson range.

 

I collected a bunch of options for my 67 restoration, mainly to have something to do. While I intend to put several of them on, there are a few that aren't going on. Since I now own a remote mirror car, I am not enamored with them and would rather just adjust the damn thing manually. I really can't see jack out of my 72's right mirror, so I'm on the fence about using the dealer accessory 67 right mirror, since it IS bigger, but is still not wide angle. I am not going to fight the fight of integrating Safety Sentinel with the rallye pack. I never wanted power locks on a 2 door vehicle of any kind. Not sure on power trunk.

Do want to stay with the gauges for info, power bench for headroom for my tall self, and fm radio for entertainment.

On the other hand, I also want to acquire a 67 4 speed post car and minimalize it. Heater delete is probably not wise.

 

Really poor body work on the right rear that shows up on the video. And the stupid valve covers are on backwards. Pretty car, but dang it, people, get the easy stuff right.

 

If it was mine I wouldn't sell it for $35K. Hell, my car's not that nice and I wouldn't sell it for $35K.

 

It will easily hit 40’s on bids in my opinion..I think possibly more, who knows. BAT can be very fickle..doubt it hits reserve..thats a damn nice car..perfect ? No..but I would be proud as a peacock to own and drive it..carb choke definitely not functional, tad bit of blue smoke and lower rear quarters behind both wheels need reworked..possibly you could do that and blend in the paint..However as we all know, pictures are deceiving..heck a set of D heads can be 3-5 grand easily

 

I think this will probably go for $70-80k based on convertible prices, unfortunately. However, I do have a question; I thought W-30 manual transmission cars are supposed to have manual front disk brakes , this has 4 wheel drum brakes. Any comment on this?

 

Manual disk brakes on W30 cars first became available late in the 1969 model year. This is a 1968 car, so manual drums are correct.

 

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...30-vert-17126/ Post #7


One thing that seems to have faded with time. Is the reality of early muscle. It was raw and dangerous. Vs the heavily option laden way people want or envision them today ...

 

Hopefully the W30 fender decals are easy to remove.....

 

My first car was a 68 442 convertible. The only thing I hated was the ignition location. My car was stolen twice as you could buy a cylinder at any parts place for $6 - unplug the old and plug in the new. Got tired of fixing where people would cut the top to steal it.

 

I think that was one of the reasons they went to column lock.

 

The Feds mandated that the steering wheel and shifter lock with the key, starting with the 1969 model year. The irony of fact that this made cars EASIER to steal (slide hammer and a screwdriver, 30 seconds tops) is lost on those who make the laws.

 

Joe - I never thought about that.. If someone wants to steel something they will

 

Keep in mind that these crane tow trucks exist...

 

But it was available in black, white, red and, I think, orange so it definitely could have been white.

Not that it's a big deal but I'm kind of surprised with the level of detail that went into the restoration they didn't put the dash stripe back on

 

Cars at 45k now, probably end up in high 50’s..which to me even without paperwork is a very good buy..If only I had a 6 car garage instead of 3..

 

Great comment.......

 

The Oldsmobile crowd is too critical.

 

Auction wrapping soon, good pissing contest in today's BaT Comments.

 

It's kind of fun to read.

$55k

The seller certainly didn't make back the $90k he paid for it.......really, he shouldn't have. It's a beautiful restoration with zero documentation

 

Seller paid 90k? Damn that’s a 35,000 haircut. Whoever bought it at 55k got a damn nice 68 4 speed 442..whether it’s a true w car or a tribute car, thats a great buy in my opinion.

 

I personally think it's still a little high since it's a 68, but the actual value is surely closer to 55 than it is to 90.