BritishEngineering

Good morning. Newbie here. I hope this is the proper place to post as I am certainly not a computer person. Am 71 years old and have spent all of my life working/collecting British cars - still have about 75 Brit cars left if anyone wants one. My Son and I love to work on cars together and after working on British cars for so many years (getting boring) we want to change gears and experience domestic cars. We recently bought a one owner 1970 Cougar Eliminator and are having a wonderful time resurrecting the car but we were really wanting a 1971 Olds 442 W30 W31, as we decided that is our number one favorite car. (The W numbers still confuse me). What we would like is an unrestored car in an untypical color (love green, copper) with automatic trans and lots of options. Prefer something with no rust, original paint. Condition of paint is no matter - as long as it hasn't been repainted. (not a deal breaker but preferable). Numbers matching - if posible. We can do all restoration work ourselves except for rust/paint work. (Just finished blasting/painting the engine bay of the Cougar and it was no fun - but it sure looks beautiful - zero rust helped a lot). That pretty much narrows it down to nothing available anywhere I suppose but at least I can ask....prefer the 71 over the 70 - just like the grille better - looks more agressive. Thank you gentlemen for reading this. Am located in Canton, Georgia. (would buy outright or trade Brit cars). Richard

oldcutlass

Welcome and good luck with your quest.

2blu442

Welcome to the site! The W30 is much more valuable than the 442 without the W30 option, but if you would consider just a 442 you would greatly increase your chance of finding a car in the condition you described. I'm pretty sure there were no W31's in 1971 and the total production on the W30 may have been less than 1,000. But good luck in your search. Please post pictures when you find an Oldsmobile to restore!

John

11971four4two

Hi
I saw your post today.
They made 7,589 442's in 1971
convert 1,304 of these 110 w30
hard-top 6,285 of these 810 w30
An unrestored example would be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Good luck
I hope you find what you are looking for!

1970cs

Welcome to C.O. 2 blue is correct on all acounts, no W-31 in 71+. Please do your home work before purchasing. There is more W machines running around than to be expected (Clone, tributes)

Here is a link to educate yourself.
http://442.com/oldsfaq/ofwmc.htm#W Machines

Pat

Dave Siltman

They ARE out there, but you're likely to pay a premium for it. With the sudden resurgance in "UN-RESTOTRED" muscle cars, "stealing" one probably isn't in the cards. You might consider broadening your search parameter to include other years such as the 1970 and 1972. They look very much alike and there will be more from which to choose. Also, please give us a price range you are working with and whether or not you are willing to travel to find such a car. The W-31 was a '68, '69, and '70 production model, and wasn't an available option in 1971. There was however, at least one "built" (in '71) but not on the assembly line and I doubt if the whereabouts are known to any of us here (not me anyway). Good luck, welcome aboard, and keep us posted on your search.

citcapp

Good luck with your search.

TenMidgets

Here you go, if it's in your price range!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-...item4abdaeb3f7

gearheads78

Welcome to the site. You might try to make a wanted ad in our classifieds. I am guessing a truly matching number rust free W-car in original paint is going to cost way on up there.

Texas442

Good taste on the 1971. My favorite year as well. We have several 1971 442's. Would you consider a convertible 1971 442 (non W30)? I have an all original garaged time capsule 1971 442 convertible that I would consider selling. It still has the original paint, stripes, engine and interior. I will have to wait for a nice weekend and pull it out to take pictures for you.

BritishEngineering

Good morning gentlemen - don't know if I am doing this correctly in the right place but thank you all for your kind comments and helpful suggestions. Very nice of you to take the time and courtesy and I appreciate it. I will follow up on the individual leads that were given to me. Looks like we will have to consider widening our search though, like Dave Siltman suggested. Probably will have to go with the 69-72 without W options but will continue the search and hope. Price range is no concern within reason - just looking for a good car with a price that satisfies both parties. A well optioned standard 442 in an unusual color would do nicely. (am hopelessly color conscious considering the pitiful lack of color on todays new cars - what I call funeral pallor gray). - the Cutlass body styles are all such great looking cars. Thank you again - you are very kind. Richard

BritishEngineering

Holy cow!!

GAOldsman

Welcome aboard from Perry GA Good luck finding a car for you to restore together There are several websites to browse and also like mentioned before the classifieds here.

http://442.com/class/oldsads.html
http://classiccars.com/classifieds/1...ldsmobile.html
http://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cg...+442&fil=&loc=
Looks to be a nice original one here
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/3351652009.html

jozw30

Not to start a detail debate, but it's amazing where that eBay vert is considering the missed/incorrect details (some appear to be costly mistakes). If I'm paying that kind of coin, I'd expect that car to be darn near perfect.

Do your research before paying that kind of money........?

Oh we'll, good luck with your search.

Not many "values" out there any more.

Joe

csstrux

Whole lotta cabbage!!

jozw30

I suppose if you are willing to spend >$100k, what's another $15-20k to pull the body off the frame and repaint everything.

Must be nice......