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VVS Docs are available if your car was built in Canada, or sold new in Canada, I have seem Canadian built US sold cars with VVS docs and US built Canadian sold cars with VVS Docs.
[QUOTE=Ryan 1969 Chevelle SS396;985695]Not to jump in on Paul's resto thread....
VVS Docs are available if your car was built in Canada, or sold new in Canada, I have seem Canadian built US sold cars with VVS docs and US built Canadian sold cars with VVS Docs.
Ryan[/QUOTE
Thanks for the correction Ryan. I got ahead of myself when I replied to the earlier post. What I meant to say was that docs for USA built cars are only available if that USA built car was sold new in Canada. Docs are available for all Canadian built car regardless of where that car sold when new.
Last edited by oldsmobiledave; January 24th, 2017 at 02:17 PM.
Time for updates on this build. I had gotten behind due to a photobucket posting issue as well as other delays.
During the month of January I was able to find the original owner and on Mar 7 I flew to Newfoundland and visited. The whole connection came about from running a Kijiji ad and connecting with Bob Mercer, the retired sales manager for the selling dealership.
I had a great day today meeting With Bob Mercer and hearing about his career with Corner Brook Garage, the selling dealer for my 442.
We met with Loretta Burrell around 10:00 AM in Stephenville. Loretta brought along two early photos of the car being used in Baseball League Parade circa 1973. She explained her car was called on a lot in this small town as it was the only convertible here.
The Photo is very fuzzy but it shows the car circa 1973 with Loretta at the wheel,and a full baseball team on board.
Those 442 enthusiasts will note the car has a chrome rear view mirror and the stripes may not be correct. Loretta explained thar the car had been in three accidents during her ownership years. One accident required the replacement of the left front fender, door skin and repairs to the quarter panel and door jam. Obviously a sport mirror was not replaced.
This was noticed when I got the car as the drivers door still had the original frame with a newer Skin. My restoration guy Mark had noticed the jam area had been hit before and required some massaging.
Last edited by paulolds; March 9th, 2018 at 03:59 PM.
In this photo, left to right, Bob Mercer, Loretta Burrell and myself.
Loretta is about 4 feet tall and she always required the seats in her cars to ne raised with additional metal rails so she could see over the steering wheel.
Lorettas previous cars were a 68 Impala Hardtop, a 69 Impala Convertible, the 442. After the 442 she ordered a 75 Monte Carlo with a sunroof and then a 1978 Camaro Z28.
What possessed Loretta to special order a 1971 442 W30 convertible with every option other than A/C and cruise control.
She stated,she saw the 1970 sales brochure with the Orange 442 W30 and went to the dealer and told salesman Walt Everett she wanted that car in a convertible,and they checked all the boxes for options.
Loretta waited a long time for her car due to the 67 day strike in the fall of 1970 and the car finally arrived in March 1971, as a 1971 with 1970 colours and argent painted wheels.
The car was the hottest car in Stephenville.NL (population 6700), and sought after by every 17 year old waiting for Loretta to buy a new car.
That lucky second owner was Barry Fowlow. Barry,17 in 1975 with a newly minted Newfounland drivers liscense was working at the Stephenville Branch of CBG when Loretta traded her 442 in on her New 1975 Monte Carlo. Barry was on duty that day in June 1975, washing cars and pumping gas,and told Walt Everett that he wanted to buy the 442.
With an agreed purchase price of $2000.00 supplied by a bank loan signed by Barry's father, the 442 was his.
I will be meeting with Barry tomorrow and getting the details of his two years of ownership.
Here is how the car looked as of last week.
Here is the latest photos of my project.
The frame has all been straightened, results of three accidents required a lot of tweaking.
Body had been returned to frame with all welds drilled in preparation of removing the shell, less floor pans and rockers,to make way for full new floor pan and full trunk floor.
And that’s what makes classic cars special... making new people fall in love all over again decades later like it never went out of style. Awesome story
Satisfied with the ownership history from1971 to 1975, I wanted to concentrate on 1975 to 1987,when I first heard about the car.
My previous attempts gave me a name of Boyd Fowlow in Stephenville as the second owner. Over a two year period I made several attempts to contact the only B Fowlow in the phone directory.
I had heard that Boyd Fowlow now lived in Edmonton AB and felt I was on the right track, I was never able to reach him over a two year period.
With the new information from Jan 2018 of Loretta Burrell as the original owner,I learned that the second owner was Barry Fowlow,Boyd's brother.
I found a new listing for B Fowlow in Stephenville and phoned. Robert Fowlow, Barry's nephew answered the phone.
I told him the reason for my call and he confirmed Barry was in fact the second owner of "the Orange 442 convertible".
Within a minute I had Barry's cell phone number and a promise from Robert that I would get a call from Barry within 30 minutes.
