tdhill01

Hi, I figured it was about time to tell my tale of my 442. I purchased this car back in late October knowing that it would be a project - aren't they all? This car was posted on another forum and I felt compelled to check the car out after seeing some pictures. I called the owner and he told me everything I asked about the car but he stated I should come over to check her out. I new that the vinyl roof was in sad shape and that she needed new front floor pans and body work done along with a new paint job - no small task to undertake. I talked with my body guy who turns out to be a old friend of jcdynamic88 and he felt it was worth it for me to go see it in person. I took the ride and the minute I saw the car I was hooked. Sitting in the guy's garage was a twighlight blue 442 with a white vinyl top and black bucket interior. The car ended up having her original engine block and tranny too. I also found the rear end to be original with a stamping of "SF" which gives her the anti-spin option. When I looked in the car it had a dual-gate shifter, sport wheel, cruise, AC, rear defogger, interior hood lock, power trunk and map light mirror. I also saw a multiplex box behind the glove box door mounted but there was no AM/FM radio in the dash board. Believe me she wasn't pretty but she drew me in and I made a deal for her. When I got her home to Massachusetts I drove her down to the body shop so my friend could take a look at her. He had given me a ball park estimate from the owner's write up and said he did not see anything that would change the estimate he gave me.

I was given instructions to take every piece of trim off the car and to remove the glue after stripping the vinyl top off. The shop was currently working on a 68 GTO and I had to wait until they finished it before bringing mine in. With the 5 + months I had to work with I took off all the exterior trim, bumpers, lights and grill. I then took off every interior part except for the dash, steering wheel and one bucket seat. I took out the AC/heater box inside the car and had the heater core checked and repaired along with cleaning the whole unit up before reinstalling. I cleaned the engine as it was just plain filthy. I ended up replacing the water pump, installing a four core radiator, changing the valve cover gaskets, adding a new power brake booster, master cylinder, new brake lines and new rotors, hoses and drums too. My goal with this girl is to get her to be a nice looking driver not a show car as I want to take her out on the road as much as possible.

The car was finally dropped off to the body shop last Saturday and they have begun the work on her. I am dropping by the shop tomorrow to see if they have uncovered anything that initially could not be seen. I will keep the thread updated with her progress. This site had given me advice, parts and support in the past with other cars I have owned and I look forward to utilizing it once again for this car and to show her off to you when she is done.

tdhill01

Excuse the upside down pics - I try and repost them

mrolds69

It looks like a good project! There is an all Olds show at Kimballs in Lancaster Sunday, it always draws nice cars. I'm sure Jim will be there, too...he's a GMO member. Maybe see you there.

tdhill01

These photos will hopefully be right side up.

tdhill01

Thanks mrolds69, I'm working Sunday so I won't be able to attend the event... it's usually a hit or miss with me because of my work schedule.

Cincinnati Rick

Good luck on your restoration. Looks like you're off to a good start.

Subscribed!

Rick

jensenracing77

Subscribed also. Looking good!

Troys Toy 70

Great work so far!

I'm subscribed.

costpenn

That is a cool and unusual color combo. Great start and good luck - here's hoping the body shop does not find anything too troublesome!!

anthonyP

Wow, the 442 is coming along nicely. Is this the 442 that was for sale from a seller in NW Jersey, near Long Valley? Even though the W-29 hood is sharp, it is nice to see a '70 442 with the standard hood. Besides, it allows the "Oldsmobile" name to be seen by those who may be forgetting about the Division.

Sea five

I hope to be there but the weather looks bad for Sunday !

allyolds68

Throw an OAI hood on it. It's definitely an upgrade that's worth the $$$

tdhill01

Hi anthonyP, I did get this car from NJ. I was also told by someone else that I should keep the steel hood as it seems everyone has added the scooped hood to theirs. I do like the scooped hood but I will be keeping her with the plain jane hood as I do like the look of it plus it's saving me $$$ too by not switching. Allyolds68, maybe in a few years down the road I may change my mind and put the scooped hood on. Thanks for the replies so far.

tdhill01

Update: I stopped by the body shop today and dropped off the initial funds. So far they have welded in the new front floor pans and did some work on the passenger side quarter which they said was in good condition. They stated that they found a problem area that needs to be addressed as a previous owner did some work on the driver's side rear quarter panel and did not do a very good job. They asked me to look around to see if I can get a hold of a full rear quarter panel for the driver's side. I posted in the "Parts Wanted" section today and am hoping to get a lead. I know no one makes a full reproduction rear quarter panel for the coupes and a nos original is hard to come by so I'm hoping for a nice used panel.

bigin1978

best bet would be to try dessert valley auto parts they are a bit pricey , but the quality of the parts is as good as nos. all original sheetmetal replaced at the seams is the best .
DVAP.com

tdhill01

Well I came across a quarter and will be picking it up this Sunday not too far from home. My body guy is happy and I'll be a little lighter in the wallet.

