leepear

After almost 35 years of ownership my wife and I have decided to sell our precious 1970 Oldsmobile 442. Many of you have seen the car or followed it's progress on this site. For those of you that don't know the car it is a bullet proof documented 1970 442 W-30 Convertible 4 speed and currently the only one known of the 96 originals ordered with the aluminum w-27 rear end.

For those of you that don't know me, I am just a regular car guy that bought a 1971 Oldsmobile in high school and has owned many since. At one time I had my three W-30 4 speed convertibles with a combined purchase price for all three of under $5,000 dollars. Those were the days!!!!

I bought it in 1978 and it was placed strategically in my garage for almost 30 of those years. During that time I collected many of the NOS parts used for the restoration. A few years ago we decided we needed to restore the car back to its original glory. We saved and were able to hire Gary Riley at Level One Restoration. You can see pictures of the restoration at levelonerestoration.com. Many extra details were also included in the restoration such as the original Hansel Oldsmobile license frames and paper plates and California new car sticker.

I felt it was important to share the car as much as I could afford so it went to 4 auto venues including SEMA Las Vegas, the Oldsmobile Nationals in Reno, Muscle Car Nationals in Chicago and the Detroit Autorama. At the Detroit Autorama it was shown day two trim with vintage Ansen Sprint aluminum slotted rims and vintage original Goodyear polyglass g-70x14 on the front and h60x14 on the rear.

My wife and I do not want to auction the car so it will be listed for sale on various sites. It is a car that represents well the period of time of the 70s performance era and Oldsmobiles high water mark for one of it's best cars. I was very lucky to buy it in 1978 and to this day appreciate Robert Kasley's (the original owners) vision when he order the car, W-30, 4 speed, 3:91 W-27, poverty caps, rally pack, 8 track, no console....just perfect! Even the gold color was representative of the era with three different golds available in 1970. Red and Black may be more desired and popular but gold clearly stated the 1970 era best. Thanks for all your support during the restoration. My price will also be in the area of a high water mark for this type of car but some very recent private sales have been clearly within this price range. I will always have my 1971 442 M-22 convertible so I will not be bailing out on all of you.

I hope when the dust settles people will feel we were good caretakers of the car. Thanks Lee and Sue Pearl

oldcutlass

Lee, you and the Mrs do have a very nice car! Good luck with your sale.

Dave Siltman

Good luck Lee, make sure this is REALLY the way you want to go because-----once it is gone it's usually gone for good. I know that car will command some TALL money and if you DO go the auction route, give me a call or PM me. I can put you in touch with a genuinely honest and polite auction house that can get ALL the money and treat you right while doing it. It is a reserve style format and I can pretty much guarantee you will be happy with the process and the results. I have atteneded the auction as a guest of the family and it is nothing but top shelf. Honesty, integrity, and quality is what they are about--both in the cars and the people.
I wish you the best and with the prices some of the cars are selling for today, sometimes I wonder myself about selling a couple. My problem seems to be that I can't stop buying them! Actually, I just agreed on another car and will be taking delivery relatively soon.
Take care and stay in touch, Dave.

leepear

Thanks Dave: We have been laboring over selling it for the last few months. This particular car needs to be in a collection or museum not covered in my garage for nobody to appreciate. I also invested much of my savings restoring it and the money will help us enjoy retirement better. Lee

stevengerard

good luck Lee, I wonder about mine as as well, the car is never worth as much as it is right after you finish a restoration. Sometimes I mumble I could have just as much fun, if not more, in a Cutlass convertible at a minimum quarter of the price. I'm sure its a tough decision but with all the shows its been at and the quality of the restoration this doesn't surprise me, you'll get good coin for it even in this economy.

leepear

Steven: Keep your car and enjoy it. I will always have my 1971 convertible, a great rare car that I can drive and show locally. Lee

joe_padavano

I've known Lee since I lived in SoCal in the early 1980s. We've sold/swapped each other parts for a while. Sorry to hear you are selling the car Lee, it's certainly beautiful. Hope to tag up with you on one of my trips west.

qjetolds

Good luck with your sale! Maybe put some rubber on those rear quarters one last time!

BIGJERR

Good luck! I have seen your car before its a bueaty!

leepear

Joe: We were pretty young when we last saw each other. It may be a bit scary to meet after all these years. I had hair then. Lee

joe_padavano

Don't know about you ,but I have all the hair I used to, plus a bunch more growing from places I never knew it could!

67442nut

Good Luck, Lee.

GAOldsman

Good luck with the sale Lee. I followed the restoration and it was definitely top notch with uber-rare parts. I know if I had the funds Level One would be getting a call from me on my car for sure.

leepear

What I failed to do was recognize many of the members of this site for their advise and some of the parts on the car. You folks including w-31 Joe are the ones that discovered that a California Smog w-30 with a w-27 had one of the fins shaved off to fit the extra fuel line. I had already bought a NOS cover and was able to use my original cover with the original stamping on the bottom. So thanks all............Lee

67442nut

At least yours is still growing where it's supposed to!