Found this car browsing craigslist:
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/7085305746.html

This guy claims its a real 68' 442 with Matching Numbers 455.
As far as i know there was no 455 Engine for the 442 available in 68' except for the Hurst. But as far as i can tell this is no Hurst Car?

Its also got a Bench Seat (which was possible, but buckets where Standard.)
All in all i wonder if this car is a clone? It looks like a Base Model with added 442 emblems and a bigger engine to me.

But maybe im wrong?
Im sure here are some experts around who can tell if its real or fake.

 

The guy is an idiot! I sent him an email & talked to him on the phone regarding the fact that 455s didn't come in '68 442s. I tried to help him out & explain to him how easy it is with an Olds to verify what engine he actually had but he didn't want to listen to me, apparently he paid a lot of $$$ for the car since he was told it was #s matching. I finally gave up,told him to have a nice day & hung up on him. It is a real Fremont built 442, it has the "344" vin. It actually looks like a pretty decent car.

 

I wasn’t aware of any 68 455 painted blue until 1970 either.

 

How is he sure it's "matching numbers"? There doesn't seem to be any "proof" provided to back up his absurd claim. And although you can paint an engine any color you like, I doubt the "original" engine would be painted blue for '68. It may very well be a 1968 455, but it's not indigenous to that particular engine compartment.

The unfortunate thing about those 400s in 68/9 is that many were grenaded before their time. People simply thought they could rev the crap out of them like they could the earlier ones, and were sadly mistaken. That's the only reason I could come up with as to why the later 400s did not survive as much. I know. Back in high school, I missed a shift in my original 69 442 I had at the time (with 3.91s) and poof. Next thing you know I was rebuilding that joker. And 455's would be a natural upgrade. I know if I had a chance to do it, I would way back when. Recall to most, those were just another car back then.

All in all, it's not a bad looking car. A bit more dirty in the trunk area it seems than I would expect to see. Why is it people always seem to stop cleaning up a car once they get under the hood and/or trunk lid and then expect to put it on a website to try and sell it? The trunk gasket overspray looks amateurish, IMO. A super-clean car will normally grab and hold your attention better than the dirt-bomb surprises once you look under the surface. Doesn't have to be perfect, but c'mon!

But a non-matching #s is probably going to be worth a little bit less regardless. And unless you're looking for the bench seat post coupe, it would be a wild slip and slide experience to drive, IMO.

 

Where's the AC compressor? The worn-off silver trim on the control ***** tells me this car probably has 151,000 miles on it.

 

Well, the engine DOES have "C" heads, since he's posted a photo of part of the head casting number. The "548" that you can see can only be casting number 394548, which is a C head. How the engine got painted corporate blue is a mystery. Obviously it's been out of the car at least once. I mean, other than the seller's obvious ignorance/arrogance and some small things like the grill emblem being too low and the M/C being incorrect, the car is probably worth $23K.

C'mon, it's probably the only 68 left without W36 stripes...

 

What does this exactly mean?
Are you trying to say this really is the Matching Numbers Engine? If so why cant i find anything to proof that a 455 was available in 68?

 

No, He's being a little sarcastic

 

All it means is the engine has C heads, which is correct for a 1968 455 engine. Don't read more into it than that.

 

No, actually I wasn't (I know, what are the odds?)

The correct heads for a 1968 442 would be C heads. Olds used those on both the 400 and 455 motors that year. My point was that either 1) this is the correct 400 motor and the seller is uninformed (it would not be the first time a seller was unable to correctly identify the motor in his car), or 2) the original 400 blew up and was replaced with a 455 short block (not uncommon with the 68-69 G-block motors).

 

...and the heat stove is wrong for a '68 442.

 

But it DOES have the correct curved oil fill tube.

 

It looks like a nice clean club coupe.
A grand total of 2384, 442, auto trans club coupes made in 68.
The white black interior is always sharp and it looks nice. Teal Frost color is cool.
None of this makes it a rare expensive car, just cool.

Rust??? Is undercarriage clean?
The door seams look good in the pics.
Are the typical 68 A body trouble spots clean??? (Ask if you dont know what they are). Firewall/windshield cowl and other spots can be quite expensive to repair.
Check for rust bubbles poking up from under the vinyl top.

If the chassis and ALL the metal seams are clean throughout but the drive train doesn't match you wont get hurt at ~15K. Add in extra if it has its original trans/engine/rear end. I do see AC parts missing.

What's been done to it. What's new?
Paint looks fresh too but a quick job as I see overspray.

Either way, you will enjoy it...after freshening up that wire rats nest under the hood(and dash?), another bargaining chip... and replacing perishable items like rubber brake lines hoses and tires etc...another chip.
You may need to drop a few grand to get it trustworthy/roadworthy? chip chip....

Let us know if you have more Qs and if you buy it.

 

Looks like a nice clean car. Not sure if it's priced where it should be, I'm not up on "collector" car prices. "Numbers matching," for me, is a detriment because 1) I have no interest in over-paying for the privilege and 2) I'm certainly not going to drive something, let alone drive it hard, after said over payment.

I don't know what factory positive battery cables looked like, but I do know that what's shown in the picture isn't it. The factory battery on my '86 is side-terminal; were the '60s cars the same? That yellow butt connector looks particularly "hack."

Is that blue overspray on the trunk gasket?

 

Top terminal battery is correct. Those are just aftermarket battery cables. Frankly, that's a nit. It's a rust free 68 442. $23K is not stupid money for that and is certainly a reasonable asking price, allowing room for negotiation. The seller's unfounded and incorrect claims suggest he won't be easy to work with, but the car looks reasonable in the photos.

 

The car has household electrical twist caps.
They belong on a house but NOT in a vehicle. It's wrong and dangerous to do so and can cause an electrical fire.
This is a red flag and makes you wonder on how many butchered things you CAN'T see. Nothing like parking the vehicle overnight and then at 3am your garage is on fire because the vehicle had an electrical fire. Has happened many times before with butchered and incorrectly done electrical wiring on cars like this. Plus, why is the positive battery cable sitting and touching the negative battery cable terminal? Move it over a few inches!

I'm sorry, the guy selling the car is an idiot. He doesn't even know that basics of engine options of that year and is apparently not open to information. The car needs to have the entire electrical writing and harness torn out and redone. Add a few thousand dollars for that.

Claiming 51,000 miles is BS as these odometers could be rolled back and disconnected in 2 minutes. Even a 5 year old can change the mileage readout on these cars. Most likely it has 150,000+ miles. Can't trust the odometer on these vehicles.

 

Someone should go look. I think it is a 400. Not bad looking but I wouldn't give $23k even if it had the numbers match engine. I think cars are cheaper right now.

 

The positive cable is like that because the battery is in backwards.

 

I agree it's very clean, and re-done battery cables aren't the end of the world; my concern is the quality of work done elsewhere in the vehicle by the same person who did the wiring. The more work that's been done to any machine or house or whatever, the lower the price I'll pay. The car is worth a look for any interested party, with a very thorough inspection.