Cincinnati Rick

You will be ahead of the game providing him with something nicer than what's on there. I'm learning that a good body guy can fix anything but it is so labor intensive that replacing is sometimes the way to go. I had both my fenders prepped and ready for paint then found a car with really nice OEM fenders. I made the choice to have them install those fenders even though they needed some additional work. The better the metal the better the overall job will look in the end.
Good luck with your build.

Rick

tdhill01

Heading back home on the ferry from NY to CT after picking up my quarter panel. Beautiful day today for a boat ride.

tdhill01

In between errands today I took a stop over to the body shop to take a look to see how the car was coming along. Since they had grabbed the quarter panel about two weeks back I was interested in seeing how it looked on the car and if they uncovered any problems. The guy doing the work had said that when he took off the old quarter he found he needed to do work on the outer wheel house but he was able to take care of the issues he found. He did tell me that at some point the car was struck on the left front fender near the drivers door and that the frame needed to be nudged a bit to get things lined up. The shop was able to take care of it so that the panels lined up nicely. Having the vinyl roof stripped along with some sanding uncovered a couple of rusted areas, one was in the roof as it comes down towards the back window and the other near the left rear drip edge as seen in the photos. I was told that neither one was an issue and that they will take care of those areas.

The shop hopes to have it ready to paint by the end of this month which will be a lot quicker than I was originally told. I still haven't purchased a new white vinyl roof yet but I'll need to look at Legendary's site soon. Before the car is painted he will jamb up the car so I can send it to the upholstery shop for the installation of the new vinyl roof and headliner. Well that's it for now but as she progresses through this month I will look to keep my thread updated.

Pardon the sideways photos but I can't get them to stay in the proper orientation.

tdhill01

FYI - the front hood is just laying down with no hinges connecting it that is why is looks to extend further out from the front of the car. Also, the holes in the trunk were there when I bought it and will be filled in - I thought about drilling the right holes for the wing but I want to keep her as she looked from the factory.

Cincinnati Rick

Lots of progress on the body work in a short amount of time. Hopefully they will continue with that same pace.
I like your decision to stick with the steel hood. I got a good deal on a OEM OAI hood otherwise I would have been fine sticking with the original.
Keep the update pics coming!

Rick

Eddie Hansen

Wow moving right along, great project as well looking forward to following along

tdhill01

Here I am, more than two months have past since I updated my post. I took a stop by the body shop back in August but the owner told me things got a bit busier with them so they didn’t have much chance to work on the car since the last time I stopped by back in July. I received a phone call from them last week and they said I should let the upholstery shop know that they can expect the car at the end of this month. They also stated that I should drop by to see the progress and to talk about the next steps for my car.

I stopped by today and progress has been made with the bodywork. They blasted the trunk pan and other areas of the car and they uncovered a couple of small areas in the trunk floor pan that had rusted through. There was another rusted through area found in the driver's drip rail metal but with the piece I ordered from Desert Valley they will be able to repair both sections easily they stated. This was of a concern to me since the chrome molding for the drip rail needs to be able to snap back in to place. In preparation for the vinyl top they welded in new metal in the area that had rusted through and finished cleaning up any residue that was left from pulling the old vinyl off - all looks good in my opinion.

I was told this week they would finish off the underside of the floor pans they welded in earlier along with fixing the rear piece of frame rail that was bent and partially twisted that sits behind the rear bumper. I was asked about the pin striping color I would be choosing for the car, I had got them the stencil kit from Phoenix Graphics to aid in adding the proper stripes. I am torn as to whether I should go with white pin striping or black pin striping. My car’s body color is Code 28 Twilight Blue but the top is a white vinyl roof and it came with a black bucket interior. The assembly manual states that the pin striping should match either the roof color or interior color. With no documentation to go by (I am hoping it is on top of the gas tank) I can go with either color. I think I may prefer the black so that it does not stand out as much as the white would on the blue body – opinions as to black versus the white?

I’ve been working on the bumpers and getting the braces and supports cleaned and painted in preparation of getting the car back. I am a bit slow on getting my seats recovered but I’m not too worried as I need to drop the dash when I finally get the car back and replace it with another one I have before I put the seats and console back in again. I’m still looking for a nice hood molding for the driver’s side (“L” shaped) and have placed an ad in the wanted section. If I can’t find one I will buy the repro version instead. I hope things will proceed a little better now but I will still be content if it takes longer as I would rather no short cuts be done just to get it done.

