jonnyslim63

Hi all, hope your day was good.
Can someone clear something up for me. Is it possible to have Cutlass Supreme Badging on a 1968 442 Convertible with VIN of 344678M404574 with powertrain derivatives matching the VIN ? I have a hood with an "S" and door panels with 'CS". The door panels may have been replaced. The seller and third owner wasn't sure but thought they were. No mention on the hood NOT being original.

Any help would be awesome,

thank you all in advance

Jon

BackInTheGame

Yes, that is possible. The 4-4-2 was based on the F85/Cutlass line. I am thinking perhaps your car was in an accident and Cutlass parts were easy to obtain. The hoods are the same, except for the "S", and "Oldsmobile" script on the Cutlass S version. Both the 4-4-2 and the "S" have the fake louvers parallel to the centerline.

jonnyslim63

That is pretty much what I was thinking. the bumpers, glove box, dash etc... all look 442. the interior was completely redone. I guess I will remove the S and the Oldmobile script when I have it prepped for painting after I have it stripped to bare metal. Thank You! ! The rear seat arm rests look brand new as well and they have cigarette lighter frames and the hole but no plumbing. The car showed up here today from Ohio with no headlights, no turn signals no heater/fan working. Got all that working and the radio as well and got title changed and new plates with VIN verification done.. always so much fun at the DMV... actually all three people wanted to talk about the car and were pretty funny, even waiving my first time late fee on the nova... Is it possible and forgive the dumb question, that Lansing screwed up on the line and put CS stuff in a 442 ? I'm thinking now that I found a spot on the hood where I can tell the color was not Y (saffron). So the hood is not original as the color code on the POP was Y1.... Saffron with White convertible top. And the armrest looking new. As I type this it is becoming clearer. That all makes sense. I have replaced the hoods and interiors in both my nova and el camino recently... duh.. and that makes me feel better what you said. Thanks again and have a great rest of your week.

allyolds68

So pretty much what Backinthegame said....

No it's not possible for it to have had factory Supreme door panels. The 68 A-body convertible was ONLY available in the Cutlass S trim and 442 trim. The door panels were changed at some point and the Cutlass S hood was added. The Cutlass S hood also has an "Oldsmobile" script on the driver's side front of the hood. The 442 hood lacks both emblems. Otherwise the 442 and Cutlass S hoods are identical

FWIW the Supreme armrests are longer as well

droldsmorland

So the good news is that you have one of 5142, 68, 442 verts with matching number drive train, (engine at least). But you knew that.
Did you verify the trans too? Stick or Automatic?
AC?
Whats the build date?

Sometimes an easy way to tell if the emblems are OEM to the sheet metal is to look at the holes and fasteners.
Do the holes look factory punched or hand-drilled? Both the "S" and 442 hoods have the access holes on the underskin.
Either way, it is an easy remedy. Just weld grind and go. You have access on the back to clean the welds up if it's going to that level.

We do enjoy pictures here. Are you going with the Original Saffron?

joe_padavano

The VIN tells you exactly what the car is. Oldsmobile did not mix and match parts, despite the stories that people tell when trying to justify a one-of-none car. A lot can happen to a car in half a century. Unless someone has owned the car since new, they have no idea what was done to it.

jonnyslim63

Hi and thanks.
I was planning on painting it canary yellow like the rest of my toys that My son and I worked on together. Even my streetbike is yellow. . We had planned on this one being another Project we worked on together, so in his Memory I am going to go with Canary Yellow. Already ordered the Plates RIP SJS (Shiloh Jordan Stephens). They should be at the DMV in 12 weeks at the latest. And I am debating just not going to the DMV again until then as they forgot to give me the Month Sticker for my license plate.. one error after another,, after all the line waiting and 3 visits, i hadn't noticed that misspelled my last name. Can't blame them too much, as my handwriting sucks...so that required another trip and hour wait. Here is the "before" and hopefully sooner than later "after" but with correct placement of the vertical stripe. Thanks for the comments. I will be removing the script and S. I am dire need of a lockset for Trunk,Console and Glove Box. I got the heater, heater fan, headlights, all turn signals, headlights and running lights except for the right qtr marker working.. and I got the radio working , just need an antenna which is on the way. im using a slant antenaa like I put on all my GM cars as I like the look, Not original look but I'm making it the way I want it. I boogered up the headlight **** not realizing it had a spring loaded release to remove it and the post as the former owned just had the switch dangling under dash, which I will try to figure out how to mount. Lots of bare wire connections and not connected stuff I am finding in the short time I have had it. and this morning the pedal stuck to the floor when I stomped on it.. always good for a wakeup. I discovered it doesn't have a positive stop on the carb linkage.. If anyone knows where I can get a lockset I'd be stoked to get it so I can stop using a screw driver for the trunk, and I only want two keys so I am looking for the console, trunk and glove set. I found a 69 set on Ebay, and have an email into the seller but he is on vacation. The set should fit a 68 Im thinking. Any thoughts on that ? Not sure if it is the sending unit in the gas tank or if the wiring in the cluster is bad. I think it may be the cluster because when I got power to the sending unit, nothing happened to the dash gauge. thanks again for reading. hope everyone has a good Friday.


The Yellow kind of gives you an idea of what I am shooting for, the Nova and Schwinn are the yellow I am using.

droldsmorland

Looks like a solid project!
Locksets you can find here in the classified thread. Several guys have hoards of Olds parts there.
Keep in mind a good locksmith can make a mismatched set work with two keys(OEM style).

Consider not doing the W36 stripe? Or doing flip-flop or ghost, phantom. IMO the stripe kills the lines on a 68. But do wanna do.

Do you have the SS trim for the car?

TX for the pix.
Steve

jonnyslim63

Sorry for slow response. Working on lots of different cars and dealing with poor gas, poor oil, missing valve breathers, vacuum modulator not working correctly and so on. I really like the stripe, although you did make me question it for a minute. I think the shocking breaking up of the lines of the car is what I like. Still debating. As for the trim, no I never had it for this Car, I think you are referring to the the Chevy II ? I spent years getting it for the SS I did have, and sold, the peak molding was a bear to find... and I think I may have a piece of it in a tube in my attic. This Nova (chevy II) was a non SS. And I had not chrome for it, and like the no chrome look. And I did find a lockset. I got a five dollar delco for the trunk until the ebayer came back from vacation. I never could find the tumbler window until I saw a window I never knew was there on 442oldguy.com. Thank goodness for the Internet... I'd still be making fone calls and banging my head.

allyolds68

I think when Steve said "SS" he meant the Stainless Steel peak trim. FWIW I've got a restored rear convertible 1/4 set for sale.....but it ain't cheap....lol