A friend of mine wants to let go of his 68 442 convertible project. I'm not familiar with this year and was wondering what parts might be hard to come by and rough cost of those parts before I make my final decision to purchase. I know the OEM steering wheels are high dollar and I suspect that other parts are rare and expensive. He has a stash of OEM parts form years ago so based on your feedback I'll see if he has any of the hard to find parts to throw in the deal.

Thanks

 

I finished restoring my 68 442 convertible last year and I will say I personally would not do another one because of the limited availability of some of the parts, even reproduction parts. There are no reproduction quarter panels for the convertible and one has to use a panel from a hard top and modify it. The same with the rear inner wells for a convertible are not available and again one must use parts of one from a hardtop and don't completely remove the original. Also make sure the car you buy has the rear quarter peak molding. They are very hard to find and they are expensive.

The dash is a PITA to remove even with the seats out. The hood doesn't raise very high and if you are not paying attention you will knock the heck out of your head. A really nice year correct steering wheel is also difficult to find and it is costly as well. I think the 68 is a great looking car but it can present a challenge to restored. I did a body off restoration on the car. When I restored my 72 it was much easier and more parts were available.

Now I do like the car but if I had to do it all over again I would have done a 70-72.

Gary

 

How complete?
How rusty?
A complete desert-dry car is what you want. Pay more for something like that, you will be miles ahead on dollars and time.
As Gary mentioned it is a one-year wonder like most 68 GMs, But that's why I own 2 you don't see them too often.

 

Good feedback. He has the rear quarter peak molding but did say one side had some dings that would have to be addressed

Fortunately, all the sheet metal work has been done with original panels and rust is not an issue. It's never been wrecked and seems really straight. My friend owns a restoration shop and this was a personal project that he started probably 25-30-years ago. Business has never slowed down enough for him to complete. It's never been apart and he said it was a really nice driving car when he picked it up. I'm going back down to his shop this week to inventory the stash of parts he has. I'll post some pics after I check it out.

 

sounds like a nice car to start with and I wouldn't be afraid of it and if the body is solid you really have to worries ,most of the parts you would need for it are available and I am sure you could find help here with any parts you may need and I have extra 68 parts as well ,good luck ,I hope you are able to buy the car

 

Take a careful inventory. Arrive with a list of what should be there as far as numbers matching parts and where the numbers are located.
Is this a stick car or auto?
Power antenna car?
Vacuum trunk release?
Bucket or bench? Both consoles are expensive in mint shape.The pot metal chromed inserts are expensive and hard to find w/o pitted chrome.
Check the VIN and firewall tag. Upload pics of both and we'll help you decipher. A desirable color combo doesn't suck.

Next is a close inspection of the following areas:
1. Frame...no scale especially internally in the boxed area. Look at each body to frame mounting area(s). Where the boxed sections meet at each wheel well area is a known trouble area(s). Look at where the steering box bolts to the frame. Look at the lower A-arm control mounting areas for cracks.
2. Where the windshield meets the dash. Remove the stainless trim under the wipers and inspect the cowl. The cowl and firewall areas are the most expensive areas to fix.
3. If the fenders are off look at the firewall lower cowl where the water would drain off the windshield where it meets the frame mounting area.
4. Floor & trunk pans.
5 Door and trunk lid seams.
6. Inner rockers looking next to the frame.
7.Vert top well and vert top frame header where it seals against the windshield.
8.Of course any numbers matching parts...engine trans rear wheels and engine accessories.
9. All the stainless. Upper belt, wheel arch,s and that one year only trim along the lower edge of the trunk. The 2 small outer pieces are reproduced It's the long center section that's rare as hen's teeth. It can be restored if it's OK. That's expensive as well.

For a body off frame full-on resto expect to spend more than its worth. Consider $100/hr and it's not uncommon to spend 5-6-800+ hours on a nut n bolt resto, plus purchase cost. You gota do this car for the love, not profit.

 

Grab that car and do it.
There you go, how's that for inspiration?

 

If the 400G needs a rebuild (assuming it still has one), you may have trouble getting any engine parts that aren't common with the 455. I had a hell of a time finding .030 pistons and that was 15 years ago.