About 45 minutes later I was connected with Barry, who referred to the 442 as a ghost from the past.
He proceeded to recount his ownership in detail. More in next posting.
As confirmed Barry bought the 442 the day it was traded in at the Stephenville branch of Corner Brook Garage Ltd.
Barry owned the car for two years and drag raced it a lot at the Decomissioned Earnest Harmon AirForce base in Stephenville.
Barry did extensive engine modifications to the engine for more power. Crane cam and Valve springs, bigger oil pan, headers, Holly carb, trans shift kit. He retained the factory 3.73 gears and ran on 60 series tires. He claimed the car ran in the mis 12's but was not the fastest car among his racing buddies. Barry had the car painted Corvette Red in 1976 and painted over the black stripes. The paint job cost $350.00
Barry took a job with Sobey's, the Nova Scotia based Grocery Store chain in 1977 and moved to Stellerton NS with the 442. Not long after he settled in the 442 was stolen one night and the engine was seized.
With little money to do a rebuild he traded the car for a 56 Ford that has been set up a street rod and was running.
The new owner of the 442 was Tim Short. According to Barry ,Short put in a Pontiac 455 (that explains the Pontiac engine in the car when I got it).(this has now been corrected as the car arrived in Alberta with an Olds Engine).
Short drove the car around Stellarton for a while and then it disappeared. Barry said Tim Short went blind by the time he was 30 and it may have been his Brother Randy who took it to Alberta. All members of the Short family are now deceased with no way to verify the ownership or story.
So from all this I was able to solve some of the unknown details outlined in my first posting
Majority of body damage done by first owner in Newfounland.
Motor seized in 1977 and replaced in Stellarton NS in 1977 or 1978
There is no record of registration for the car in NS, Barry Fowlow did not do a registration change when he moved there.
Car went to Alberta between 1977.
owned by Ken Klassen from 1977 to 980
Found Alberta Lic plates circa 1979-80 under drivers side front carpet covering up rust holes and Alberta Yellow Pages (several books) under rear seat as sound dead net.
Merlin Cumming contacted me in May 1987 and described the car as a 1970. He said the car had been purchased out of an Alberta wrecking yard in 1985 by a fellow in Salmon Arm ,BC to use the 455 in a boat. Clearly the motor was no good and Merlin Bought the entire car.
I encouraged Merlin to do a Vintage Vehicle Search through GM Canada in 1999 and that is when I learned it was a 1971 model with the Corner Brook Garage Ltd connection.
When I bought the car in 2013, the Pontiac engine had been partially disassembled and had been seized for years.
The only parts missing from the car from its Alberta Wrecking yard days were the power door locks.
The Dual Gate Shifter was stolen sometime in the 1990's (according to Merlin)
The car was never resistered in Alberta.corrected as Ken Klassen the car registered.
It's time to resume posting more restoration work now that the ownership history has been solved and how the car was moved 5000 miles from its original selling location.
Last edited by paulolds; September 25th, 2021 at 09:22 PM.
Very interesting thread, I cannot fathom how I did not see it before today. I'll be following very closely. Thanks for including us with your progress!
very interesting thread, i cannot fathom how i did not see it before today. I'll be following very closely. Thanks for including us with your progress!
With the body work in the hands of Mark, I do all the mechanical restoration and assembly. going forward I will post progress on the component restoration. Since I bough this car I have been on the hunt for as many NOS parts that I can locate anf as of this writing I have 677 parts and NOS assemblies ready for this car. NOS assemblies are classified by me a one part number,not the sum of the components.
First up is the engine,having given up on the prospect of finding the original engine I bought an NOS 455 short block assembly from a buddy in Chicago who used to work for GM parts warehousing and bought several of these when they were going NLA back in 1980. Had the block shipped to me in its original packaging.
Dave, the machinist said he was, and was not surprised. Additionally he reported while all the tolerances were good they we not what he would refer to as "blueprinted".
So the new plan was to go with new rings and bearings, balance all components and fit to specific tolerances. I opted not to boil the block as I wanted to preserve the factory markings.
For the built we went with a Cloyes double roller timing chain and gear set as I could not trust a 47 year old Nylon timing gear.
I asked Dave what could have happened if I had fired up the engine from its as is out of the crate condition. His exact quote was "it would have seized during break in".
Last edited by paulolds; March 29th, 2018 at 02:32 PM.
With the short block assembly back from the shop it was time to un box the hord of NOS parts:
Pictured below:
NOS rocker arms and saddles
NOS push rods
NOS lifters
NOS oil baffle
NOS baffle studs
NOS harmonic balance
NOS balancer retaining ring
NOS front timing Cover
NOS oil pump
NOS oil seal.
The stories and history behind these cars are as neat as the cars themselves. I have had the pleasure of seeing some of Paul's cars/work and he does them right.
Those paint blotches on the side of the block are tough! When I did mine, despite vatting the block for an extended period of time, they somehow survived.
