The frame is good, mostly rust around the lower end from being in tall grass, front of hood is bad, have had a hard time finding another hood, did find one with rust at the back but a great nose, so going to try some surgery with a body man neighbor of mine. Floors are good considering the windows were leaking, cowl had some surface rust starting so took care of that when the windows were out. Interior is in good shape, even though the seats and headliner are velour😂, trunk floor is good. It is in really good shape considering it sat in the storage lot for 16 yrs that I know of, when they stored it, they put windshield solar reflectors in the windows and over the seats, it also had a car cover for a few years till it disintegrated, this site has given me some good advice and info, glad to be a part.

 

One of my friends said , "If you can't be correct be fast". There are G block 400s available here and there on rare occaison but 455s are still pretty easy to find considering how many Olds 98s and Toronados had them. Get one of those, paint it bronze, have fun. What trans is in the car? Turbo 400 or Turbo 350? There's one pretty sure way to know if it was a 442 from new: does it have a rear anti-sway bar?

 

We determined long ago that the car has a 344,,, VIN. As for the trans, the TH350 didn't exist in 1968. Lesser Cutlii got the two speed Jetaway.

 

Of course only tens of thousands of Cutlii have been retrofitted with boxed control arms and sway bars. For a '68 it's probably better to stick with the VIN for authentication

 

I can attest to that. I swapped in a rearend with boxed arms and sway bar back in the 1980s.

 

Me too!

 

A 442 in name only is still cool. A 68-76 350 is as good as a 68/69 400 minus the power... The special 400s are pre 68.

I bet she does, 2BBL 350 with headers is an interesting combo ...

Any grunt, can she spin the tire on a dry pavement punch ?

Im assuming its TH400 ?

Original rear end ? (If so 3.08 is standard)

 

I didn't know anything about Cutlass' when I bought mine. I thought everything was original. The carb was in bad shape and wouldn't hold a tune so I pulled her and had her rebuilt. Turns out it was a '73 carb with a hot air choke (wish I had known to look for a divorced choke when I bought it, but that's on me).
So, I researched the VIN derivative and found out the block was also a '73.

I was devastated, and researched everything else on the car with fear of the same. But everything else checked out from what I can tell. Body work was solid except for some mild work on the truck lid, trans was good (and has since been rebuilt), etc, etc. No other major concern that stood out.

Best guess is the '68 I own was a barn find and the original block was seized up (or something equally a pain in the butt). So since good ol' Olds reused that rocket through, what... '76? It was probably far easier to just yank a '73 they found in a scrapyard and swap it out. It makes sense economically, anyway.

BUT... in your case, since that 442 should have a 400...yeah, that stings. So I feel for you on that. I doubt I'd be easy-going if I found a 250 in my car after closer examination post-purchase.

 

That would sort of be on you though, for not knowing the difference between a straight 6 and a V-8.

 

LOL! Okay, that's fair. It was a crappy comparison for certain.