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Hi All. I know I've been on the site for quite a while and some of you may not know why I chose the name 2blu442. I got to thinking about it and dug out some pictures of the first Oldsmobile I did somewhat of a restomod treatment on. I'm 65 now but in my early 20's I needed a car to get me back and forth to work. I came across a 1971 Cutlass S 350 2bbl that looked to fit the bill. I drove that as a daily driver for a couple years until one day I punched it to pass someone and the oil light came on... and stayed on. I may have been 10 miles from home still. By the time I got home it was clanking loud enough that people were stopping to stare. It died with just enough momentum for me to roll it in the driveway! I kept it for a while thinking I would fix it someday. I then saved the faded blue Supreme from the crusher for $50 and limped it home. Blue smoke puffing out the tail pipe and almost no brakes. I didn't know why some Cutlass cars had the fastback and some the notchback. I hadn't learned the difference between the Cutlass S, 442 and the Supreme. One day I spotted what was left of a Rallye 350 being eaten by the blackberry vines and snatched it up for $100. It turns out the guys kid bought it for the 4 speed transmission and had no interest in the rest. It had spent much of its life on the Oregon Coast where the salt air had done a number on it. But I saved the hood, wing, mirrors, air cleaner, bumpers and a few other odds and ends. I decided to build a car on the Supreme chassis rather than the Cutlass S as back then I liked the body lines better. I was young and stupid and didn't know the 442 was built on the Cutlass S body rather than the Supreme. I didn't have a high paying job so it took several years for me to come up with the money and put it together. In the 1980's these were plentiful in the wrecking yards so I could get parts easily. I wound up with a 455 from an Olds 98, TH400 from a 1968 Turnpike Cruiser, OAI hood I found for a $100 in the little nickel paper (early version of Craigslist before the internet), had 15X10 wheels made for the rear and used 14X7 on the front. Found a notched rear bumper that needed straightened for $50 in a boneyard. Couldn't remember how to put the dash and wiring back in after it being out for three years, so back to the wrecking yard. For $50 I got a dash with wiring harness that I pulled carefully tagging what went where. Found a GTO dual gate and hacked a console to make it fit, sort of! There were times I almost quit on the project but a couple car buddies would encourage me to get back to it. Painted it kind of a sky blue at first. But my buddies all said the soft and gentle color didn't match the aggressive stance of the car. So I opted for Ford Grabber Blue and had it repainted. When I picked it up from the painter my first thought was what did I do? It was a blinding bright blue! But the color grew on me. I never did finish the interior but drove the car about 100,000 miles like that. By then I had found a 1970 442 4 speed car that was a basket case. Rather than rebuild the blue car I decided to go with the real 442. Which I did and used that as a daily driver much of the 1990's into early 2000's. When I joined this site I still had the blue car, although I had a 350 in it as the rebuilt 455 was now in the 442. So thinking back to the blue car being tooo blue when I picked it up from the paint shop that's what I thought of. It wasn't a 442 and I did strip all the emblems off when I had it painted. But it was my first restoration/restomod. Saved from the crusher for $50 Several years later. Ford Grabber Blue with grills blacked out. 265/50/14's in front 295/50/15's in the rear Eventually picked parts off the blue car to put on the burgundy 1970 442
October 23rd, 2023, 05:14 PM
