I picked this car up from my friend that did most of the restoration on my 1970 442.
This was a project that he started 20 + years ago but never had time to finish after his restoration business took off. A lot of sheet metal was replaced and there's a minimal amount of body work that still needs to be completed.
Here a few pics for now, but I will post the build details in the next few days. I'll warn you in advance that it is not going to be a 1000-point, factory OEM restoration. It will however be a nice example of a day-2, 1968 442 convertible.








Body on rotisserie at Dusty Boots Restoration and ready for some underside love.

Chassis at my garage for disassembly and rebuild. I've never done this before so wish me luck!

 

Cool. I will be watching. Do you know your color choices yet?

 

I really like this combination. I've already ordered the parchment interior from Legendary back in April. I checked on it last week and they were working on the bucket seat skins. Everything should ship next week according to them.

 

Looks like a nice project thats already on its way. Good Luck, will be watching...

 

Sweet! Good luck with your build! I'm excited to watch it come together. I like your color. What is it called?

 

I believe it's called Ocean Turquoise. I need to reach out to the owner of the pictured W31 to confirm.

 

That looks like a lot of fun. I enjoyed building mine more than I enjoy driving it

Ocean Turquoise is probably my favorite 68 color. What color was it originally? It looks like Saffron (which would be my second favorite 68 color)

 

Hi Mike,
You are correct on the original color.

 

With the chassis stripped it is a good time to install the frame braces between upper and lower control arms.

 

Are you going to keep the upper body stainless trim? I think it makes 68/69s. IMO not a fan of shaving it off.
Mine was originally a K paint code car with a pearl top and gut. If I did it over again I do that sans the white top.

Check out the 70 color palet as there are 2 colors that I like that are similar. One is the special order color code 38 Aegean Aqua

IMO don't put the W36 stripe on the front fender. Cuts up the flow of the body. I did see one that was a fantom/ghost/flip flop that was very subtle. It was nice.

I don't know why but the GM Saffron always catches my eye on any late 60 early 70s make/model. But I'd definitely go with the K code.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/40274892437...SABEgKfuvD_BwE

https://www.autocolorlibrary.com/pages/1968-Oldsmobile.html

https://www.autocolorlibrary.com/pages/1970-Oldsmobile.html

 

Looks like a great candidate to be a mighty fine car! Enjoy your restoration process. There are a lot of '68 owners here that can help you out if/when you have questions. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but I was intimately involved with the restoration of my '68 - did a lot of "go-fer" work, numbers checking, parts ordering, electrical, assisting the technical people and other non-technical stuff like refinishing fasteners and simple spray-can work. It was fun and Iearned a lot from it. Have fun!

Randy C.
'68 4-4-2 convertible
'69 4-4-2 convertible

 

I think that's a good idea. There's been a lot of debate about the braces being factory or add-ons. Either way, I'm going to try to find a set and install them.

Curious why you don't like the white top? I am a little worried about stains and such but I think it will look good with the turquoise body.
I have all the SS trim, and it will be put back on. Those are the money shots on this model IMO.
My buddy wanted me to paint the car black with a "ghost " black/grey W 36 stripe. I might consider doing that in the final color I select.

Thanks Randy. I'm going to try and do as much as I can with folks here and my buddy as my safety net. I'm not in as much of a hurry as I was with 70, so the pace will be slow and hopefully efficient.

 

I had a 70 S in similar color with white vinyl top and interior. The color was Reef Turquoise Metallic (34). I loved that car!

 

I thought there was a color called Reef Turquoise but I was looking at the wrong year. I'll check out the 70-paint chips...thanks!

 

You're welcome!

 

I added them to mine. They were not installed from the factory on any cars in 68.

 

I would personally keep the skull and crossbones on the hood

 

I was waiting for someone to comment on the hood artwork!

 

Mike, Are they readily available or will I need to start hunting them down?

 

I think the white tops are OK but I like them better without. At least with that color combo. Personal choice. I just like to see all the turquoise.