As you can see in the pictures they filled in the holes that were on the trunk lid and they will be using the template I provided to them to drill the holes for the trunk numbers. The channels the glass (windshield and rear window) sits in will be cleaned but they aren't worrying about doing that until the end as the glass will be the last thing put back on after the top is installed and the car is painted. The trunk rain gutter repair came out great, I am pleased so far with the work they have done.

Am I looking to have every detail of this car flawless - NO. I am looking to bring this car to a nice level of restoration and to enjoy showing it and driving it. I want to hit a few car shows up and down the coast of New England and to enjoy the company of other people that also enjoy having and using their Oldsmobiles. This car will be garaged for the rest of my life at least and I'm hoping I have another good 30 years left in me. I hope to add pictures at the beginning of next month with the car painted and her new top put on.

70-442-W30

You've done a great job of describing what is going on with the car. Very interesting to read. When you look back on all of this, you'll have a great thread that will help others and also tell an interesting story. Continued luck to you in your restoration.

My442

What body shop are you using?

Eddie Hansen

Personally If you go with a white top I would go with a white Pin Stripe, It will set off the top nicely IMHO


Ps Great work as well

mrolds69

X2 white top, white pinstripe.

Rocketbrian

Nice write up. Do you really own three 71 convertibles? My 71 442 is Saturn gold. I bought a few seat belts from you for my 442 , much appreciated.
Twilight blue is a fabulous color, my vote is for the white stripes. It would tie in with the white top much better in my opinion. The black stripes would be lost against the darker blue paint. Hope the restoration goes well for you.

tdhill01

Thanks for the comments everyone. My442, the body shop I'm using is Haven's Autobody in Medway, MA. The owner told me today my car is the last one he will do as it's very time consuming for him - his shop mostly does insurance work. He's looking forward to completing my car as he has had a number of people coming by and checking on its progress. Very nice guy, I went to him before buying this car to ask his opinion and then to ask if he would do the bodywork and paint if I bought it.

tdhill01

RocketBrian, all those convertibles cars I have owned in the past - the wife puts up with me having just one car.

Rocketbrian

That makes me feel better. I was getting jealous. Do you miss having a convertible?

Cincinnati Rick

Looking great Tom.

My vote is for the white pin stripes.

I'm sure your body guy will make his last restoration his best. Keep us posted!

Troys Toy 70

X4 White Stripes, maybe partial though. Keep going!!

tdhill01

Rocketbrian, I do miss having a convertible but I wanted a change. Despite my two daughters 23 & 21 yrs of age doing their best to change my mind I decided to go with a hardtop coupe. Hopefully I can persuade my wife down the road to get a convertible again to go along with the hardtop.

tdhill01

I'm getting my inner plastic wells cleaned up and I saw a marking on the driver's side well that has me confused. On the flat part of the inner well that sits towards the front of the car there are two markings on the top side that read "68" and "69". On the passenger inner well the marking reads "70" on the underside of the flat. I also purchased a second set of inner wells due to some hole issues with mine (debating on which ones to use) and they both have a stamping on the underside of "70" on them.

By chance is the driver's side for a 68 or 69 442/Cutlass? If so, I thought that the inner wells changed when they did the redesigned fenders (body) in 1970 and that the years are not interchangeable. You can also see a difference between the two wells where my cruise control unit will mount to the inner well. On the one I took off there are threaded nuts inside the two round mounting holes while the other inner well has square mounting areas. I am thinking that the second set of wells may be reproduction as they are not as heavy as the original ones I took off and the rubber shields are not as thick.

tdhill01

I found these threads but I'm still at a loss on the markings. I didn't state it but the wells were mounted on the car when I bought it.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...terchange.html

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...der-wells.html

My442

I live in Medway, MA and did speak to your shop about a paint job many years ago. At the time, they were too busy, so I used FSA Restorations in Franklin, MA.

They did a great job as well.

tdhill01

Nice to hear about another member close by, what year is your car?

anthonyP

My '70 442 is also Twilight blue. It came from the factory with no vinyl top, black interior, and black pin stripes. It has that stealth look with that combination. Back in the day, another '70 442 in the neighborhood was also Twilight blue, but with a Pearl interior and white pin stripes. Compared to the black stripes, the white pin stripes really popped against the dark blue paint and went along nicely with the Pearl interior, probably similar to a white vinyl top. Both cars had the standard steel hood, but only the other 442 with white stripes had the optional hood pin striping. Either stripe color will be subtle since it will only be the thin double line pin stripe, unlike the 71/72 stripes.

rob1960

Nice build! Your drivers side wheel well with the round cruise servo pads is for a '68-9, '70 up had the square pads.