It’s been three years since I provided an update on this project. While Mark progressed with the body rebuild,I did some mechanical stuff at my shop.
Here is the progress on the engine.
I had a nicely restored oil pan and then found an NOS one. Stripped off the factory black ‘parts department” paint and got it ready for the car.
Wanting to maintain an assembly line look,I kept the paint thin on the underside of the oil pan. On the original cars examined at MCACN I noticed the pans paint was thin. I prepped the pan and sprayed with a Matte clear. The blue paint was sprayed on from the sides.
I shot a few photos of the internals before the pan went back on,showing the original stamping son the rods and pistons.
The block is a nos short block I acquired and I described in an earlier post that I had my machine shop go through it and did a real blueprint and balance.
Trial fit of NOS aluminum intake. It had rough broach marks on one side so I had it machined. 10 thousand for a better fit.
I wanted to preserve the assembly line markings so on the left side I sprayed in Matt clear before applying Olds Blue.
I find the best way to get a nice coat of Olds blue is to apply GM corporate blue as its non metallic. After that usually two coats of Olds blue does the job. I preserves some of the brown paint daubs that were inspection marks.
The engine assembly has the rolling NOS parts.
Short block
Oil pan
Oil baffle
Ring gear
Timing cover
Timing marker
Water pump
All head internals
Lifters
Internal oil baffle
Aluminum intake
Heat stove
Engine hook
Got the intake back from the machine shop and dry fitted and then did another fit with the NOS steel gasket.
Observations of original W30 cars show no paint on the heads on either side of the intake and none on the steel gasket.
It is believed a template was used to cover the intake and other items like the hook, thermostat housing and other small parts were painted as they lay on top of the template.
I have seen engines with no paint on these items to some that had a partial coat. I opted for the latter and painted about 3/4 of the surface area of these parts.
More Nos parts used here.
Balancer
Lower pully
Starter bracket
Fuel pump
Temp sending unit
Coil bracket
motor mounts
Manifolds were media blaster and a graphite was applied, burnished with 000 steel wool, one more coat of graphite applied and then heated with a heat gun to cure the graphite.
Last edited by paulolds; April 11th, 2021 at 02:54 PM.
Thanks for the update. I mirror the comments of so many here. Great stories. It's Great to get caught up in a long thread sometimes. Your work and knowledge are very appreciated. I too will be watching the progress.
Those inspection marks are fascinating! The only original mark I was able to recognize on the 350 in my 1971 was a bright green daub on the block on the driver's side. Maybe there were brown ones that I just didn't realize were paint.
How accurate do you think this sketch is?
I've heard a lot of people say the oil fill tube shouldn't be painted because it was added after the engine was painted. This tends to disagree.
I love seeing how you preserved the markings on the side of the block. I was able to get a low mile block and it shares the same marks. I would like to preserve them in the same manner.
There is access to the drain plug through an opening in the heat shield. Interesting observations as the paperwork that came with the NOS short block specified it’s use in a W30 car.
There is access to the drain plug through an opening in the heat shield. Interesting observations as the paperwork that came with the NOS short block specified it’s use in a W30 car.
I know for a fact that the block I show above came from a W-30 car as well.
I am impressed with your research to the painting choices around the aluminum manifold and am glad you did paint the steel parts for their preservation, as well as doing it provenance correctly.
The 68 and 69 400 G block has the drain plug in the front on the left side but none of the 455's in my cars have one there or even the 2 aluminum 455's I have they are all over the motor mount. The right side has it in the front on both 400 G blocks and 455's.
Thanks for the reply’s and additional information. This is the first time in 40 years I have gotten into a “drain plug location” discussion. It all helps. I checked my other 1971 W30 with original block and it has the drain plug above the motor mount on the left side and near the front on the right side.
the painting chart confirms that the starting motor was not intended to get a full coat of paint.
on a personal note,I can’t bring myself to painting over a beautiful NOS fuel pump.
over the past 18 months the body has been transformed from a rust bucket ,to a shell and back to a body,piece by piece. My body guy has painstakingly duplicated dimples, changed round nuts to square ones and relocated bracket partsparts to their factory correct locations. Here is a series of photos
A surprise development on the history of my car surfaced on FB Friday. The attached photo was posted by a fellow in Alberta of a 442 he owned in the late 70’s. After a few messages We were able to determine that this is the car I am restoring.
His info stated he bought the car through an Auto Trader style ad in 1977 and the car had come from Halifax. He kept the car for a few years and sold it in 1980. He stated the car “ had returned to the earth in a wrecking yard in Blackie,Alberta”
Well it didn’t return to the earth as it was purchased from that wrecking yard in the early 80’s. The car had a hard life as it had a front end hit as well as a motor change before I bought it.
January 24th, 2017, 12:52 PM