I almost left my vinyl top off the paint shop talked me into putting it back on...Black top black interior red car now.

You will be a slave to the white top if it's going to be a daily driven car, Any white top vert or hard top is tough to keep white after several years.

 

The factory style frame braces are available from the repop sellers. You can also get tubular steel versions from aftermarket suppliers like UMI.

Rodney

 

Thanks Rodney

 

I just saw a used set for $50. They aren’t that hard to find.

 

Scored a set of frame braces here on C.O. for $52.00 shipped....thanks Dave!
I'm putting a large order together from Inline Tube for the chassis. Hopefully everything will be in stock.
Stopped down the body shop and snapped a few pics. All the new sheet metal was installed over 20-years ago. They're just cleaning up some spots that were never addressed. I'm happy with the way everything looks.

 

Thought I'd share some pics sent from the body shop.



Putting on the new air suspension!

 

Sweet!

 

I am loving it. I had a friend with a 68 442 in that color with a black top. Black interior car. His was a hardtop not convertible.

So the discussion about white top. Wouldn't a white top be much cooler in the summer? White interior. Hard not to go white top

 

PS: Is car a car of a member here? Beautiful car.

 

Been awhile since I posted any progress on this restoration. My wife started having some breathing issues around Thanksgiving and the doctors kept crying Covid. She took 4-test that all came back negative. She plowed through the holidays and started feeling really bad a couple weeks into the new year. She finally told our family doctor to kiss off and took her health matters into her own hands. Long story short, she underwent a quadruple bypass on January 17th. that probably saved her life. She's on the road to recovery and doing great. As you can imagine, the extracurriculars came to a screaming halt, but now I've been able to spend some time in the shop.
Had a mobile sandblaster come to the house to clean up the frame, axle and some misc. parts. I'll take the smaller stuff to my buddies place and blast them there. Here're some pics of the progress.

 

Nice work Rick.
Steve

 

Rick glad your wife is on the right road!!z holy mackerel! Nice work on chassis!!

 

That looks like a really solid car to work with and I love the color your planning on using. Looking forward to watch the progress.
Steve

 

Thanks Steve

Me too on the wifey!...Thanks Eddie

I was pleasantly surprised how well it cleaned up and how solid it really is after 54 years. There are 2-small spots that need a little welding but other than that it's all good. Thanks for tuning in!

 

If you are going to put a fender stripe on the car make sure to do the research and place the 442 emblems in the correct spot!

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...erence-113292/

 

Just a few pics of a little progress being made.



Frame is back from the paint shop. Some small holes were welded up and a coat of KBS was applied.

This frame is super straight but does have some pitting. Most of the pitting is in areas that won't be seen.

Thought I would start on tearing down the seats. Not happy with what I found.

It's going to take some effort getting the tracks cleaned up.

Do you think there were nice living in here?? lol

Will be reaching out to fellow member RAMBOW to get some replacement springs.

 

Oh lord, I don't need the stripe police showing up at my garage!

 

Frame looks great seats not do much lol

hate meeses to pieces :-)

eill be following along interior needs to be done for mine as well , whose covers are you using?

 

Eddie,
Yeah, those little rodents are destructive as hell!

I ordered everything from Legendary back in April of last year.. It took 9-months to get everything in and I'm hearing some folks saying the lead time is longer than that now. On my order, the seat covers were the longest lead item. The carpet, seat foam, and some other items shipped in about a month or so.

 

Wow ok thanks I did read that there are considerable lead times from all , i will be going with the 934 gold and I understand that might even take longer?

did you also get the matching seat backs? My very ones are fairly toasty and should be replaced thank god the headrests look ok lol impossible in gold

 

It has been a minute since I posted any updates. Been busy at work and with life in general. Here are some pics of some progress. As I've stated many times, I am not a mechanic and need all the constructive comments you folks have. Take a look and let me know if you see any glaring issues with what's been done so far. None of the fasteners have been fully tighten so you'll see that in the pictures. I'm going to watch the Ohio State vs. Michigan game now but will have some questions about the brake and fuel lines later.