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I’m new so be excuse my lack of knowledge of the 442s. I have this car in my sight for purchase but know little of what the body tag says. The vin tells me it is a 442 but the body tag not sure. Need help deciphering. I know it’s from Lansing, black vinyls interior and jade green with gold vinyl top. Also is a holiday 2 dr coup. Am I missing any thing else, am I wrong?Matt
Last edited by matt506; April 30th, 2019 at 11:43 AM.
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If the VIN starts with 344, it's a 442. I don't think the body tag will tell you anything about this. The 33687 says Oldsmobile Cutlass 2-door hardtop, but I don't think the '68 body tags correctly showed the 442 series. I think this is well-documented. What matters is the VIN.
The rest of it decodes as follows:
04D build date - 4th week (D) of April (04), 1968
LAN - Lansing assembly plant
TR 940 - black strato-bucket seats
Paint S - Jade Gold lower body color
Paint 8 - Gold vinyl top (or gold convertible top if a convertible)
344878M358029: 3=Oldsmobile, 44=4-4-2, 87=holiday coupe (i.e., 2-door hardtop without a post), 8=production year=1968, M=assembly plant=Lansing MI, 358029=assembly plant sequential number.
The data tags on all the '68 4-4-2 cars from Lansing always show 33687. My '68 4-4-2 is a convertible and the data tag shows 33667 but its VIN starts with 344678M. The truth is in the VIN.
[QUOTE=oldcutlass;1170017]Regret what? Welcome to the site. Post some pics when/if it becomes your new to you toy.[/QUOTE
sir oh if I get this I will post lots of pics thanks.
The only thing I can add that others haven't is that 940 is black vinyl (which you have already noted) and bucket seat. Depending on how original it is you may also find a Fisher Broadcast card hog ringed to the bottom of the rear set that will tell you what options were installed at Fisher Body
I have an 04C Lansing 442 convertible built 2090 units before yours
Last edited by allyolds68; May 1st, 2019 at 04:26 AM.
Very cool we are so close. Yes the car has a terrible second paint job and at one time had a vinyl roof which is now missing but trim is still there. The bad part is front buckets have been replaced with 1972 cutlass ones but good news is that the rear seat is original and unmolested. Here are some pics. By looking at the fender 442 emblems would this have had the fender strips or not?? They look in the wrong spot but one fender hs been replaced I guess and owner said there were remnants under the paint, what ever that meant.should car have the floor counsel or were many of these just a stick and boot out of floor hole? Matt
Welcome. Nice solid car. Plenty of us 68-69 owners here.
The 68 Fremont Z code 442s will have 344 on the cowl tag. Otherwise, as everyone states the rest are like yours 336.
When the bodies were built by Fisher Coach they didn't care if it was a Cutlass or a 442 as its the same body. Why the Fremont car is different? Could have been all the Sonoma Coma going around in the late 60s..lol. No worries. You got a real 68 442.
If the trans matches you have one of 9433 total stick Holiday Coupes made like that in 68. If it was an automatic it's one of 16571. No way to break it down further by colors or options. Check the Block numbers and trans numbers to see if its OEM. The last 6 digits of the vin will be on the block & trans
If your car had the often later added and misplaced W36 fender stripes from the factory the 442 numbers would be located farther back and down a bit from the non W36 cars. This was done so the front edge of the stripe wouldn't be cut off by the wheel well. Why they didn't just move them all to the same rearward location...more Sonoma Coma spose.
I see the oddball (to me) ventless dash. That means you have the kick panel vents.
The twin white dash stripes are missing. I see a 4 core radiator top plate with the hose bracket broken off. Those are hard to find intact.< Edit it looks more like an HD cooling system top plate. Its just missing the clamp that encompasses the hose then bolts through that reinforcement. The 4 core plate has a J shaped one-piece bracket spot welded on it in which the hose just sits in the J.> Then there is at least another top plate that has neither of these which is on my AC car. Could be more configs? I can't put my hands on the Cooling systems options charts at this moment.
I see a 10 bolt O type rear axle which is correct for a 68. I see some funky spring extenders that's not correct. I don't see a rear sway bar? Are the lower control arms boxed and do you see the holes for the bolts?
Last edited by droldsmorland; May 2nd, 2019 at 04:15 PM.
Wow so much info and I have yet to pick her up my biggest challenge yet.
I have had chevelles in my younger days so I am somewhat familiar with these GM B body cats, just not the small things on the Oldsmobile cars. From what I understand it should be a 7/8 diameter sway bar in the rear. Nice catch on the holes in the arms, did not notice the boxed lower arms, but aren’t the top ones suppose to be to? They look open. I suspect the spring lift tubes are to compensate for tired springs or are a drag racing thing as the car was modified for raceing.
The tranny and rear are original to the car but rims and motor are long gone I guess. That’s a 68 455 from a big cutlass car.
Ok well down payment is done now more research. Talking to the guy, he thinks the original rims on the car when they bought it looked like the ones I attached a picture of or would they have been SSII rims? Matt
Ok well down payment is done now more research. Talking to the guy, he thinks the original rims on the car when they bought it looked like the ones I attached a picture of or would they have been SSII rims? Matt
Congrats on taking the plunge.
What you have pictured are Magnum 500 rims from a Mopar, nearly identical to the SSIs that Olds offered in the mid-late '60s and early '70s. A '68 442 could've been equipped with either SSI or SSII rims, which I believe were optional over the plain steel rims + hubcaps.
The only difference between the SSI and the Magnums you pictured are the center caps (the SSIs have the Olds Rocket symbol). There are a few variations on them, both in size, width and compatibility with factory disk brakes.
SSII are exclusively the grey painted ones. In '68 the area around the holes between the spokes were painted silver, the later years they used a stainless bright silver snap-in trim around the spoke openings. SSIII are basically the same with snap-in SS trim around the spoke openings, but the spokes are typically painted the same color as the car's body. The center caps for both have the Olds Rocket, but the SSII are bolt-in centers while the SSIII can have either bolt-in or snap in centers. There are a few SSII/SSIII wheels that have chromed rims, but most have the stainless trim rings. All SSII and SSIII rims are compatible with factory disk brakes.
Here is a pic of the Super Stock I wheel. It will not fit on cars with disc brakes.
This "super stock" wheel (option code P05) was available for A-body cars for the '66 and '67 model years. For the '68 model year, this super stock wheel was supposedly replaced with a new style super stock wheel (also option code P05), the one we now call Super Stock II, where the wheel had a trim ring with a brushed appearance, a screw-on center cap, and the 5 open slots in the wheel were trimmed in silver paint. However, the new style super stock wheel had production issues and there are several instances, noted on this web site, where it is known that some '68 A-bodies came from the assembly plant with the old style Super Stock wheel, the one we now call the Super Stock I. The production issues with the new style Super Stock wheel were resolved in late March 1968. It appears that there became some sort of demand for both style Super Stock wheels so, starting in model year '69, both wheels became officially available and known as Super Stock I (option code P05, wheel code LE) and Super Stock II (option code N66, wheel code LS, the 5 open slots now trimmed in stainless). In the latter part of the '69 production year, a new style of SSI wheel (also option code P05 but with wheel code LY) was made for cars with disc brakes. All of these wheels were 14 X 6. Olds went to a 14 X 7 wheel starting with the '70 production A-body cars, a wheel that I feel has a better appearance because of the deeper dish look, but when I restored both my '68 and '69 4-4-2 convertibles, I had to go with the 14 X 6 SSI to make it authentic.
April 30th, 2019, 11:39 AM