 

Rick,

The only thing I'd caution is that body shops tend to do what they do best. Body work. They don't always due the metal work that you and I would consider to be necessary. 68-69 convertibles have a couple places that seem to rust worse than 70-72's. The front mounts on the cowl, the bottom of the boxed frame just in from of the rear wheels, especially the driver's side, the body mount locations on the frame (pretty common on all convertibles and hardtops), the frame where the steering box mounts. hopefully your friend has a real restoration shop and not just a body shop

I restored a 68 convertible that was born in New England and spent it's whole life there. A lot of body work (bondo) was completed by others before I got the car. I'll never forget after I got all the metal work done and was ready to put the car back down on the frame, I saw something that didn't look right on the front body mount. I tapped it with a hammer and realized it wasn't solid. A few more hard wacks opened up a hole and it was obvious that someone had made the body mount look nice and I was basically going to be bolting bondo to the frame. I had to strip off all the bondo and rebuild the mount.

 

You've been on here long enough to have a good idea of what you're getting yourself into. A lot of good advice above. It sounds like it's in pretty good shape overall. I wouldn't think twice about getting it (assuming the asking price is reasonable). Searching for rare parts and building something many people won't recognize is the joy of it. I have two '69's. Maybe not quite as 'different' as the '68 since they share a lot of DNA with the '70 but a lot of stuff interchanges and your biggest potential money pit (quarter panel work) is off the table.
A lot of people are down on the 400G but don't let that scare you. For a street car that you plan on restoring (not racing), the 400G is plenty stout and will easily put a smile on your face from a standing start. Good luck.

 

Well, the most important hurdle was getting my wife's blessing. She's on board so it's all down hill from here.

Great info. I'll print this thread and discuss with my buddy.

Thanks Ben...I like your style!

I have my choice of several engines. 400, 425 or 455. Original engine is long gone and has never been replaced.

He does full restorations and assured me that everything is solid. He told me to take the car to my shop and put it on the lift for as long as I wanted to look it over. I'll refer back to this thread and check out all the areas you brought up.
That sucks about your body mount. Glad you saw that before something bad happened.

As mentioned above, I do have some engine options. I'm leaning towards a 455 with some minor upgrades from stock.

I really appreciate everyone's input here. You were all so supportive when I did the 70-442 and I know I'll get great input on this project. Not sure what day I'm going to the shop again but it will be this week. I'll post pics and report back ASAP!

 

I kind of expected that. Your best bet is probably the 455, although the short stroke 425 was a great engine too.

 

If the car were a 67 or earlier, I'd push for the 400 E block, as they were high revving mean SOBs. I am not sure I'd source a 400 G unless you care to be perfectly original. The 455 has many more parts available and is bigger, so I'd go that way. Now, if you want to screw with some peoples' minds, do a 455 with C heads and stock intake, painted 400 bronze and the right air cleaner. Looks stock unless you look at the casting number behind the water pump and would really go.

 

Leaning towards the 455 and bronze paint. Correct air cleaner is included in sale.

 

I decided to pull the trigger on this project. Going to store it at a friends race garage for a few months and then take it to my house to pull the body off the frame. All of the nice OEM parts will be stored at my place just for safe keeping. Still haven't seen all the parts that come with it but I trust my friend when he says he has pretty much everything needed to put it back together. I'll be posting a parts wanted add as soon as I inventory everything and see what I'm missing.

Thanks for all the great feedback fellas and stay tuned for more pics and a future "Build Thread"

On another note....
The last 2-pics are of a couple of cars I found out about last night. These are in a basement of a warehouse that had a broken freight elevator for 25 or so years. The owner is a good friend of another friend on mine and wants me to take a look at them. He had the elevator repaired and wants all the cars gone. They look pretty rusty but I'm going to take a look and see if there's anything salvable. I think the one is a 68-Cutlass and maybe the other one a 66-67? Any help identifying would be appreciated.

 

2- More pics

 

The Cutlass is a '69 - at least it has '69 442 grilles/bumper, etc. Not sure on the other but, you're right, looks like a '66 or '67.

 

The convert is a '68 and the hard top is a '69.

 

Hey Rick. 455 painted Bronze with correct air filter etc, good idea, glad I had it....